Category — Film Festivals

Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethekul’s film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Weerasethekul has previously made films like Syndromes and a Century and Letters to Uncle Boonmee. Other winners include Juliette Binoche for Abbas Kiorastami’s Certified Copy, Javier Bardem for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, Elio Germano for Our Life by Daniele Luchetti. The Best Director prize went to Mathieu Amalric for Tournee.  Click here to access the complete report by New York Times.

Last year the Cannes Film Festival had proposed a mini-retrospective of the work of celebrated Indian director Mrinal Sen, but because the prints of most of his films were in ‘poor condition’, it never came through.

This year, Sen’s film Khandar has been selected as one of the films that will be screened in the Cannes Classics section of the festival. Films of directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Bunuel and Volker Schlondroff are part of this selection. Sen is expected to be present for this screening.

The National Film Archive in Pune was given a directive by the Prime Minister last year to restore each of Sen’s films. The screening at Cannes has reportedly been made possible because of the successful restoration.

Khandar was made in 1983 and starred Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur and Annu Kapur. I had written a retrospective piece on the film on the occasion of Mrinal Sen getting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival in 2008 in New Delhi. Click here to access it.

And while the Indian press seems just thrilled at this recognition India has got at Cannes, not one of them has got the name of the film right. All sites have picked up an agency copy which refers to the film as ‘Kandahar’. They have all retained the English title The Ruins, but no one has managed to put two and two together.

While none of us here at Wide Screen managed to make it to IFFI this year since we are working on the second general issue of the journal, I feel that despite all the criticism that comes its way, it is important to track this festival.  The opening film is He Ping’s Wheat (China) and the festival closes with Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces (Spain).  Indian film critic Saibal Chatterjee is covering the festival for the official web partners – NDTV, so I’m attaching a link for anyone who is interested in the festival, its goings-on, reviews, jury meets, and general news (which is bound to erupt very soon, already Kamal Hassan and Amitabh Bachchan have created a stir with their absence.)

Click here to access the official coverage.

The Osian’s film festival in New Delhi this year had a surprise hit in the form of Fiaza Ahmad Khan’s documentary Supermen of Malegaon that traced the making of Malegaon ka Superman by Sheikh Nasir, Malegaon’s one-man film industry. Neha Bhatt of Business Standard looks at this developing trend of local cinemas in India and their popularity.

An excerpt:

“In an ill-fitting costume, long red socks and bathroom chappals, the superman of Malegaon is suddenly the overnight hero of popular imagination. Thanks to Supermen of Malegaon, a recent documentary that is winning applause at film festivals across the world, the local film artistes of a town more familiar for the blasts of 2006, are turning into overnight stars. Well, almost. The documentary captures the thriving local cinema in Malegaon through the making of Shaikh Nasir’s local film, Malegaon ka Superman, which, tongue-in-cheek, has a thin superhero battling a Gutka king.”

Click here to read the complete article.

Calling all fanatical and passionate film producers, flamboyant cultivators of the moving image! Five Minutes of Fire challenges you to create and submit short films around the theme of desire. Part of ‘The Compass of Desire Festival’, Five Minutes of Fire will bring together film-makers from far and wide to exhibit their work here in Bristol, UK. [Read more →]

The Gallaudet University WORLDEAF Cinema Festival will showcase competitive short films, feature films, videos and vlogs created by deaf and hard of hearing filmmakers. The festival will take place November 4-7, 2009 at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.. Academy Award-winning actress, Marlee Matlin, is the festival’s honorary chair. The festival seeks to increase awareness of deaf cinema within the greater film and media industry, and provide international deaf filmmakers with unique professional networking opportunities. Hearing filmmakers are also invited to submit their visual media products that include the deaf experience. For additional information, view the website at http://wdcf.gallaudet.edu. [Read more →]

Film South Asia, the festival of Southasian documentaries, calls for entries for the seventh edition of its biennial festival being held in Kathmandu from 17-20 September 2009. Documentaries made in and after January 2007 are eligible for the competitive section. [Read more →]

The Women of Color Arts & Film (WOCAF) Festival, Atlanta, GA scheduled for March 19th – 22nd 2009 is now accepting submissions for its fifth annual film festival. The WOCAF Festival, Atlanta celebrates exhibits and distributes the artistic creations of visual and performance artists. The film festival is produced annually by Iyàlódè Productions in collaboration with The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History and features films and videos from across the globe by and about women of African, African-American, Asian, Middle –Eastern, Afro-European, Australian-Aborigine, Caribbean, Latina and Native American descent. [Read more →]

via email: VANYA (an enterprise of Deptt of Tribal welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh) and iiMC (Indian Infotainment Media Corporation) take pleasure to announce its Second Edition of “International Festival of Films on Tribal Art & Culture 2009″ (IFFTAC-2009) at Indore, Madhya Pradesh which will run from Feb 6-9, 2009. The festival will culminate with a screening and awards ceremony on 9th Feb 2009. It will be an International event that will bring the best films on Tribal culture and art from all over the world. [Read more →]

There are two somewhat disturbing things I heard with reference to Bollywood recently. And since I am not one to wallow in sorrow alone, I’m spreading it to others as well!

The first is about the Toronto International Film Festival, (which I just heard is “the world’s premier film [Read more →]