39th International Film Festival Rotterdam Closing Night Film: The Aviatrix of Kazbek ( De Vliegenierster van Kazbek

The 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam will close Saturday February 6 with the world premiere of Dutch film The Aviatrix of Kazbek ( De Vliegenierster van Kazbek ), second feature film by Ineke Smits. The film, written by Dutch novelist Arthur Japin and produced by Isabella Films, stars among others Dutch actress Madelief Blanken, Georgian actor Zurab Jgenti, German actor Peter Lohmeyer and Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca from Cristian Mungiu's Golden Palm winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The Aviatrix of Kazbek is a modern, universal tale of three young people whose lives come together through the extremities of war. During the second world war, on the island of Texel, Marie dreams of mountains. She loves dancing, but the village community expects her to behave. She would like to be an independent woman, but being the only girl in a large family she can hardly come by. It is only when she meets Georgian Goga and Irakli that she breaks away from the restricting and suffocating reality by learning to trust on her fantasy.

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)

Fourth Karimnagar National Short Documentary Film Festival and Workshop

The Karimnagar Film Society in collaboration with Film
Telangana and Navtarangam.com is organising a three-day film-making
workshop from February 13 to 15 at Film Bhavan in Karimnagar town.
According to film society president V. Anand, experts would give
hands on experience to the participants about film-making, script
writing and many other techniques of making short films. The workshop
will coincide with the fourth national short documentary film festival
to be held from February 13 to 16 at Film Bhavan in Karimnagar.
While the workshops would be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., short films
for the festival would be screened from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. A total of 61
films would be screened. A national jury would select the films for the
Palapitta awards which carry cash prizes and mementoes. Besides, the
Navtarangam web magazine, the Federation of Film Societies of India
would also give prizes to best short films.
Interested persons can contact Mr. Anand on 94405-01281 or email at varalaanand@yahoo.com.

South Korean film Paju to open 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam

Paju, the second feature film by South Korean director Park Chan-Ok will be the official opening film for the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam on Wednesday January 27, 2010. Park Chan-Ok was the winner of a Tiger Award in 2003 for her critically appraised debut Jealousy Is My Middle Name. In 2006 her sophomore feature project Paju was launched at Rotterdam’s co-production market CineMart. Paju is the tale of a teenage schoolgirl (Seo) and her complex relation to her older sister's husband (Lee). Set in the city where it takes its name from - a longtime military area and now a developing city located close to the North/South Korean border – its elegantly complex narrative deals with guilt, love and redemption. The result is both uniquely Korean and universally resonant

Bala Best Director , Antaheen best film in 56th National film Award

Bala bagged the Best Director award for his film Naan Kadavul -Tamil -in the 56th National film Award for Indian films declared today. Bengali film Antaheen directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdary won the best film award. Actor Priyanka Chopra has bagged her first National Award for her performance in Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Fashion”.
The award for the best popular film went to Dibakar Banerjee’s “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!”, Upendra Limayi is the best Actor for his performance in Marathi film 'Jogwa'. Firaaq directed by Nandita Das bagged awards for editing and art direction.Bengali film Antaheen has been also chosen for the Award in Best Cinematography, Best Lyrics and Best Female Playback Singer category . The special jury award has gone to the Malayalam film Bioscope produced by the National Film Development Corporation. Neeta Lulla has been selected the best costume designer for the Hindi film Jodhaa Akbar. The jury on best writing on cinema considered 20 entries of books and declared Bollywood Melodies in English by Ganesh Anantharaman. Hariharan and Shreya Ghoshal won the best playback singer awards for Antaheen and Jogva. Kangana Ranaut and Arjun Rampal have been selected as the best supporting actors for Fashion and Rock On!!. Kannada film Gubbachigalu gets the best children’s film award. Shams Patel bagged the best child artist award for his role in the Hindi film Thanks Maa. AFSPA 1958 was adjudged the best non-feature film for courageous depiction of the non-violent resistance of the people of Manipur. Films Division-produced The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: A Reconstruction has been selected for an award in the best biographical, historical reconstruction/compilation film category

60th Berlinale Opens with Yoji Yamada's Chineese film Tuan Yuan (Apart Together)

The 60th Berlin International Film Festival will kick off with the world premiere of the Chinese Competition film Tuan Yuan (Apart Together) in the Berlinale Palast on February 11, 2010.Bernd Neumann, Minister of State for Culture , Klaus Wowereit ,Mayor of Berlin and Werner Herzog, Jury President ,Dieter Kosslick , Berlinale Director will open the festival. Anke Engelke will host the gala in this anniversary year.
Tuan Yuan (Apart Together) is the latest film by Wang Quan’an, one of the most important Chinese auteur filmmakers of the younger generation. In 2007 he also participated in the Berlinale Competition with Tuya de hun shi (Tuya’s Marriage) and won the Golden Bear. Tuan Yuan tells the story of a great love, while depicting the tragedy of a divided country. Decades have passed since the one-time soldier Liu Yansheng, who fled from Shanghai to Taiwan in 1949 to escape Mao Tse-tung’s troops, has seen the love of his life. Their reunion rekindles old emotions. The film stars Lu Yan, Ling Feng, Xu Cai Gen and Mo Xiaoqi. Otouto (About Her Brother) japaneese film by Yoji Yamada (Kabei) will be the closing film.

Jyoti Basu dead

Charismatic , Veteran Marxist Patriarch and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu died at the AMRI Hospital,Kolkata of multiple-organ failure at 11.47 a.m. on Sunday. "I have to give you a sad news that Jyoti Basu is no longer with us," Biman Bose, the Chairman of the Left Front coordination committee, announced to reporters a little around 1230 hrs. He was 95. Jyoti Basu was a member of CPI (M) from West Bengal. He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000, making him India's longest-serving Chief Minister as of 2009. He was a member of the CPI (M) Politburo from the time of the party's founding in 1964 until 2008. Basu's first track in politics was his efforts to organize the Indian students studying in United Kingdom, mostly for the cause of Indian Independence. Basu was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946, contesting the Railway constituency. In January 2006 the Supreme Court of India issued notices to Basu and others in connection with land allotments in Salt Lake. On January 1, 2010, Basu was admitted to AMRI hospital, Salt Lake after feeling unwell. As of 16 January 2010, his health condition was'extremely' critical and he was suffering from multiple organ failure. Latest by 17th, January, 2010, he was put on all possible life support system.