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Fourth Gulf Film Festival to honour French filmmaker Gérard Courant

2011-03-21T22:25:00.000+04:00

GFF to screen films from Courant’s repertoire of more than 300 films across Dubai Festival City

· Delegates can also participate in world’s longest film, 156-hour ‘Cinématon,’ featuring short, silent, self-portraits of over 2,347 artists, directors, and cinephiles

Eminent experimental filmmaker Gérard Courant, who holds the world record for the longest film ever made, the 156-hour Cinématon, will be in the spotlight at the fourth Gulf Film Festival, the home of bold, experimental and contemporary cinema from the Arabian peninsula. The Festival will be held from April 14 to 20, 2011, at Dubai Festival City.

Gérard Courant

One of the most prolific filmmakers of recent times, with more than 300 films under his belt, Courant is also a master of conceptual and lyrical cinema. His work includes contemplative feature films, films made of still images and negative images, films that revisit a single event over 24 years, in addition to his most well-known work, Cinématon, made over 33 years and featuring short, silent self-portraits of more than 2,347 artists, directors and cinephiles including Jean-Luc Godard, Sergie Bardaghnouf and Youssef Chahine shot in single takes.

The fourth edition of the Gulf Film Festival will showcase films from Courant’s repertoire in its ‘In Focus’ segment on screens across the Dubai Festival Centre mall. The films not only provide a glimpse of Courant’s stylistic ingenuity, but also the breadth of the subjects he has explored. As with all GFF films, these will be free and open to the public. Festival delegates will also have the opportunity to participate in Cinématon.

Jean-Luc Godard

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Festival Director, Gulf Film Festival, said the showcase of Courant’s films is intended to inspire emerging filmmakers to experiment with various media, styles and interpretations and find their own way.

“Courant and his body of work embody what the Gulf Film Festival is trying to achieve,” he said. “His films are avant-garde; they defy conventional methods of filmmaking to create works that are in a league of their own. He is relentlessly devoted to his craft, investing time and energy into breaking new ground. He is a fine example for filmmakers trying to find their own voice, and we are delighted to welcome him to Dubai.”

Salah Sermini, Consultant, Gulf Film Festival, said: “Gerard Courant is undoubtedly considered one of the most innovative filmmakers of our time, and it is an honour for cinema lovers in the Middle East to witness his pioneering work through the Gulf Film Festival. We look forward to showcasing this brilliant filmmaker and his works to the residents and visitors of the United Arab Emirates, through a series of screenings and other activities.”

Youssef Chahine

In addition to Cinematon, some of Courant’s best-known works include Aditya, 24 Passions, She’s a Very Nice Lady, Shiva, Marilyn, Guy Lux, and Nuns, and Rasage.

In previous years, the Gulf Film Festival’s ‘In Focus’ segment celebrated innovative French filmmaker Francois Vogel; in addition to screenings, Vogel participated in interactive public sessions.

The fourth edition of the Gulf Film Festival will be held from April 14 to 20, 2011, at the InterContinental Hotel and Grand Cinemas at Dubai Festival City. The 2011 Festival includes a Gulf competition for student, feature and documentary films, an international shorts competitions, out-of-competition segments, a master class by renowned director Abbas Kiarostami and other special events. All films are free and open to the public.

Gulf Film Festival to host master class on filmmaking with Abbas Kiarostami

2011-03-08T14:02:00.000+04:00

1st master class by world-renowned director in the Gulf region

Registration open until March 21 for filmmakers from GCC, Iraq and Yemen

Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami

The Gulf Film Festival, the home of contemporary cinema from the Arabian peninsula, will host the first-ever master-class of acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the Gulf region on April. The fourth edition of the Festival, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), will run from April 14 to 20, 2011.

The 10-day Kiarostami master class, scheduled for April 11 to 20 in Dubai, is open to filmmakers in the Gulf countries, Iraq and Yemen and will be held in association with Documentary Voices, a documentary festival focused on social issues. Kiarostami, one of the most respected names in international cinema, will provide hands-on practical training for up to 40 participants, guiding them through every stage of filmmaking.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Festival Director, said: “We are honoured to host world-famous filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in Dubai for this master class held in association with Documentary Voices. Having defined his niche in cinema with compelling masterpieces, Kiarostami has a strong command of the medium, which inspires aspiring filmmakers around the world. Our partnership in hosting the maestro highlights our commitment to further strengthen the talent of Gulf filmmakers, and drive the regional film industry.”

Kiarostami, whose career and body of work have drawn more than 70 awards and honours across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, said he is looking forward to getting to know and work with talent from the Arab world in Dubai.

The renowned director will help participants develop a topic and their stories, guide their shoots on location, review their rough cuts and advise them on post-production aspects. The films, each between one to five minutes long, will undergo a final review by Kiarostami, who will comment on each work. The legendary auteur will also screen clips from his films and discuss them with participants, providing unique insights into his style and world.

“Quality filmmaking is possible under all types of limitations, including location, equipment, political and economical; and this workshop is designed to help filmmakers work within the available means,” Kiarostami says.

“This will not be a classical academic filmmaking workshop, but a very interactive one to encourage filmmakers to overcome their fears, frustrations and financial issues and start producing. Enough of lectures, sitting in the classroom or writing, let’s make our films now.”

Kiarostami, voted the most important film director of the 1990s by two independent film critic polls, has conducted filmmaking master-classes at top-tier film festivals and accomplished film schools. Films by his students have captivated audiences through their screenings at global film festivals and on television, highlighting the collaboration and knowledge-sharing that marks his master classes.

A flagbearer of the Iranian new wave in cinema, Kiarostami has made over 40 films including shorts and documentaries. His acclaimed films include Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us and the Koker Trilogy. Most recently, his film Certified Copy won critical acclaim at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival with its lead actress, Juliette Binoche winning the Best Actress laurel at the festival. His works have also won the recognition of fellow world masters like Jean Luc Goddard, Nanni Moretti, Chris Marker, Ray Carney, Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorsese, among others.

Registration for the Kiarostami master class in Dubai is available through the websites of the Gulf Film Festival (www.gulffilmfestival.com) and Documentary Voices (www.documentaryvoices.com). Registration will be open until March 21, 2011.

The fourth Gulf Film Festival, which will include a competition for professionals and students from the GCC, Iraq and Yemen and an international shorts competition, is supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and is held in association with Dubai Studio City.

Mithun Da not amused at Jay’s mimicry!

2011-03-01T16:05:00.000+04:00

Dada frowns as Jay sits on the Grandmaster’s chair and imitates his style

Killing time between shots on the sets of DID Doubles, host Jay Bhanushali decided to get a li’l cheeky and amuse himself as also the three mentors Geeta Kapur, Master Marzi Pestonji and Rajeev Surti by running up to Grandmaster Mithun Da’s chair while he had stepped out for a break and doing an elaborate mimicry of Dada’s signature lines and typical mannerisms!

Jay sat in Dada’s unmistakable ‘bent to one side’ pose, stood up with a start like he often does and vigorously started darting out Mithun Da’s famous Grand salutes and ‘Kya Baat! Kya Baat! Kya Baat!’. Seeing that he had the audience and the mentors in splits with his almost perfect mimicry of Dada, Jay went one step further and started copying Dada’s style of flirting with Shveta and Geeta Ma. Little did he know that when he was halfway into Mithun Da’s mimicry, the man himself had walked back into the studio and was standing right behind the Grandmaster’s chair!

Since Jay didn’t seem to have intentions of ending his tomfoolery, Dada decided to tap him on the shoulder in the middle of his act, sending Jay jumping and running for cover! Sitting on the chair that is rightfully only his, Mithun da said, ‘Jay, never again on my chair! See what I make you do if you come anywhere close to this chair. And watch your back now that you’ve imitated me in front everybody!’ Do we see a trembling Jay Bhanushali hiding below the Grandmaster’s chair?

Stay tuned to DID Doubles every Friday and Saturday at 20.00 on Zee TV.

Eighth Edition of DIFF to focus on Germany

2011-02-16T15:41:00.000+04:00

Goethe-Institut, German Films, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and others to join with DIFF to present best of contemporary German film and talent, boost collaboration between Arab world and German studios, distributors, development bodies

· Eighth edition of DIFF to be held from December 7 to 14

For its eighth edition, the Dubai International Film Festival will host a special focus on Germany, reinforcing the cultural and business connections between the Arab world and the European nation, the DIFF team announced at the 61^st Berlin International Film Festival recently. DIFF 2011 will be held from December 7 to 14 this year.

In addition to showcasing contemporary German cinema and talent, the In Focus: Germany presentation will also introduce German producers, distributors, sales agents, studios, scouts, festivals and development agencies to their counterparts in Dubai and the wider Arab world.

DIFF is developing this year’s In Focus segment with the Goethe-Institut, the nation’s cultural ambassador around the world; German Films, in charge of marketing and promotion of German films and its film industry; and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, one of Europe’s premier film commissions involved in film funding and location development and marketing.

Mariette Rissenbeer, German Films;

Shivani Pandya, DIFF;

Susanne Sporrer, Goethe-Institut;

Jane Williams, DIFF Industry Office.

Abdulhamid Juma, Chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival, said: “The Arab world, and the UAE in particular, shares a thriving relationship with Germany across domains from education to exports. We are proud to play our part in expanding these relationships by expanding ties with our peers in the German film industry and facilitating their engagement with the Arab world and its film community through Dubai and the Dubai International Film Festival.”

With DIFF growing in both its industry dimension through the Dubai Film Market and its public-facing dimension via its success in screenings, workshops and other events, filmgoers and the region’s talent and businesses will benefit from the relationship.

DIFF Managing Director Shivani Pandya said: “German organizations, producers and investors from The World Cinema Fund to ZDF/Arte have long supported filmmakers from around the Arab world through co-productions, funding, broadcast and knowledge sharing, and this year’s DIFF focus is both a recognition of their valuable support and an effort to boost these collaborations.”

Susanne Sporrer, Director of the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, said: “DIFF gives us a wonderful opportunity to present for the very first time the variety and quality of German cinema in a concentrated way in the United Arab Emirates. It is our aim to make the international audience in the Emirates more familiar with German film in general. At the same time we want to encourage German filmmakers to get a deeper insight into a culture which is still not very well known in Europe. Since the film sector in the Emirates has been developing amazingly in the last years it is definitely an intriguing time to experience the new creative energy in this part of the world and to boost mutual understanding.”

Germany, the third largest economy in the world and the largest in Europe, is also a country of cinema legend, with a history dating back to the 1890s and a tradition of major technical and artistic contributions to world cinema including the 61-year-old Berlinale, one of the world’s leading film festivals. Films from around the Arab world have been a consistent feature at the Berlinale, and this year’s roster includes UAE national Khalid Mahmood’s award-winning short Sabeel.

In previous years, the Dubai International Film Festival’s annual tribute to cinematic excellence has focused on Italy, France and Mexico, receiving actors, directors, producers, films and industry delegates from each nation.

Ujala Asianet 2011 film Awards announced

2011-01-03T17:45:00.001+04:00

Asianet announced the winners of Ujala Asianet 2011 film awards in 28 categories. Ujala Asianet is one of the popular and prestigious award given to the artistes in Malayalam cinema. The winners will receive cash price and a memento designed by artist Namboothiri.

Ujala Asianet Award nite is planned as a memorable event with colourfull performance and participation of leading heros and heroines from the Indian film industry. Celebrities from Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil film industries will not only participate but also perform in the stage in variety of programmes like dance, music and comedy skits.

The Award winner’s are:-

Superstar Mohanlal won the Golden Star Award and Vijay is the popular Tamil actor.

Mammootty’s performance in Pranchiyettan and The Saint and Kuttisrank won him the best actor award. Nayanthara is selected as the best actress for her role as the love interest of Dileep in Body Guard. Director and producer Ranjith’s Pranchiyettan & The Saint is the best film and Lal fetched the best director award for the film In Ghost House Inn.

Dileep is the winner of popular Actor award for his performance in Body Guard, Karyasthan and Pappi Appacha. Mamta Mohandas received the popular actress award for her memorable roles in Katha Thudarunnu and Anwar.

Sreenivasan won the special Jury Award for the film Aatmakadha. Jayasurya walked away with the youth icon of the year award. Major Ravi’s Kandahar bagged the special award for National integration. Kunjacko Boban and Archana Kavi are the winner’s of the best star pair award for the film Mummy & Me.

Ann Augustine, who won the hearts of audience for her role in Elsamma Enna Aankutty is the best newface award winner. Best female child artiste is Baby Anikha (Katha Thudarunnu) and the male child artiste winner is Master Alexander (TD Dasan, Std VIB).

Arun Kumar won the Editing award for Cocktail and Venu won the best camera award for the films In Ghost House Inn and Pranchiyettan and The saint.

Sreya Ghoshal fetched the best female playback singer award for her song Manjumazhakkalam in the film Aagathan. Hariharan’s Aro Padunnu Doore song for the film Katha Thudarunnu made him the best male playback singer.

Leading singer MG Sreekumar is the best music director and the best lyricist award winner is Murukan Kattakkada, both for the film Oru Naal Varum.

Sathyan Anthikkad is the best script writer for the film Katha Thudarunnu. Suraj Venjaramood is selected as the best comedian for various films. Asif Ali is the best villain for his role in Apoorva Raagangal.

Nedumudi Venu’s performance in Elsamma Enna Annkutty and Lakshmi Priya’s role in Katha Thudarunnu bagged them the best supporting actor and actress award respectively.

Samvrutha Sunil and Innocent won the best character actress and character actor award respectively for the films Cocktail and Katha Thudarunnu.

DIFF’10 wind up with honouring ceremony for winners

2010-12-19T23:04:00.000+04:00

36 Muhr Awards and US$600,000 in prize money presented in Muhr Emirati, Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica categories

Muhr Emirati first prize was won by Nayla Al Khaja for Malal (Bored) – UAE.

Soiko (The Earrings)
Un Mardi (A Tuesday)

Sabine El Chamaa’s Un Mardi (A Tuesday) is the first prize winner of Muhr Arab Short Film. Muhr AsiaAfrica Short Film first price was won by Nargiza Mamatkulova for Soiko (The Earrings).

Mahmoud Al Massad won the first price of Muhr Arab Documentary for Hathihi Swrati Wa Ana Mayet (This Is My Picture When I Was Dead). First Prize for Muhr Asia Africa Documentary winner is Jia Zhang-Ke for Hai Shang Chuan Qi (I Wish I Knew).
Georges Hachem is the winner of Muhr Arab Feature for the film Rsassa Taycheh (Stray Bullet). Bushra fetched the Muhr Arab Feature best actress award for 678 (Six, Seven, Eight) and the best actor was Maged El Kidwaany for 678 (Six, Seven, Eight). Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature first price was won by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun for Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man). Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature best actress award winner is Kobra Hasanzadeh Esfahani for Marham (Salve) and Youssouf Djaoro for Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man) is the best actor.

Lifetime Achievement honours presented to Sean Penn, Sabah and Souleymane Cisse

International and regional celebrities, UAE leadership walk the red carpet

The seventh Dubai International Film Festival wrapped on Sunday with a glittering awards ceremony honouring the best of world and regional cinema and talent of the last year and shining a light on outstanding emerging filmmakers.

The closing red carpet and awards ceremony drew UAE royalty including HH Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, HH Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and HH Sheikh Saeed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as well as international and regional stars.

The 2010 Festival, considered the strongest, most accessible and exciting yet, played host to a line-up of 157 films from 57 countries including an outstanding array of contemporary Arab cinema; a robust competition focused on the UAE, the Arab world, Asia and Africa; a growing industry dimension and new public initiatives. The Sunday night awards ceremony, held at the Madinat Jumeirah, showcased the highlights of each section.

Diff Artistic Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali said: “This week, at Diff’10, we sampled the best cinema from around the world with a particular emphasis on work from the Arab world, Asia and Africa. All three of our competitions – the Muhr Arab, Muhr AsiaAfrica and Muhr Emirati – were outstanding this year, and one of our greatest challenges was to whittle the entries down to an initial shortlist. Tonight’s winners come from that shortlist, but even those who leave without a Muhr Award have reason to be proud.”

More than 36 of the Festival’s prestigious Muhr Awards were presented to the finest Arab, AsiaAfrica and Emirati films and talent. The winners of the Muhr Arab competition, which drew more than 400 entries from 42 nations, are:

For Muhr Arab Short Films:

Second Prize: Halima Ouardiri for Mokhtar — Canada

Special Jury Prize: Abdenour Zahzah for Garagouz — Algeria

First Prize: Sabine El Chamaa for Un Mardi (A Tesday) — Lebanon

For Muhr Arab Documentary:

Special Mention: Iman Kamel for Beit Sha'ar (Nomad's Home) — Egypt, Germany, Kuwait, UAE

Special Mention: Abdallah Al Ghoul for Tathkara Min Azrael (Ticket From Azrael) — Egypt, Germany, Kuwait, UAE

Second Prize: Soudade Kaadan for Saqf Dimashq Wa Hykayat Al Jannah (Damascus Roof And Tales Of Paradise) — Syria, Qatar

Special Jury Prize: Omar Sharqawi for Fra Haifa Til Noerrebro (My Father From Haifa) — Denmark

First Prize: Mahmoud Al Massad for Hathihi Swrati Wa Ana Mayet (This Is My Picture When I Was Dead) — Netherlands, USA, UAE

For Muhr Arab Feature

Best Cinematography: Xavier Castro for Pegase (Pegasus) —Morocco

Best Composer: Essam Rafea for Matar Ayloul (September Rain) — Syria

Best Editor: Hicham Saqer for Microphone — Egypt

Best Screenplay: Jillali Ferhati for Des L'aube (At Dawn) — Morocco

Best Actress: Bushra for 678 (Six, Seven, Eight) — Egypt

Best Actor: Maged El Kidwaany for 678 (Six, Seven, Eight) — Egypt

Special Jury Prize: Mohammed Al Hushki for Mudon Al Tranzit (Transit Cities) — Jordan

First Prize: Georges Hachem for Rsassa Taycheh (Stray Bullet) – Lebanon

The Muhr AsiaAfrica competition drew 445 entries from 62 countries, including 110 documentaries, 136 features and 199 short films. The winners of the Muhr AsiaAfrica awards include:

Muhr AsiaAfrica Short Films:

Second Prize: Jong-chul Park for Unfunny Game — South Korea

Special Jury Prize: Chih Yi Wen for Sleeping With Her — Taiwan

First Prize: Nargiza Mamatkulova for Soiko (The Earrings) — Kyrgyzstan

Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary:

Special Mention: Ashvin Kumar for Inshallah, Football — India

Special Mention: Shahin Parhami for Amin — Iran, Canada, South Africa

Second Prize: John Akomfrah for The Nine Muses — Ghana, UK

Special Jury Prize: Ariane Astrid Atodji for Koundi Et Le Jeudi National (Koundi And The National Thursday) — Cameroon

First Prize: Jia Zhang-Ke for Hai Shang Chuan Qi (I Wish I Knew) – China

Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature

Special Mention: Lee Min-Ji for Jimseung Ui Kkut (End Of Animal) — South Korea

Best Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom and Yukonteorn Mingmongkon for Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chaat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) — UK, Thailand, Spain, Germany, France

Best Composer: Jonny Greenwood for Norwegian Wood — Japan

Best Editor: Marie-Helene Dozo for Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man) — France, Chad, Belgium

Best Screenplay: Mohsen Abdolvahab for Lotfan Mozahem Nashavid (Please Do Not Disturb) — Iran

Best Actress: Kobra Hasanzadeh Esfahani for Marham (Salve) — Iran

Best Actor: Youssouf Djaoro for Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man) — France, Chad, Belgium

Special Jury Prize: Oliver Schmitz for Le Secret De Chanda (Life, Above All) — South Africa, Germany

First Prize: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun for Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man) — France, Chad, Belgium

For the first time, Diff presented the Muhr Emirati Awards for excellence in filmmaking to UAE filmmakers. Fourteen films made by UAE nationals competed in the first Muhr Emirati shortlisted from more than 30 entries.

The winners are:

Muhr Emirati:

Special Mention: Waleed Al Shehhi for Reeh (Wind) — UAE

Second Prize: Khalid Al Mahmood for Sabeel — UAE

Special Jury Prize: Nujoom Alghanem for Hamama — UAE

First Prize: Nayla Al Khaja for Malal (Bored) – UAE

The Festival also presented a series of special awards, including the FIPRESCI International Prize of the Critics Award, the Human Rights Film Network Award, the Damas People’s Choice Award, and a brand new ‘People Who Make a DIFFerence’ Award. Additional prizes for the DIFF Young Journalist and Dubai Film Connection were presented earlier in the week.

The annual ‘Prize of the International Critics’ for Arab films from the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), the world’s foremost body of film writers, academics and critics from over 60 countries, went to: ‘2 ½’ directed by Elie Kamal (Lebanon); ‘Zelal’ by Marianne Khoury and Mustapha Hasnaoui (Egypt/France/Morocco/UAE) and ‘Mudon Al Tranzit – Transit Cities’ by Mohammed Al Hushki (Jordan) in the shorts, documentary and feature film categories, respectively.

The Damas People’s Choice Award for 2010, voted by the members of the public after watching the movies at the festival screening venues – Cinestar at the Mall of the Emirates, First Group Theatre, at Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Madinat Arena, and The Walk at JBR – was clinched by Omar Sharqawi for Fra Haifa Til Noerrebro (My Father From Haifa) — Denmark

Diff also presented Sarah Al Gethami, a Saudi student at Middlesex University in Dubai, with the DIFF Young Journalist Award.

The awards ceremony also feted the three DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award honourees for 2010, including American film icon and international social and political activist Sean Penn; leading African director Souleymane Cisse and Egyptian-Lebanese icon Sabah.

The Muhr Emirati, Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica award winning films will be screened at Cinestar cinemas at Mall of the Emirates on Monday, Dec. 20, 2010.

The seventh edition of the Dubai International Film Festival showcased an impressive line-up of 157 films from 57 countries including an outstanding array of contemporary Arab cinema. These included 41 world premieres, 13 international premieres, 58 Middle East premieres and 32 Gulf premieres, and a host of A-list talent. Nearly half the Diff’10 films – 70 – were by or about Arab people, subjects and places.

Saudi student wins DIFF Young Journalist Award

2010-12-18T20:34:00.000+04:00

Sarah Al Gethami, a Saudi student at Middlesex University in Dubai, won the DIFF Young Journalist Award at the seventh edition of the festival.

This year, the focus of the Diff Young Journalist Award programme, held in partnership with CNBC Business and Screen International, was on the evolution of journalism, led by social media comprising blogging and tweeting, and its effect on the world of media.

Colin Brown of CNBC Business and Mike Goodridge of Screen International mentored ten selected students in a series of open workshops and a mentoring programme at the Film Forum Room, as part of the programme.

The students were briefed on various aspects of film journalism — film reviews, interviewing talent and industry professionals, monitoring trends, commercial, independent, and foreign film through new technologies such as blogging and Twitter.

Al Gethami, a student at the Middlesex University’s Advertising, PR and Media programme, said: “I had a true experience of film journalism at Diff. I interviewed a lot of people, which was a first for me. Overall, it was totally gratifying and a memorable event for me.”

The programme featured two workshops: “The Future of Film Business Journalism” and “The Role of Journalism at Film Festivals.” Participants of the workshops also used the Festival as their live laboratory to test their skills on deadline and submit their work to the mentors. The selected pieces were published in the Festival’s official newspaper, DIFF Daily.

Launched in 2008 as part of the Dubai Film Market’s commitment to enhance and educate the reporting and writing skills of students within the media and arts film, the Young Journalist Award programme provide students with hands-on training in the development of the culture of cinema appreciation and the film industry.

‘2 ½’, ‘Zelal’ and ‘Transit Cities’ win FIPRESCI ‘Prize of the International Critics’ at DIFF

2010-12-18T20:28:00.001+04:00

The seventh Dubai International Film Festival has announced the winners of the International Federation of Film Critics’ (FIPRESCI) annual ‘Prize of the International Critics’ for the Arab feature, documentary, and short films screened in the Muhr Arab award competition at the festival.

‘2 ½’ (Two and a Half)

The winners are: ‘2 ½’ (Two and a Half) directed by Elie Kamal (Lebanon); ‘Zelal’ by Marianne Khoury and Mustapha Hasnaoui (Egypt/France/Morocco/UAE) and ‘Mudon Al Tranzit – Transit Cities’ by Mohammed Al Hushki (Jordan) in the shorts, documentary and feature film categories, respectively.

The feature and short films were evaluated by a jury headed by film critic Andrzej Werner and comprising film critics Gulbara Tolomushova and Mohammed Rouda, while the jury for documentary films was headed by film critic Magda Mihailescu, along with Leo Soesanto and Hala El Mawy.

Zelal

FIPRESCI is the foremost body of film writers, academics and critics from over 60 countries. The organisation has partnered with Diff to encourage emerging talent and promote Arab cinema globally. In all, 12 feature films, 15 short films and 13 documentaries, competing for the Muhr Arab awards, were evaluated for the prize.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director, Dubai International Film Festival, said: “For decades, FIPRESCI has partnered with international film festivals the world over to nurture and promote the growth of emerging talent. It is an honour for Diff to partner with FIPRESCI and help provide a window of opportunity for the Arab film industry to reach out to an international audience.”

Spain bestows ‘Order of the Civil Merit’ on DIFF Artistic Director

2010-12-18T19:37:00.000+04:00

Masoud Amralla Al Ali honoured for the Festival’s and his contribution to strengthening UAE-Spain relations

His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain conferred the grade of Officer in the Order of the Civil Merit of the Kingdom of Spain upon Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director of the Diff, at a special ceremony during the seventh Diff at the Madinat Jumeirah.

His Excellency Gonzalo de Benito, the Ambassador of Spain to the UAE, presented the honour at a ceremony held at the Festival Headquarters. The order, instituted by Spain in 1926 to decorate Spanish nationals or foreigners who have contributed to political, economic, cultural or human relations with Spain, recognizes Al Ali and the Festival’s contribution to strengthening relations between the UAE and Spain.

“We are very pleased and honored to confer the Order of the Civil Merit of Spain on the Artistic Director of the Festival, a true link between Spain, the Spanish culture and the UAE. This is also a recognition of this fine cultural event, the Dubai International Film Festival, one of the most important events worldwide on the international festival circuit, and everyone who works on its behalf,” says His Excellency Gonzalo de Benito.

Among the 157 films from 57 nations showing at Diff this year is Spanish film ‘Biutiful,’ by the award-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and starring Javier Bardem.

Diff Chairman Abdulhamid Juma said: “We are honoured by the recognition from His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain for our Artistic Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali. It is a testament to strong relations between Diff and the Spanish community.”

He added: “Spain produces some of the most powerful movies, and has legendary talent who inspire filmmakers and actors across the world. Diff has hosted Spanish celebrities such as Pedro Almodovar, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, and continuously emphasised on showcasing Spanish films. This year, we have also joined hands with Spain’s San Sebastian International Film Festival to promote Arab filmmakers in Europe, taking our partnership with Spain another step further.”

Diff has also initiated cooperation with the film governing conglomerate Capital Regions for Cinema (CRC), opening doors for Arab filmmakers to key European markets. CRC is a network of the film agencies of Berlin-Brandenburg, the Comunidad de Madrid, Paris-Ile de France and Rome-Lazio.

DIFF’10 closing ceremony live on Abu Dhabi Emarat Channel

2010-12-18T19:26:00.002+04:00

The closing night red carpet and awards ceremony of the seventh Dubai International Film Festival will be telecast live exclusively on Abu Dhabi Emarat Channel on Sunday, Dec. 19 from 6pm, followed by a repeat telecast on Monday morning, Dec. 20, the Festival and Abu Dhabi Media Company announced.

Highlights of the finale of Diff’10 include the Festival’s honouring of its 2010 Lifetime Achievement Honourees; and the presentation of the 2010 Muhr Arab, Muhr Asia Africa and Muhr Emirati Awards. The live telecast will also cover the red carpet ceremony to be attended by international celebrities and stars from the Arab world and the UAE.

The prestigious awards, for the best feature, documentary and short films and talent from the Arab world and the two continents, will be accompanied by prizes in excess of $600,000. In addition, Diff will also present the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), Human Rights Film Network, Damas People’s Choice, Dubai Film Connection and DIFF Young Journalist awards.

Workshop on Film & TV production

2010-12-18T19:19:00.002+04:00

The seventh Dubai International Film Festival and Gulf Radio & TV Organisation hosted a workshop dedicated to the development of film and television production in the GCC.

The workshop, hosted by Diff Chairman Abdulhamid Juma, presented an overview of the current film and television production landscape in the Gulf countries and explored ways to advance the production of films and programmes in the region.

The panelists from around the GCC included: Mohamed Abdallah Al Marzouk and Ahmad Almansouri (UAE); Rashed Hassan Al Judar (Bahrain); Hassan Mohamad Al Hamdan (KSA); Dr Khaled Adelraheem Al Zadjali (Oman); Dr Rabiaa Al Kawari (Qatar); Abdel Muhsen Al Banay (Kuwait) and Dr Abdallah Ben Saiid Abu Ras (Gulf Radio & TV, KSA).

Other topics of discussion included the influence of emerging cinematographic technology on television content, ‘Competition and quality: finding the balance,’ how production quality is affected by a large number of decision makers and marketing audiovisual content and its influence on home audiences.

DIFF’10 host public conversation with Colin Farrell

2010-12-18T19:07:00.000+04:00

Actor Colin Farrell, attending the seventh Dubai International Film Festival for the ‘Cinema of the World’ gala of his movie ‘The Way Back,’ will participate in a public ‘In Conversation With,’ question-and-answer session with fans on Sunday, Dec. 19 at the First Group Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah, from 4 to 5pm. Tickets to the event, priced at Dhs25, are on sale now.

Colin Farrell, has legions of fans across the world, and had earlier walked the red carpet at Diff along with the cast of ‘The Way Back,’ including Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong, Dragoş Bucur and Gustaf Skarsgård.

The Way Back

The Way Back, the first film in seven years from master director Peter Weir, is an Exclusive Media Group, National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi presentation and an Exclusive Films presentation. The gripping film tells the story of a multicultural group of prisoners who escape from a Stalinist gulag during World War II but then have to survive walking more than 5,000 miles of treacherous trails across five countries to gain their freedom.

People caught in challenging situations are focus of Iranian cinema at Diff’10

2010-12-16T18:33:00.001+04:00

The seventh edition of the Dubai International Film Festival has two powerful films from Iran that tell us the stories of people caught in challenging situations.

The House Under the Water

Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi’s feature film, ‘The House Under the Water (Khaneye Zire Ab)’ marks its World Premiere at Diff, on Friday, Dec. 17, 6pm at Cinestar 2, MoE. The film follows two teenagers, Morteza and Taher, who are involved in the accidental drowning of Taher’s younger brother. Thirty years later, Morteza is freshly released from prison and looking to rebuild his life when he is suspected in a death of another drowned child – and Taher, now a police officer, is investigating. The film will also be screened on Dec. 18, 3.15pm at Cinestar 6.

Director Mohsen Abdolvahab debuts with ‘Please Do Not Disturb,’ tells three stories that take place in Tehran, Iran. In the first story, an young woman who has been beaten by her husband. The woman is about to complain to the authorities, but the husband is concerned about his job and the embarrassment. The next story is about a clergyman whose wallet and documents have been stolen. The clergyman enters into a complicated negotiation with the thief. The last story is about an elderly couple whose TV has broken. The couple are alone in the building and are afraid of opening the door to the young repairman. The film will be screened on Friday 8.30pm at Cinestar 3.

The Hunter

‘The Hunter,’ from Iranian director Rafi Pitts of ‘Season Five’ and ‘Sanam’ fame, follows a Tehrani man who snaps and turns sniper after losing his wife and six-year-old daughter in the run-up to Iran’s disputed 2009 elections. The film, a Gulf premiere, will be screened on Dec. 18, 9pm at Cinestar 1, and on Dec. 19, 2.45pm at Cinestar 9.

Shahin Parhami’s documentary ‘Amin’ is a journey of discovery into the heartlands of Iran and the slowly disappearing folk music of the ancient Qashqai tribes of southern Iran. The film is a powerful meditation on cultural loss through the eyes of a postgraduate music student on a quest to find himself. The film, a Middle East premiere, will be screened Friday, 3.30pm at Cinestar 7.

DFC selects 15 projects for production support

2010-12-16T18:00:00.002+04:00

The Dubai Film Connection (DFC), the co-production market of the Dubai International Film Festival, has selected 15 new regional film projects for potential production support from over 130 submissions from Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Algeria, Syria and Iraq, among other regional markets.

The 15 films selected for the 2010-2011 cycle include 12 projects in development and three works in progress. The former include: Ali the Goat and Ibrahim by Ibrahim El Batout (Egypt/France); The Eagle and the Butterfly by Philippe Aractingi (Lebanon/France); The Bag of Flour by Khadija Leclere (Belgium/Morocco/France); Housekeeping by Mazen Khaled (Lebanon/Egypt); Gulf entry I am Nojood, 10 years old and Divorced, directed by Khadija Al Salami (Yemen/France); One Day and 124 Nights by Sabine El Chamma (Lebanon); The Replacement by Gilles Tarazi (Lebanon) and Standstill by Majdi El-Omari (Canada).

The shortlist also includes Trempoline (The Tree) by Elie Khalife (Lebanon); and documentary Fidai by Damien Ounouri, the first co-production with China at the DFC and a joint Algeria/France/China production. Algerian director and Muhr Award winner Merzak Allouache returns to the Dubai Film Connection with The Time of the Concord, as does compatriot Abdenour Zahzah’s documentary The River.

The three Work-in-Progress films are: Confession & Struggle, a documentary by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon); Rehleh, a feature by Meyar Al Roumi (Syria) and In Search of Oil and Sand, another documentary by EAVE graduate Philippe Dib (Egypt).

DFC, part of the Festival’s Dubai Film Market, opens doors to directors of Levant, Maghreb, Gulf or North African origin more than US$110,000 in seed funds and valuable industry connections. Since its inception in 2007, the DFC has showcased a total of over 52 projects of which 15 films have been completed and nine are in production.

Diff’10 will screen three films completed through DFC, highlighting the festival’s contribution to creating a strong film industry infrastructure by supporting projects from ideation to distribution. These films are: Zelal directed by Marianne Khoury and Mustapha Hasnaoui; This is My Picture When I was Dead by Mahmoud Al Massad; and Beit Sha’ar (Nomad’s Home) by Iman Kamel.

Shivani Pandya, DIFF Managing Director, said: “The most striking aspect of Dubai Film Connection is the high realisation rate of the projects at over 50 per cent. While globally films take about four years for completion, in just three years, we have facilitated the completion of 15 films with another nine nearing completion.”

Filmmakers whose projects have been chosen by DFC have also benefited from industry workshops hosted by Diff. The director and producer of Beit Sha’ar, Iman Kamel and Talal Al-Muhanna, respectively, are graduates of the Professional Coaching for Producers Programme hosted in collaboration with European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), one of Europe’s leading training and development organisations, to offer professional coaching for producers.

DIFF announces winners of the first Poster Competition

2010-12-16T16:39:00.000+04:00

The Dubai International Film Festival, (Dec. 12-19), has announced the winners of the poster competition, which invited individuals around the Gulf region to ‘Capture the Essence of Diff.’

The winners, selected by a panel of experts based on creativity, originality, and relevance, are: Midori Yoshino, Hala Gebran, Harold Bravo Cabansag, Shamsa Al Nabooda, Hadeel Walid, Ishita B. Saha, Romy Ravinoran, Salim Stephan, Basma Hamdy and Zeenathul Dhahlan.

They received special-access packs to Diff 2010, including a 25-ticket voucher pack and a DIFF Gala ticket pack with access to select red carpet gala screenings.

The competition was open to any individual practicing art across the Gulf, whether student or self-taught, full-time or part-time, professional or hobbyist, working in any medium or style. Photography, painting, drawing, computer-aided illustrations and other forms of 2-D work were welcomed.

DIFF’10 selects ‘Rehleh’ for post-production funding

2010-12-16T15:08:00.000+04:00

Enjaaz programme of DIFF has selected nine projects already this year

Applications for the first 2011 cycle open until February 2011

Enjaaz, the dedicated post-production fund of the Diff, has selected ‘Rehleh,’ a project by Meyar Al Roumi, as the tenth project this year to receive financial support.

Launched by the Dubai Film Market, the comprehensive script-to-screen industry initiative and the largest of its kind film market in the Arab world, Enjaaz selects up to 15 documentary and fiction feature filmmakers to receive up to US$100,000 annually to provide funds and support for films in development.

DIFF Managing Director Shivani Pandya said: “Enjaaz steps in at the most critical juncture in the evolution of a film from ideation to completion, by offering valuable support for post-production. ‘Rehleh’ is a compelling story, which like other Enjaaz-supported funds, has the potential to win global acclaim.”

Produced by Jerome Bleitrach under the banner of Bizibi, ‘Rehleh’ is a fiction feature which features two stories. The first is story of two young lovers on a quest for survival amidst the imposing restrictions of their society. The second is a story of disillusionment and an abandonment of love upon tasting the freedom the lovers were so desperate for. Set in Damascus and Tehran, ‘Rehleh’ is a journey of introspection and revelation.

On the premise of his film, Meyar says: “I wanted to start from a practical situation: When not married how can two young people live out their love in Syria? The issue of Walid and Souhaire is a starting point, and my goal was to focus on the feelings of my characters.”

Arab filmmakers around the world can apply for the first cycle of the 2011 edition of Ejaaz until February 1, 2011. The decision on distribution of funds will be made on March 15, 2011. In the second cycle, entries will close on August 1, 2011, and funding decisions announced by September 15, 2011. Details on submission requirements are available at www.dubaifilmfest.com.

To qualify for selection, the final cut of the feature films must be a work of fiction that equals or exceeds 60 minutes in length, while documentary films must be non-fiction that exceeds 50 minutes. Films must be directed by an Arab filmmaker and the subject and storyline of the film must be centred on the Arab world, Arab history, and/or Arab culture for the respective competitions.

Stars of ‘Cairo Exit’ joins celebrities for red carpet gala

2010-12-15T22:20:00.000+04:00

The stars of Egyptian film, ‘Cairo Exit,’ which marks its World Premiere at the Cultural Bridge gala of the seventh Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) will join an international celebrity line-up on the red carpet on Thursday, Dec. 16.

The ‘Cairo Exit’ star line-up includes actors Maryhan, Mohammed Ramadan and Sanna Muzian, and director Hesham Issawi. They will be joined by Catherine Deneuve, the French actress nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in ‘Indochine,’ and Sendhil Ramamoorthy, the star of ‘Shorr – Noise,’ the Indian film which marks its Middle East premiere at DIFF. Sendhil is best known for his role in the NBC series ‘Heroes.’

A dedicated fan enclosure has been opened for the public to watch the red carpet ceremony. The ‘Cultural Bridge’ celebrations of Diff will also be held at The Walk at JBR, where colourful dance and music performances will be held from 2pm, followed by the ‘Rhythm & Reel’ screening of ‘My Wife’s Husband’ a film by Niazi Mostafa and the concert of Lebanese classical Arabic singer Rima Khcheiche. The screening at The Walk at JBR is free for the public.

‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day’ promotes intercultural dialogue through cinema

2010-12-15T22:15:00.000+04:00

The seventh Dubai International Film Festival will host its ‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day’ on Thursday, December 16 with the objective of promoting intercultural dialogue and reflecting the credo of the festival, ‘Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds.’

‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day’ will open with the screening of Egyptian director Hesham Issawi’s Cairo Exit, a powerful account of life in contemporary Cairo about two star-crossed lovers.

‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day’ is a significant component of the festival, highlighting its commitment to promote universal harmony through intercultural dialogue. With over 200 nationalities, Dubai is uniquely positioned to foster dialogue, and Cultural Bridge Day is a perfect fit to the ethos of the city and the festival.

The new venue of DIFF, The Walk at JBR is hosting a series of colourful events to mark the ‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day.’ Global Village is presenting some of this season’s most exciting international street entertainment. The festivities start at 2pm and will conclude with the open air screening, free to the public, of ‘My Wife’s Husband’ a film by Niazi Mostafa and the concert of Lebanese classical Arabic singer Rima Khcheiche.

At the venue, visitors can also take part in the popular digital photo-booths set up by Fishfayce.

A new addition this year is the Peace Wall hosted by Diff in partnership with The JamJar Gallery. The public can participate in ‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day’ by sending messages of peace that will be depicted on the ‘Peace Wall.’

‘Salam – The Cultural Bridge Day’ will screen a repertoire of thought-provoking movies at Cinestar, MoE, including, Ebhram Saeedi’s Mandoo (MoE 12, 12.30pm); Aamir Bashir’s Harud (Autumn) (MoE 11, 1.00pm); Kaouther Ben Hania’s Les Imams Vont A L’Ecole (Imams go to School) (MoE 6, 3.15pm); Daniel Rudi Haryanto’s Prison and Paradise (MoE 5, 3.30pm); Ricky Tognazzi’s Il Padre E Lo Straniero (The Father and The Foreigner) (MoE 11, 4.15pm); Leila Sansour’s Al Tareeq Ila Bait Lahem (The Road to Bethlehem) (MoE 9, 6.00pm); Pradeepan Raveendran’s Les Ombres Du Silence (Shadows of Silence) (MoE 10, 6.30pm); Alireza Davoodnejad’s Marham (Salve) (MoE 12, 7.00pm); Wi Ding Ho’s Pinoy Sunday (MoE 1, 9.30pm); and John Akomfrah’s The Nine Muses (MoE 5, 9.45pm).

DIFF’10 celebrates Emirati talent

2010-12-15T20:09:00.000+04:00

In a powerful demonstration of the evolution and growth achieved by the UAE film industry, the seventh Dubai International Film Festival on Tuesday hosted 15 Emirati filmmakers whose films – including features, documentaries and shorts – are being screened at the festival.

“These directors are also competing for the first Muhr Emirati awards introduced at the festival this year. Their films include 12 world premieres, and were shortlisted from over 30 entries, underscoring the growing interest of Emiratis in films and in creating a home-grown film industry powered by initiatives like DIFF,” said Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director, Dubai International Film Festival.

The filmmakers who attended a special photo call and later addressed a press conference are: Abdulla Al Kaabi (The Philosopher); Nayla Al Khaja (Malal); Ali Al Jabri (Solo); Saeed Aldhaheri (Rajulan Wa Anza – Laylat Ma Qabl Al Eid); Rashid and Ahmed Bin Shabib (Brownbook Urban Series – Ten Episodes of People Transforming the Region); Muna Al Ali (Ea’ada); Waleed Al Shehhi (Reeh - Wind); Ahmed Zain (Etma – Darkness); Moath Bin Hafez (Hayat Min Sakhar -Life of Stone); Saud Mohammed Merwesh (Soweer); Ali Khalifa Bin Thalith (Ghawas Gaza - Gaza Diver); Rashid Al-Marri (Rasa’el Ela Falasteen - Letters To Palestine); Khalid Al Mahmood (Sabeel) and Nujoom Al Ghanem (Hamama).

A three-member jury, including film critic Samir Farid (president), writer-poet and Riyadh Film Festival veteran Ahmed Al-Mulla and poet/critic Ibrahim Abdul Karim Al Mulla, will select three competition winners to be announced at the awards ceremony on December 19. Introduced this year as a companion to the Festival’s existing Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica awards, the Muhr Emirati Awards features a first prize of Dhs35,000, a special jury prize of Dhs25,000 and a second prize of Dhs15,000.

Love stories from Syria and Iraq in the spotlight at DIFF’10

2010-12-15T19:58:00.001+04:00

September Rain

Powerful movies from Syria and Iraq are gaining strong audience interest at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival. With strong historical overtures, the films have a backdrop of love and emotional bonding, which finds universal resonance.

Damascus With Love

Legendary actor-director Abdullatif Abdulhamid’s ‘September Rain,’ opens in 1940s Damascus, where a young man is listening to a broadcast of the songs of the buzuq player, Muhammad Abdul Karim. Flipping to the present day, the young man is now a father with a fruit-selling business, bringing up his large, musical family alone, following the death of his beloved wife, and surviving in a world of corrupt officialdom and class divides. Abdullatif Abdulhamid evokes the family and community dramas of both generations brilliantly in this witty, affectionate yet devastating portrayal of life in the Syrian capital. September Rain will screen on Dec. 17, 5.45pm at Cinestar 5, MoE.

Acclaimed Iraqi director Kassem Hawal’s 'The Singer', brings an insight into the era of dictatorship in Iraq, with the story of Bashir, a singer who is due to perform for the despot. The film screens on Dec. 15, 9.30pm at Cinestar 2 and on Dec. 18, 3.45pm at Cinestar 8.

Director Mohamad Abdulaziz’s ‘Damascus With Love,’ is about Rima, a Syrian-Jewish girl who is about to emigrate from Damascus. When her father reveals an old secret to her at the airport, she cancels her trip and returns to explore the past. 'Damascus With Love' is a film about love, people, memory and place. The film will screen on Dec. 16, 6.45pm at First Group Theatre in Madinat Souk and on Dec. 18, 10pm at Cinestar 8.

Story of hope and despair from Mexico to Mongolia at DIFF’10

2010-12-15T19:30:00.001+04:00

A compelling showcase of films, from as far afield as Mexico to Morocco to Mongolia, is among the highlights of the seventh Dubai International Film Festival, today (Wednesday, Dec. 15).

Director Sebastian Hiriart's debut feature, ‘A Stone’s Throw Away’ is an imaginative reflection on the desire and need of so many Mexicans to find their way, whatever the obstacles, to the promised land of the United States. Screening at 12.45pm at Cinestar 8, MoE.

Passion

‘The Dead Sea,’ another Mexican film by director Ignacio Ortiz Cruz, is shot in a grainy, noir style and is a powerful contemporary commentary on the age old concepts of sin, transgression and redemption. The film will screen at 4 pm at Cinestar 11.

In ‘The Qandil Mountains,’ Iranian director Taha Karimi sets his first, beautifully filmed, dramatic feature against the violent yet stunning backdrop of the mountains, casting veteran stage and screen actor Ghotbedin Sadeghi with a set of younger actors playing the sons and daughters of the conflict, attempting to draw on the common concerns that link Arabs with Kurds, Turkmen with Persians. The film will screen at 3.15pm at Cinestar 6.

Director Jillali Ferhati

Set against the magnificent backdrop of the Mongolian landscape, Byamba Sakhya's 'Passion' is a fascinating look at Mongolian film history. The film will screen at 3.30pm at Cinestar 5.

In director Jillali Ferhati’s ‘At Dawn,’ Keltoum and her husband, Omar, live in a village in the heart of the Moroccan mountains. They are both actors, but do not have much work and have been dreaming of staging a play for years. The film screens today at 7pm at Cinestar 12, and at Dec. 17, 3pm at Cinestar 5.

Hard-hitting tales inspired from real life showcase at DIFF

2010-12-15T13:59:00.000+04:00

Real life indeed can inspire compelling cinema narratives as Noise from India, State of Violence from South Africa and Mandoo from Iraq highlights at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival.

Director Khalo Matabane’s ‘State of Violence,’ is a hard-hitting drama set in the violent underbelly of modern South Africa. A rising star of the black business elite, Bobedi returns home after an evening celebrating his promotion to CEO of a large mining company. 'State Of Violence' resonates with suspense, intrigue and powerful social comment. The film will be screened Wednesday, Dec. 15, 7pm at Cinestar 1, the MoE; and on Dec. 18, 10.30pm at Cinestar 7.

An exhilarating and politically powerful road movie by Ebrahim Saeedi, ‘Mandoo’ tells the poignant tale of a family ripped apart by conflict. As a small Kurdish girl, Sheelan emigrated with her parents to Sweden, leaving behind her extended family and the turmoil of life in Saddam-era Iraq. After 20 years, Sheelan, a successful doctor in Sweden returns to Iraq and finds her family. In order to fulfill his old uncle’s dying wish to return to his childhood homeland of Iranian Kurdistan. The film will be screened today (Dec.15), 10.15 pm; and on Dec. 16, 2.30 pm at Cinestar 12.

Preeti Desai and Sendhil Ramamurthy in Noise

From India is a fresh, invigorating slice of contemporary storytelling, 'Noise' which exudes the energy, chaos and sheer noise of its featured city, Mumbai. In this darkly comic drama by Krishna DK and Raj Nidimoru, we plunge into the heart of Mumbai during a festival, rendering the city into a state of overdrive. The film screens today (Dec. 15), 6.30pm at Cinestar 2 and on Dec. 18, 12.15pm at Cinestar 1.

Colin Firth receives Variety’s ‘International Star of the Year’ Award at DIFF’10

2010-12-14T20:06:00.000+04:00

Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan

Actor Colin Firth received the Variety ‘International Star of the Year’ Award from actress Carey Mulligan at a public ‘In Conversation’ session held at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival on Monday. Firth’s film ‘The King’s Speech’ was the opening gala of the festival on Sunday. Firth took part in an ‘In Conversation’ session, giving the audience insights on his career and discussed the role as King George VI in ‘The King’s Speech.’ He also answered questions raised by the audience in a freewheeling chat.

Firth, 50, hogged the limelight for his performance as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. The box office success of Bridget Jones’s dairy catapulted him to super-stardom. Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant co-starred with him in the film.

Last year, the DIFF presented Scottish actor Gerard Butler with the Variety ‘International Star of the Year’ Award.

An appeal against all forms of violence: 678

2010-12-13T18:46:00.000+04:00

While the central theme of the Egyptian film ‘Six, Seven, Eight (678), is the plight of women facing sexual harassment, the director, acclaimed scriptwriter Mohamed Diab said the film is an appeal against all forms of violence.

Director and artistes of the film Six, Seven, Eight

Diab and leading cast members of the film were addressing a press conference at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival, where the film marked its World Premiere. The cast and crew also joined other celebrities for a red carpet ceremony of the film’s gala screening.

Condemning violence of all forms, Diab said the film also highlights the need for personal space and privacy, saying that one needs to have a definite individual distance for peaceful co-existence. “We are a young generation that strives to write about issues of social relevance. In that sense, ‘Six, Seven, Eight’ is not only thoroughly contemporary but it also tries to convey a message that will resonate with every man who has a mother, wife or daughter.”

“Harassment is not only sexual – there is also harassment of feelings, privacy and emotions. We are proud to discuss such a universal issue in the Egyptian cinema. I stress that we can’t treat violence with violence, but as we can see, social boundaries drive individuals to tackle every issue differently.”

Actors Bushra, Maged El Kidwany, Nelly Karim, Bassem Samra, Omar Al Saeed, Nahed Farid, and producer Bushra Rozza were present at the press conference.

‘Six, Seven, Eight’ is competing for the Muhr Arab Feature Award, and will be screened on Dec. 15, 3.45pm at Cinestar 9 at Mall of the Emirates.

Diff showcases must-watch tales from the Arab World, Africa and Asia

2010-12-13T18:28:00.000+04:00

The seventh Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) is showcasing an array of hard-hitting tales from the Arab world, Africa and Asia, their gripping social narratives making them a must-watch film experience. Among the must-watch films at Diff'10 are Baghdad Film School, Koundi and the National Thursday, Yongsan and Zelal.

Screening on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 10 pm at Cinestar 9, Mall of the Emirates (MoE), is director Shuchen Tan’s ‘Baghdad Film School.’ The film is about Iraqi born filmmakers Maysoon Pachachi and Kasim Abid who developed the challenging idea to open up the first independent film school in Iraq. 'Baghdad Film School' is a story about film making in a post-war environment and what it takes to be an independent filmmaker in a country tormented by violence.

Director Ariane Astrid Atodji’s ‘Koundi and the National Thursday,’ screening on Dec. 14 at 3.15pm at Cinestar 6 of MoE, is about Koundi, a large village with around 1,200 inhabitants. Gorgeously shot, the film is a heartfelt look at life inside a communal society that seeks to balance the demands of globalisation and the search for uniquely African solutions.

Screening on Dec. 15, 7pm, at Cinestar 8 is director Jeong-hyun Mun’s ‘Yongsan,’ a stirring tale. On 20 January 2009, five tenants of the Yongsan district, who were forcefully evicted from their homes staged a sit-in and were burned to death in their apartment block. This personal essay documentary recalls the many movements of Korean civil rights and activism and asks where all the idealism went, even as the atrocities return today.

From the Arab world is ‘Zelal,’ a quiet masterpiece of hard-hitting reportage by directors Mustapha Hasnaoui and Marianne Khoury. Filmed in two large asylums, the film reveals the horrific conditions in which patients are expected to live - squalor and neglect is endemic, staff are stretched beyond breaking point, therapy and treatment seems non-existent.

Diff’10 to host public conversation with Sean Penn

2010-12-11T22:06:00.001+04:00

DIFF ALERT: IN CONVERSATION WITH SEAN PENN EVENT

Note:- The Dubai International Film Festival informs its fans that Lifetime Achievement Honoree Sean Penn is unable to attend DIFF 2010 due to the political situation and upheaval in Haiti following the recent election. Penn has flown to Haiti to check on his staff and camp.

Penn has issued the following statement to all DIFF fans:

“I am honored to receive the Dubai Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and had every intention of being there to accept it in person. Regretfully, the situation in Haiti has worsened and it was of the utmost importance that I be there to ensure the safety of my staff and the J/P HRO camp. I look forward to attending Dubai’s Festival in the future.” – Sean Penn

Fans who bought tickets to the public audience are being contacted by the DIFF Box Office; they can either exchange their tickets for other DIFF screenings or get a refund.

For more information about the work Sean Penn and his organization are doing in Haiti, go to www.jphro.org.

A-list American actor and director and international social and political activist Sean Penn will participate in a public ‘In Conversation With,’ question-and-answer session with fans from across the nation on Dec. 13 at the First Group Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah, from 7pm to 8pm. Tickets to the event, priced at Dhs25, are on sale now.

Into the Wild

Penn, whose career spans nearly three decades, more than 45 films and notable successes as producer, actor, director and screenwriter, is one of the Festival’s three Lifetime Achievement honorees this year. Two-time Academy Award winner and five-time nominee Penn is best known for his performances in Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown, I Am Sam, Mystic River, Milk and older genre classics Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Carlito’s Way.

Sweet and Lowdown

His performances have also been singled out by the Cannes and Berlin film festivals and critics associations around the world, as has his directing work on films including Into the Wild, The Crossing Guard and The Pledge.

Penn’s humanitarian work — including his reportage from Iran and Iraq in recent years, and tireless campaigning on behalf of the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the earthquake-ravaged Haiti – has also won numerous admirers around the world. In January 2010, Penn founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which focuses on medical aid, protection, and re-location.

Diff’10 is screening two path-breaking movies from Penn’s extraordinary repertoire: Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and Into the Wild (2007).

Diff’10 opens on Dec 12

2010-12-11T21:44:00.000+04:00

Dubai will once again roll out the red carpet for the world’s luminaries in cinema on Dec.12 to mark the opening of the seventh edition of the Dubai International Film Festival. Billed as ‘the most exciting and accessible Diff ever,’ the eight-day feast of world cinema includes a line-up of 157 films from 57 countries.

The Sunday night opening will be marked by a glittering red carpet event at the Madinat Jumeirah to be headlined by British actor Colin Firth, the male lead of The King’s Speech. Fresh from significant awards sweeps in Toronto and Britain, the Oscar favourite also stars Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, and Helena Bonham Carter.

The King’s Speech

In a significant first, audiences across the UAE will be able to watch the glitz and glamour of the red carpet as well as the opening film live and for free at Diff’s newest outdoor venue, The Walk at JBR. The venue will also host the Festival’s popular Rhythm & Reels segment, the beachfront venue is open from 6pm.

Subsequent red carpet events over the next week include the Arabian gala screening of Six, Seven, Eight, the controversial Egyptian love story Cairo Exit, the Polish film Tomorrow Will Be Better, The Nutcracker in 3-D, Emirati short The Philosopher and Chinese martial arts extravaganza Reign of Assassins.

The Festival’s standout Arab films, representing the length and breadth of the Arab world from Iraq to Morocco, are primarily distributed among its in-competition Muhr Arab and Muhr Emirati Awards segment and its out-of-competition Arabian Nights and Gulf Voices segments. All screenings are open to the public.

The Festival also features the best of cinema from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and Australia, including 41 world premieres and 13 international premieres. Every genre, from thriller to comedy, drama to documentary, is included.

From the Arab world, celebrity guests include Khaled Abol Naga, Menna Shalab, Bushra, Nelly Kareem, Majed Kidwany, Saba Mubarak, Mohammed Qabbani, Ayman Zeidan, Samar Sami, Marah Jabr, Fares Al Helo, Nabil Toume, Mohammed Ramadan, Maryhan, Sanaa Muzian, Hala Sarhan, Sherine Adel, Raghda and Rima Khcheich.

GCC stars Khaled Amen, Khaled AlBreki, Dawood Hussein, Shojoon AlHajri, Lamia Tareq, Maraam AlBlooshi, Hind AlBlooshi, Elham Alfadalla, Ali Algreer, Haifa Hussain Yousif, Shahed Alyaseen, Ahmed Al Jasmi, Habeb Gholom, Mare’e Al Halyan, Jamal Salem, Juma Al Leem, Ahmed Alansari, Abed Almhasan Alnmr, Naseer Al Qassbi, Najwa Alqbesi, Abdul Aziz Jassim Al Jassim and Buthayna Alraesy will also make an appearance.

Hollywood, Asia, and Africa, stars expected to grace the carpet this week include Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jean Reno, Andrey Konchalovskiy, Julia Vysotskaya, Kelly Brook, Emma Caulfield, Maya Sansa, Carey Mulligan, Beau Garrett, Jim Sturgess, Peter Weir, Karan Johar, Johnnie To and Aparna Sen.

Diff’10 will honour Lifetime Achievement Honouree from Africa, Souleymane Cisse, Hollywood A-lister Sean Penn, and Arab icon Sabah with Lifetime Achievement Awards this year.

Latest All-star Hollywood films at Diff ‘10

2010-12-11T21:23:00.000+04:00

Morning Glory

Brand new films starring Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Josh Hartnett, David Schwimmer and Philip Seymour Hoffman are on the cards for the seventh Dubai International Film Festival, providing for many a first and only look at the new crop of dramas, romantic comedies and thrillers from Hollywood.

Diff’s Cinema of the World programme, include three international premieres, five films never before screened in the Middle East, and three Gulf premieres.

The Company Men

The line-up begins on December 13 with the international premiere of John Wells’

The Company Men, stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck and Kevin Costner.

Sparkling new romantic comedy Morning Glory from Notting Hill director Roger Michell makes its premiere internationally at Diff on Dec. 17, with a second screening on Dec. 19. Starring Diane Keaton, Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams, the film is set in the hilarious and dysfunctional world of morning television and follows hard-working TV producer McAdams.

Winter’s Bone

Guy Moshe’s Bunraku¸ starring Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, and Demi Moore, makes its Middle East premiere at DIFF on Dec. 16. The martial arts-live action/animation hybrid is a wild, futuristic tale of obsessive revenge.

Former ‘Friends’ star turned director David Schwimmer brings sensitivity and restraint to Trust, a dark challenging drama. The film will make its Middle East premiere at DIFF on December 17.

Rural crime thriller Winter’s Bone, winner of the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and recipient of seven Independent Spirit Award nominations, stars Jennifer Lawrence as a stoic teenager raising her siblings single-handedly. The film makes its GCC premiere on Dec. 13 and 14.

Marking its international premiere on Dec. 17 is Nick Simon’s Removal, the story of an overworked and over-medicated floor cleaning service employee. The film stars Kelly Brook and Emma Caulfield and both of them will be attending DIFF.

Actor/director Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Jack Goes Boating makes it’s Middle East premiere at DIFF on Dec. 14, with an additional screening on Dec. 18.

Diff ‘10 to screen strapping tales of contemporary Egypt

2010-12-11T21:01:00.000+04:00

The seventh edition of the Dubai International Film Festival 9Dec. 12-19) showcases vignettes of life in Egypt as perceived by some of the most creative filmmakers from the country. These include a World Premiere of one of the much-awaited films, Six, Seven, Eight, and a Middle East Premiere in addition to a powerful feature on contemporary city life, Cairo Exit, opening the Cultural Bridge segment.

Microphone

Opening the Cultural Bridge segment on Dec. 16 at the Madinat Arena, Hesham Issawi’s El Khoroug (Cairo Exit), starring Maryhan, Mohammed Ramadan, and Sanaa Muzian, is a powerful account of life in contemporary Cairo. Cairo Exit will also be screened on Dec. 18 at Cinestar, MoE.

To honour the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Diff 2010 will screen Sabah’s movie, Leila Baka Fiha El Qamar, the story of a famous singer, Hanan. The film will be screened on Dec. 13 at Cinestar, MoE.

On Dec. 13 at the Madinat Arena is the World Premiere of the bold and frank film, Six, Seven, Eight by Mohamed Diab, starring Ahmad Al Fishawi, Bushra, Maged El Kidwaany, Nelly Karim, and Sawsan Badr. A second screening will be held on Dec. 15 at Cinestar, MoE.

Marianne Khoury and Mustapha Hasnaoui’s Zelal, a quiet masterpiece of hard-hitting reportage, has drawn global praise for its sobering insight into the lives of those afflicted by mental illness in present Egypt. The Middle East Premiere of Zelal will be held at MoE on Dec. 14, followed by a second screening on Dec. 16.

Zelal

Microphone, a film by Helipolis director Ahmed Abdallah El-Sayed, stars Khaled Aloul Naga, Menna Shalaby, Atef Yousef, Yosra El-Lozy, and Hany Adel. The film will screen on Dec. 15 at the First Group Theatre, and on Dec. 17 at Cinestar, MoE.

Following the screening of Microphone, Rhythm & Reels will host Arab rock-fusion band Massar Egbari, and underground hip-hop band the Y-Crew in concert on Friday, Dec. 17. Y-Crew, the three-member Egyptian hip-hop band, will also perform at the concert at The Walk at JBR.

Director Mohamed Ramadan’s 7awas (Senses) will be screened on Dec. 16 and 18 at Cinestar, MoE.

Omar Robert Hamilton’s Maydoum depicts the story of Sharif, a poised and elegantly executed ensemble piece will screen on Dec. 18 and 19 at Cinestar, MoE.

Contemporary Lebanon explores through movies at DIFF 2010

2010-12-07T15:12:00.000+04:00

Beirut Al Mouss, Two-and-a-half [2½], Les Malaki – Les Habits Des Anges, Un Mardi (A Tuesday) and Rsassa Taycheh (Stray Bullet), the five films screening on Diff’10 are not only guaranteed to entertain the Lebanese audience in the UAE but also are examples of quality filmmaking.

At least five films at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival – including three world premieres and two Gulf premieres – capture vignettes of contemporary Lebanon, guaranteed to delight both Lebanese audiences in the UAE as well as connoisseurs of quality filmmaking.

Erfan Rashid, Director of Arab Programme, said: “Over the last few decades, the Lebanese film industry has made tangible achievements, despite a challenging environment. The selection this year is a reflection of modern day Lebanon, and how filmmakers perceive the shifting dynamics of the country.”

Beirut Al Mouss: The world premiere of Lebanese director Zeina Sfeir’s Beirut Al Mouss gives the audiences a unique history of Lebanon, as heard directly from those who shaped it. Having coiffed the heads of politicians, princes, and presidents, Elius Sfeir's testimonies provide audiences with colorful anecdotes. The documentary will be screened at Cinestar, Mall of the Emirates, on Dec. 14 and 16.

Two-and-a-half [2½]

Two-and-a-half [2½]: Elie Kamal’s Two-and-a-half [2½] narrates the story of a working-style mother (Carmen Lebbos), who exists on the breadline, trying to make ends meet amidst the hustle and flow of everyday life in Beirut. At the end of a long, hot, summer’s day, she survives a horrific and devastating attack. The film, a world premiere, will be screened on Dec. 17 and 18.

Les Malaki – Les Habits Des Anges: Award-winning Lebanese filmmaker Khalil Zaaraour, best known for his short film The Window, provides a compelling narrative following the relatives of people reported missing as a result of Lebanon’s long and bloody civil war. The film makes its world premiere on Dec. 16, followed by a second screening on Dec. 19 at MoE.

Un Mardi (A Tuesday): A beautifully-told little vignette, Sabine El Chamaa’s Un Mardi (A Tuesday) has a masterfully structured narrative. One sunny Tuesday morning in Beirut, an elderly lady walks out of an elegant boutique, wearing an expensive black dress she has not paid for. A policeman stops her and the story begins. The GCC premiere of Un Mardi (A Tuesday) will be held on Dec. 16, followed by a second screening on Dec. 18 at Cinestar, Mall of the Emirates.

Rsassa Taycheh (Stray Bullet)

Rsassa Taycheh (Stray Bullet): Georges Hachem’s psychological drama unites stars Badih Abou Chakra, Hind Taher, Nadine Labaki and Takla Chammoun in a family. Set in war-besieged Beirut, the film follows a thirtysomething woman single on the verge of marriage who realises she has no feelings for her fiancé. A former lover reappears, adding to the tension within the family. The film will be screened at Mall of the Emirates on Dec. 15 and 17.

DIFF 2010 box office locations are: Cinestar Mall of the Emirates, Madinat Souk, the CNN Building in Dubai Media City and The Walk at JBR. Tickets can also be purchased through DIFF’s Dial-a-Ticket service at (04) 391 3378 and from the website www.dubaifilmfest.com.

14 UAE films, filmmakers to compete for honours in DIFF’s first Muhr Emirati competition

2010-11-29T15:09:00.001+04:00

First edition of contest includes 12 world premieres; The Philosopher, Malal, Solo, Rajulan Wa Anza – Laylat Ma Qabl Al Eid (Two Guys and a Goat – The Night Before Eid), Brownbook Urban Series, Ea’ada (Rewind), Reeh (Wind), Etma (Darkness), Hayat Min Sakhar (Life of Stone), Soweer, Ghawas Gaza (Gaza Diver) and Rasa’el Ela Falasteen (Letters To Palestine).

Two additional films competing in Muhr Emirati and Muhr Rab competion are Sabeel and Hamama.

Hamama

Fourteen films made by UAE nationals will compete in the seventh Dubai International Film Festival’s first Muhr Emirati competition next month, giving the region and the world its first look at the new wave of national talent. The films – including 12 world premieres will screen to the UAE public and regional and international guests from December 12 to 19, prior to the awards ceremony on December 19.

The Muhr Emirati competition, introduced earlier this year to round out the Festival’s prestigious Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica competitions, shortlisted the 14 films from more than 30 entries. The films, which offer rare and authentic glimpses into life in the country, are also a measure of the growing talent pool and technical expertise in the country.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director, Dubai International Film Festival said: “Since the Festival began in 2004, DIFF has maintained a dedicated space for Emirati films and filmmakers, one that has continued to grow over the years to match the evolution of the local talent base. Developing a local film industry is a painstaking and time-consuming process. We are delighted that talented youth in the UAE have recognized and leveraged the opportunities on offer at Diff, and are contributing to establishing a full-fledged UAE-based film industry.”

Abdulla Al Kaabi’s The Philosopher, is based on ‘Baggio’s Story’ by Charlie Fish. Baggio is a successful Parisian, a pianist, footballer and bon vivant, yet he feels there is something missing from his life and one day decides to rid himself of all his possessions and embark on a life of aesthetic contemplation. However, things don’t quite go according to plan. The Philosopher, starring Jean Reno, will be a Diff red carpet gala screening at the Madinat Arena on December 18, and will also screen at CineStar Mall of the Emirates (MoE) on December 18 and 19.

Nayla Al Khaja's Malal, an Emirati production set in the Indian state of Kerala, revolves around a young Emirati couple on their honeymoon. Their approach to the relationship and commitment to the marriage is the theme of the film, providing a revealing and frank insight into the realities of arranged marriages and the challenges faced by modern-day Emirati couples. The new film, pictured in India, from the award-winning Emirati director will screen at the MoE on December 15 and 17.

Theatre and film actor Ali Al Jabri’s short film Solo, also screening at MoE on December 15 and 17, narrates the story of a musician who was unable to achieve his pursuit of music. The censored music of his instrument can now be heard by people.

Rajulan Wa Anza – Laylat Ma Qabl Al Eid (Two Guys and a Goat – The Night Before Eid)

Rajulan Wa Anza – Laylat Ma Qabl Al Eid (Two Guys and a Goat – The Night Before Eid) by Saeed Aldhaheri revolves around the rising cost of buying a goat. Two enterprising young men find a creative solution: to steal a goat and cook it in front of its helpless owner, who has been tied up. Audiences at MoE on December 14 and 16 can follow the goat-rustlers as their meticulously laid plans go awry.

Rashid and Ahmed Bin Shabib, the co-founders of Brownbook, the region's leading arts and culture periodical, are the driving forces behind one of the films aimed at exploring the urban culture of the region. Through a series of conversations with individuals transforming the UAE's urban scene through its food, design, arts or other creative means, the film Brownbook Urban Series – Ten Episodes of People Transforming the Region, paints an interesting picture of the future. The film will screen at MoE theatres on December 18 and 19.

Writer-director Muna Al Ali’s film Ea’ada (Rewind) considers an often-asked question: What would happen if we could delve into our memories and change the course of events, or even delete them entirely? Her short film will screen at the MoE on December 15 and 17.

Elsewhere, award-winning director Waleed Al Shehhi returns to DIFF for a fourth year with allegorical short film Reeh (Wind), which begins as a young child steps on a rusty nail, which slowly infects his blood. The film will also screen at MoE on December 15 and 17.

Ahmed Zain’s Etma (Darkness), showing at MoE on December 14 and 16, is a sweet nostalgic film about the life of a postman in a bygone era. Set in the early years of the UAE’s existence, we meet a postman whose daily life revolves around two major touchstones – his job and his son. From both, he draws (and provides) support and love.

Moath Bin Hafez’s Hayat Min Sakhar (Life of Stone) portrays the story of Saeed Al Thuhoory, a 70-year old man from Shaam, Ras Al Khaimah. Since the age of 10, he has worked with his father, quarrying rocks and stones from the mountains that surround the emirate. Hayat Min Sakhar (Life of Stone) can be seen at MoE on December 18 and 19.

Saud Mohammed Merwesh’s Soweer captures the reality and imagination of a traditional children’s game. His short film will screen at MoE on December 14 and 16.

Filmed earlier this year in Dubai, Ghawas Gaza (Gaza Diver), a documentary by award-winning photographer Ali Khalifa Bin Thalith, follows courageous Palestinian teenager Khalil al Jedaili, who lost his legs after a horrific bombing of his grandmother’s home in Gaza. Brought to Dubai in March to be fitted for prosthetic legs, the young man decided to start practicing scuba diving while he was here. The film, which tracks his journey, will screen on December 18 and 19.

Rasa’el Ela Falasteen (Letters To Palestine), a documentary by Rashid Al-Marri, features the voices of Emiratis and UAE residents sending their oral letters to Palestinian people living under occupation. From young to old, the Arabs captured in this film have the chance to send their stories and their love to the homes, families and children of Palestine. The film will screen at MoE on December 14 and 16.

Two additional films are also competing in both the Muhr Emirati and the Festival’s Muhr Arab competition. Khalid Al Mahmood’s Sabeel, the story of two young boys in Ras Al Khaimah tending and selling vegetables to help their ailing grandmother, will make its Middle East premiere at Diff after scooping awards and accolades in New York and Locarno.

Lastly, the documentary film Hamama, from award-winning director Nujoom Al Ghanem, follows the 90-year-old female healer and living legend from Al Dhaid. Sought out by hundreds of people every day, Hamama struggles to care for all those who need it while confronting her own infirmities and hardships. The film, a world premiere, will screen on December 15 and 17.

DIFF’s Rhythm & Reels showcases bio-pics, musicals and Live concerts

2010-11-28T22:20:00.000+04:00

Celebrating the union of cinema and music, the Rhythm & Reels segment of the Seventh Dubai International Film Festival this year showcases a spectacular line-up of bio-pics and musicals, complemented by live performances by popular Arab and international acts from Rima Khcheich, Massar Egbari and Y-Crew to a mariachi ensemble specially flown in from Mexico.

The DIFF 2010 Rhythm & Reels line-up includes compelling documentaries on John Lennon and American rock band The Doors, as well as leading underground acts from Egypt. Screening at DIFF venues at the Mall of the Emirates and the new DIFF outdoor venue, The Walk at JBR, Rhythm & Reels will feature 11 films – four documentaries and seven features – all with a rich musical undercurrent.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director, Dubai International Film Festival said: “DIFF’s Rhythm & Reels is aimed at integrating two vibrant artforms – films and music. In addition to paying cinematic tribute to some of the world’s legendary musicians, this year DIFF is showcasing an eclectic selection of music-based movies from around the world. We have also worked to maximize the community’s interaction with these films by organizing concerts and a new outdoor venue.”

Mexican classic Enamorada, the story of guerrilla general José Juan Reyes and his love for a rich man’s daughter, will screen at The Walk at JBR on Wednesday, December 15. The screening, part of DIFF 2010’s celebration of Mexican cinema, will be followed by a concert featuring 12 performers from Mexico, the six-member mariachi Grupo Impulsor de la Musica Representativa de Mexico and a six-member team of folk dancers from the Ballet Folklorico Yolitzi Widen de La Laguna.

My Wife’s Husband (Jaoz Marti) starring DIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Award’s recipient, Sabah, is the comic love story of a woman torn between two husbands. Renowned Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich, a musical icon in the Arab world, will perform at The Walk at JBR following the screening on Thursday, December 16.

Microphone, a film by Heliopolis director Ahmed Abdallah El-Sayed, stars Khaled Aboul Naga, Menna Shalaby, Atef Yousef, Yosra El-Lozy and Hany Adel. It traces the life of Khaled, who returns to Alexandria after years of travel only to discover that things aren't going too well with either his girlfriend or his aging father.

Following the screening of Microphone, Rhythm & Reels will host Arab rock-fusion band Massar Egbari, and underground hip-hop band the Y-Crew in concert on Friday, December 17. The award-winning Massar Egbari, which formed in 2005, specializes in alternative Egyptian music, fusing rock, jazz and blues with pure Oriental music. Y-Crew, the three-member Egyptian hip hop band, will also perform at the concert at The Walk at JBR.

LENNONNYC

LENNONNYC, from the genius mind of Michael Epstein, gives audiences a glimpse of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life in New York in the 1970s. Featuring exclusive interviews with Ono and behind-the-scenes access to one of rock and roll’s biggest legends, LENNONNYC is guaranteed to leave music lovers wanting more.

In a compelling take on the musical stylings of The Doors, Tom DiCillo’s When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors uncovers rare footage of the band that changed the outlook of rock n’ roll music. The film reveals the creative chemistry of the band, and provides glances into the magic of the music created by The Doors.

Rahma Benhamou El Madani’s Tagnawittude delves into the Gwana music ritual in the Maghreb. The documentary analyses the life of Amazigh Kateb and his band Gwana Diffusion, the talent behind a unique style of music since 1992.

The Piano in a Factory

Shahin Parhami’s Amin is about a postgraduate music student, researching for a doctorate degree at the Kiev Conservatory. Part of his programme requires him to explore the increasingly elusive folk music of the ancient Qashqai tribes of southern Iran. This journey of discovery, a fascinating exploration into the heartlands of Iran uncovers a once-vibrant cultural force now eroded into near obsolescence.

To fight for the custody of his daughter, a steel factory worker decides to create a piano from scratch to compete for her love for the instrument in Zhang Meng’s The Piano in a Factory. A ballad of friendship and dedication, the film captures the essence of unspoken wisdom and nostalgia in uncertain times.

Tickets for Rhythm & Reels screenings will be available at all DIFF Box Office, and are priced at Dhs25 for movie screenings only and Dhs45 for the screening and concert. Students/children can purchase tickets for Dhs25.

Best of contemporary cinema focused on the Arab world will screen at DIIF ‘Arabian Nights’ slate

2010-11-28T21:56:00.002+04:00

Eleven films representing the best of contemporary international cinema focused on the Arab world will screen at seventh Dubai International Film Festival [Dec 12-19], providing a typical look at some of the issues and subjects that absorb the Arab world.

The Festival’s Arabian Nights segment of this year includes dramas, comedies, musicals and thrillers by international directors depicting slices of life in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Palestine, Algeria and Mauritania. They include two world premieres, one international premiere, six that are new to the Middle East and two new to the Gulf region; and a host of unusual collaborations.

Set in Iraq but made in Italy, 20 Cigarettes is the story of one man’s journey back from the brink of death. The film pivots on a 2003 suicide bomb attack on a police station in Nasiriyah.

Two documentaries look at the cathartic power of cinema. Made in the Netherlands, Baghdad Film School is the true story of Iraqi-born filmmakers Maysoon Pachachi and Kasim Abid, who decided to open the first independent film school in Iraq only a few months after its liberation.

Farther north in Iraqi Kurdistan, British filmmaker Mark Cousins discovers that despite being a thriving community, the people of Goptapa are still haunted by Saddam Hussein’s genocidal massacres. While trying to capture the village’s collective memories of war, Cousins manages to tap the fertile imaginations of its children. His documentary, The First Movie, documents the children’s joy and excitement as they encounter cinema for the first time and then start to create their own short stories.

Bullet Time

Also set in Iraqi Kurdistan, Bullet Time tells the story of two humanitarian workers who brave curfew to save their interpreter's son, wounded by a landmine.

The Flowers of Kirkuk, probably one of the first Italian-Iraqi film collaborations to date, looks onto star-crossed lovers and doctors Najla and Sherko who know they can’t be together as one is Kurdish and the other from a prominent Arab family.

he City of the Dead

In Cairo, director Sérgio Tréfaut’s The City of the Dead takes a closer look at the sprawl of ancient tombs, mausoleums, and crypts in the heart of the city. The area, dubbed ‘El Arafa’ (The Cemetery), by the locals, is also home to a community of nearly a million Cairenes living amongst the long-dead.

In Fragments of a Lost Palestine, filmmaker Norma Marcos tries to show her friend Stefan how normal people try to live normal lives outside of the occupation, and that there is a vibrant side of Palestine that exists outside of grim reports of violence and war.

Iranian director Taha Karimi sets his first, beautifully filmed, dramatic feature against the violent yet stunning backdrop of the Qandil mountains, where the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq meet. The Qandil Mountains, featuring veteran stage and screen actor Qotbeddin Sadeqi, attempts to draw the common concerns that link Arab with Kurd, Turkmen with Persian.

Antonia Carver, Consultant for DIFF’s Arab Programme, said: "These are incredibly diverse stories, yet the films are universal in their approach, focusing on individuals, families and communities, and touching on the extraordinary within these 'ordinary' situations. If we had to look for one constant, it would be the integrity and bravery of the filmmakers and their crews, who have made films in the most extreme of circumstances, with total humanity, making for such rich and compelling films."

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director of the Dubai International Film Festival, said: “The films in this year’s Arabian Nights programme have an entirely different approach. We’re seeing foreign films based in the region and starring Arabs and non-Arabs, Arab films starring celebrated stage actors, and Arab films made entirely outside the region. People are experimenting more, and the results are very worthwhile discoveries.”

Arabian Nights 2010 also includes Il Padre E Lo Straniero (The Father and the Foreigner) by Ricky Tognazzi, a suspenseful drama from top crime novelist Giancarlo De Cataldo involving a rich Syrian businessman based in Rome who finds himself accused of terrorism. The film, starring the Arab world’s Nadine Labaki and Amr Waked alongside Alessandro Gassman, follows a Roman bureaucrat with a handicapped son who strikes up a friendship with the businessman, also the father of a severely handicapped boy, which ends in a chase through the crowded streets of Rome.

Mohammed Soudani’s El Mektoub (Taxiphone), about a young Swiss couple whose truck breaks down halfway through the Algerian desert leaving them to come to terms with the surrounding community, is also a Middle East premiere.

Finally, Adrift: People of a Lesser God, is the story of an incredible odyssey made by multiple Pulitzer Prize-nominee undercover journalist Dominique Mollard as he sailed with 38 African migrants from Mauritania on a quest to reach Europe and a better life.

DIFF 10 to focus on Arab cinema, unveils 157 films from 57 countries

2010-11-23T22:44:00.003+04:00

The King’s Speech based on the true story of King George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II is the opening film of Diff 2010. The male lead of the film Colin Firth will walk at the red carpet.

DIFF honours two time Academy Award winning actor Sean Penn, veteran African director Souleymane Cisse and Lebanese singer and actress Sabah with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bollywood hit maker Karan Johar and actress Aparna Sen will attend the DIFF 2010.

Master Director Peter Weir, actor Jim Sturges, Collin Farrell and Ed Harris will be in Dubai for the red carpet gala screening of The Way Back.

The closing gala film of the DIIF 2010 is Disney’s long awaited 3D high tech adventure Tron: Legacy.

Sean Penn

The Seventh Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) to be held from Dec.12 to 19 is set to unveil 157 films from 57 nations, with outstanding Arab programming at its core.

Officials highlighted the Diff as the leading festival in the world, at a press conference held on Tuesday in Majlis Al ‘Salam, Mina Al Salam, Dubai.

Abdulhamid Juma, Diff chairman, Masoud Amralla Al Ali, artistic director at Diff, and Shivani Pandya, Managing Director of Diff outlined what’s in store for DIFF 2010, including the impressive line-up of films, The Dubai Film Market and the celebrities attending the event.

Diff 2010 unveils an outstanding array of contemporary Arab cinema, a robust competition segment and a film market growing from strength to strength and enhanced access for the public.

Amongst its roster of films from South America, Taiwan Sweden and South Africa, Diff features 41 world premiers, a 30 per cent growth from last year. Diff 2010 has 13 International premieres, 58 Middle East premieres and 32 Gulf premieres, and a host of A-List talent. Among the 157 Diff 2010 films, 70 are regarding Arab people, subjects and places.

Ed Harris and Colin Farrell in The Way Back

The celebrity line-up participating in the Diff 2010 include celebrated American actor, director, screenwriter and activist Sean Penn. He will be honoured with the Diff 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award. The male lead Colin Firth of the opening film King’s Speech will walk at the red carpet. Others include Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess and director and producer Peter Weir will all be in Dubai for the red carpet gala screening of The Way Back.

Other important red carpet events are the Arabian gala screening of 678, one of the most anticipated films from Egyptian cinema and the controversial Egyptian love story Cairo Exit from the Diff Cultural Bridge segment.

Also, the polish film Tomorrow Will Be Better will screen from the festival’s Cinema of World Programme. Emirati filmmaker Abdullah Al Ka’abi’s maiden venture The Philosopher will also be screened from its Muhr competition.

Reign of Assassins

Chinese martial arts extravaganza Reign of Assassins from the Festival’s cinema of Asia Africa slate will also be shown. Actor Jean Rino, Carey Mulligan, Africa’s Souleymane Cisse and Arab stars Khaled Abol Naga, Bushra, Nelly Karim, Saba Mubarak, Ayman Zeidan, Samar Sami and Raghda are the international celebrities attending the prestigious event.

Abdul hamid Juma, Chairman Diff said “The seventh edition of the Dubai International Film Festival will be extra special not only for the powerful showcase of movies, but also for the largest selection of quality, contemporary Arab cinema anywhere in the world.”

Nutcracker and The Rat King

The Festivals Arab films, representing the length and breadth of the Arab world, are primarily distributed among its in-competition Muhr Arab and Muhr Emirati Awards segment and its out-of-competition Arabian Nights and Gulf Voices segments. The competitions will be judged by professional juries and all screenings are open to the public.

Underscoring the growing prestige of the Festival’s competition, Diff’s in-competition Muhr Awards have scooped a record 848 entries, with the Muhr Arab segment drawing 62 feature films, 228 short films, and 113 documentary films.

The Muhr AsiaAfrica competition, dedicated for filmmakers from Asia and Africa, similarly received 445 entries, encompassing 136 feature films, 199 short films, and 110 documentary films.

The Festival’s new Muhr Emirati competition, introduced to further strengthen and recognise rising Emirati talent, received 25 feature films, short films, and documentaries.

Support Akshay Kumar’s Campaign to Ban the ‘R-Word’

2010-10-14T21:26:00.000+04:00

To join Akshay Kumar in the campaign to ban the 'R' Word, please visit www.r-wordindia.org

Bollywood Hero, Akshay Kumar, Receives the support of over nine million people for Campaign to ban The ‘R-Word’

Akshay Kumar

Frontline bollywood hero and humanitarian, Akshay Kumar, has received an overwhelming response to his campaign against the wrongful usage of the ‘R-Word’ (‘Retard’). In less than a month, over nine million people have signed up to the campaign (with numbers rising continually) which aims to ensure that mentally and physically challenged individuals are recognised as equal members of society.

Fellow members of the Indian film fraternity, such as Amitabh Bachchan, have already shown their support to Akshay’s initiative. The humanitarian actor and Special Olympics Ambassador said, “The campaign is not about being politically correct; it is about being sensitive.”

The ‘Ban the R Word’ signature campaign will culminate with a major event entitled ‘Be a Fan of Dignity', taking place in Bangalore. The show will see Akshay modelling outfits by local designer, Ramesh Dembla, on the runway. The humanitarian actor will also award those people who have achieved new records for the campaign. So far, the highest amount of signatures – 98,000 – comes from a school in India. After the event, all the signatures received will be handed to both the National Parliament and the Social Justice Department in Delhi, in a bid to ban the ‘R-Word’ from all languages spoken in India.

Akshay Kumar is still encouraging people to back the campaign, which has already become a great success. “Join me in pledging your support to the intellectually challenged,” states the Bollywood Ambassador.

E! News

2010-06-28T21:17:00.001+04:00

Priyamani as Mammootty’s heroine

National Award winning actress Priya Mani first time plays the female lead opposite frontline hero Mammootty in forthcoming Renjith film Pranchiyettan and The Saint.

Mammootty, a three-time National Award winner plays the role of Francis, a rice merchant. Innocent plays the other title role as Saint. The film already gained the attention of the industry because of the star cast and title. The film is produced by Capitol Theatres.

Sequel to Mookilla Rajyathu

Mookkilla Rajyathu, a superhit movie of the 90s will get a sequel and it will be directed by Thaha. The original was directed by director duo Ashokan-Thaha. Ashokan has left the filmdom and Thaha alone will call the shots in the new film. The original protagonists in the film Mukesh, Thilakan, Jagathy, Siddhique will feature in the same roles of nuts under treatment in mental assylum. The film will be produced by Star India Cinemas and a newcomer will play the heroine role in the film. Lal, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Kottayam Nazeer also plays prominent roles in the film.

Jayaprada to produce Malayalam film

Yesteryears heroine and former Rajyasabha MP Jayaprada will produce a Malayalam film under the banner of Jayaprada Entertainments. Mukesh plays the lead as a railway employee in the film directed by art house filmmaker R Sarath. The heroine will be a fresh face and Jayaprada also dons an important role in the movie.

She recently quit politics after her disagreement with Samajawadi party leader Mulayam Sing. Jayaprada recently worked with Sharath in Hindi film The Desire. She also rendered a hip-hop song for a new Hindi film with Adnan Sami and Bappi-Lahiri.

Tejashree makes Malayalam debut in Female Unnikrishnan

Tamil glamour girl Tejashree will make her debut into Malayalam by playing the heroine role of Suraj Venjaramoodu in Female Unnikrishnan.

She had the luck to play a meaty role in her debut film as a girl with speech disorders. Her hero of the film Suraj also has a peculiar speech disorder in the film. The film will be directed by KB Madhu also stars Jagadheesh, Salim Kumar, Anoop Menon, Bijukuttan and Maniyanpilla Raju. Tejashree is a favourite among her fans by playing glamour roles in Kalvanin Kadhali, Madhurai and Kodambakkam.

Making waves: Rashmi Vijayan

2010-06-10T19:56:00.000+04:00

KK Moidu talks to the young talented singer Rashmi Vijayan about her interests

Rashmi Vijayan, the girl who has been raised in the UAE, has made a promising start in her music career as a playback singer in Malayalam and Tamil films. She also had the luck to work in the very beginning of her career with leading music directors of the industry like M Jayachandran, Vidyasagar, Ouseppachan, Gopi Sunder, Selva Ganesh, Babu Shankar and Stephen Devassi.

A good dancer, Rashmi, who trained in Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi and folk dance has won acclaims from the audience by her electrifying performance in stage shows. She performed in many stage shows in India and Gulf along with well-known music personalities like Alphonse Joseph, Shankar Mahadevan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sujatha, Vani Jayaram, Unni Menon, Venugopal, Vijay Yesudas, Usha Uthup, Rimi Tomy, Swetha Mohan, Jassie Gift, Jyotsana, Anwar Sadat etc.

Rashmi, the only daughter of Vijayan and Ragini, was in town recently for spending a short holiday with her parents after a successful stage show “Sopaanam 2010” in Doha, Qatar with Madhu Balakrishnan.

The gifted singer Rashmi made her debut into filmdom with a track for Red Chillies.

Over to her;-

Tell us about yourself?

I am from Palakkad, Kerala and brought up in UAE. I did my schooling at Our Own English High School, Dubai and completed my graduation in Media and Communications from Manipal University, Dubai Campus. I did PG in Broadcasting Communications from MOP Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai.

When did you start learning music?

I started learning music and dance at a tender age from Symphony Music Institute, Ajman. I was trained in Carnatic and Hindustani music for several years by Babu John and Shiva Iyer respectively. Now I am pursuing my music career in Chennai and also learning music from Tanushree.

What was your initial experience in stage shows?

I started singing in stage shows of cultural organisations and Alumni’s in the UAE from my school and college days onwards. More offers started coming after the Radio4FM selected me as the best duet singer from more than 2,500 singers in “Reefmall Radiostar Contest”. I entered the semi finals of another contest “Ford Fusion Star,” a multi national western singing competition for selecting the singing sensation of the UAE.

Who encouraged you to become a singer?

My parents, music teachers and well wishers. When I started participating in reality shows and stage shows people like Stephan Devassi not only encouraged me but also advised to move to Chennai and that helped me for a good beginning in my career. The judges of music reality shows, other participants and guests like Suresh Gopi always encouraged me to become a singer.

Please list the musical reality shows in which you have participated?

I was the first runner up of the Zee TV “Saregamapa ME Muqabla 2006” auditions. It was participated by singers from all over the Gulf and won appreciation from luminaries like Kumar Sanu, Adesh Srivastava, Jatin Pundit, Ismail Darbar and Shaan, who hosted the show. My participation in “Indian Idol 3” on Sony TV was a new experience and won accolades from lyricist Javed Akthar and noted singer Udit Narayan. I was selected in the final 28 participants from all over India and UAE in prestigious music talent hunt “Indian Idol 3.” I reached the top 11 from more than 20,000 contestants from all over the world in the “Super Star Global” at Amrita TV.

What was your experience as a musical reality show participant?

Though I couldn’t win the first prize in reality shows, the experience and appreciation from the judges, guests, other participants and the audience helped me to improve a lot in my singing and performance. If I have not been eliminated from the reality shows like “Indian Idol 3” and “Superstar Global,” I couldn’t have been attended my degree annual examinations in UAE.

Many parents are now training their children for participating in musical reality shows, what you think about that?

Training will definitely help the participants and it is a must for those who want to continue their career in music. Some parents are compelling their children to learn music by aiming only reality shows. And these children may not have talent or interest in music. It is a cruelty to the children and the audience.

Some good teachers and training institutions only teach those who have talent, but few others train all the children and consider this as a business.

You are born and brought up outside India. Don’t you have problems with Indian languages?

I have friends in schools from other parts of the country like North India and didn’t have problems in singing Hindi songs during my participation in ”Indian Idol 3” and “Saregamapa ME.”

Malayalam is my mother tongue and I know Tamil also very well.

Who introduced you as a playback singer?

Music director M Jayachandran in Red Chillies.

What are the films you have rendered songs?

Red Chillies, IG, Happy Husbands in Malayalam, Kanden Kadhalein, Siddu Plus Two in Tamil.

What kind of songs do you like to render in films?

I am a beginner and I want to sing all kinds of songs in films. As a stage performer, I am mainly singing fast numbers and that are widely accepted by the audience.

You are a singer, stage performer. Is there any such chance for you to turn as a dubbing artiste too?

I have already dubbed for advertisements like Bhima Jewellers. Nobody offered me to dub for films and I haven’t thought about that.

Who is your favourite Indian female singer?

Shreya Ghosal.

Which music director you dream to work with in future?

AR Rahman.

What are your current projects?

Amal Neerad’s Prithviraj starrer Anwar in Malayalam, the music is composed by Gopi Sundar. I am also planning to launch a music album.

Photographs: Kamal Kassim

3 Idiots sweeps IIFA Awards

2010-06-06T22:53:00.001+04:00

Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan (Paa)

Best Actress: Vidya Balan (Paa) and Kareena Kapoor (3 Idiots)

Indian International Film Academy (IIFA) awards were presented at a glitzy ceremony in the Sri Lankan capital and was attended by Bollywood heros like Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Vivek Oberoi etc and Bollywood beauties like Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta, Dia Mirza etc.

Amir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’ bagged eight awards including the Best Film on this years IIFA. Big B won the Best Actor award for his performance as progeria-affected child in Paa.

Kareena Kapoor and Vidya Balan shared the Best Actress award for their roles in 3 Idiot and Paa respectively. The Best Director Award winner was Rajkumar Hirani for 3 Idiots and he along with Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra won the Best Story Award for the same film.

3 Idiot on the backdrop of a top engineering college was nominated in 12 of the 13 main categories in the Indian International Film Academy awards and has already won eight of the 12 technical awards announced last month (Best Screenplay, Cinematography, Dialogue, Background Score, Editing, Best Sound Recording, Best Song Recording, Sound Re-recording).

The Best Male Supporting Actor award went to Sharman Joshi for his role in 3 Idiots and the Best Female Supporting Actress award was received by Divya Dutta for her role in Dilli 6.

Bomman Irani won the award for his negative role in 3 Idiots. The best performance in comedy role went to Sanjay Dutt for his role in All The Best.

Pritam is the Best Music Director for the film Love Aaj Kal. Shaan is the Best Male Singer for his song Behti hawa sat ha woh in 3 Idiots and Kavita Seth was adjudged as the Best Female Singer for Iktara in Wake Up, Sid!

Best Lyricist is Swanand Kirkire for the film 3 Idiots.

Best Debut Female Actor Award was shared by Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez and Mahie Gill for their performance in Aladin and Dev D respectively. Omi Vaidya shared the Debut Male honours for his role as Chatur Ramalingam of 3 Idiots with Jackky Bhagnani for Kal Kissne Dekha.

Bosco Caesar won the Best Choreography Award for his best moves in Love Aaj Kal and Anahia Shroof and Dolly Ahluwalia won the Best Costume Designing Award for the same film.

Sabu Cyril got the Best Art Direction and Charles Darby (Eyecube Labs) won Best Special Effects (Visual) for Aladin. Sham Kaushal won the Best Action Award for Kaminy and international make-up artists Christien Tinsely and Dominie Till fetched the award for Paa.

Legendary filmmaker J Om Prakash and former heroine of Bollywood Zeenat Aman were felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sohanlal's three books published

2010-03-09T21:55:00.002+04:00

Debutante director award for Sohanlal

2010-03-09T20:54:00.000+04:00

Young director Sohanlal was felicitated with the Sohan Antony debutante director award for his maiden venture Orkkuka Vallappozhum. The award was initiated in memory of associate director late Sohan Antony.

Director Roshan Andrews presented the award, comprising a citation and Rs. 10,001 to Sohanlal in a function held at Vettila, Ernakulam. Central Minister KV Thomas, Dominick Presentation MLA, M Premachandran, Mankombu Gopalakrishnan and Seema G Nair were also present at the event. Last year, the Award was won by actor/director Madhupal for his directorial debut Thalappavu.

From Agneepath to Dance India Dance: The "Legend"ary Re-Union of Big B & Mithun Da

2010-01-30T16:34:00.001+04:00

History was made on the sets of Dance India Dance on Zee TV when Big B and Mithun Da caught up with each other after a hiatus of almost 20 years. The duo had several beautiful memories to choose from and got very nostalgic as they shared anecdotes with the audience from the good old times - be it their bonding on the sets of the blockbuster Agneepath or the time when Mithun Da had slashed his chest and offered his blood to Goddess kali praying for Bachchan's speedy recovery post his much-talked-about 'Coolie' accident.

A source on the sets revealed that the three mentors - Remo D'souza, Terence Lewis and Geeta Kapur had choreographed some out-of-this-world dance acts to the evergreen songs from Amitabh Bachchan's films to delight the superstar. Master Geeta Kapur put together a thrilling "aerial cube" act with her talented contestants Binny Sharma, Kishore and Dharmesh "Sir" to the theme song of the film 'Black'.

The act beautifully captures the struggle of a blind girl to dance and how she finally thrilled the audience with a spectacular act mid-air hanging from a cube. Binny Sharma is said to have been blindfolded for this daring, inspiring act. Terence Lewis's interpretation of the song Main Yahan Tu Wahan from Baghban where he had two passionate lovers dying to break down a wall separating the two of them left the Big B choked and speechless. His Bhojpuri Salsa to Dilip Kumar's evergreen Nain Ladh Jai Be stumped Big B who said, "Wow! I've never seen anything so innovative, so inventive."

The audience was left begging for more when Big B gave in to their demand and sang Mere Angne Mein Tumhara Kya kaam Hai and went on to recite a couplet from his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poem 'Agneepath'. Adding to the frenzy surrounding Big B's presence on the sets was the dress code of the mentors for the episode. While Terence Lewis turned up bearing Big B's trademark Deewar look, Master Remo aped Bachchan's killer look from the film Kaante.

The series of spectacular performances to the songs from Bachchan's films in a "Amitabh Bachchan special" episode of Dance India Dance was aired on Friday, 29th January at 20:00 hours

National Film Awards 2008 Announced

2010-01-23T22:24:00.000+04:00

Anthaheen (Bengali) directed by Anirudha Roy Chowdhury won the Best feature film award and will receive the Swarna Kamal and a cash price of Rs 250,000. South Indian director Bala won the Best Director award for the film Naan Kadavul (Tamil).

Naan Kadavul

Upendra Limaye bagged the Best actor award for his performance in Jogva (Marathi) directed by Rajiv Patil. Priyanka Chopra fetched the Best actress award for the film Fashion (Hindi).

Bala

Antaheen

Avit Mukhopadhyay bagged the Best Cinematography award for Anthaheen and the film also won the best lyrics award. Kangana Reanult and Arjun Rampal won the Best supporting actress and supporting actor award for Fashion and Rock On respectively. Nandita Das’s maiden directorial venture Firaaq based on the 2002 Gujarat riots won the best editing (Sreekhar Prasad) and art direction (Gautam Sen) awards.

Antaheen

Hariharan won the Best male playback singer award for Jogva (Marathi) and Shreya Goshal is the best female playback singer for the songs in Anthaheen and Jogva. Jogva also won the award for Best film on social issues category and Music composers Ajay and Atul won the best music direction awards for their songs in the film.

The Best popular film is Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (Hindi) directed by Dibakar Banerjee. Sooni Taraporewallah’s Little Zizou (English, Gujarathi) is the best film on family values and Kannada film Gubbachigalu was adjudged as the best children’s film.

Shreya Goshal

Shams Patel won the Best Child actor award for the film Thanks Maa (Hindi). Mumbai Meri Jaan won the award for Best Special effects.

Marathi film Gandha bagged the best screenplay and best audiography award for Sachin Kundalkar and Pramod J Thomas respectively.

Priyanka Chopra

National Film Development Corporations (NFDC) Bioscope (Malayalam) directed by K Madhusoodhan won the Special Jury award. Thirakkadha directed by Renjith is the winner of Best Malayalam film, Mon Jei (Assamese), Shob Charitro Kalponik (Bengali), Vimukthi (Kannada), Harishchadrachi Factory (Marathi), Vaaranam Aayiram (Tamil) and 1940 Lookagramam (Telugu) are the winners of best feature films in regional languages. Neeraj Pande bagged the debutante director award for A Wednesday.

Kangana

Yash Raj films Road Side Romeo bagged the best Animation film and Little Zizou is the best film on family values.

Unlike previous years the Malayalam films and technicians has not won major awards in the main category of 56^th National Awards. Malayalam films bagged good number of awards in previous years National Awards like the best director, editor, music director etc. The jury of the feature film was headed by National Award winning Malayalam director Shaji N Karun.

Hariharan

Prathibha Patil, the President of India will distribute the awards to the winners on March.

Pongal Attractions

2010-01-20T21:49:00.000+04:00

Kutty, Aayirathil Oruvan, Porkkalam and Naanayam are the Tamil films releasing on this Pongal, writes KK Moidu.

Kutty

Dhanush once again teams up with Mithran Jawahar after the success of Yaaradi Nee Mohini in Pongal release Kutty. The actor is climbing the ladder of success after delivering consecutive hits after Thiruvilayadal Aarambam. Dhanush romances Shriya Saran in Kutty. Shriya was his love interest in earlier hit Thiruvilayadal Aarambam. Devi Sri Prasad composes music for the film produced by Gemini Film Circuit.

Kutty is a remake of Allu Arjun starrer mega hit Telugu film Aarya. The film tells the story of a lively boy, who enjoys every part of life in his own terms, without harming others. He also had the charm to attract people from all walks of life. The family entertainer has no heavy violence and indecent love scenes. Shriya is a college student in the film and her role has enough scope for performance.

Aayirathil Oruvan

After two-and-a-half years of cautious refinement director Selvaraghavan’s Aayirathil Oruvan will finally see the light of the day on this year’s Pongal. Selva’s 15^th film Aayirathil Oruvan is one of the much awaited and biggest releases of the season. The makers also hopes the fantasy-adventure will take Tamil film industry into a new horizon.

Karthi Sivakumar, who won the hearts of audience in his maiden venture Paruthiveeran is the male lead of the film. Reema Sen and Andrea Jeremiah are the heroines of the film. Parthipan plays a pivotal role as Chola King in the film.

GV Prakash Kumar composes the ten songs in the film and Vairamuthu pens the lyrics for the first time for a Selvaraghavan film. R Ravindran produces the big budget film.

Porkkalam

A team of beginners joins the Pongal race with Porkkalam directed by debutante Bandi Saroj Kumar. Polladhavan and Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu fame Kishore is the male lead of the film. Sathyan, Smitha, Lal, Biju Menon and Tinnu Anand plays other important roles in the film. P Bhaskar Rao for Bharani Minerals produces the film. Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is the highlight of the film.

The high voltage action thriller has seven villains. The dark story of love and revenge has certain elements, which are not tried in the Tamil cinema earlier.

Naanayam

Prasanna and Sibiraj, son of Sathyaraj plays the lead role in the crime-thriller Naanayam based on a bank robbery. Sibiraj plays a negative shade character for the first time in his career. Debutante Sakthi K Rajan, an earlier assistant of Mysskin, Nasser and Venkat Prabhu, directs the film. The film is produced by SPB Charan’s Capital Film Works. SP Balasubramaniam plays a bank officer role in the film. Subramaniapuram and Pasanga fame James Vasanthan tunes music for the first time for a thriller film. Actor Silambarasan and Devisri Prasad have crooned together for a song.

Ujala-Asianet film awards 2010 announced

2010-01-04T21:42:00.000+04:00

PV Gangadharan has been selected for the life-time achievement award. ‘Pazhassiraja’ produced by Gokulam Gopalan and directed by Hariharan has won the award for the best film while Ranjith has been selected as the best director for his film ‘Pallerimanikyam.’

Mammootty has been selected as the millennium actor for his performances in various movies. Mohanlal has won the best actor award for his performances in the films ‘Bhramaram’ and ‘Ividam Swargamanu’ while Kavya Madhavan has won the best actress award for her role in the film ‘Banaras’.

Prithviraj has been selected for the Youth Icon of the year. Lakshmi Rai has been selected as the popular actress. Sreenivasan has won the best character actor award for his roles in ‘Passenger’ and ‘Makante Achan’ while Swetha Menon has won the award for the actress in this category for the film ‘Pallerimanikyam’.
The performance of Lalu Alex in ‘Ividam Swargamanu’ won him the best villain award while Jagadeesh has been selected as the best comedian for his performance in ‘2 Harihar Nagar’. Ranjith Shankar who had scripted for the film ‘Passenger’ have won the award for best script-writer and Vayalar Sarath has bagged the award for the best lyricist for the film ‘Neelathamara’.

Deepak Dev has won the best music director award for the film ‘Puthiyamugham’. Shankar Mahadevan has been selected as the best male singer in the film ‘Puthiyamugham’ while KS Chithra has won the best female singer award for the film ‘Pazhassiraja’. Niveditha has won the best child artist award for his roles in ‘Bhramaram’ and ‘Kanakkuyil’.
The award for the best cinematographer goes to Ajayan Vincent ‘Bhramaram’. Vijay Shankar who edited the film ‘Bhramaram’ has bagged the best editor award. Jayasurya and Bhama were selected as the best star pair for their performance in ‘Ivar Vivahitharayal’. Actor Nishan (Ritu) and actress Archana Kavi (Neelathamara) have won the awards for debut artistes.

Oscar award winner Rasool Pukutty won the special Award in recognition of his overall contribution to the Indian Film industry. Manoj K Jayan, Sarath Kumar and Kaniha won the special jury award for their performance in ‘Pazhassiraja’.

Sparkling entertainers for Diwali: Aadhavan, Peranmai and Jaganmohini

2009-10-15T17:54:00.001+04:00

Surya’s AADHAVAN, Jayam Ravi’s PERANMAI and Namitha’s JAGANMOHINI are the Tamil films releasing in time for the festive season of Diwali, writes KK Moidu

Aadhavan
The Surya and Nayanthara starrer Aadhavan is a rom-com family entertainer and is one of the most awaited releases this Diwali. The film tells the story of an assassin in Kolkata and has a lot of action sequences, but they are free of blood spilling.
Surya plays the title role in the film as a contract killer. This is the first time he teamed up with director KS Ravi Kumar who has created some of the most memorable blockbusters in Tamil cinema like Padyappa and Dasavatharam.

The highlight of the film is that Surya also plays a teenager’s role in a flashback with some modifications in his body language and voice. Surya himself plays the teenager role for the sake of making the script genuine and it enhances the story of the film.
Harris Jeyaraj composes music for the film — the fifth time he tunes for Surya’s film. Surya’s expressions and moves always adds value to the songs composed by Harris and the duo’s earlier ventures like Kaakha Kaakha, Ghajini, Varanam Aayiram and Ayan were huge successes. The romantic duet Hasili Fisiliyae rendered by Karthik and Harini in Aadhavan has already gained popularity and is topping the charts.
Aadhavan is produced by Udhyanidhi Stalin under the banner of Red Giant Movies. Saroja Devi will play a pivotal role in the film after a hiatus of more than a decade. Other roles in the film are played by Ramesh Kanna, Vadivelu, Anand Babu, Murali, Shayali Shinde, Fefsi Vijayan, Manobala, Alex and Sathyan.

Peranmai
Peranmai, directed by SP Jananathan with Jayam Ravi in the lead, is a big budget action-packed entertainer. Ravi dons a rough and tough forest officer’s role as Dhruvan and romances five heroines in the film.

Peranmai is a complete action film with a good moral and vision and the hero wipes out the evils. Ravi’s role in the film is a new treat for the audience because they have never seen him in this kind of role. His full-length action hero role as the son of a forest native is entirely different from his earlier romantic entertainers.
Director SP Jananathan is well-known for his selection of themes and he himself pens the story of Peranmai. The movie delves deep into the struggle of tribals and the protagonist, the only person completed higher studies in a tribal community, saves them.
The brave forest officer, with the help of five NCC female cadets, foils the plans of international terrorists, who are trying to enter the country with ultra modern weapons in hand to destroy the forest. The female leads of the film are played by Vasundra, Saranya, Varsha, Tanusika and Liyasree.

Ravi has done rigorous work-outs to suit the one-man army role in the film and reduced his weight to fit the role. He also trained in martial arts and archery for the movie and expects the action role in the film will become a milestone in his career. The tagline of the film is “Educate, Join, Revolt,” a saying by Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution.

Hollywood actor and former Mr Universe Roland Kickinger makes his debut in Indian films by playing the baddie role. According to a report, an elephant in the film also plays a prominent part.
Peranmai is produced by K Karunamoorthy and C Arunpandiyan of Ayngaran International. Cameraman NK Ekambaram and SR Sathish Kumar use state-of-the-art foreign cameras for the dangerous stunt scenes in the forests. It has music scored by Vidhyasagar for Vyramuthu’s lyrics.

Jaganmohini
Jaganmohini is the remake of late director-producer B Vittalacharya’s cult horror film of the same name released in 1979. The latest Jaganmohini revolves around Namitha, the USP of the film. Namitha plays the role enacted by Jeyamalini in the original. NK Viswanathan, an earlier assistant of director Rama Narayanan is the director.

Director NK Vishwanathan is credited for bringing a lot of visual effects and technical nuances to Tamil films. He is experimenting glamorous Namitha for a role that needs glamour and performance.
Jaganmohini have marvellous underwater sequences and computer graphics to enthrall children. Nila and Raja play other important roles in the film. It is produced under the Murali Cine Arts banner by H Murali. The remake was made with utmost care to satisfy the current generation. The makers have tried their best to give the film an international standard to woo people of all age groups. Musical maestro Ilayaraja, who steals the hearts of music lovers, scores the music.

Bollywood to taste Honey: Trisha Krishnan

2009-07-23T16:36:00.003+04:00

Leading lady of Tamil and Telugu film industry, Trisha Krishnan is making her debut in Bollywood opposite action hero Akshay Kumar in Khatta Meetha, writes KK Moidu Trisha’s maiden Bollywood venture Khatta Meetha is a light-hearted romantic comedy directed by remake king Priyadarshan. She plays a performance-oriented glamorous role as the love interest of front-line Bollywood hero Akshay Kumar. After watching Trisha’s performance in few Tamil films especially Abhiyum Naanum, the Mast Mast hero decided to make her as the lady love of his forthcoming film.
Khatta Meetha is produced by Akshay Kumar himself and Pritam Chakraborty composes music for the half-a-dozen songs in the film. Trisha, the charming starlet of South Indian cinema not only had a dream debut opposite Bollywood Macho Man Akshay Kumar, but also her mentor Priyadarshan directs it. Trisha also bagged two more Hindi movies, which will be produced under the banner of Akshay Kumar’s Hari Om Productions.
Trisha Krishnan made her debut as a heroine in Tamil film Leysa Leysa directed by Priyadarshan. She signed more than half-a-dozen heroine roles in Tamil films before the release of her debut Tamil film. The model turned actress entered the industry as a heroine at the time when Simran and Jyothika were ruling the roost. But she was succeeded in winning the hearts of audience with her acting talent and the competition helped her to give the best performance.
Trisha is a winner of Miss India Miss Beautiful Smile title and was a high-flying figure in fashion shows. She won the Filmfare debutante award and critical acclaim for her pairing opposite Surya in Mounam Pesiyathe. Her performance in Aayudha Ezhuthu, Unakku 18 Enakku 20 and Manasellam brought her into the limelight. Trisha earlier rejected a few Bollywood offers because of her busy schedule in Tamil and Telugu. She is currently working in Gautham Menon’s Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya and her male lead of the films is Silambarasan.
She also plays the female lead as an Anglo Indian girl in another forthcoming film Aadukalam directed by Vetrimaran and Dhanush is her hero. According to reports the actress has opted out of Aadukalam and a Telugu film opposite Balakrishna after completing few scenes to work in Khatta Meetha. She is sacrificing the two projects for concentrating more on Bollywood. But the actress strongly denied the reports.
Trisha, a former Miss Chennai is nicknamed Honey for her beautiful smile. She has paired opposite crowd pulling Tamil heroes like Vijay, Vikram and Ajith and delivered hits like Gilli and Saamy. But her pairing opposite Vikram and Vijay in last year releases Bheema and Kuruvi didn’t repeat the previous success at the box office. The sought after heroine also played female leads in many Telugu hits like Varsham, Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana and Bujjigadu and won rave reviews and fetched the Filmfare Best Actress Award.
However, she mainly played the leads of young heroes in Tamil films, but in Telugu, she was paired opposite stalwart Chiranjeevi and senior hero Venkatesh and youngsters like Prabhas and Siddharth Narayan.
The attractive actress was also honoured with the prestigious Kalaimamani Award from the Tamil Nadu Government and Nandhi Award from the Andhra Pradesh Government. Trisha is against the rumours of portraying her as the competitor to Asin, who recently made her debut opposite Aamir Khan in Ghajini.
Trisha has earlier replaced Bollywood leading ladies like Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta as the Brand Ambassador of Fanta India and Scooty Pep+. Will she repeat her South Indian success in Bollywood?

Mammootty: The Best Actor Award 2009-Reality Show on Asianet

2009-07-22T20:11:00.003+04:00

16 vie for honours in unique reality show

KK Moidu 9pm Saturday, July 25 will see the launch of 'Mammootty: The Best Actor Award 2009,' on Asianet. This purpose of this unique reality show is to find the most talented budding actor/actress in Kerala. Megastar Mammootty will declare the final winners in a grand finale to be held at Dubai during the last week of October 2009.
The programme will be based on Superstar Mammootty's contribution to Malayalam Cinema. In each episode there will be a discussion about the various characters performed by the popular hero from down South India and the closeness of those characters in real life. This is the first time in the history of Malayalam Television Channel, that a programme is named after a living legend of the tinsel world. The contestants were shortlisted from among thousands of applicants and the final 16 were selected by a jury panel headed by film directors and actors, on the basis of auditions held at major cities in Kerala.
Show format
The final contestants will compete in the roles performed by Bharath Mammootty and other famous artistes. The cutting edge actor Mammootty's outstanding performances as the Family Hero, Evergreen Youth Hero, The Macho Hero, The Epic Hero, Hero of unusual Characters, Adoptions from Literature Hero, a hero with Humor Touch and other roles will be the yardstick for selecting merit in the contest. Leading film director Siddique and evergreen actress Sheela will chair the permanent panel of judges. Other leading actors from Malayalam film industry such as Jagathy Sreekumar, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, Nedumudi Venu, Urvasi, Sreenivasan, among others will appear as celebrity judges. Scriptwriters, film directors, critics, writers, psychologists and politicians will encourage, advice and groom the contestants. The presence of Mega Star Mammootty through out the episodes is the major star attraction of the programme.

The booty
The final winners will get the chance to act in a movie produced by Mammooty's own production arm Play House Pictures and take home other fabulous prizes. The programmes will be anchored by leading mimicry artistes and mini-screen favourites, Kottayam Nazir and Tini Tom.
Asianet will telecast 'Mammootty: The Best Actor Award 2009' every Saturday from 9pm to 10pm.

Jack of all trades

2009-07-16T13:51:00.005+04:00

Multi-talented youth icon Prithviraj plays three challenging title roles in the forthcoming Malayalam film Raghupathy Raghava Raajaram (R3) which is directed by Shaji Kailas, writes KK Moidu
Ace director Shaji Kailas, who has a number of superhits under his belt — like The King and Valyettan with Mammootty, Aaram Thampuran and Narasimham with Mohanlal, Commissioner and Mafia with Suresh Gopi — features a young hero Prithviraj in three different title roles in R3. This is the first time Prithviraj plays three title roles, one as a Psychiatrist Dr Raghupathy, second as a police officer Raghavan IPS and the third one as a rogue Raajaram. R3, scripted by AK Sajan, tells the love story of three protagonists. Samvrutha Sunil and Mamta Mohandas will play the female leads in the film.
However, Prithviraj, the heartthrob of youngsters sports a new look in Puthiya Mugham directed by Deepan, an earlier assistant of Shaji Kailas. Prithviraj appears in an all-new look in the film without his trademark moustache. He plays the role of a Brahmin youth as Krishna Kumar in the campus based love story Puthiya Mugham. He is a shy and soft-spoken youth and a resident of Kalpathi Village, near Palakkad. Krishna Kumar, a favourite of villager’s is deeply stick to his traditions and family values. He loves music, gives music lessons to kids and an expert in Mridangam.Prithviraj and Meera Nandhan in Puthiya Mugham
Krishna Kumar has a secret crush on Sridevi. She is the daughter of their family friend and lives in the neighbouring village. The innocent life of Krishna Kumar has changed forever after his admission in an engineering college in Kochi. His friendship with Anjana and Sudhi, whose marriage is already fixed and certain incidents in their life deeply affects Krishnakumar. He is forced to accept new incarnation after a few unexpected happenings in their life. Priyamani and Meera Nandhan play the female lead of the film. M Sindhuraj of Mulla fame scripts the film and Bharani K Dharan is the cinematographer.

Priyamani

Prithviraj, who is blessed with a face that can convey various expressions also tests his vocal ability in the film by singing the title song 'Suryamugham Ini Oru Puthiyamugham'. The song penned by Kaithapram and composed by Deepak Dev.

Although Prithviraj’s earlier horror film Vellinakshathram didn’t succeed at the box office, the actor once again dons the lead in a horror thriller directed by Kukku Surendran, a cousin of Santhosh Sivan.

Prithviraj plays a hi-tech thief in another forthcoming film Robinhood directed by Joshy. Bhavana is his love interest in the film.

Prithviraj, who won the Best Actor State Award at an early age for his performance in Vaasthavam, has delivered mega hits like Classmates, Swapnakoodu and Chocolate within a short span of his career. His hands are full with offers for playing the leads in forthcoming Malayalam films like Louis VI, The Reel, Cousins, Doctor Love, Kerala Café, Veettilekkulla Vazhi, Paathira Manal, Punyam Aham, Maadan Kolli (Malayalam and Tamil) and a couple of untitled films directed by Joemon, Jayaraj and Akku Akbar.Unlike other Malayalam superstars, Prithviraj has carved a niche for himself in the neighbouring Tamil industry. His excellence in romantic and action roles made him a favourite among the audience. He has played lead roles in seasonal filmmaker like Bhagyaraj in Parijatham. He also had the luck to be a part of Mani Ratnam’s high profile movie Ashokavanam in Tamil and Raavan in Hindi. Prithviraj co-stars with former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Vikram in the film and Abhishek Bachchan will play the lead in Hindi.

Prithviraj will also play the lead in the Tamil remake of Malayalam superhit Classmate, which catapulted him to superstardom. The film, titled as Ninaithale Inikkum, is directed by Kumaravel, who assisted Kamal Hassan in many films. P Vasu’s son Shakthi will play an important role in the film and Priya Mani is the heroine.

Priyamani

Prithviraj will team up with director V Priya for an untitled film after the family entertainer Kannamoochi Yenada. Bhavana is his leading lady in the film. Prithviraj’s Telugu debut film has not seen the light of the day, but he is popular in Telugu after Sivapuram. The film is the dubbed version of Malayalam film Ananthabadram. His Telugu film Police Police, where he plays one of the lead as a cop Ravikanth is ready to release. Police Police is directed by debutante Manmohan and the film will simultaneously made in Tamil as Idam Valam.

Although Prithviraj is flooded with offers from Tamil and Malayalam, his recently released Malayalam films like One Way Ticket, Lollypop, Nammal Thammil and Calendar had failed to ring the cash registers at the box office. The actor definitely need a box office hit and pins hope on forthcoming films R3 directed by Shaji Kailas or his earlier assistant Deepan’s Puthiya Mugham or veteran director Joshy’s Robinhood.

Now the fans of the shining star are excitedly waiting to see if any of these three films or all will be able to repeat his crowd-pulling status at the box office.