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Siraj Syed is the India Correspondent for FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. He is a Film Festival Correspondent since 1976, Film-critic since 1969 and a Feature-writer since 1970. He is also an acting and dialogue coach. @SirajHSyed
IFFI 50: Opening highlights
A star-studded opening hosted the King of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan, and legendary Rajinikanth, who flagged off the extravaganza at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, Bambolim, Goa, on 20th November.
Official dignitaries present at the launch of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019 were Honourable Information and Broadcasting (I & B) Minister in the Central Government, Prakash Javdekar, Honourable Chief Minister of Goa, Dr. Pramod Sawan...
6th Rajasthan International Film Festival, RIFF, 2020: Preparations in full swing
RIFF 2020 will have its Opening Ceremony on 18th January, 2020, 5 pm onwards, at Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK Open Air Theatre), Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The festival will have film screenings and talk shows at Cinépolis, World Trade Park (WTP), JLN Marg, Jaipur.
RIFF 2020 Closing Ceremony and Awards Night will be held on 22nd January, 2020, 6 pm onwards, at Birla Auditorium.
The organisers are pleased t...
IFFI 50: Press conference of the opening film, Despite the Fog
The 50th edition of the International Film Festival of India began in Goa on November 20 with the screening of the Italian film, Despite the Fog. Speaking at the press conference with the cast and crew, Director Goran Paskaljevic, who has also served as Jury head at the 44th edition of IFFI, said, that the film looks at the ‘serious issue revolving around minor (child) refugees in Europe. “It’s an intimate story....
IFFI 50: Films scene and partly seen films
As is the norm at film festivals, I walked out of many a film that could not sustain my interest beyond the first few minutes. In one case, I sat till 90 minutes, before deciding that it had gone too far without going anywhere. International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019, Panaji, November 20-28, will go down as a festival where my choices, and in many cases, films which I had to see because I had no choice, were under-whelmingly disappointing. I...
IFFI 50: Screenplay, cinematography and production design are the 3 most important--Priyadarshan
At the ongoing 50th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, the Chairperson of the Feature Films Jury of Indian Panorama Mr. Priyadarshan Nair, eminent director, along with fellow jury members Mrs. Sreelekha Mukherji, Mr. Harish Bhimani and Mr. Vinod Ganatra and Mrs. Aarti Shrivastava and Mr. Ronel Haobam, Jury members of Non-Feature Films Section, participated i...
NFDC’s Film Bazaar 2019 ends, with multiple awards for several projects
~ The Prasad Digital Intermediate (DI) award by Prasad Labs and the Moviebuff Appreciation Awards (DCP) 2018 were awarded to ‘Pedro’ by Natesh Hegde and ‘Swizerland’ by Ajitpal Singh from the WIP Lab and ‘Pinki Elli?’ (Where Is Pinki?) by Prithvi Konanur, from the FBR section~
~‘Laila Aur Satt Geet’ (The Shepherdess And The Seven Songs) by Pushpendra Singh won the VKA...
NFDC’s Film Bazaar 2019 showcases 14 projects
The selection presents projects from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, France, Nepal, Singapore and USA. The line-up is an eclectic mix of stories in Hindi, English, Bengali, Malayalam, Assamese, Nepali, Dzongkha (Bhutanese) and Gujarati from established filmmakers as well as new talent.
After the success of Open Pitch, in previous editions, this year again, the selected filmmakers have been pitching their projects to a curated audience of nationa...
IFFI 50: Russian delegation press conference--Bringing the spirits of India, Russia together
Joint production of films and cultural exchange through films will bring the spirit of India and Russia together, said Russian Ambassador to India Mr. Nikolay Kudashev. A joint agreement was signed at Vladivostok in Russia, during September 2019, for expanding cultural exchanges between the two countries. It is time to take advantage of the agreement by working together and reaching our common aims, h...
Film Bazaar 2019: Film pitches, hectic meetings, panel discussions
Held on the sidelines of the 50th International Film festival of India (IFFI), Goa, 2019,
at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, the Film Bazaar is an annual event organised by the National Film Development Corporation of India, over four days.
The second day of the 13th Film Bazaar continued with hectic meetings, insightful knowledge sessions, and workshops filled with insights for participants.
Here are...
Very nice initiative from our correspondent in India Siraj Syed
"A press conference was held on 19th November, on the eve of the inauguration of the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), at Maquinez Palace, Panaji, Goa. It was addressed by the Chief Minister of Goa (ESG), Mr. Pramod Sawant, who is also the Chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, and Mr. Chaitanya Prasad, Director of IFFI, among others.
It was revealed at the PC that the cost of organising IFFI 2019 was...
IFFI 50: A.K. Bir, chairing IFFI’s Technical Committee for over 12 years
To enjoy a film in the way the maker meant it to be enjoyed is a blessing. We, who are attending the 50th International Film Festival of India, Panaji, Goa, know how important it is to enjoy a film in the right ambience. A small error, and the joy could be ruined. To make sure no such thing happens, IFFI has a Technical Committee in place, headed by A.K. Bir, himself a renowned cinematographer, screen-writer and fi...
IFFI 50: 11 Golden Lining films, made in 1969, to be part of IFFI’s golden jubilee screenings
IFFI, in its 50th edition, dedicates a section for Films, released in 1969, who turn 50 this year. These include National Award winning Films from all parts of India and bring in its fold, all the Indian Film Industry. The package includes Films in Odiya, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Assamese and Malayalam languages.
One of the movies featured on this section is Tambdi Mati, by Bh...
IFFI 50: 15 firsts at the 2019 festival
1. International Film Festival of India, IFFI 2019, will witness 90 India Premieres, 6 World Premieres and 11 Asia Premieres of Films.
2. In a first for IFFI, a special award named Icon of Golden Jubilee of IFFI has been constituted, by the Government of India. This award will be bestowed to superstar Rajinikanth, during Inaugural Ceremony.
3. IFFI 2019 will see ...
Marjavaan, Review: Monica, harmonica, loyalty, penalty, cute, mute, swords, words
Umpteenth reworking of the Godfather theme, albeit with a couple of new angles, Marjaavaan is definitely not a film to die for. Old songs are recycled, the religious divide is milked, fights are conceived as moves of dance choruses and a violently doomed love story is thrown in to add to the misery of the lead couple. See it only if you like to feast yourself on blood and gore, tragedy and heartbreak.
Translate...
Charlie’s Angels, Review: Bossy angels and Bosleys
A dozen or more women in breath-taking action is not a common feature on the Hollywood screen, or, for that matter, on any screen. Charlie’s Angels take on a charity thief and some invention grabbers in an adventure that takes them from Brazil to Hamburg to Turkey. Along the way, you discover that all the men in the film, bar two, are either evil or bumped off or both. There is an action overdose on occasions when it was not requi...
Jhalki, Review: Stop stealing childhood from children
After much-raved biopics on Rahul Dev Burman and Jagjit Singh, director Brahmanand S. Siingh trains his lens on an issue that is based on true incidents and is a burning topic for Indian society at large. It brought Kailash Satyarthi the Nobel Peace Prize, and he is both depicted as well as present in the film. How many film-makers can make any such claim? The subject is child-trafficking, and employing little children in carpet factories,...
IFFI 50: Dying 3 year-old war victim’s last words, “I’m Gonna Tell God Everything”
One of the most important and persistent crises that we face today is the crisis of war, displaced persons and immigration. The Syrian immigrant crisis has found cinematic voice through master film-makers over the last few years, as an acknowledgement to this ongoing crisis.
The film, I’m Gonna Tell God Everything, borrows its title from the last words of a 3 year-old Syrian boy...
IFFI 50: Homage to Bernardo Bertolucci
Bertolucci, who was born in 1941, passed away at last year at the age of 77. He has been acclaimed for two of his most important films--Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor. The former was embroiled in controversy for its explicit sexual content but also won a nomination for Marlon Brando at the Academy Awards, while the latter film, which was an adaptation of the autobiography of China’s last imperial ruler, Pu Yi, won 9 Oscars. Bertolucci bec...
IFFI 50: British film-maker Ken Loach to have a Retrospective at IFFI 2019
Two times Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach is widely acclaimed across international cinema as an independent film-maker and documentarian. He is known for his socialist ideals, which reflect in his movies, movies which mostly deal with British life and some modern issues, like industrial and technological developments.
From issues like urban poverty in Poor Cow, labour rights in Riff-Raff and The Navigators, state ...
IFFI 50: Russia to be Country of Focus, with seven films
Every year, IFFI features a Country of Focus that brings out the cinematic excellence and contributions of that particular country. In its 50th edition of the festival, IFFI 2019, the Country of Focus is Russia. This section will showcase seven movies from the country.
One of the movies featured is the film Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer, a documentary that recounts Tarkovsky’s life and work, letting the director tell the stor...
Prithvi Festival 2019: Bone of Contention is a motor-mouth hysterical farce, as the crow flies
A comedy is what you would automatically expect from a theatre group that calls itself FATS theARTS, and a comedy it is. A farce to be precise. A nod to Molière, the full name of the play seen on 09 November at Prithvi Theatre was Bone of Contention in Cosmopolitan Co-Operative Housing Society. That’s quite a mouthful, and every character in the play had a mouthful to offer, over the 90...
Bala, Review: Haireditory and dark humour
Two films in rapid succession about hair loss are about as rare as a new lock of hair sprouting on a bald pate. Whereas Ujda Chaman had the relatively unknown Sunny Singh Nijjar and Maanvi Gagroo playing the lead roles, Bala has National Award winning (shared) actor Ayushmann Khurrana, and by now well established actresses Bhumi Pednekar and Yami Gautam. Time has come when insider jokes, vulgar dialogue, mimicry and stand-up comedy are expected from K...
Midway, Review: Exactly
When you make a war movie, based on facts, you might be motivated to give a slightly balanced view of events, for every country that goes to war has its reasons and its heroes. Your sympathies might lie with the nation where the film is produced, yet, unless your motive is jingoism and ultra-nationalism, you will give some weightage to the enemy’s point of view. Also, a faithful recreation means detailing and realistic characterisation, which when juxtaposed agai...
Prithvi Festival 2019, Review—Ek Natak Aisa Bhi: Beggars can be choosers
Begging is an art, as has been repeatedly proven by reports of fortunes being discovered after the death of certain beggars and the numerous jokes about begging. In Ek Natak Aisa Bhi (A Play of This Type), by Rangshila Theatre Group, the author chronicles the adventures and mishaps that occur in the lives of two professional beggars, who work in tandem. Largely a string of jokes, many derived from films and film-st...
Prithvi Festival 2019: Untitled 1, Review--Poison, its forms, uses and doses
As a Big Brother is Watching state, the concept was explored by George Orwell in 1948. He called it ‘1984’, by merely reversing the last two digits of the year he wrote the book in, and placing it 36 years into the future. Playwright Annie Zaidi sets Untitled1 in the present, or the very near future, with the same concept: An authoritarian state that wants to control what people say, hear, watch, write, r...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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