NJISACF 2011 - Fifth New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest |
Fifth New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest (NJISACF), 2011,
produced by the Asian American Film and Theater Project, will showcase independent films by or about South Asian women from all over the world that challenge the stereotypical and traditional portrayal of South Asian women
in mainstream commercial cinema. The two day-long festival will introduce new and
established independent women film artists, from South Asia and the South Asian
Diaspora. The festival will also feature filmmaker Q&As and panel discussions with
participation from scholars and academics from a variety of disciplines.
Jury and Audience Choice Prizes will be awarded for excellence in various categories.
Filmmakers are invited to submit films of all genres, formats and length. Submission
form and guidelines are available at www.njisacf.org Submission forms may also be requested by sending an email to asamfilmtheater@yahoo.com
Submission deadline is July 16, 2011 |
Indian Independent Filmmakers at Cannes Film Festival, 2011 |
Bollywood, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told,an 81-minute documentary
film that celebrates the dazzling world of Hindi cinema,produced by Shekhar
Kapur and UTV motion picture and directed by 'Delhi 6' helmer Rakeysh Omprakash
Mehra and documentary filmmaker Jeff, was screened out of competition at the Cannes
Film Festival which opened on May 11, at the seaside town of the French Riviera.
“The documentary is a result of a conversation I had with Thierry Fremaux
at Cannes last year. He spoke of the international audience’s fascination
with Bollywood. But it was his inability to find a film that he could show in the
main section, that urged me to make a film especially for Cannes,” says Shekhar
Kapur.
Vimukhi Jayasundara Satish Manwar’s Gabhricha Paus (Damned Rain), produced
by Prashant Pethe, which had its East Coast premiere at the New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest (NJISACF) 2009, featured in Cannes
Cinéphiles, Junior section. Aimed at a young audience, the film is among
8-10 movies chosen because they highlight themes or depict worlds that may provide
topics of thought for young people viewing them. Cannes Cinéphiles (Cannes
Film Enthusiasts) is an event organised by Cannes Cinéma and the Festival
de Cannes to provide public screenings from the Official Selection, as well as films
that have travelled worldwide.
Did you know…. the first Indian film to win a top award
at the Cannes Film Festival was not Satyajit Ray’s Pather
Panchali (Song Of The Road). It was Neecha Nagar (Lowly City),
a 1946 Hindi film directed by Chetan Anand and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. It
shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award at the
first Cannes Film Festival in 1946. |
And, the Winners are... |
Jan Villa, aUSA –India co-produced film, directed by Indian filmmaker
Natasha Mendonca, recently won the Tiger Award for short film at the 40th International
Film Festival Rotterdam 2011 held from January 26 through February
6. The film shared the top award with the Belgian film Stardust directed
by Nicolas Provost and a US film Pastourelle by Nathaniel Dorsky.
 Natasha Mendonca  Biju Viswanatah Mexico’s Golden Palm also went to Indian documentaries, Burma In Peace (directed by Arun Sharma), You are Not Forgotten (directed
by Samrat Chakravarty) and Made in India (directed by Rebecca Haimowitz
and Vaishali Sinha).
 Anjan Das Banshiwala,
a Bengali feature film based on a story by Shirshendu Mukhopadhaay and directed
by Anjan Das, has bagged the Bronze Palm Award at the same Festival. According to the festival organizers, the film has "demonstrated excellent
and outstanding film-making and is deserving of special recognition."
After winning a special mention at Venice last year, Amit Dutta returns to the prestigious
European festival with his feature film Nainsukh. The film is based on the life
of 18th-century Indian painter Nainsukh of Guler.
Amit’s first feature film (an anthology of three short stories) Man’s woman and
other stories had won a special mention at the festival last year.
Nainsukh will be screened in the Horizons section of the festival.
A 10-year old Dalit girl from India is the director of Dhanwarlo O’
Avva (A Grandma in Dharwar). In her movie, made in 2010, the young
girl, who comes from a family in rural India, follows her 80-year old grandmother
as she engages in ecological farming. The film was screened at the 7th IAWRT
Asian Women's Film Festival 2011 (The International Association of
Women in Radio and Television). |
Tagore Stories
on Film |
 Rabindranath Tagore
The five feature films in the pack are: Tapan Sinha’s Khudito Pashan (Hungry Stones), 1960, in Bengali; Satyajit Ray’s Teen
Kanya (Three Daughters), 1961, in Bengali, based on three of Tagore’s
stories, The Post Master, Monihara and Samapti; Hemen Gupta’s Kabuliwala, 1961, in Hindi; Satyajit Ray’sGhare Bhaire (Home and the World) 1984; Kumar Shahani’s Char Adhyay (Four Chapters), 1997, in Hindi, based on Tagore’s novella
of the same name.
The sixth DVD has two documentaries on Tagore’s life, one made by Satyajit
Ray in 1961 and the other, the silent film Natir Puja, a compilation of
footage directed by Rabindranath Tagore himself, shot on the occasion of his 70th
birth anniversary.Tagore also played an important role in it. |
Books |
 Girish Kasaravalli The master filmmaker from India, was introduced to the American east coast audience
by the New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest in 2009 and
2010 through the screenings of Gulabi Talkies in 2009 and Nayi Neralu
(The Shadow of the Dog) in 2010.
Now the acclaimed film critic, Pradip Biswas, has published two books on those films.
The first one is : Girish and Gulabi Talkies (Arsenal, Kolkata),
and the second one The Shadow of the Dog: A Critique (Dasgupta & Company, Kolkata).
 Adoor Gopalakirshnan |
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