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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 …

La Zona is Rodrigo Plá’s feature debut based on a novel written by his wife, Laura Santullo.
It was shown during the Seminci film festival although unfortunately, it was out of competition. Had it been competing in the Official section, I am sure it would have been really successful, as Rodrigo’s done an amazing job. Nevertheless, it won this year’s International Critics’ Award at Toronto Film Festival and Best Feature Debut Award at Venice Film Festival.

The film is a breathtaking thriller that will keep you engrossed from beginning to end. La Zona is the name of a well-off residential area in Mexico DF that is cut off from its adjoining slums by a wall. …

Seminci is an International Film Festival held in the Spanish city of Valladolid. It was its 52nd edition this year, and once again I tried to watch as many films as possible.
There is so much going on during these ten days, that it is impossible to attend everything, even though there are several screenings for the films. The fact that the six cinemas showing the films are quite close to each other helps a lot. The main cinema hall is a theatre (Teatro Calderon) and that is where the opening and closing ceremonies take place, as well as some press conferences. However, I find it quite uncomfortable and it is more expensive, so I prefer the newer and more comfortable Cine Roxy. These two main cinemas are where most of the competition films are shown. The rest of the halls are for the …

So much of discussion on no-Smoking on the PFC . I haven’t seen the movie and would love to see it in a theatre, for it reminds me of an erstwhile experience of having watched a movie that merged the real and the surreal together. This was the Thamizh movie, “Kudaikkul Mazhai” directed by R.Parthiban. It released in the year 2004 and I was in Bangalore watching it in a small theatre.

In the promos of the movie and trailers, there was no scene from the movie that was shown. It was just a talk by the director saying that this movie is a commercial poem. I thought, you can never scare the audience better than by saying such nonsense. I thought that this guy simply has gone crazy again(usually he does go crazy and makes nonsense movies while coming up with some absolute gems inbetween).Thamizh press started floating news 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 …

Recently saw two movies. somehow similar. dont move and talk to her. one spanish, the other italian.

am not big fan of those hi-fi, sci-fi, mind-blowing, mind-fucking movies. just give me a good story. human drama where characters involve me in such a way that i just want to listen to them, be part of their stories for next 2hours. these two films turn about to be the same. there is no joy like discovering a good movie. And if its during the weekend, you cant ask for more.

Talk to her. Its Hable con ella in spanish by pedro almodovar. to be honest, whatever i have seen, m not big fan of his films. in my dictionary, i call them “kinky” films. m big follower of all kind of kinky movies but dont connect with them always. may be its the stories or those settings or the problems that his characters …

The festival has concluded and has, like all the festivals, has left a warehouse of memories, experiences and conversations. Before I go into the films of Day Three and Four, I would like to confess that it gets telling on your reactive senses if you try to catch up with all the films, because a festival is lot more about than just films. In this particular one, they were showing films at two places, one of the regular screen, and one upstairs on Aquascope, so like they said on the opening, save the possibility for you being two places at one time, you can’t watch all the films. And while I used to doze off a little in midst of a film, I quietly used to sneak out and realize there is so much happening that you can only enjoy the moment without much planning …

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 …

Silverstein: I can’t believe it! I’ve just figured out the thing about the egg and the chicken. How didn’t I see it before?!
Díaz: So which one was first?
Silverstein: The egg!
Díaz: And where does the egg come from?
Silverstein: I don’t know, but it’s an egg! From anywhere, from under a rock… from the sea… from another egg… It doesn’t really matter! You can have an egg appearing just like that, but not a fully grown chicken from nowhere! Who could even think about something like that happening? Don’t you get it?
Díaz: It’s possible.
Silverstein: Possible??? It’s obvious, Díaz!

***

I have lost count of the times I have seen Tiempo de valientes since it released. It is the kind of movie I can watch again and again and never get tired of, despite knowing …

When I was watching Bluffmaster the other day (yes, I am always behind regarding Indian cinema, but what to do?) the lift scene suddenly reminded me of one of my favourite Argentinian films Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas). They are both con movies and probably that is the only thing they have in common (apart from the mentioned scene and an unexpected end). I liked the idea of writing about Nueve Reinas because of Bluffmaster despite the fact that it is not a very recent film. So here we go.

Nine Queens is an engrossing thriller with a few touches of humour that will have you stuck to your seat like glue. A must-watch movie, I dare say. The plot is flawless, regardless its complexity. I have seen it at least four times and I am not sure I could tell which time I enjoyed the most- the first time, …

As the lights came on, I put on my beanie and slowly walked my way through the crowd towards the car. I turned the ignition on and waited… for the first of many tears to roll down.

For the last two hours, I was transported into a world where telling a story meant two words.

And Pan’s Labyrinth achieves that over and over again.

Forget the beautiful cinematography, the genius of a screenplay, the almost extinct way of telling a story, the amazing performances by the actors, the precision controlled special effects, the most sensitives touches in direction by Guillermo del Toro… forget them all… yet there will be something about Pan’s Labyrinth that will stay with you for a long time…

The hangover of having coming face to face with those two very words that reverberated over and over again during the movie… and now sit there across the table …

Sobrevivire (I Will Survive) is a simple movie, with a simple story, about a simple woman, that approaches greatness. And, maybe that is the genius of Spanish filmmakers. While filmmakers from so many other countries are creating bigger and showier movies, and even small independent films aspire to be large with multiple plot lines and convoluted camera shots and tricks, the Spanish churn out small films with interesting characters living everyday lives that leave me laughing and crying - in the case of this movie, both at the same time. Outside of Pedro Almodóvar, most film watchers are not aware of Spanish films, and only the truly serious film fans are familiar with Luis Buñuel or Salvador Dalí. This is a shame, some of the best films I have watched over the course of the last year have been little known comedies from Spain.

This film is the story of Marga, …

Along with Indian movies, Argentinian ones are my favourite at the moment. Completely different from each other, I know, but maybe that is what makes it more attractive and balanced, watching such different kind of cinema.

What I like about Argentinian films is their simplicity, the natural way in which the actors perform and the mixture of moving and emotive scenes with funny ones. Everything seems just like real life - there’s no happiness without pain and vice versa. Great sense of humour, Argentinians have. Another thing I admire them for is their ability to make a great piece of work on a small budget.

Derecho de familia (Family Law) is one of those simple stories that will touch your heart and at the same time will make you laugh. Awarded several prizes during last edition of Mar del Plata Film Festival, Derecho de …

I have been waiting for this release for months. I know the actors. I know the plot. I know the decisions that Almodóvar made about the music. I have read everything I can about this film. It is a movie about three generations of women from a small Spanish village in La Mancha and the relationships between these women – relationships shaped by murder, superstition, incest, and La Mancha itself. Most of the time when you are this familiar with a film before entering the theater, you know what to expect – what the relationships between the characters are, what the plot is, what is going to happen. But, what separates Almodóvar from other filmmakers is that every scene in this film brings the unexpected, nothing happens as I might have expected, and even though I knew about the murders and that one of the main character is a ghost, …

He has trivialized rape. Made insane people and the abhorrent things that they do appear normal. Turned violence into farce. Exorcised the demons of his Catholic school days. Glorified sadomasochism and sexual perversion. Blurred the lines of sexuality. Made drug usage comedic. Celebrated the strong women who raised him by creating strong female characters in his films. Explored the themes of family and the lengths that mothers and children will go in order to protect each other, and the different types of love and hate that are the foundation of family units. Treated homosexuality and his homosexual characters as characters, neither exploiting nor celebrating them. Made feminist movies. Made international film stars out of his muses and lovers, both male and female. And, made extremely beautiful, watchable films based on some of the most disturbing premises imaginable. And, to celebrate the US release of his new movie “Volver” (Spain’s …