Association of Voice Artistes (AVA) honored superstar Amitabh Bachchan & Shahrukh Khan with “AVA AWARDS 2005” for their voicing talents in a grand glitering show at Bombay Exhibition center, NSE Complex, Goregaon in Mumbai on May 27, 2006. Where as, Mr. Ajay Chadhdha (Lifetime Achivement), Vinod Kulkarni (Male voice of the year), Swati Subramaniam (Female voice of the year), Dot-Spot Production ( Pt Vinod Sharma Trophy for the Radio Play “Chinmasta”), Lingo (Production House Radio), Fil...

The 27th Durban International Film Festival - 14 to 25 June 2006 A selection of the best in current world cinema, most of which are premiere showings on the continent, will be on offer during the 27th Durban International Film Festival which takes place from 14 to 25 June. An extensive programme of over 300 screenings at 25 different venues across the Durban district will be augmented by free workshops and seminars to inspire young filmmakers and stimulate the film industry in KwaZulu-Natal. Wit...

3rd ANNUAL SLAMDANCE ON STAGE OPENS MONDAY, APRIL 3rdwith cast members from the hit TV show, “Just Shoot Me” in key rolesThe 3rd season of Slamdance on Stage, the exciting culmination of the 2005 Slamdance Screenplay and Teleplay Competitions begins Monday, April 3rd at 7:30 pm with a reading of Love and Letters, featuring cast members from “Just Shoot Me”- Enrico Calentoni, Wendie Malick and Laura San Giacomo. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night through the month of April theater...

Yesterday, Hot Docs announced its official programming line-up for the 2006 festival, coinciding with the opening of the CBC Newsworld Advance Box Office, where tickets and passes for Hot Docs screenings can be purchased from now until the end of the festival. Hot Docs will screen 99 films from 23 countries between April 28 - May 7, including 18 world premieres, 17 international premieres, 13 North American premieres, 30 Canadian premieres, and seven Toronto premieres. Hot Docs' Canadian Spectru...

For a certain niche group of cinephiles ever since the release of a film called "Shakespeare Wallah" in 1965, the "Merchant-Ivory" label has become synonymous with high-class rarified taste in cinema in some way associated with India ("A Passage to India", "Heat and Dust"), or, in the later collaborations of this producer-director team, with ultra refined literary adaptations set in Victorian England such as "The Remains of the Day", and "Howard's end". To be brutally frank, since "Merchant-Ivor...

THE NEW INDIAN "PARALLEL" CINEMAAn Interview with Ruchi NarainYoung Bombay director Ruchi Narain has been a guest of the River to River Festival introducing her debut feature "KAL - Yesterday and Tomorrow", a ground-breaking exercise in style representative of the "Beyond Bollywood" new wave of "parallel" Indian cinema. The film itself, employing mostly unknown new actors, is a kind of contemporary thriller in a rapid-fire multi-media style focussing on the lives of the well-heeled style-consc...

A conversation with Selvaggia VeloFestival Director; ‘River to River’ Florence Indian Film FestivalWendy DentSV: How did it begin? In ’98 I organised an exhibition of Bollywood movie banners. Still Bollywood was not fashion in Europe. And so this was done, and then in ’99 we invited those same painters, artists, to have a live show during the Florentine summer. There are a lot of events during the summer here in Florence, the start of Fiorentina. And so those painters were coming and ...

Florence -- Firenze -- the city of Dante, Michelangelo, Botticelli's Venus ... and also of the first and only film festival in Europe dedicated exclusively to Indian film! Officially called the "RIVER TO RIVER INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF FLORENCE, director Selvaggia Velo, explains that this appellation refers to the holy river Ganges in India and the local waterway, the Arno, which flows through this exquisite Tuscan city into the Tyrrhenian Sea near Pisa. So – how did such a festival get started ...

Florence -- Firenze -- the city of Dante, Michelangelo, Botticelli's Venus ... and also of the first and only film festival in Europe dedicated exclusively to Indian film! Officially called the "RIVER TO RIVER INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF FLORENCE, director Selvaggia Velo, explains that this appelation refers to the holy river Ganges in India and the local waterway, the Arno, which flows through this exquiste Tuscan city into the Tyrrhenian sea near Pisa. How did such a festival get started here? -...

On the occasion of the seventh edition of Thespo, one of the most publicised youth festivals in India, Quasar Thakore Padamsee speaks to filmfestivals.com and eSTQ.Q. You're the son of famous theatre parents? What's your early memories about the theatre? Late night rehearsals, hanging around back-stage, being allowed to play the fool? Mother memorising her lines while readying you for school?A. My early memories of theatre are all about backstage. And peering through the wings. I remember being ...

The Global Film Initiative, a non-traditional film distributor specializing in independent films from the developing world, today announced the membership of its Film Board, internationally-recognized filmmakers, producers and visionaries who support the mission of The Initiative. The sixteen charter members of the Film Board span four continents, and share a passion for independent film from the developing world. Through these industry leaders, The Global Film Initiative reaches out to communi...

Classic films outdooor screenings at Montreal Festival from August 26 to September 5, 2005, showing at the Esplanade of the Place des Arts on Ste-Catherine Street.Thousands of film lovers and festival-goers each year enjoy watching films projected nightly on the giant outdoor screen. These films, box office hits, classics of the seventh art and films that have graced the Festival's screens in the past, are shown beginning at 8:30 p.m.For the duration of the Festival, every day at 2, 4 and 6 p.m....

ZLÍN 2005 – INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTHMay 29 – June 4, 2005The 45th International Film Festival for Children and Youth, which will last until Saturday, June 4, was started in Zlín on Sunday, May 29, 2005.Every year, the Zlín film festival brings its viewers dozens of films from all over the world. The main pillars of the festival are international competitions of feature and animated films for children and youth. Within the framework of support for young filmmakers...

PROGRAMME RIVER TO RIVER. FLORENCE INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2004WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8Cinema Hall16.30 Chameli, Sudhir Mishra, hindi-english&italian subt., 105’, col., 35mm., India, 2003All in one night: a stock market agent crosses his road with the one of a prostitute.18.30 Bollywood Remixed, Herbert Krill, hindi&english-english subt., 77’, col., Betacam, Austria-Germany, 2003 Faces, stories, visions and sounds of Bollywood.After the film, Q&A with Herbert Krill20.30 Waisa bhi hota hai-Shit Hap...

The fourth edition of the festival organized by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) wrapped November 7. Dedicated to showcasing filmmakers of Indian origin it had a successful four day run at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre and the Anthology Film Archives. As Aaron Shivdansani, the executive director of IAAC stressed in her welcoming speech, the opening film BRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Gurinder Chandha was not meant for afficiendos interested in high culture, an observation applicable t...

International Offspring for the Berlinale Talent Campus With the Talent Campus India (19 - 23 July), that finished only recently, the idea behind Berlinale Talent Campus was exported to Asia for the first time. 50 film talents from all over India joined the workshops of Osian's Cinefan Film Festival to learn from the likes of cameraman Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love) and Mohsen and Samira Makhmalbaf.The Berlinale Talent Campus is extending its network further: This year similar events w...

River to River. Florence Indian Film FestivalFrom December 10-14, 2003 the third edition of the River to River Florence Indian Film Festival, the only European film festival entirely dedicated to cinema both from and about India, will arrive in Florence. The festival is organized by Luca Marziali and Selvaggia Velo of bdjMEDIA.Screenings will take place at the Spazio Uno Cinema in Via del Sole, 10, Florence - Italy. PRESS RELEASE N.3River to River. Florence Indian Film FestivalFrom December 10-1...

BOLLYWOOD AND BEFOREIndia has an extremely prolific film industry turning out anything between 700 and 800 films a year, with peaks sometimes reaching more than 900! (905 in 1985, for example.) Most of these films are produced in regional centres in languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam... Indeed India is made up of 22 States and has 17 main languages. The Bollywood term covers films produced in Hindi in the Bombay studios. Although such films only account for a quarter of the total Indian...