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Projects by directors includingDmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, Cheryl Dunyeare and Ashim Ahuwalia are among the 2025 line-up for CineMart, the co-production market of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

CineMart, part of the festival’s IFFR Pro offering, has revealed 20 feature film projects and four immersive projects for its upcoming 42nd edition, which runs from February 2-5, 2025.

Meanwhile, IFFR Pro’s work-in-progress strand Darkroom has doubled in size for 2025, with 10 feature projects and two immersive projects being presented.

The CineMart line-up includes Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk with Something Strange Happened To Me.His debut Pamfir premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2022.

UK-based filmmaker Daniel Mann,...

Film director and screenwriter Ashim Ahluwalia spoke about the challenges of adapting Spanish drama ‘Elite’ for an Indian audience and making the web series ‘Class’. He said the biggest responsibility was retaining the characters from the original story.

He shared: “‘Class’ is an Indian adaptation of the global series ‘Elite’, and is something I was very excited about. Rather than just making a localised copy, I used the Spanish show in the way that one would use a source novel as a starting point for something altogether new. It’s not just about recreating a show for Indian audiences, but also about bringing a unique perspective and cultural context to the story.”

Ashim is a well-known film director, screenwriter, and producer. The National Award winner is best known for his critically acclaimed films, ‘Daddy’, ‘Thin Air’, and ‘Miss Lovely’, among others.

He elaborated more about his recent web series and...

When ‘Miss Lovely’, centering around Mumbai’s C-grade porn and horror industry, released it did many things… most of all challenging the very grammar of Indian cinema. One had rarely seen a Hindi film crossing multiple genres, bringing into play different styles and playing on several narratives simultaneously… at once reminding the viewer of Wong Kar Wai and a certain suspended magic realism. Director Ashim Ahluwalia had arrived. And in style.

Cut to 11 years later as his series ‘Class’, adapted from the Spanish series ‘Elite’ currently being streamed on Netflix is hooking viewers. Exploring the dynamics at an elite school, and what happens when some ‘other’ students join the institution – a collision of two worlds – shaking up everything from the roots.

Ahluwalia says he wanted to make something about teenagers for a quite while – the strong, conflicted emotions of the young. “I could personally really relate to that struggle as I was a rebellious,...

Exclusive: Ashim Ahluwalia, known as a director of edgy films such as John & Jane and Miss Lovely that have premiered at Toronto and Cannes film festivals, is not an obvious choice to direct a young adult drama series for Netflix. But when local production house Bodhi Tree Multimedia approached him with a proposal for a Hindi remake of Spanish show Elite, he jumped at the chance.

“I’ve always been interested in making something on teenagers, especially wealthy urban teenagers, because that’s a world that I know,” says Ahluwalia, who grew up in the tony neighborhoods of south Mumbai. “I went to a school that was very different to the school in Elite, or in this series, but had the same elements of class conflict. So while I’d never thought about doing a series before, I thought this would be an interesting project to do.”

Created by Carlos Montero and Dario Madrona,...

The ‘Serious Men’ and ‘The Lunchbox’ star Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be celebrating his birthday at the Cannes Film Festival for the seventh time, on Thursday. From his 2012 releases of ‘Miss Lovely’ and ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, then 2013 releases ‘Monsoon Shootout’, ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Bombay Talkies’ followed by the 2016 release ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’ and 2018 […]...

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui feels the Bollywood hero is the most clich?d creation one can think of, adding that he likes to keep a distance from that image.

"I have played a variety of roles, be it gangster, a writer or a policeman. Even if I get an opportunity to play the lead hero in a movie, I will do it only on the basis of my style," Nawazuddin told Ians.

Also Read:?Nawazuddin Siddiqui is back in a new Avatar

"The Bollywood hero is one of the most clich?d roles (that) you will find. People have this conception on how they see him, the kind of clothes he wears etc. This is a zone I ideally don't want to be a part of because then you go into an absolute comfort zone," he added.

According to Nawazuddin, anybody can play the hero but the difficult part is to...

Dalit film festThe festival, held on February 23-24 in New York, included films in Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil and Nepali, covering a wide variety of Dalit stories and assertion.Ravikiran ShindePa Ranjith, Niharika Singh and Nagraj Manjule at the event“My goodness, you have so many stories in your life since childhood … I have none. I just studied Class 12 and came to college, that’s it.” This is what Jo, an upper caste girl, tells Periyerum, a Dalit boy, in the movie Pariyerum Perumal. Directed by Mari Selvaraj and produced by Pa Ranjith, the film was screened at the inaugural Dalit Film and Cultural Festival held on February 23-24 in New York. It was a befitting start to the event, indicating the necessity to showcase and celebrate Dalit stories and culture. The festival, called Daliff, was part of a two-day extravaganza held at and co-hosted by Barnard College, Columbia University and The New York School.

“Miss Lovely” was the independent film from India that competed in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Film Festival in 2012. 2013 was one of the best years of the Indian history of independent cinemas.Even though the Indian independent cinema collective has made its presence felt in the beginning of 2000 itself, they were made to stay away with bowed heads out of an imposed inferiority of untouchability. However , the decisions of the national film award juries of 2013 brought them to the front rows.That year, Anand Gandhi’s “Ship of Theseus” was selected as the best film and Ashim Ahluwalia’s “Miss Lovely” got the special jury award for best film. These two films respectively got the award for the best female actor in a supporting role and best production design also.

Other than the year 2015 , all years that followed also were that of the success stories of the independent cinemas.

Ashim Ahluwalia, who won the National Award Special Jury for Miss Lovely, isn’t someone whom a producer or an actor can easily convince to collaborate for a film. Nonetheless, Arjun Rampal got lucky to get the director to come on board for Daddy, his biopic on the life of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli that releases on September 8,Read More

The post Here’s how a reclusive Ashim Ahluwalia agreed to direct Arjun’s Daddy appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.

One of my most anticipated films of 2017 just got even more exciting. Yesterday the trailer dropped for Ashim Ahluwalia's Daddy, the follow-up to his critically acclaimed Miss Lovely from 2012. Daddy is the true life story of Arun Gawli, Mumbai gangster-turned-politician who now sits in jail after having been convicted as part of a conspiracy that led to the death of a leader of the Shiv Sena Hindu nationalist political group. I went through a bit more of the story in a previous post featuring the initial teaser for the film, which you can find here: Miss Lovely'S Ashim Ahluwalia Returns With Daddy Trailer Daddy's release timeframe has been somewhat up in the air due to a number of factors, including the fact that...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

“Your soul for a sweet?” If you summon him, don’t take him up on his offer. The Man in the Rabbit Mask short film, an entry in the Storyhive contest, can be viewed in today’s Horror Highlights, which also includes The Room at the Top of the Stairs, Game of Thrones pens, The Field Guide to Evil, and the Famous Monsters Party in San Jose.

The Man in the Rabbit Mask Short Film: “A poem spoken over candlelight by two girls invites an unexpected visitor, offering a gift… for a price. As the allure of the ultimatum invokes their better judgement, the illusion of safety begins to fade in the presence of the masked stranger.

Director: Ariel Hansen

Actors: Iris Truong, Holly Burr, Chris Walters, Catherine Slingsby”

To learn more and to vote for The Man in the Rabbit Mask in the Storyhive competition, visit:

http://www.storyhive.

Just weeks after launching its equity crowdfunding campaign, the folklore-tinged horror anthology feature “The Field Guide to Evil” has been officially given the green light. Producers Christos V. Konstantakopoulos (“Before Midnight,” “The Lobster”), Keith and Jess Calder (“Anomalisa,” “Blair Witch,” “You’re Next”) and Legion M, billed as the first ever fan-owned media company, have all invested and come onboard as Executive Producers for the film.

The anthology is “a global exploration into dark folklore, and will feature eight terrifying tales from the world’s most exciting new voices in international filmmaking.” The film is currently engaged in its first-of-its-kind equity crowd-funding campaign on First Democracy Vc, a funding portal brought through a partnership between Indiegogo and MicroVentures. Thanks to the campaign, investors and film fans across the world have the opportunity to become equity partners in this unique horror production.

Read More: Horror Anthology ‘The Field Guide to Evil...

What is growing inside of Lou (Natasha Lyonne)? Danny Perez’s Antibirth can be yours on Blu-ray and DVD beginning February 7th. Also in today’s Horror Highlights: The Field Guide to Evil crowdfunding campaign, a clip from Friday’s episode of Paranormal Lockdown, Volumes of Blood trailer and poster, and the poster for Dead Squad.

Antibirth Blu-ray / DVD Release Details: Press Release: “Hard-drinking, pill-popping, bong-ripping Lou (Natasha Lyonne, Orange in the New Black) and her best friend Sadie (Chloë Sevigny, Boys Don’t Cry, American Horror Story) spend their days adrift in a druggy haze. But one wild night out becomes a bad trip that never ends when Lou wakes up with symptoms of an unexplained, highly abnormal pregnancy. Who — or what — is growing inside of her? Making its Blu-ray and DVD debut February 7th, 2017 from Scream Factory, in conjunction with IFC Midnight, Anitbirth also includes psychedelic clips, storyboards,...

If you, like me, have an interest in dark folklore from around the world then it turns out that you have a shared interest with The ABCs Of Death producers Tim League and Ant Timpson who are revisiting the horror anthology format with a slightly different focus. The Field Guide To Evil gathers stellar talent from around the globe to share dark folk tales from around the globe. The roster? Only Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala (Goodnight Mommy), Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy), Agnieszka Smoczynska (The Lure), Katrin Gebbe (Nothing Bad Can Happen), Can Evrenol (Baskin), Calvin Reeder (The Rambler), Yannis Veslemes (Norway), and Ashim Ahluwalia (Miss Lovely). Which is pretty damn good. Which stories each director is tackling has not yet been shared...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Eight filmmakers from around the world will direct segments, including Baskin’s Can Evrenol.

Producer Ant Timpson (The ABCs Of Death) and Alamo Drafthouse CEO and founder Tim League (The ABCs Of Death) are re-teaming for anthology horror The Field Guide To Evil.

The feature-length film project will include individual segments directed by eight different directors, including Turkish filmmaker Can Evrenol, whose horror feature Baskin premiered at Tiff in 2015.

The other seven directors are from Austria (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy), Germany (Katrin Gebbe, Nothing Bad Can Happen), Greece (Yannis Veslemes, Norway), India (Ashim Ahluwalia, Miss Lovely), Poland (Agnieszka Smoczynska, The Lure), and the United States (Calvin Reeder, The Rambler).

The anthology film will feature retellings of malevolent folktales that have spooked audiences throughout history.

The production team are crowd-financing the film’s production budget through the MicroVenturse funding portal in association with Indiegogo, with the public able to purchase equity investments in return for a variety...

The producers of horror films including “The ABCs of Death” and “The Greasy Strangler” have launched an equity crowdfunding campaign for “The Field Guide to Evil,” a new horror anthology inspired by folklore and mythology.

Read More: ‘The ABCs of Death 2.5’: Why the Indie Horror Sequel Went Straight to Vimeo

The crowdfunding campaign is being handled by First Democracy Vc, a funding portal created through the partnership of Indiegogo and MicroVentures, and allows any individual to invest in the production.

“The Field Guide to Evil” is being produced by “The ABCs of Death” producers Ant Timpson and Tim League, also the founder and CEO of the Alamo Drafthouse. The filmmakers involved in the project hail from Austria (Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, “Goodnight Mommy”), Germany (Katrin Gebbe, “Nothing Bad Can Happen”), Greece (Yannis Veslemes, “Norway”), India (Ashim Ahluwalia, “Miss Lovely”), Poland (Agnieszka Smoczynska, “The Lure”), Turkey (Can Evrenol, “Baskin...

2016 was a great year at the movies. The world of cinema has provided a tremendous amount of joy for which we should feel grateful. While that could apply to the world at large, it especially applies to the cinema of India, for whom 2016 was a banner year for tremendous cinema. Unfortunately for most, these films have largely gone unnoticed outside of the subcontinent, but if you're wondering what exactly you have to look forward to in catching up with this year, I'm here to help. Not only was this the most remarkable year for Indian cinema since 2012 (Gangs of Wasseypur, Miss Lovely, Aadukalam, Eega), but it's also the year that the world was brought a bit closer to Indian cinema through worldwide...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Back in 2012, Ashim Ahluwalia lit up the festival circuit with his remarkable meditation on the '80s sleaze film boom in India, Miss Lovely. That film, starring the now ubiquitous Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the gentler half of a sibling duo providing adult films to Bombay movie houses, opened to rave reviews after its premiere at Cannes. Miss Lovely's carefully crafted approach and period perfect recreations of these films and the seedy underworld in which they lived was one of my favorite films of the year, and I've been waiting ever since to see what Ahluwalia would do next. It would appear that the wait has been worthwhile. Last week Eros International released the first teaser for Ahluwalia's follow-up film, Daddy, and it is outstanding. Daddy...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Exclusive/Film Bazaar: Director Ashim Ahluwalia’s social outcast romance secures international co-production deals

Miss Lovely director Ashim Ahluwalia’s next film The Boyfriend has attracted a crop of new co-producers: Mehernaz Lentin at Industry Pictures (Canada), Anand Ramayya at Karma Film (Canada), Laurent Lavolé at Gloria Films (France) and Film Kitchen (The Netherlands).

“We have just closed co-producers and it looks exciting. Pinaki Chatterjee and Anu Rangachar will be the Indian producers through Future East. I’m hoping we can start shooting this mid 2017,” said writer-director Ashim Ahluwalia, who is also finishing his Hindi-language film Daddy.

The Boyfriend, which was at the Screenwriters’ Lab in 2014, is based on a book by R Raj Rao, about two social outcasts who embark on a forbidden love affair.

Daddy, now in post-production, is about the life of the notorious Mumbai gangster Arun Gawli. The cast features Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar and Aishwarya Rajesh.

“I was offered...

Exclusive/Film Bazaar: Director Ashim Ahluwalia’s social outcast romance secures international co-production deals

Miss Lovely director Ashim Ahluwalia’s next film The Boyfriend has attracted a crop of new co-producers: Mehernaz Lentin at Industry Pictures (Canada), Anand Ramayya at Karma Film (Canada), Laurent Lavolé at Gloria Films (France) and Film Kitchen (The Netherlands).

“We have just closed co-producers and it looks exciting. Pinaki Chatterjee and Anu Rangachar will be the Indian producers through Future East. I’m hoping we can start shooting this mid 2017,” said writer-director Ashim Ahluwalia, who is also finishing his Hindi-language film Daddy.

The Boyfriend, which was at the Screenwriters’ Lab in 2014, is based on a book by R Raj Rao, about two social outcasts who embark on a forbidden love affair.

Daddy, now in post-production, is about the life of the notorious Mumbai gangster Arun Gawli. The cast features Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar and Aishwarya Rajesh.

“I was offered...

Salman Khan is back on the big screen this Eid with his new film Sultan. Sultan tells the story of a washed up wrestler fighting for redemption. It's the kind of comeback story that Hollywood has filmed a million times, though probably with fewer song and dance numbers. Normally I'm not a huge Salman Khan fan, I've seen his last few films and he really comes across as wooden. However, he always seems to surround himself with big talent so I'll often go along for the ride. In his last film, box office champ Bajrangi Bhaijaan, he had Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Gangs of Wasseypur, Raman Raghav 2.0, MIss Lovely) as a co-star. Nawaz also co-starred in Khan's Kick from a few years back. For Sultan, the...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Cast your minds back to 2002 - a time when Pop Idols didn't need to have The X Factor, Fifty Shades of Grey were just colours on a paint sampler chart and David Beckham was a mere international superstar rather than global megastar.

Bend It Like Beckham, with a modest estimated budget of £3.7 million, opened that same year and became a critical and commercial success - breaking box office records and scoring BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, as well as making household names of many of its stars.

As the cast continues preparing for the West End stage adaptation of Gurinder Chadha's screen hit ahead of previews on May 15, find out what the movie's ensemble cast went on to achieve - including who is coming back for the musical...

Parminder Nagra (Jess Bhamra)

Nominated for Best Newcomer at the Empire Awards on the back of the movie's success, Parminder went...

I know, I know. It's cheating to have two years represented in my year end list. However, I didn't get a chance to make my lists last year, and these films deserve your notice.2012 was a banner year for Indian film, both in the multiplexes and on the festival circuit. The last two years have struggled to keep up with the overwhelming quality of that year's crop. In fact, films that I put on my "best of" list back in 2012 are still appearing on "best of" lists in 2014 in India! Miss Lovely got a cinema release both in India and the Us in 2014 in spite of being a product of 2012, Gangs of Wasseypur was still doing festival rounds well into 2013...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Miss Lovely director Ashim Ahluwalia’s latest project The Boyfriend has been selected for 32nd edition of Cinemart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam to be held from January 25-28, 2015.

The project also received the festival’s Hubert Bals fund for script and project development earlier this year.

The Boyfriend revolves around two social outcasts, trapped within a storm of violence, who embark on a forbidden love affair. As things rapidly turn more passionate and morally hazy; they are forced to make a series of decisions that will forever affect their lives. The film is an explosive mix of class and caste and the private sexual hells buried under a dangerously intolerant society.

Co-written by Ashim Ahluwalia and Vidur Nauriyal, The Boyfriend was part of Nfdc Film Bazaar’s co-production market in November.

For more details on The Boyfriend, click here.

Co-production market has three prizes including new Wouter Barendrecht Award in conjunction with Fortissimo Films.

A host of global auteurs, along with new voices, have been selected for The International FIlm Festival Rotterdam’s famed CineMart co-production market.

Filmmakers who have projects selected include Miss Lovely director Ashim Ahluwalia from India; Ukranian director of multi-award-winning The Tribe Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy; Argentina’s Benjamin Naishtat (History of Fear); Fellipe Barbosa (Casa Grande); American duo Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin, whose previous film Now, Forager played at Rotterdam; Dutch director Nanouk Leopold [pictured]; and Sacha Polak (Hemel). Full list of selected projects below.

CineMart is one of the industry’s first co-production markets, now in its 32nd edition. There are three awards — The Eurimages Co-production Development Award of €20,000, The Arte International Price of €7,000 and the inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Award of €5,000 which is awarded by CineMart in conjunction with Fortissimo Films.

CineMart runs Jan 25-28 as part of Iffr which runs Jan...

A still from Vinay Shukla and Khushboo Ranka’s Proposition for a Revolution

Nfdc Film Bazaar’s Work-in-Progress Lab has announced its selection in Fiction and Documentary categories.

The Work-in-Progress (Wip) Lab gives filmmakers a chance to have their rough-cut feature-length films viewed by an eminent panel of international advisers. These advisers have a one-on-one discussion with the filmmaker with an intention to help the filmmaker achieve an accomplished final cut of the film.

Nfdc Film Bazaar 2014 will be held from November 20-24 in Goa Mariott Resort.

Work-in-Progress Lab 2014:

Fiction :

Bokul by Reema Borah Highway by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Nil Battey Sannata by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari Tathagat by Manav Kaul Thithi by Raam Reddy

Documentary :

12 Acres by Rajesh Thind Maidaan (Home Ground) by Kavita Carneiro Nehi Mozo Hanü Dizo Le (Without You, I am Nothing) by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar Proposition for a Revolution by Khushboo Ranka...

The maverick director of John and Jane and Miss Lovely shared his insight on filmmaking with DearCinema readers at IndieTalk recently. He advised first time directors against the following unspoken rules of the industry:

Ashim Ahluwalia at DearCinema IndieTalk session in Mumbai | Photograph: Shaheen Muhammed

Rule 1: You need to have a bound script

Screenplay formats were designed for the Hollywood studio system. It’s actually meant for script readers who have to go through hundreds of scripts, that’s why they have invented this format.

The real script is worth worrying about. It’s without the formatting – one in which you write whatever you want to write. It’s the one that includes your own notes about atmosphere, colour and mood.

Write a “bound” script to raise money but the real thing should be a mess – notes, pictures, whatever. Godard wrote Breathless on the back of a paper napkin.

Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s debut feature is all set for a world premiere at Venice Days, an independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, that runs from August 27 to September 6.

Aditya, who is a graduate of the National Institute of Design and dabbles in graphic design, animation and advertising, talks about his Labour of Love:

Basabdutta Chatterjee in Labour of Love

What is Labour of Love about?

Labour Of Love is set against the backdrop of a spiraling recession that has Calcutta in its grips. Several people are losing their sources of livelihood and faced with the uncertainty of losing their own jobs, the film’s two central characters are under constant pressure to sustain their livelihood. The film deals with their strained routines as well as the calmness they depict in dealing with the eventualities of their existence.

There are no dialogues in the film. What was the idea behind not having dialogues?...

Ashim Ahluwalia

DearCinema will organize the next session of IndieTalk on August 23 in Mumbai with Miss Lovely and John & Jane director Ashim Ahluwalia. This IndieTalk is supported by Catapooolt, a leading crowdfunding website in India.

Ashim Ahluwalia, who is well-known for being a fiercely independent filmmaker, will talk on “How to make films outside the system (making the films people tell you not to make!)”

His feature-length documentary John & Jane, which was hailed as groundbreaking and highly original, screened at several film festivals including Berlin and Toronto.

Ahluwalia’s critically-acclaimed fiction film Miss Lovely received a world premiere at Cannes Film Festival. Both his films have won National awards.

His third feature project The Boyfriend recently received Hubert Bals fund for script development. Ahluwalia was selected by the San Francisco Film Society as their Artist in Residence and also served on the Jury of Rome film festival in 2013.

IndieTalk with...

There is heartening news for Ketan Mehta's film Mountain Man on Dashrath Manjhi, the impoverished man from the Gaya district of Bihar who cut a road through the mountain in his unreachable village, with his hands. Viacom 18 has acquired the film and are all set to release it worldwide. Rejoicing in the glad tidings actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui who plays the title role in Mountain Man says, "It's the best thing that could've happened to a film like this. Mountain Man is not a small film. It is a very big film because it tells the story of an extraordinary man." Nawaz injured his leg while shooting on location for Mountain Man "This has been my toughest film to shoot. I pushed myself emotionally and physically beyond all endurance. And then to have the film being released in a small way would be heartbreaking." Nawaz says he has been through that heartbreaking process.

Director Hansal Mehta's son Jai Mehta, who has assisted his father on both his acclaimed films, is all set to turn an independent director with a film chronicling the cinema and lives of the horror specialists Ramsay Brothers. While there has been a recent much-acclaimed film Ashim Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely about the cheesy horror cinema of the Ramsays, Jai who has been researching the subject for more than two years feels the saga of the Ramsays needs to be told with reverence rather than ridicule. Says the young aspiring director, "Through much of the 1970s and 80s, the Ramsays churned out innumerable horror films one after another. And they were all successful. What I find fascinating about their success saga is how much they believed in what they did. No matter how cheesy critics found their films they were made in a spirit of complete conviction. The Ramsays...

Film Bazaar, the South Asian film market organised by India’s National Film Development Corp (Nfdc), has selected the six finalists of Screenwriters’ Lab 2014.

Now in its eighth edition, the first stage of the Lab will be held at the Sarajevo Film Festival (August 15-23), with the second stage held prior and during Film Bazaar (November 20-24). Previous Screenwriters’ Lab partners have included the Venice, Toronto and Locarno film festivals.

Film Bazaar is held alongside the International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in the south Indian state of Goa.

The selected scripts include The Boyfriend, from Vidur Nauriyal and Ashim Ahluwalia; Aamir Bashir’s Winter; Hitesh Bhatia’s Char Log Kya Kahenge; Vandana Kohli’s Flow; All About Her, from Ruchi Joshi; and The Sunset Club from Karan Tejpal.

Ahluwalia previously directed Miss Lovely, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2013. The Boyfriend recently received the Hubert Bals Fund for script and project development. Miss Lovely was selected...

The annual Film Bazaar event organized by the Indian government's National Film Development Corporation announced the six finalists of this year's Screenwriters' Lab. The eighth edition of the Bazaar will take place in Goa from Nov. 20-24. The six projects selected for the lab are: The Boyfriend by Vidur Nauriyal and Ashim Ahluwalia; Winter by Aamir Bashir; Char Log Kya Kahenge (What Will People Say) by Hitesh Bhatia; Flow by Vandana Kohli; All About Her by Ruchi Joshi; The Sunset Club by Karan Tejpal. Photos Indian Talent Going Global The second project from the team behind the acclaimed Miss Lovely (Ahluwalia's

read more...

Nfdc Film Bazaar announced today the six finalists of the Screenwriters’ Lab 2014.

In its eighth edition, the first stage of the Lab will be held at the Sarajevo Film Festival (15 – 23 August 2014) and the second stage during Film Bazaar (20- 24 November 2014) in Goa.

The six scripts / screenwriters selected are:

The Boyfriend – Vidur Nauriyal and Ashim Ahluwalia Winter- Aamir Bashir Char Log Kya Kahenge – Hitesh Bhatia Flow – Vandana Kohli All about Her – Ruchi Joshi The Sunset Club – Karan Tejpal

Vidur Nauriyal and Ashim Ahluwalia’s The Boyfriend will be the second feature from the team behind Miss Lovely, directed by Ashim Ahluwalia, which was screened at Cannes Film Festival in 2012. Ashim recently received the Hubert Bals Fund for script and project development for the same project.

Aamir Bashir’s Winter is his second feature film after Harud(Autumn), which premiered at Toronto Film Festival in 2010.

Char Log Kya Kahenge is the first feature script by Hitesh Bhatia,...

Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely (2012) leaves an uneasy impression. It is not about its mildly explicit images, titillating posters or exposure to the shady underworld of low-grade semi-porno, horror film industry. It isn’t about the unconventional focus on a low grade film industry either though all of the above linger in the mind of the viewer. The greatest difficulty of Ahluwalia’s film is to have taken on a daunting project without rising to its challenges. The film is hesitant about where its stakes lie—in depicting the reality or in weaving a narrative that discloses the deeper neuroses of an underworld, an overrated glamor industry called Bollywood or an indelible blend of crime and film in India.

The film is set in the underworld of cinema that finds its lonely, sex-starved consumers amongst us, filling their lives with images that are pleasing only in a state of abjection.

 

The Austin Film Series is wrapping up its "Rebel Rebel" series this weekend with a 35mm print of Female Trouble, the raunchy 1974 comedy from enfant terrible John Waters. It screens tonight and Sunday afternoon at the Marchesa. That's also the place to be on Thursday night as a new Essential Cinema series launches featuring some of the best collaborations of Liv Ullman and Ingmar Bergman. The first film of the series is 1966's Persona, screening in a 35mm print. Look for an article about the series on Monday by programmer Chale Nafus.

The Alamo Drafthouse Ritz has another eclectic week ahead of specialty screenings. On Saturday afternoon, you can view the late-era Marx Bros. classic, 1946's A Night In Casablanca. Also this week, there's a Bill & Ted double feature on Sunday that will include two new Mondo posters available for purchase, Russ Meyer's Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls...

Amruta Subhash in Astu

The 61st National Film Festival 2014 will commence in New Delhi on June 29 with the screening of Marathi feature film Astu by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar and short film Chidiya Udh by Pranjal Dua.

All the National Award winning films for the year 2013 will be screened for the public during the four-day festival. Organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, at Siri Fort Auditorium Complex, the festival will screen 30 feature films and 23 non-feature films.

The festival will be inaugurated by Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Actors Mohan Agashe and Amruta Subhash; and filmmakers Sumitra Bhave, Sunil Sukthankar and Pranjal Dua will be present for the opening.

Entry to the screenings is free and on first come first serve basis.

Some of the other films to be screened at the festival are Ship of Theseus, Miss Lovely, Shahid, Crossing Bridges,...

This weekend, Kevin Hart, Meagan Good, and a group of couples head to Vegas in "Think Like a Man Too," Clint Eastwood brings the hit Broadway musical "Jersey Boys" to the big screen, "True Blood" kicks off its seventh and final season Sunday on HBO, and "Drop Dead Diva" has its series finale this Sunday on Lifetime.

Also in theaters this weekend: "Third Person" follows three interlocking love stories involving couples in Rome, Paris, and New York. Written and directed by Paul Haggis, the film stars Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, James Franco, Adrien Brody, Liam Neeson, Kim Basinger, and Mario Bello. In "Venus in Fur," an actress attempts to convince a director how she's perfect for a role in his upcoming production. Directed by Roman Polanski. Documentary "Code Black" follows a team of idealistic and adrenaline-seeking doctors training in an inner-city ER, an environment akin to a war-zone. Soon, though,...

Florid direction, lurid atmosphere, and reckless passions all contribute to the intoxicating deliriousness of Miss Lovely, a thriller set in 1980s India's B-movie industry.

In that seedy environment, domineering Vicky (Anil George) and his more idealistic younger brother, Sonu (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), make their living filming murder and sex for a criminal producer who, given the duo's greedy track record, is wary of them stabbing him in the back.

Director Ashim Ahluwalia's film lovingly recreates the cheesy big-screen smut produced by his characters, and also embraces the industry's fondness for swirling colors, extreme close-ups and zooms, and silky camera movements, all of which give his material a fevered intensity. When Sonu meets and falls in love with aspiring actr...

Digital entertainment curator FilmBuff along with Gotham and Beverly Hills veteran independent film distributors Mj Peckos' and Steven Raphael's Dada Films announced today that they will release Indian drama "Miss Lovely" in U.S. theaters.  Directed by Ashim Ahluwalia, the film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival to mixed reviews. It delves deep into the underbelly of India's film industry during the 1980s, focussing specifically on Mumbai's C-grade (horror and soft-core porn) film production. "We really responded to Ashim's unique perspective and his ability to explore controversial themes and issues," said FilmBuff's Head of Content Steven Beckman. "Through its docu-narrative hybrid approach, 'Miss Lovely' delivers a gritty, powerful lens into a stranger than fiction world that will surely resonate with audiences here in the United States." The film will open on June 20th theatrically in New York and Los Angeles, with an expansion to follow.  ...

The National Film Development Corporation (Nfdc) is releasing Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely on DVD and Video-On-Demand (www.cinemasofindia.com) platforms under the organisation’s distribution brand, Cinemas of India, on June 13.

Miss Lovely will be the first film to be released by Nfdc on both platforms outside of its own catalogue of more than 300 films across 21 Indian languages.

Nfdc’s Home Video catalogue includes 87 restored and digitized titles and is distributed Pan India by its retail partner Shemaroo. Miss Lovely film DVDs will be available across all large format stores, leading bookstores pan India and websites like Flipkart.com priced at Inr 299.

As for the Video-on-Demand platform, the film will be available for streaming in India and subcontinent regions- Nepal and Bhutan priced at Usd 1.99 (Pay-per-View). The website currently hosts more than 75 of its classic and award winning titles for streaming in Free, Pay-Per-View, and Subscription (SVoD) on a monthly basis.

Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely is releasing in theatres in the USA starting June 6. The film is being released by Dada Films in seven cities: Seattle (June 6), New York (June 20), San Jose, California (June 20), Los Angeles (June 20), Chicago (June 27) and Austin (June 27) on the mentioned date with an expansion to follow.

The movie will also release on digital platforms like iTunes, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play in August. FilmBuff will distribute the movie in the digital space.

“We really responded to Ashim’s unique perspective and his ability to explore controversial themes and issues,” said FilmBuff’s Head of Content, Steven Beckman. “Through its docu-narrative hybrid approach, Miss Lovely delivers a gritty, powerful lens into a stranger than fiction world that will surely resonate with audiences here in the United States.”

Miss Lovely delves deep into the underbelly of India’s film industry, where back-alley producers churn out...

Illustration by Aniez Del Mono

Recently, a friend called me after having attended a talk from a leading ‘indie’ producer of Mumbai. The talk was meant to give young, ‘indie’ cinema enthusiasts, an insight into the world of ‘indie’ cinema finance, production and distribution. The producer gushed about Anurag Kashyap on more than one occasion. He is a genius. He has an eye. My friend, who had recently been to a few of these talks, called me with a slightly perplexing question – why is the name of Anurag Kashyap ubiquitous at such places?

why Anurag Kashyap is synonymous with the Indian ‘Indie’ scene – it is quite simply, because he ‘belongs’ to the scene. Or as his growing legion of admirers would put it, he ‘is’ the scene.

To a lot of people who work in the film industry, this is a non-question to begin with. The Anurag Kashyap success story is a well-documented one.

Ashim Ahluwalia

Ashim Ahluwalia has received the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) for script and project development for his new project “The Boyfriend”.

In its spring 2014 selection round, the Hbf of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected eleven film projects from eleven different countries to receive grant contributions totaling €110,000. The selection was made from 270 applications received.

“The Boyfriend” revolves around two social outcasts, trapped within a storm of violence, who embark on a forbidden love affair. As things rapidly turn more passionate and morally hazy; they are forced to make a series of decisions that will forever affect their lives. The film is an explosive mix of class and caste and the private sexual hells buried under a dangerously intolerant society.

Ahluwalia’s critically-acclaimed feature film Miss Lovely received a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and released in India in January this year.

Each year, the Hbf...

The National Film Award winners have been announced, with Bollywood biggies such as Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Ship of Theseus, Jolly Llb and Shahid picking up major awards. The National Film Awards honour films of all languages that are made in India and are considered to be the most prestigious of all awards that are given out in the country.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag bagged one of the big awards, which is the National Award for Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It also won the Best Choreography award for the song ‘Hawan Karege (Maston Ka Jhund),’ whilst Jal won the Best Special Effects Award. Critically acclaimed film Ship of Theseus bagged the Best Feature Film Award, with Shahid winning the Best Direction and Best Actor Award for Rajkumar Rao (who shared the award with Malayalam actor Suraj Venjaramoodu).

Geetanjali Thapa won the Best Actress Award for Liar’s Dice, while Arshad Warsi...

The National Film Award winners have been announced, with Bollywood biggies such as Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Ship of Theseus, Jolly Llb and Shahid picking up major awards. The National Film Awards honour films of all languages that are made in India and are considered to be the most prestigious of all awards that are given out in the country.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag bagged one of the big awards, which is the National Award for Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It also won the Best Choreography award for the song ‘Hawan Karege (Maston Ka Jhund),’ whilst Jal won the Best Special Effects Award. Critically acclaimed film Ship of Theseus bagged the Best Feature Film Award, with Shahid winning the Best Direction and Best Actor Award for Rajkumar Rao (who shared the award with Malayalam actor Suraj Venjaramoodu).

Geetanjali Thapa won the Best Actress Award for Liar’s Dice, while Arshad Warsi...

Kanu Behl’s debut feature Titli has been selected for Un Certain Regard section of the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

A still from Titli

Produced by Dibakar Banerjee Productions and Yash Raj Films, Titli features Ranvir Shorey, Amit Sial and newcomer Shashank Arora in lead roles.

The film had created buzz when it won the Di Award for the Best Work-in-Progress Lab Project at Nfdc Film Bazaar last year. It was earlier part of the Screenwriters’ Lab in 2012.

The official synopsis of Titli goes: “In the badlands of Delhi’s dystopic underbelly, Titli, the youngest member of a violent car-jacking brotherhood plots a desperate bid to escape the ‘family’ business. His struggle to do so is countered at each stage by his indignant brothers, who finally try marrying him off to ‘settle’ him. Titli, finds an unlikely ally in his new wife, caught though she is in her own web...

Independent films swept the 61st National Film awards in all the major categories. Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus was named the Best Feature Film.

The award for Best Director went to Hansal Mehta for Shahid. Shahid also won Rajkummar Rao the award for Best Actor which he shares with Suraj Venjaramoodu for Malayalam-film Perariyathavar.

The National Award for Best Actress went to Geetanjali Thapa for Liar’s Dice. The film also won the Best Cinematography award for Rajeev Ravi.

Fandry won the award for Best Debut Film of a Director. The award for Best Child Actor went to Somnath Avghade for Fandry which he shares with Sadhana for Tamil film Thanga Meengal.

The National award for Best Production Design went to Ashim Ahluwalia, Tabsheer Zutshi and Parichit Paralkar for Miss Lovely. The film also won the Special Jury award.

Best Children’s Film went to Batul Mukhtiyar’s Kaphal.

It isn't just Alia Bhatt who's getting ready to take music lessons. For the role of aclassicalvocalist in a forthcoming film the method-actor par excellence Nawazuddin Siddiqui would be hiring himself a Hindustani classical vocal maestro to train him. The film entitled The Music Teacher to be directed by Sarthak Dasgupta requiresNawazuddinto be an adept vocalist.While an expert vocalist can sing for Nawaz he would like to look convincing while putting forward the nuances, hence the tutoring. This method actorspent a large part of 2013 digging a mountain for Ketan Mehta's parabolic take of inspiration and perspiration The Mountain Man, and attending international film festivals. Nawaz says he is very surprised with the way 2013 panned out."I thought 2012 was too eventful a year for me to repeat. In 2013, I only had two releases. But by God's grace I got so much praise for both Bombay Talkies and The Lunchbox.

A lot of ink has been spilt over how much of the filmmaking universe of the Ramsay Brothers who ruled Bollywood's horror genre in the 1980s, went into Ashim Ahluwalia's highly acclaimed film Miss Lovely. Speaking out for the first time Shyam Ramsay from the Ramsay house of horrors says, "Miss Lovely was nothing but a desperate attempt to make a Dirty Picture kind of film using our family's name in the pre-release publicity." Shyam says the Ramsays feel victimized. "We were targeted, made to look like cheap sex peddlers in Miss Lovely. The fact is Ramsay is a brand name. We are a reputed family with decades of cinema to our credit. The whole film industry knows it. If someone still chose to portray us as sleaze hawkers it is not our problem." Shyam who is all set to hit theatres with his new horror film Neighbours says...