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Lalit RaoMr. Lalit Rao is a veteran film critic as well as a French technical translator and interpreter from Jaipur, India. He is currently writing a book on 25 best French films (1990-2015). Since April 2013, he is the member of the prestigious film critics’ organization FIPRESCI. Apart from ‘‘World Cinema’’, he is interested in chess, foreign languages, linguistics and philosophy. As a film critic, he regularly posts about cinema on social networks namely Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. He is also the associate editor of the quarterly magazine ‘‘Cinematography Art’’ published from New Delhi, India. Mr. Lalit Rao has reported extensively on French language, philosophy and film festivals especially ‘‘World Cinema’’ through more than 40 blogs and 8 video channels. In 2008, he launched Cinema-poet 2008, his first YouTube channel about ‘‘World Cinema’’. In 2013, Mr. Lalit Rao launched his second YouTube channel called ‘Indian talkies 1913’ (Videos about Indian Cinema) to promote Indian cinema. It is on these two channels that he regularly uploads videos related to ‘‘Indian Cinema’’ and ‘‘World Cinema’’. https://www.youtube.com/@cinemapoet2008/videos https://www.youtube.com/@indiantalkies1913/videos One of India’s famous cinema journals ‘‘Deep Focus’’, and ‘‘Bangalore Film Society’’ were represented by him as their correspondent in Paris, France for 2005-2006. He also presented a paper on Canadian cinema entitled ‘‘A brief overview of Francophone cinema in Québec’’ during 20th International Conference on Canadian Studies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, 27-29 February, 2004. Apart from writing 1000 reviews on IMDB, it was in 1996 that Mr. Lalit Rao created ‘‘KINEMA’’, a database with information on 25,000 films from all over the world. His articles in French and English have appeared in magazines and websites such as Deep Focus, Filmfestivals.com Blog, Kinoglaz, Objectif-Cinema, Sancho Does Asia and Séquences. As a film critic, Mr. Lalit Rao has participated thrice in BBC polls to determine : a) 100 greatest foreign language films, b) 100 greatest films directed by women and c) 100 greatest comedies of all time. In April 2022, Mr. Lalit Rao was nominated as a jury member (short films) by Italian cinema and theater critic Ms.Paola Dei for 4th edition of Bulli Ed Eroi Concorsco Bellezza 2022 held in Sienna, Italy. In March 2022, Mr. Lalit Rao participated in 13th Bangalore International Film Festival 2022 (3-10th March, 2022) as a member of the prestigious FIPRESCI jury. His assignment included watching 12 Asian films in order to give the award to the best film. On 30/09/2021, Mr.Lalit Rao gave a message of congratulations to Iranian children on the occasion of National Children’s Week held in Iran from October 8 to 14, 2021. In February 2017, he participated as a jury member (Kannada Cinema) during 9th Bangalore International Film Festival 2017.In 2014, he attended 19th International Film Festival of Kerala 2014 as a member of FIPRESCI jury (Malayalam Cinema). Mr. Lalit Rao studied Master 2 at Université de Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris where he worked on ‘Distribution of Indian cinema’ in France. As a film critic, Mr. Lalit Rao has attended numerous film festivals in France and India !!
“The Promise”= A film about how ancient and modern worlds can coexist in order to make wines and people who make them happy ?Interest in wine and wine making has always fascinated humanity since olden times. However, this fascination has taken a completely new turn in contemporary times especially in an international market governed by numerous socio-economic concerns. This is one reason why there is always room for news as well as ‘works of art’ about anything related to wine. One can quote China's acquisition of 100 Bordeaux chateaux as a recent example. It can be stated that Asia’s dominance might be construed to be Europe’s loss. However, one has to bear in mind that ‘human element’ involved in wine making can neither be ignored nor disparaged. It is in this specific context that both wine enthusiasts and cinema lovers should watch “The Promise”, a new documentary film signed by veteran Serbian documentary filmmaker Zeljko Mirkovic and Dusan Gajic. Their film throws new light on wine making in Serbia, a country which continues to be associated with negative images especially those related to a bloody war of the past. Shot extensively in France as well as Serbia, “The Promise” is the tale of wine making in a small Serbian village called Rogljevo which had a long and illustrious history of wine making. Some of its older inhabitants take immense pride in the fact that wines from their village were exported to Austria, France and Italy in the past during communist regime. They are aware that times have changed and that there are hardly any young people who stay in Rogljevo in order to get involved in the commercial enterprise of wine making. Everything seems to change in Rogljevo with the arrival of a French couple Cyrille and Estelle. However, change is not so easy to come as a lot of old customs and traditions are involved. While watching “The Promise”, viewers would be able to realize how equal attention is paid to both wine making process and people who make it. Zeljko Mirkovic and Dusan Gajic take us on small tours of local vineyards where one gets to learn a lot about Serbian savoir faire involved in selection of grapes, cutting of grapes and workers involved in harvesting. Despite being victims of economic hardships, there is a sense of optimism in the lives of ordinary denizens of Rolgljevo as they believe that starting a cooperative would enable them to make progress in their lives. These moments have been captured professionally by cameramen Miodrag Trajkovic and Nikola Majdak Jr without resorting to any kind of overt sentimentality. Apart from “The Promise” some interesting documentary as well as feature films about wine have also been helmed in recent past with commercial success as well as critical acclaim. Discerning cinéphiles would remember ‘Mondovino’ directed by Jonathan Nossiter which depicted the impact of globalization on the world’s different wine producing nations. A lot of praise has also been showered on ‘Sideways’ directed by Alexander Payne. In many ways, Cyrille and Estelle remain this film’s true heroes as they have retained their humanistic perspective despite getting involved in a highly commercialized métier of winemaking where commercial gains reign supreme on everybody’s minds. Watching their personal involvement with Rogljevo’s inhabitants, one learns that profit making is not their primary concern even though they are doing their best to promote Rogljevo’s wines in France. Cyrille and Estelle derive more happiness by interacting with locals and having them at their home for lunch. They even invite an old Rogljevo granny to visit them in France in order to familiarize her with aspects of wine making outside of Serbia. Cyrille also speaks good Serbian which enables him to have a personal rapport with Rogljevo’s inhabitants. One should bear these good qualities in mind in order to counter a negligible part of hostility on behalf of local people who oppose some of Cyrille’s approaches related to wine making. Some of this film’s best moments are related to the old Rolgljevo’s granny’s journey to France. One learns a lot about contemporary world especially about how fast things are getting done in current times. In no time, granny gets her new passport, villagers celebrate her departure and she is on an airplane heading towards Paris. Lastly, promising results about the success of documentary films continue to be announced largely due to director Michael Moore’s honest efforts to propel audiences to throng cinemas in order to watch documentary films. Zeljko Mirkovic and Dusan Gajic's “The Promise” promises to be one such documentary film which would be remembered for its humane qualities. It has already been honored at some of the prestigious film festivals in USA. This is one key reason to watch this film in order to learn how ancient and modern worlds can coexist in order to make wines and people who make them happy. © Mr.Lalit Rao (FIPRESCI)
01.05.2017 | Lalit Rao's blog Cat. : FIPRESCI Lalit Rao The Promise Zeljko Mirkovic Independent
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Mr. Lalit Rao (member-FIPRESCI) writes for this website on a regular basis as a film critic publishing reviews on his profile. In February 2017, he participated as jury member during 9th Bangalore International Film Festival 2017. In 2014, he attended 19th International Film Festival of Kerala 2014 as a member of film critics’ jury. As a film critic, Mr.Lalit Rao has attended film festivals in India as well as France namely International Film Festival of India (IFFI), International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), Festival International de Films de Femmes de Créteil, Paris : Cinéma du Réel-Festival International de films documentaires, Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent? Saint-Denis, Rencontres Internationales du Cinéma de Patrimoine, Vincennes & Festival International des Cinémas d'Asie, Vesoul. View my profile Send me a message The EditorUser contributions |