Alms For a Blind Horse(Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan) won Suvarna Mayooram in the 43rd IFFI. “

Alms for a Blind Horse”(Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan) directed by Gurvinder  Singh won Suvarna Mayooram (Golden Peacock Award )in the 43^rd International Film Festival of India 2012. This film is produced by National Film Development Corporation. Gurvinder  Singh is a product of FTII. This film had also won National awards for Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Punjabi Film , Special  Jury Award &Black Pearl Trophy in the Abudhabi Film Festival Award. Meera Nair bags  the Centenary Film Award for her film “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”.Marcin Dorocinski won the Best Actor (male) award for his role in the Poland film “Rose ’’directed by Wojtek Smarzowski. Kyu-hwan Jeon of Soth Korea is chosen as  the best director  for his film “The Weight’’.Anjali  patel has been selected as Best Actor (Female) for herrole in the Sinhalees film ‘’With You,Without ’you directed by Prasanna Vithanage.Special jury prize  went to Lucy Mulloy ,director , for her  Cuba- UK-USA film ‘’Una Noche’’.  

Vipin Vijay wins the Incredible India award

Vipin Vijay    wins this year's   the Incredible India award  of Rs 10 lakh at the Film Bazaar  of 43^rd IFFI , for his  “A Voice From Elsewhere”, a project on the life of the Latin Christians in an island on the Kochi backwaters.The film project is in pre-production stage and will start shooting by September 2013. His last film “Chitra Sutram” (The Image Threads) was nominated for the Tiger award at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011.He also won the prestigious Padmarajan award 2010. His film also won National Award for best sound designer  to Subhadeep Sengupta.

Paul Cox recalls the influence of Satyajit Ray on him

Paul Cox  ,the master craftsman on cinema from Australia has said that he looks for beauty, humanity and kindness in a good movie. He recalled the influence of Indian film maestro Satyajit Ray on him and the indelible impression made by his classic Bengali film ‘Pather Panjali’. He said that unforgettable music in ‘Pather Panchali’ intertwined with the theme made the movie all the more touching. He said ‘Pather Panjali’ is considered one of the greatest films ever made even today. Paul Cox was interacting with media at the 43rd International Film Festival of India in Goa.

55 FTII films curated by GraFTII shown at IFFI 2012

As a part of celebrating 50 years of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII) 43rd edition of IFFI  has also screened ‘student diploma films’. A package of 55 films curated by GraFTII, the alumnus association of the FTII represents the contributions of FTII graduates of the past decade. Speaking to the media persons Sanjeev Sood, Documentary film maker and alumnus of FTII said that little-known, fresh faces and films rather than the much awarded and feted have been selected for the package. He said that FTII has set a certain benchmark as far as film making is concerned; hence it is a great opportunity for the young film students who have come from across the country to watch and learn from these films. 

There is a thin line between serious and mainstream cinema says Girish Kasarvalli

Girish Kasarvalli , Kannada film maker and the Director of Panorama film ‘Kurmavatara’ opined in a press conference at the Special Tribute Section at 43rd International Film Festival of India in Panaji, that line between serious and mainstream cinema is very thin. He also added that  the division of parallel and commercial cinema has been created by the media  and this division is not de-marketed by film makers and they always want to make ‘good films’. 

"The Patient Stone" (Syngué Sabour) by Atiq Rahimi won the FIPRESCI Prize at Gijón International FilmFestival

FIPRESCI Prize- Prize of the International Film Critics at  Gijón(Spain, International Film Festival, November 16-24, 2012) in the Prize (Official Section Long Feature Films) won by  "The Patient Stone" (Syngué Sabour) by Atiq Rahimi (Afghanistan, France, Germany, 2012). Jury: Günter Jekubzik, Germany ("film-dienst", "Aachener Zeitung"), Radmila Djurica, Serbia (Freelance), Paula Bordonada, Spain ("Caimán Cuadernos de Cine"). 

FIPRESCI Prize in Taipei International FilmFestival gone to "Touch of the Light" by Jung-Chi Chang

Prize of the International Film Critics- FIPRESCI Prize in Taipei International FilmFestival (Taiwan, Golden Horse Film Festival, November 8-28, 2012)  won by  "Touch of the Light" by Jung-Chi Chang (Taïwan, Hong Kong, China, 2012). The jury appreciates "the impressive acting from both actress and actor. We are particularly touched by the beautiful image the director offers, wich makes us see the view of blind people and makes the audience feel the 'touch of the light'." Jury: France Hatron, France ("RFI – Radio France Internationale"), Ernest Chan Chi Wa, Hong Kong ("Hkinema"), Yen Hung-Ya (aka Hung Hung), Taiwan ("The Big Issue").

FIPRESCI Prize at Athens International FilmFestival "Night of Silence" (Lal Gece) by Reis Celik

FIPRESCI Prize- Prize of the International Film Critics at Athens International FilmFestival (Greece, Panorama of European Cinema, November 15-25, 2012)  won by "Night of Silence" (Lal Gece) by Reis Celik (Turkey, 2012). Jury: Carmen Gray, Great Britain ("Sight & Sound", "The Guardian"), Esin Kücüktepepinar, Turkey ("Sabah"), Nestoras Poulakos, Greece ("Logos"). 

"Horses of God" (Les Chevaux de Dieu) by Nabil Ayouch won FIPRESCI Prize in Carthage International FilmFestival

Prize of the International Film Critics- FIPRESCI Prize- in Carthage International FilmFestival (Tunisia, Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage - Carthage Film Festival, Tunis, November 16-24, 2012) gone to "Horses of God" (Les Chevaux de Dieu) by Nabil Ayouch (Morocco 2011, 115 min). Jury: Barbara Lorey, Germany, president ("Tip Magazine", Khalil Damoun, Morocco, Rita Bukauskaite, France ("KinoScript"), Janet Baris, Turkey ("Evrensel", "Yeni Film Magazine"), Ahmed Bouhrem, Tunisia ("Le temps").

FIPRESCI Prize- Prize of the International Film Critics at Mar del Plata International Film Festival gone to "The Towrope" (La sirga) by William Vega.

FIPRESCI Prize at Mar del Plata International FilmFestival (Argentina, Festival Internacional de Cine, November 17-25, 2012) won by "The Towrope" (La sirga) by William Vega (first feature) (Colombia, México, France, 2012), presented in the Latin American Competition. Jury: Ziva Emersic, Slovenia ("Radio and TV Slovenija"),Rodrigo Portales, Peru ("El Peruano"), Nazareno Brega, Argentina ("Terra Argentina").

Young film makers of good cinema demand special theatres for their films

Sourav Sarangi , director of ‘Char : the No-Man’s Island’ ,Gurvinder Singh ,director of ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ , Abhijit Mazumdar director of ‘Vanishing Point’ and Unni Vijayan , director of ‘Lessons in Forgetting’, all  are young Indian film-makers and directors of ‘offbeat’ or ‘new wave’ or good cinema are demanding special theatres for showing their films. Addressing a joint press conference in the ‘Meet the Directors – Indian Feature and Non-feature films’ section at the 43rd International Film Festival of India in Panaji, Goa today they felt that there are dedicated viewers for their films but in the absence of a proper distribution mechanism the films are not being released in multiplexes. 

Cinema is a sacred medium and Film maker must take Cinema to highest level of communication –Muzaffar Ali

Cinema is a sacred medium and film maker must take it to the highest level of communication said well-known poet and film maker Muzaffar Ali. He was talking to media persons in Media Centre of 43rd International Film Festival of Goa. Film making is a journey through which enrichment is achieved, he added.In a subsequent press conference he said a lot more to be done to make Indian Cinema globally competitive. He said three things are needed to make a film successful – script, script, script and  most of the films become victims of a bad script and a film has to be ‘local enough’ to be ‘global enough’. Local psychological, philosophical and emotional aspects should be integrated in the script to make it more relevant, he concluded.

Finance and distribution are big challenges for Good Cinema:Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan has flagged the issue of finance  and distribution  as big challenges facing the  good cinema. Adoor's first film Swayamvaram( 1972), which pioneered the new wave cinema movement in Kerala was made with a paltry budget of two and a half lakh rupees of which one and a half lakh was taken as loan from the Film Finance Corporation, a cooperative, at 18 percent interest. Talking to the media here, Adoor lamented that cooperatives in Kerala have stopped functioning for the last 15 years thus affecting the production of art films. He said, even the 20 odd private channels in Kerala will show a reasonably good film for the lack of entertainment value or on pure commercial consideration. Adoor informed that after his debut film “Swayamvaram” got the National Award, the film was re-distributed and it was an instant hit in Kerala and recovered the money. On the celebration of 100 Years of Indian Cinema, the  ace  Director said that it should not become an occasion to show the mediocre films, rather good films made in every nook and corner of the country should be selected to exhibit in the festival. Adoor also called for artistic integrity and exhorted the serious filmmakers to shun the allurements of Bollywood. 

Big Film Houses driving away makers of good cinema

Noted Filmmaker Shyam Benegal has asked the film fraternity to ponder deeply over how to market Good Cinema, which is on the decline in India. Interacting with the media persons here on the sidelines of 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2012), he said, smaller films can move to Television but that does not offer market and that explains the continued decline of art films. Benegal said that Cinema is not like any other art like music or painting, but it is a full-fledged industry because of involvement of money. He added that with the the introduction of economic liberalization, the era of multiplexes came into being and big corporates have started investing money in the films like any other commercial venture and driving away the individual entrepreneurs. He said, the big businesses not only produce films, but they have complete control over film industry  by distributing and exhibiting those  films produced by them, which the independent and small filmmakers are not capable of doing.  Benegal said, the film promotion and the big money involved in it has become another problem area for good cinema. 

P.Govinda Pillai is no more

P.Govinda Pillai, popularly know as PG,the Marxist theoretician  , writer,thinker , editor ,political leader,a  great  knowledge  centre and former member of Kerala Legislative Assembly passed away yesterday night at Thiruvananthapuram . He was 87, He has written a number of books  and hundreds  of articles on Marxism ,literature,international affairs &politics,art including cinema etc.He was one of the founders of Purogamana Kala Sahithya Sanghom ,a progressive group of writers , artists and creative minds.

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Soul of Asia:Cinema & Mysticism Inagurated in 43rd IFFi 2012e

Soul of Asia Section Opens with Screening of ‘SAMSARA’ 

SOUL OF ASIA: Cinema & Mysticism, a special section introduced at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2012 from this year was inaugurated  with screening of the opening film SAMSARA. Directed by Pan Nalin and produced by Karl Baumgartner and Christoph Friedel , Samsara is a story of a Bhuddist monk’s quest for enlightenment. The protagonist’s life is similar to that of Prince Siddhartha. What is stronger-destiny or choices we make? Loaded with inner conflicts, the film maker roamed the exterior world…. Till one day, the story started flowing as would a natural spring. Located in the other-worldly landscapes of the Himalayas, this film traverses inner journeys: one man’s struggle to find enlightenment by renouncing his world. And one woman’s struggle to keep her enlightened love and life within her own world. Eternal conflict between the flesh and spirit challenge the Buddha’s feminist perspective, outlining parallel destinies. 

The vision is to screen India premiers of films made on themes of Asian philosophies and philosophers, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen, Confucianism, Sufism and other ancient mystic and ascetic traditions of Asia.  

Om Puri inaugurated Indian Panorama ," Baandhon " and "Celluloid Man" the opening films

Om Puri ,the renowned actor inaugurated Indian Panorama section  of the the ongoing 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2012). The section has 20 feature and 19 non feature films. The Director of the film ‘Celluliod Man’ Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Actor Om Puri, the Ex Director of National Film Archive of India, P.K. Nair and Shyam Benegal were also present at the inagural ceremony..Director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur`s "Celluloid Man" based on Indian archivist P K Nair`s life and work opened the non-feature film section, while Assamese film Baandhon is the opening film in the feature film category. Directed by veteran filmmaker Jahnu Barua, Baandhon is a human statement against terror on behalf of the common men of the entire world. “Indian cinema is not only about Bollywood as there are meaningful films made in different languages and regions but they don’t find distributors and so are killed”, said actor Om Puri . He wanted the Government to coordinate with Doordarshan to screen these films.Secretary of Ministry of information and broadcasting Uday Kumar Varma assured to work out a mechanism to showcase these films on  Doordarshan.

Censorship is a world problem-Krzysztof Zanussi

Renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi has described censorship as a world problem and called for reasonable ways to handle it. He said, Censorship is an ugly method of improving our life and added that Police states tackle this problem in a harsh way, while democratic nations do it in a far more reasonable manner. Zanussi, who will be honoured with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa this evening, was addressing the media here this morning. Known for producing acclaimed films like Camouflage, Family life, The Silent Touch, The Contract and Revisited, Zanussi pitched for great ideas to shape the world. Replying to a question on censorship issues in India, he said, Internet may build a completely new society or it may destroy us, so the big challenge is to find a balanced way. His film “Illumination” will be shown at the festival.

Awards inspired me: Kim Ki-Duk

South Korea’s best-known filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk is in Goa, where five of his acclaimed films including “Pieta” will be screened at IFFI as part of an exclusive Retrospective on the master director. Other films to be shown are The Bow, Time, Breath and Dream. His another masterpiece Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring will be shown in the Soul of Asia section. Kim has won many international awards including the top Golden Lion Award at the Venice Festival this year for his latest film Pieta. Talking to the media here, Kim said, he has produced 18 films so far, but lamented that Korean audience prefer Hollywood movies and his films are mostly offbeat themes narrating tragedies of real life. He said, Images and Ideas and the News are the two most important inspirations for him to translate his vision into films. Responding to a volley of questions, Kim informed that in his 30s, he went to Paris to learn painting and there he got exposed to theatre. He also won a screenplay competition in 1996 and entered the world of Cinema. When pointed out that his films are received widely in the world cinema, the Korean Master replied that it motivates him to make more such films on quality themes and it also helps to get sponsors. Kim, who is on his first-ever visit to India admitted that extreme capitalism is the topic of many of his films and Pieta is one such brilliant film one looks forward to watch in the IFFI-2012.

"Everyday" (Everyday) by Michael Winterbottom won Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Stockholm International Film Festival

Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Stockholm International Film Festival  (Sweden, Stockholm Film Festival, November 7-18, 2012). gone to "Everyday" (Everyday) by Michael Winterbottom (UK, 2012). Motivation: "For its moving depiction of a family's struggle for happiness and its daring concept of everyday's challenges in today's Europe. The film's detailed drawing of the characters, its breathtaking use of time - in shooting and in telling the character's development – and its sublime use of the musical score make "Everyday" an outstanding contribution to contemporary European film art." Jury: Margarita Chapatte Lopez, Spain ("Radio Marca"), Florian Vollmers ("Szene Hamburg"), Dragan Jurak, Croatia ("Globus"). 

"Sister" (L'enfant d'en haut) by Ursula Meier won Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Ljubljana International Film Festival

Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Ljubljana International Film Festival  (Slovenia, International Film Festival, November 7-18, 2012) gone to "Sister" (L'enfant d'en haut) by Ursula Meier (France, Switzerland, 2012). Jury: Katharina Dockhorn, Germany ("Rheinpfalz"), Marko Njegic, Croatia ("Slobodna Dalmacija"), Igor Harb, Slovenia ("Vikend)

"Mushrooming" (Seenelkäik) by Toomas Hussar won Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival

Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival  (Germany, International Film Festival, November 8-18, 2012) gone to "Mushrooming" (Seenelkäik) by Toomas Hussar (Estonia, 93 min). Jury: Giulia Dobre, Romania, president ("Romanian National Radio"), Nanna Frank Rasmussen, Denmark ("Jyllands-Posten"), Alberto Ruiz Ramos, Cuba ("Cine Cubano"), Gyözö Mátyás, Hungary ("Kritika"), Wilfried Reichart, Germany ("Film Dienst"). 

"Oh Boy" by Jan Ole Gerster won Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Bratislava International Film Festival

Critics Prizes (FIPRESCI ) at Bratislava International Film Festival  (Slovak Republic, International Film Festival, November 9-15, 2012 gone to "Oh Boy" by Jan Ole Gerster (Germany, 2012). Jury: Julia Khomiakova, Russia ("Ekran i Stsena"), Dominique Martinez, France ("Positif"), Viera Langerova, Slovak Republic . (Film Press)

43rd IFFI inagurated amidst festivities

Govt initiating many steps to nurture Indian film industry: Manish Tewari,Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

 IFFI will be made truly international: Manohar Parrikar 

Renowned Polish filmmaker Zanussi gets Lifetime Achievement Award 

The 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2012) was declared open here amidst festivities, glitz and with a promise to make India an international destination of good cinema. Information and Broadcasting Minister Shri Manish Tewari assured the august gathering that Government on its part is taking a number of steps to nurture the Indian film industry and to promote India as a destination for film shooting. He said that Government is embarking on an ambitious National Film Heritage Mission during the 12th five year plan to preserve India’s film heritage. Moreover, with a view towards encouraging co-production between India and other countries, India has entered into co-production agreements with various countries. Chief Minister of Goa Shri Manohar Parrikar said that the journey which was started by him 8 years ago has yielded positive results and Goa has been awarded as a best film destination. He, however added that a collective endeavour will be made to take this festival to newer heights and to make it truly international. Shri Udaya Varma, Secretary, I&B Ministry said that IFFI has grown from strength to strength incorporating new themes and all efforts will be made to imbibe the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world is one family) through IFFI. The Chief Guest of the event and the Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar said that cinema is very-very important  to him. He felt proud that the festival is happening in the centenary year of Indian Cinema. Renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi was conferred upon the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award on the occasion by Shri Manish Tewari, which carries an amount of Rs10 lakh, a scroll, a shawl and a certificate. Known for producing acclaimed films like Camouflage, Family life, and The Silent Touch, Zanussi said amidst standing ovation that this is the most moving moment of his life that he is being awarded for some achievement and promised to make more films in future. He said, 21st century will be Asia’s Century and it is his deep belief that it will be India’s Century. 

Gautam Ghosh, Chairman of the International Jury and all the Jury members were felicitated by the IFFI. Shri Ghosh said, IFFI has gone through many ups and downs but it’s still glowing. He also called for more autonomy for the film body to function in an efficient way. 

Hosted by Kabir Bedi and Perizaad Zorabian, the event showcased the evolution of 100 years of Indian Cinema through a brilliant combo of music, dance and videos conceived and directed by Jahnu Barua, Saroj Khan and Sajjad Ali. Nearly two-hour cultural extravaganza came to a close with the spell-bound renditions of Kailash Kher. 

With the galaxy of stars like Akshay Kumar, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Om Puri, Jackie Shroff, Vinay Pathak, the opening ceremony was a bit different from the previous festivals. As a part of the international presence, the cine lovers were treated to the company of renowned film personalities like Kim Ki-duk, Michael Winterbottom, Susanne Bier amongst others. 

Academy Award winning Director Ang Lee’s much acclaimed 3D film “Life of Pi” is being screened this evening as the opening film of the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2012). The cast and crew of the film including Irrfan Khan and Tabu are present on the occasion.

In the 43rd edition of IFFI, over a hundred movies will be screened as a part of the Indian Cinema and the World Cinema segments. The Indian Section will bring to the audience movies from across the country in the Indian Panorama (Feature and Non-Feature Section) which is selected by a core jury headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta for the Feature and M R Rajan for the Non-Feature section. The Indian Panorama will screen twenty feature films with ‘Baandhon’ director by Jahnu Barua as the Opening film, and nineteen films in the non-feature section with ‘Celluloid Man’ directed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur as the Opening film. 

Apart from the International Competition, the cine lovers at the 43rd IFFI will be treated to a varied line-up of world cinema which will be showcased in sections like ‘Cinema of the World’ which will have a showcase of fifty-one films from forty-two countries with Ang Lee’s 3D film ‘Life of Pi’ as its Opening Film and Mira Nair’s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ as its Closing Film. Other sections in the International section include ‘A Cut Above’, ‘Masterstrokes’, ‘Festival Kaleidoscope’, ‘Turkish Currents’, ‘Sketches on Screen’, ‘Retrospective: Susanne Bier’, ‘Special Tribute: Ashok Amritraj’, ‘In Focus: Kim Ki-duk’, ‘Soul of Asia’, ‘Documentaries’ and ‘Homages’.