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The film begins, with a Stasi (East German Security agency) lesson on interrogation, involving the psychology of the detainee. If he is lying or not. The focus soon shifts to a drama theatre, where spies are keeping a close watch on a set of people. Such is the beginning of the film that engrosses the viewer to observe, what is going on, made to think. A very mature way of story telling.
Soon the plot unravels. An artist couple, Christa-Maria Sieland (theatre actress) and Georg Dreyman(writer) are under surveillance of Stasi spy Gerd Wiesler for their suspected radical views. It’s set up in East Germany at a time, when freedom of speech, expression did not exist even for the renowned artists. Dreyman’s director Albert Jerska, who is blacklisted by the state is one of them. Wiesler wires Dreyman’s apartment, hearing everything that goes in there from the attic. …

Seems times are changing at last - for the better, and fast. After all these years of scouring the film festivals and pirated DVD shops (unless we have deep pockets to splurge on the highly-priced original DVDs of foreign films), it seems 2008 is bringing some happy tidings for us, the lovers of world cinema (that is, anything that comes from outside the country minus Hollywood).

Suddenly, Indian companies have started taking marketing rights for a large number of world cinema and at least two dedicated channels to telecast cinema of that kind are readying for launch. And, trust the French to do it - more and more French films are being screened, at least in Delhi and Mumbai, screened mostly free of cost through tie ups with multiplex chains, to introduce the casual moviegoer to the variety that rides with their cinema (hope other countries would also have as …

The second Rome Film Fest, which runs Oct 18-27, has announced its full programme.

World premieres in the Cinema 2007 programme include:

* La Recta Provincia (Raul Ruiz)
* Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola)
* August Rush (Kirsten Sheridan)
* Hafez (Abolfazl Jalili)
* L’Abbuffata (Mimmo Calopresti)
* And The Spring Comes (Chang Wei Gu)
* The Three Robbers (Hayo Freitag)
* The Private Man (Emidio Greco)
* Let’s Say (Francoise Maire)
* Have Dreams, Will Travel, (Brad Isaacs)

The festival also announced that Oscar-winning No Man’s Land director Danis Tanovic from Bosnia will serve as head of the jury, which is comprised of 50 international cinema-goers.

FULL LINE-UP

Premiere section
Across The Universe by Julie Taymor (UK/US)
The Dukes by Robert Davi (US)
Elizabeth: The …

IFFLA 2008 Announces Call for Entries
The Sixth Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) seeks narrative, documentary, music videos, experimental, children’s and animated films of any length and format. IFFLA will run April 22-27, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Los Angeles. Jury and Audience Choice Prizes will be awarded for Best Feature, Documentary and Short Film.
IFFLA 2007 had over 6,000 attendees and screened 36 films from 8 countries. In addition to the high-quality of presentation of their work, filmmakers in attendance gained access to an eclectic mix of professionals from the Los Angeles film industry.

Check out what our past filmmakers …

German expessionism that gave rise to Film Noir, Horror and Detective genre.

About a month ago I checked out a movie from my university’s library collection. This was a German movie that was released in 1931. It’s protagonist was a male serial killer and a “hinted” pedophile. Hinted for obvious reasons of the taboo of discussing Pedophilia that still exist today. The name of the movie was “M” directed by Fritz Lang, one of the pioneers of the German expressionist cinema that emerged and lasted through 1920s and 1930s. Right from the subject of the movie to its execution and production stunned me enough to check out all the silent and Noir genre movies that my library held. I must say that though Wikipedia gave me a better introduction and a lot more information about the Expressionist movement in cinema but my shocking experience of watching stories similar to what I …

Released in 2001, Das Experiment (The Experiment) did not quite register as a must watch on my list until I picked it up yesterday. One of those rare makes your hair stand up for hours after you’ve watched it, The Experiment represents an amazing amalgamation of an imaginative story coupled together with etching out human nature and it’s psyche in not so normal situations.

It is rumored that The Experiment has had it’s inspirations from “The Stanford Prison Experiment” (link), that was quickly shut down because of it’s shocking results in the participants who volunteered in the experiment.

Back to the movie, taxi driver Tarek (Moritz Bleibtreu) reading a newspaper ad inviting volunteers to an psychological experiment. Selected volunteers would be paid well, provided they did not break the rules of the experiment and stayed for the whole process for it’s entire length of two …

Background :

Conrad Rooks had got involved in drugs and had visited France to get rid of his drug addiction. There he got the book “Sidhaartha” (written by Nobel Laureate German author Herman Hess) from his first wife. He was greatly impressed with the book and wished to make a film on the book. He got the rights to make a film on the book with the help of son of Herman Hess.
Rooks with his wife came to Bombay and as everything was falling in place, he met newely married young Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jeniffer Kendel Kapoor, besides the Swimming Pool of hotel “Sun N Sand”.
Rooks visited RK studio at Chembur in Bombay and met there with Raj Kapoor the elder brother of Shashi Kapoor. Rooks was astonished to see the impact of RK on others in the film world. While sitting with RK in his personal …

Received from Worldwide Film Distribution yahoogroup… Please spread the word!

Let me take this opportunity to introduce you about me and social activities of our organization. …

I am working with a government organization, one of the most important & entertainment department called “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE” is given to me and I am looking for your help to expand the membership.

What is “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE” ?

The National Film Development Corporation Limited (NFDC) is a Government of India Enterprise set up with the objective of fostering excellence in Indian Cinema. It provides film enthusiasts in Mumbai an opportunity to see good meaningful World-Class Films throughout the year through the “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE”.

For the past twenty-five years, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has produced/co- produced more than 200 films in 15 languages, including English. Amongst these all several internationally acclaimed films like Gandhi, The Making of Mahatma, Mirch-Masala, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar, Parinda and …

For those of you who attended the screening of Pan Nalin’s Valley Of Flowers, we apologize for the cancellation which took place due to an unforseen projector malfunction. Please note that the screening has been rescheduled now, in the same large theater #10 (no glitches this time!) as follows:

Saturday, April 21 - 3:30 p.m.

Please make sure you bring your ticket stub from last night. You do not have to buy a new ticket. They will let you in with the same one. Most of the attendees who caught a sneak peak at the opening were quite awed by the visuals. It is a terrific, visually mesmerizing effort by one of India’s most successful directors of crossover cinema. We look forward to having you all back there. Please help spread the word!

Saturday, April 21 - 3:30 p.m. …

The Film: Run Lola Run

The Cast: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu

The Director: Tom Tykwer

1999 (USA) , Germany

“The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes. That’s a fact. Everything else is just theory.” …so begins the film in true German spirit for the love of soccer, only that it is reflective of the next 90 minutes that one sits through as well.

The Game: Lola’s (Franka Potente) boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) will be killed by gangsters as he has misplaced the money he owed them. Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 mark or Manni will rob a superstore. Ready Steady Go!

Simple enough, eh? The film actually requires deeper understanding than most people care to believe. Sure, the visuals are great, and it’s a pleasure to watch this flaming red haired punk chick in a tank top and a tattoo run across town with each muscle flexing on …