Konkona short film

Ningal Ente Nadu Kandittundo (Have You Seen My Home), a short film directed by former District Collector and Sanitation Mission Director Mir Mohammed Ali, has won the award for the best advertisement film at the 8th Mumbai Shorts International Film Festival. The film, produced by the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC), won the coveted award in the production section.The promotional video introduces the tourist destinations of Kannur district to the world. It was created to attract tourists to the district in the context of the Kannur International Airport becoming a reality.The movie, Mr. Ali’s first directorial, has been dubbed into eight languages including Hindi, English, Arabic, and Spanish. The two-minute-long video captures the beauty of the district’s vast beaches, forests, backwaters, rich history and heritage, and cuisine.Australian short film ‘The Ton’ was adjudged the best picture and ‘Building Bridges’ from Germany was selected as … [Read more...] about Former Collector’s film wins laurels at Mumbai fest

Mumbai: One-film-old Janhvi Kapoor says working in films can become monotonous after a certain point of time. Janhvi will next will be seen in the Netflix original film, "Ghost Stories", a horror anthology featuring four stories directed by Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar. She features in Zoya's segment and says that she had an enjoyable experience working in the project. "I have recently done a short film for Netflix and I had a very enjoyable experience working on it. It feels good to work in a short film because mostly we do a film's shoot over 50 to 60 days. It becomes very monotonous after a certain point. In a short film, however, you go in with a lot of energy and the shoot is over quickly, without distractions. In feature films, most of the time you have to juggle between two to three shoots unlike a short film where you get the chance to finish shooting at one ," noted Janhvi, at a special screening of a short film named "Sepia" along with the … [Read more...] about Janhvi Kapoor: Films become monotonous after a certain point

Many ‘new’ comedians have made a mark for themselves in Kollywood of late and are doing back-to-back films. But Vivekh’s comedy, which often touches upon social causes, still remains the favourite of many Kollywood film buffs. The veteran actor, who still gives young comedians a run for their money, thanks to his spontaneity and thought-provoking one-liners, is gung-ho about his upcoming projects, among which he considers Vellai Pookal to be unique. In a freewheeling chat withus, he talks about topics that include movies, nature conservation, sexual crimes, caste system, and more... Looks like Vellai Pookal isn’t ‘your kind of film’. You are playing a serious cop and have sported salt ‘n’ pepper looks, too…It all started when the film’s director Vivek Elangovan, a US-based Microsoft engineer, approached me with a story. But I was skeptical about the project even materialising when the makers said they wanted me to go to the … [Read more...] about Vellai Pookal is a unique film, says Vivekh

Samaresh Basu was an eminent Indian author, who mainly wrote in the Bengali language. He was an award-winning writer with more than 200 short stories and 100 novels to his credit. Before becoming a successful writer, Basu worked as a mere factory worker in Ichhapore, West Bengal. He wrote his first published novel ‘Uttaranga’ when he was jailed during 1940-50 for his deep involvement in trade unions and Communist party. After his release from the prison, he took up writing as a profession and never went back to the factory, even when he was offered his old job. In 1980, the prolific storyteller was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel ‘Shamba’ Many of his literary works were adapted into films. On his 95th birth anniversary, here are some of the films based on the works of this literary genius. Kitaab Gulzar’s 1977 release ‘Kitaab’ was based on Basu’s Bengali story Pathik. The story is about a little boy, who is … [Read more...] about Samaresh Basu Birth Anniversary: Here Are 5 Films Based on His Novels

Filmmakers like Lijo Jose Pellissery or Aashiq Abu or Madhu C Narayanan cannot be blamed for doing what is widely considered desirable by film historians: the blurring of the art-commercial divide. But the presence of these filmmakers at the 24th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) has given rise to serious misgivings. What is being questioned is not the quality of their films but the logic of showcasing their hugely popular creations at the expense of independent films made on shoestring budgets, and for whom finding even a single screen is a challenge. “Why is screen-time being wasted to show films that have already been seen by a large group of people and are also on online platforms like Netlix and Amazon Prime,” asked filmmaker Satish Babusenan, the president of the newly-formed Movement for Independent Cinema. “There were just 70 people to watch 'Virus' inside a 500-seat theatre. There were less number of people to watch 'Unda',” Babusenan said. … [Read more...] about Why do indie filmmakers object to the works of Lijo Pellissery and Aashik Abu