The Unofficial Google+ Film Festival (UGPFF)

The Unofficial Google+ Film Festival (UGPFF) inviting documentary shorts, animated shorts, narrative fiction shorts and web series.Unofficial Google+ Film Festival  will launch its three day online and interactive festival worldwide this December 13th. The festival, which is the first international film festival to simultaneously audiences with online and offline screenings around the world, will be available through Google+  and feature a variety of film blocks, industry panel discussions and interactive Q&A's with filmmakers from the curated selection of new short films and web series.The last date to submit entries is November 4, 2013 and the entry fee is $40. Click here to submit a film.more details can be had from https://plus.google.com/+UnofficialGooglePlusFilmFestival/posts

MIFF awards: Indian, British, Romanian films share top honours, Mike Pandey has been honoured with the V Shantaram Life Time Achievement

Two films from India and one film each from the UK and Romania bagged top honours in the International Competition Section of the 12th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF). The Golden Conch, Silver Conch and other Trophies and Certificates were presented to the winners at the valedictory function of the Mumbai International Film Festival at NCPA, Mumbai this evening. Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, S Jagatrakshakan was the chief guest. The winners (International Competition) are: Nitin Kumar Pamnani's film 'I am Your Poet' won the Best Documentary Film (up to 40 minutes duration) award comprising the Golden Conch and Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000) in cash. Pamnani's film in Hindi and Bhojpuri is about the poetry of Rama Shankar Yadav 'Vidrohi'. 'Shape of the Shapeless' by the New York based filmmaker Jayant Cherian was adjudged the second Best short Film with Silver Conch and Rs 250,000 in cash. Kim Longinotto's 'Pink Saris' won the Golden Conch for Best Documentary Film above 40 minutes duration. The British film maker's documentary tells the story of the 'Gulabi Gang' which is active in Uttar Pradesh, empowering women. The Silver Conch for Best Documentary above 40 minutes duration is shared by 'Dreaming Taj Mahal' by Nirmal Chandar and the Russian entry 'Home' by Olga Maurina. The Golden Conch for Best Fiction film went to 'Music in the Blood' by Alexandru Mavrodineanu from Romania. Anand Tharane and Krunal Rawal won the Golden Conch in the Best Animation Film Category for 'Prince'. The film is about a taxi named Prince and how it finds outdated when new sedans arrive on the streets of Mumbai. The International Jury Award was shared between two films Moni Bency's 'Mahashwetadevi -Close-up' and Mamta Murty's Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and Premier Show dealing with the alternative cinema tradition in Manipur. Anand Patvardhan's 'Jai Bhim Comrade' won the Best Film of the Festival Award for Producer. The award carries a prize money of Rs two lakh. Pankaj Johar's 'Still Standing' has won the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Award for Best Debut film as a Director. The award instituted by the Government of Maharashtra comprises a trophy and Rs 1 lakh in cash. The Indian Competition Section was reintroduced during MIFF 2012 to promote and encourage the Indian documentary film makers. Rajesh Jala's Hindi Bhojpuri documentary 'At the Stairs' won the Best Documentary Film Award fetching him the Golden Conch and Rs 5 lakh in cash. The film examines the lives of widows in Banaras seeking Moksha - liberation from the cycle of life and death. Veteran environmental film maker Mike Pandey has been honoured with the V Shantaram Life Time Achievement Award at the Mumbai International Film Festival – MIFF 2012. The award carries a citation, a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakhs.The Award was presented to Mike Pandey by the Governor of Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayanan in the presence of Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Chaudhury Mohan Jathua, veteran film historian Vijaya Mulay and popular Marathi actor Amrutha Khanvilkar at the opening ceremony of the festival on Friday.Mike Pandey is one of India’s foremost wildlife and environmental filmmakers with over 300 national and international awards. He has made films like Shores of Silence, The Last Migration, Broken Wings and The Timeless Traveller.

Award Winning films in 4th International Documentary and Short film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK)

A Pestering Journey directed by K.R.Manoj won the award for best long documentary film ,There is Something in the Air directed by Iram Gufran gets the Best short documentary award and Kaveri directed by Shilpa Munikempanna won the award for best short fiction ,in the five day long 4th International Documentary and Short film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) concluded this evening at Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy presented the awards to the winners. Ganesh Kumar ,Minister for films, Priyadarsanan, Chalachitra Academy Chair person etc were present in the concluding ceremony. Other recipients of awards are:
BEST MUSIC VIDEO: SITAHARAN AND THE STORIES
DIR:ANUSHA NANDAKUMAR
BEST ANIMATION FILM: JOURNEY TO NAGALAND
DIR:ADITI CHITRE
BEST DOCUMENTARY CAMERAMAN: A PESTERING JOURNEY
SHEHANAD JALAL
BEST SHORT FICTION CAMERAMAN: OPEN DOORS
BARUN D JORDAR
SPECIAL JURY MENTION:
SOUND DESIGN: JOURNEY TO NAGALAND
ADITI CHITRE& PREETHAM DAS
ANIMATION: IT IS THE SAME STORYDIR:NINA SABNANI SHORT FICTION: THE ELEPHANT
DIR:RENU SAWANT
LONG DOCUMENTARY: MULLATHIV SAGA & YOU DON'T BELONG
DIR:SOMEETHARAN
DIR:SPANDAN BANERJEE
SHORT DOCUMENTARY: VERTICAL CITY
DIR:AVIJIT MUKUL KISHORE

3rd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala 11th-15th June 2010, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

The 3rd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala will be held in the capital city Kerala ,Thiruvananthapuram from the 11th-15th June 2010.The festival, is being organized by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy for the Dept of Cultural Affairs, Govt of Kerala . There will be a national level competition for long documentaries, short documentaries, animation and short fiction films produced in India between May 1st 2009 and 25th April 2010. The following awards will be given:
a) Best Long Documentary (40mts and above) with a cash prize of Rs 1.00 lakhs and a certificate.
b) Best Short Documentary (under 40mts) with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/ and a certificate.
c) Best Short Fiction (under 70mts) with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/ and a certificate
d) Best Animation with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/ and a certificate.
e) Best Music Video with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/ and a certificate Best Campus Film (20min and below) with a cash prize of Rs. 20,000/ and a certificate to the creative team. Details can be had from iffkoffice@yahoo.co.in www.keralafilm.com

MIFF 2010 -Naresh Bedi’s documentary ‘On a Tiger Trail’ and Shih-Ting Hung’s ‘ Viola :The Traveling rooms of a little giant’ are the inaugural films.

The 11th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF 2010) will be held from February 3 to 9 at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) complex in South Mumbai. The biennial Festival is organised by the Films Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in association with Government of Maharashtra.
Veteran film maker and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Mr.Yash Chopra will be the Chief Guest of the Opening Ceremony which will be presided over by Ms.Ambika Soni ,Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting.Secretary, Information & Broadcasting, Raghu Menon ,Ajay Devgan, Tanushree Datta and Oscar Award winning sound recordist Resul Pookutty will be present in the opening ceremony. Naresh Bedi’s documentary ‘On a Tiger Trail’ and Shih-Ting Hung’s ‘Viola :The Traveling rooms of a little giant’ are the inaugural films. The Festival received 864 entries from 37 countries .The highlights of the festival are the Special Package on Immigration issues consisting of 4 films from The Netherlands, Cinema legends (31 films), Remembering Freedom Icons (9 films), Puppet Films –by Sanjit Ghosh (8 films), Films on Women’s Issues (10 films), Films from Film Schools (L V Prasad, NID, Satyajit Ray FTI) (28 films), Treasures from NFAI (13 films), Science Fiction Special Package (from USA, France, Italy) (6 films), Persistence Resistance Special Package (5 films) and Films on Environment (including Vatavaran package) (16 films).There is also a special North East Package of 10 films and Swiss-India package of 4 films. The countries in Focus are Bhutan and Argentina.National Film Archives of India, Pune will stage a unique show of pre-cinema projection technique called‘Shambharik Kharolika’ (the magic lantern)

Online help for Documentary and Short films

Mr. Thomas David, CEO of www.kalavedionline.com, an NRI online portal based at New York would like to put shorts and docs of good quality on any subject in their portal for promoting the films and to attract prospective buyers and festival authorites round the world. The screening of the film is only limited to the portal as a service and no right shall be given to the portal about international festival or online except showing it in the portal. If the film is repeated in the portal on request a nominal charge will be levied.The films may be submitted in DVD, mini DV or DvCam formats.Those interested may contact Mr.Thomas David at info@kalavedionline.com