16th International film Festival of Kerala (9- 16 TH DECEMBER 2011)

Indian Cinema Now

2011-12-05T00:54:00.001-08:00

Arena – Aadukalam

Arena

Aadukalam

India/2010/35mm/Colour/120’/Tamil

Direction, Screenplay: Vetri Maaran

When Petaikkaran, the emperor of the murky underworld of rooster fight in southern Indian territory of Tamilnadu for 40 years, is challenged and proved wrong by his disciple Black he decides to avenge the insult. Black’s small world is shattered. When he comes to know about the betrayal and confronts Petaikkaran, he decides to do the unthinkable.

Azhagarsamy's Horse - Azhagar Samiyin Kuthirai

Azhagarsamy’s Horse

Azhagar Samiyin Kuthirai

India/2011/35mm/Colour/99’/Tamil

Direction: Susindran N

In a lively Tamil village in the eighties, a ceremonial statue of a horse goes missing, throwing the villagers into comic chaos. Suseendran’s new feature opens like a tragedy, then goes on to surprise and delight with its warm but pointed satire. Rain hasn’t come to the village of Mallayapuram for three years, and people are desperate for relief. On the advice of their priest, the village council decides to rekindle the annual Azhagarsamy festival to appease their god, Azhagar. As one of the festival’s rituals, Azhagar’s effigy is taken to the river on a wooden horse. After painstakingly collecting funds and making plans, the residents journey to a tiny temple on the village outskirts and open its doors to find — to their shock — that the holy statue of Azhagarsamy’s horse has disappeared.

Baboo Band Party - Baboo Band Baaja

Baboo Band Party

Baboo Band Baaja

India/2010/Colour/127’/Marathi

Direction: Rajesh Pinjani

Synopsis

Baboo Band Baja is a tug-of-war between fate and hope. It shows the irrepressible surge to soar in life, pitted against the vicious grip of circumstances. Baboo is the son of a band player living in dire poverty. His father has resigned to the idea that his son would have to carry on their family tradition of playing the band at the functions in the village. By contrast, his mother is doing everything possible to get him educated. Though all his music instruments are mortgaged, the father helplessly dreams to restart his band one day – Baboo Band Party.

Handover

Handover

India/2010/HD/Colour/73’/Hindi-Magadhi

Direction, Screenplay: Saurabh Kumar

Synopsis

An impoverished Dalit couple from rural India hits the headlines when it is exposed that they have sold their child. The couple acquires national infamy. An embarrassed minister deputes a local government officer to investigate the case. Despite a painful truth, the child is restored to her mother, and the accused is jailed for illegal trafficking. But that is not really the solution. The aftermath is the failure of humanity. The movie is based on an article “Selling one’s child” by Harsh Mander, published in the newspaper, The Hindu.

Chaplin

Chaplin

India/2011/35mm/Colour/137’/Bengali

Direction: Anindo Bandopadhyay

Synopsis

Banshi and his eight year old son Nimua have not been bowed down by the struggle around them. Instead, every passing day is a moment of mirth and laughter for them, a relentless persistence to dig out happiness from misery. Banshi’s brilliant performance in birthday parties and marriage ceremonies are hardly applauded. Fate smiles on him when Reena , a dynamic young lady running an N.G.O. notices Banshi and gives her best effort to help this man. A rare chance and coincidence take place when Rina’s fiancé gives Banshi a chance to participate in a comedy show in his channel. Banshi mesmerizes the judges with his performance and soon he gets selected for the final round. All hell broke loose when he discovers that Nimua is all on a sudden attacked by a peculiar ailment that has no medicine. The father struggles hard to make his son happy but will Banshi’s indomitable spirit, his never say die attitude be able to achieve his desired goal and make his son return from the jaws of death?

I Want to be a Mother - Mala AaiI Vhhaychy!

I Want to be a Mother

Mala AaiI Vhhaychy!

India/2010/Colour/35mm/115’/Marathi

Direction, Production, Screenplay: Samruoddhi Porey

SYNOPSIS

Surrogation has become a large scale business in India now days. This film is based on a true incident. Mary a model from a foreign country comes to India with a dream of becoming a mother and selects a poor Yashoda as surrogate mother. But the destiny has some different plans. After five and half months of pregnancy, doctor fears that the child could be born a handicapped. Mary’s dream shatters .She denies accepting a handicapped child .Yashoda cries and struggles a lot for child’s rights but Mary returns. Will a mother within Mary come back in search of her child? Now whom the child belongs to?

Nouka Dubi – Kashmakash

Nouka Dubi

Kashmakash

India/2011/Colour/135’/Bengali

Direction, Screenplay: Rituparno Ghosh

Rameshchandra Chaudhry, a lawyer by profession, is in love with Hemnalini, and is displeased when he finds that his father wants him to marry Sushilla, the daughter of a widow. He initially refuses despite of his father disowning him, but changes his mind when the bride’s mother pleads with him, and gets married without even seeing, leave alone getting to know his bride. After the marriage, they board a boat which overturns after a storm, and they end up being the only survivors. Unable to get Hemnalini out of his mind, he refuses to be intimate with his bride. On talking with her gradually over the next few months, it slowly sinks in that she is not Sushilla but Kamla - the bride of another male!

16 IFFK Films

2011-12-05T00:50:00.001-08:00

C Competition Films

1	At the End of it All - Abosheshey	Dir:Aditi Roy/India/Bengali/118'/2011
2	Black Blood	Dir:Miaoyan Zhang/China-France/Mandarin/124'/2010
3	Body - Vucut	Dir:Mustafa Nuri/Turkey/Turkish/104'/2011
4	The Cat Vanishes	Dir:Carlos Sorin/Argentina/Spanish/89'/2011
5	The Colours of the Mountains - Los Colores de la Montana	Dir:Carlos Cesar Arbelaez/Columbia-Panama/Spanish/90'/2011/
6	Delhi in a Day	Dir:Prashant Nair/India/Hindi-English/88'/2011
7	Flamingo No. 13 - Flamingo Shomareh 13	Dir:Hamid Reza Aligholian/Iran/Persian/82'/2010/
8	The Dreams of Elibidi	Dir:Nick Reding, Kamau Wa Ndung'u/ Kenya/Sous-titrage Anglais-Swahili/72'/ 2010
9	The Painting Lesson - La leccion de Pintura	Dir:Pablo Perelman/Spain-Chile-Mexico/Spanish/85'/2010
10	Future Lasts Forever -Gelecek Uzun Surer	Dir:Ozcan Alper/Turkey-France-Germany/Turkish-Kurdish-Armenian-Hemshince/108â€™/ 2011
11	A Stone's Throw Away - A Tiro de Piedra	Dir:Sebastian Hiriat/Mexico/Spanish/118'/2010

Malayalam Cinema Today

An Arab Spring
1	Asma’a	Dir:Amr Salama /Egypt /96' /2011
2	Damascus with Love	Dir:Muhammed Abdulaziz /Syria /95' /2010
3	Here Comes the Rain	Dir:Bahij Hojeij /Lebanon\|UAE /98' /2010
4	Rouge Parole	Dir:Elyes Baccar /Tunisia /94' /2011
5	Rough Hands	Dir:Mohamed Asli /Morocco /97' /2011
6	Tahrir 2011: The Good, the Bad, and the Politician	Dir:Ayten Amin\|Tamer Ezzat\|Amr Salama /Egypt /90' /2011
7	The End	Dir:Hicham Lasri /Morocco /105' /2011
8	Where Do We Go Now	Dir:Nadine Labaki /France\|Lebanon\|Egypt\|Italy /110' /2011
Best of FIPRESCI
1	Clay Bird	Dir:Tareque Masud /France\|Bangladesh /90' /2002
2	Disgrace	Dir:Steve Jacobs /Australia\|South Africa /119' /2008
3	Of Gods and Men	Dir:Xavier Beauvois /France /122' /2010
4	Poetry	Dir:Chang-dong Lee /South Korea /139' /2010
5	The Day I was not Born	Dir:Florian Micoud Cossen /Germany\|Argentina /94' /2010
6	The Milk of Sorrow	Dir:Claudia Llosa /Spain\|Peru /95' /2009
7	The Salesman	Dir:Sébastien Pilote /Canada /107' /2011
Contemporary Master in Focus:Semih Kaplanoglu
1	Angel's Fall	Dir:Semih Kaplanoglu/ /Greece/Turkey /90' /2005
2	Egg	Dir:Semih Kaplanoglu /Turkey /97' /2007
3	Honey	Dir:Semih Kaplanoglu /Turkey \| Germany \| France /103' /2010
4	Milk	Dir:Semih Kaplanoglu /Turkey \| Germany \| France/ /102' /2008
Country Focus: Philippine Cinema
1	Century of Birthing	Dir:Lav Diaz /Philippines /360' /2011
2	Clash	Dir:Pepe Diokno /Philippines /60' /2009
3	Fable of the Fish	Dir:Adolfo Alix Jr /Philippines /85' /2011
4	Independencia	Dir:Raya Martin /Philippines\|France\|Germany /77' /2009
5	Kinatay	Dir:Brillante Mendoza /France\|Philippines /105' /2009
6	The Best Collector	Dir:Jeffrey Jeturian /Philippines /98' /2006
7	The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros	Dir:Auraeus Solito /Philippines /100' /2005
DEFA Films
1	After Winter Comes Spring	Dir:Helke Misselwitz /East Germany /116' /1988
2	Deutschland – Endstation Ost	Dir:Frans Buyens /East Germany /84' /1964
3	Girls in Wittstock	Dir:Volker Koepp /East Germany /19' /1975
4	The Architects	Dir:Peter Kahane /East Germany /97' /1990
5	The Escape	Dir:Hajo Baumgärtner /East Germany /112' /1978
6	The Legend of Paul and Paula	Dir:Heiner Carow /East Germany /109' /1973
7	The Sons of Great Bear	Dir:Josef Mach /East Germany /98' /1966
8	Traces of Stones	Dir:Frank Beyer /East Germany /134' /1966
Homage
1	Genealogies of a Crime	Dir:Raoul Ruiz /France\|Portugal /113' /1997
2	Mysteries of Lisbon	Dir:Raoul Ruiz /France\|Portugal /272' /2010
3	Our Daily Bread	Dir:Mani Kaul /India /110' /1970
4	Runway	Dir:Tareque Masud /Bangladesh /90' /2010
5	That Day	Dir:Raoul Ruiz /France\|Switzerland /105' /2003
6	Three Lives and a Death	Dir:Raoul Ruiz /France\|Portugal /123' /1996
7	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Dir:Mike Nichols /USA /131' /1966
Jury Film
1	Breaker Morant	Dir:Bruce Beresford /Australia /107' /1980
Kaidan Horror Classics
1	The Arm	Dir:Ochiai Masayuki /Japan /40' /2010
2	The Days After	Dir:Kore-eda Hirokazu /Japan /40' /2010
3	The Nose	Dir:Lee Sang-il /Japan /40' /2010
4	The Whistler	Dir:Tsukamoto Shinya /Japan /40' /2010
Kicking&Screening: Football Films
1	Game of their Lives	Dir:Daniel Gordon /UK /80' /2002
2	Garuda di Dadaku	Dir:Ifa Isfansyah /Indonesia /90' /2009
3	Offside	Dir:David Marcques /Argentina\|Spain /106' /2011
4	Soka Africa	Dir:Suridh Hassan /UK\|France\|South Africa\|Cameroon\|Spain\|Egypt\|Netherlands /74' /2010
5	Two Escobars	Dir:Jeff Zimbalist\| Michael Zimbalist /Colombia\|USA /100' /2010
6	Two Half Times in Hell	Dir:Zoltan Fabri /Hungary /140' /1963
7	Will	Dir:Ellen Perry /UK /102' /2011
Retrospective: Adolfas Mekas
1	Adolfas Mekas series of short films	Dir:Adolfas Mekas /USA /70' /1973
2	Going Home	Dir:Adolfas Mekas /USA /61' /1972
3	Hallelujah the Hills	Dir:Adolfas Mekas /USA /88' /1963
4	The Brig	Dir:Jonas Mekas /USA /68' /1964
5	Wind Flowers	Dir:Adolfas Mekas /USA /75' /1968
Retrospective: Madhu
1	Bhargavi Nilayam	Dir:A. Vincent /India /175' /1964
2	Chemmeen	Dir:Ramu Kariat /India /120' /1965
3	Kudumbasametham	Dir:Jayaraj /India /1992
4	Olavum Theeravum	Dir:P. N. Menon /India /1970
5	Seven Indians	Dir:Khwaja Ahmad Abbas /India /144' /1969
6	Swayamvaram	Dir:Adoor Gopalakrishnan /India /131' /1972
Retrospective: Mambety
1	Badou Boy	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senegal /56' /1970
2	Contras City	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senegal /22' /1969
3	Hyenas	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senegal /110' /1992
4	Le Franc	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senega\|Awitzerland\|France /44' /1994
5	Ninka Nanka: The Prince of Colobane	Dir:Laurence Gavron /France /45' /1991
6	Tell Us Of Grandmother	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senegal /30' /1989
7	The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senegal\|France\|Switzerland\|Germany /45' /1999
8	Touki Bouki	Dir:Djibril Diop Mambety /Senegal /85' /1973
Retrospective: Nagisa Oshima
1	Boy	Dir:Nagisa Oshima /Japan /105' /1969
2	Sing a Song of Sex	Dir:Nagisa Oshima /Japan /103' /1967
3	Sinner in Paradise	Dir:Nagisa Oshima /Japan /80' /1968
4	Street of Love and Hope	Dir:Nagisa Oshima /Japan /62' /1959
5	The Sun's Burial	Dir:Nagisa Oshima /Japan /87' /1960
Retrospective: Robert Bresson
1	By Chance Balthazar	Dir:Robert Bresson /France\|Sweden /95' /1966
2	L'argent	Dir:Robert Bresson /France /85' /1983
3	Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne	Dir:Robert Bresson /France /86' /1945
4	Mouchette	Dir:Robert Bresson /France /78' /1967
5	Pickpocket	Dir:Robert Bresson /France /75' /1959
6	The Trial of Joan of Arc	Dir:Robert Bresson /France /65' /1962
Retrospective: Theo Angelopoulos
1	Eternity and a Day	Dir:Theodoros Angelopoulos /Greece \| France \| Germany \| Italy /137' /1998
2	Landscape in the Mist	Dir:Theodoros Angelopoulos /Italy\|Greece\|France /127' /1988
3	The Weeping Meadow	Dir:Theodoros Angelopoulos /Greece \| France \| Italy \| Germany /185' /2004
Retrospective: Yasuzo Masumura
1	A Wife Confesses	Dir:Yasuzo Masumura /Japan /91' /1961
2	A Woman's Testament	Dir:Yasuzo Masumura\|Kozaburo Yoshimura /Japan /100' /1960
3	Hoodlum Soldier	Dir:Yasuzo Masumura /Japan /102' /1965
4	The Precipice	Dir:Yasuzo Masumura /Japan /97' /1958
5	The Woman who Touched Legs	Dir:Yasuzo Masumura /Japan /85' /1960
World Cinema
1	A Screaming Man	Dir:Mahamat-Saleh Haroun /Chad\|France\|Belgium /French\|Arabic /92' /2010
2	A Seperation	Dir:Asghar Farhadi /Iran /123' /2011
3	Almayers Folly	Dir:Chantal Akerman /Belgium\|France /127' /2011
4	August Drizzle	Dir:Aruna Jayawardana /Srilanka /Sinhala /108' /2011
5	Beloved	Dir:Christophe Honoré /France \| UK \| Czech Republic /French \| Czech \| English /139' /2011
6	Belvedere	Dir:Ahmed Imamovic /Bosnia\|Herzegovina\|Croatia /Bosnian /90' /2010
7	Best Intentions	Dir:Adrian Sitaru /Romania /Romanian /102' /2011
8	Black Butterflies	Dir:Paula van der Oest /South Africa\|Germany\|Netherlands /English /100' /2011
9	Breakfast Lunch Dinner	Dir:Kaz Cai\|Wang Jing\|Anocha Auwichakornpong /Thailand\|China\|Singapore /Cantonese /87' /2010
10	Cairo 678	Dir:Mohamed Diab /Egypt /Arabic /100' /2010
11	Chongqing Blues	Dir:Xiaoshuai Wang /China /Mandarin /110' /2010
12	Circus Columbia	Dir:Danis Tanovic /Bosnia and Herzegovina \| France \| UK \| Germany \| Slovenia \| Belgium \| Serbia /113' /2010
13	Come As You Are	Dir:Geoffrey Enthoven /Belgium /Flemish\|French /115' /2011
14	Daddy	Dir:Dalibor Matanic /Croatia /70' /2011
15	Dance Town	Dir:Kyu-hwan Jeon /South Korea /Korean /94' /2010
16	Elena	Dir:Andrei Zvyagintsev /Russia /109' /2011
17	Eternity	Dir:Sivaroj Kongsakul /Thailand /Thai /105' /2010
18	Even the Rain	Dir:Icíar Bollaín /Spain\|France\|Mexico /103' /2010
19	Facing Mirrors	Dir:Negar Azarbayjani /Iran /Persian /102' /2011
20	Faust	Dir:Aleksander Sokurov /Russia /134' /2011
21	Free Hands	Dir:Brigitte Sy /France /French /100' /2011
22	Goodbye	Dir:Mohammad Rasoulof /Iran /104' /2011
23	Guerrilla	Dir:Nasiruddin Yousuff /Bangladesh /Bangla /140' /2011
24	Hanezu	Dir:Naomi Kawase /Japan /Japanese /91' /2011
25	Haru's Journey	Dir:Masahiro Kobayashi /Japan /134' /2010
26	Hi So	Dir:Aditya Assarat /Thailand /Thai\|English /102' /2010
27	If Not Us Who	Dir:Andres Veiel /Germany /124' /2011
28	In the Name of the Devil	Dir:Barbara Sass /Poland /115' /2011
29	Innocent Saturday	Dir:Aleksandr Mindadze /Russia \| Germany \| Ukraine /Russian /99' /2011
30	Invisible	Dir:Michal Aviad /Israel \| Germany / Hebrew /90' /2011
31	Jean Gentil	Dir:Laura Amelia Guzman\|Israel Cardenas /Mexico\|Germany\|Dominican Republic /Spanish\|Haitian /84' /2010
32	Kiss Me Again	Dir:Gabriele Muccino /UK /139' /2010
33	Lucky	Dir:Avie Luthra /South Africa / Zulu \| English \| Hindi /100' /2010
34	Man Without a Cell Phone	Dir:Sameh Zoabi /Belgium \| Israel \| France \| Palestine /Arabic /83' /2010
35	Michael	Dir:Markus Schleinzer /Austria /German /96' /2011
36	Moneyball	Dir:Bennett Miller /USA /133' /2011
37	Mothers	Dir:Milcho Manchevski /Republic of Macedonia /2011
38	Mumbai Diaries	Dir:Kiran Rao /India /Hindi\|English /100' /2010
39	Norwegian Wood	Dir:Anh Hung Tran /Japan /133' /2010
40	Old Dog	Dir:Pema Tseden /China /88' /2011
41	On the Edge	Dir:Leila Kilani /Germany /110' /2011
42	Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Dir:Nuri Bilge Ceylan /Turkey\|Bosnia /157' /2011
43	P-047	Dir:Kongdej Jaturanrasamee /Thailand /98' /2011
44	Palawan Fate	Dir:Auraeus Solito /Philippines /Tagalog\|Palawanon\|English /93' /2011
45	Pina	Dir:Wim Wenders /Germany\|France\|UK /106' /2011
46	Return Ticket	Dir: TENG Yung-Shing /China/Taiwan / Mandarin /88' /2011
47	Rice Paddy	Dir:Xiaoling Zhu /France /French /82' /2010
48	Ristabbanna	Dir:Daniele De Plano\|Gianni Cardillo /Italy /2011
49	Romeo Eleven	Dir:Ivan Grbovic /Canada /French\|Arabic /100' /2011
50	Sleeping Sickness	Dir:Ulrich Köhler /Germany\|France\|Netherlands /91' /2011
51	Stories that Exist Only When Remembered	Dir:Júlia Murat /Argentina \| Brazil \| France /Portuguese /98' /2011
52	Taipei Exchanges	Dir:Ya-chuan Hsiao /Taiwan /Mandarin /82' /2010
53	Tehran Tehran	Dir:Mehdi Karampoor\|Dariush Mehrjui /Iran /109' /2010
54	The Dead Sea	Dir:Leena Manimekalai /India /Tamil /100' /2010
55	The First Grader	Dir:Justin Chadwick /Kenya\|USA\|UK /English /103' /2010
56	The Heritage	Dir:Andrzej Baranski /Poland /115' /2011
57	The House Under the Water	Dir:Sepideh Farsi /France \| Iran \| Germany \| Netherlands /Persian /92' /2010
58	The Minister	Dir:Pierre Scholler /France /115' /2011
59	The Monk	Dir:Dominik Moll /Spain\|France /102' /2011
60	The Poll Diaries	Dir:Chris Kraus /Germany\|Austria\|Estonia /129' /2010
61	The Prize	Dir:Paula Markovitch /Mexico\|France\|Germany\|Poland /100' /2011
62	The Puzzle	Dir:Natalia Smirnoff /Argentina\|France /Spanish /87' /2011
63	The Silver Cliff	Dir:Karim Ainouz /Brazil /85' /2011
64	The Sleeping Beauty	Dir:Catherine Breillat /France /82' /2010
65	The Tree of Life	Dir:Terrence Malick /USA /139' /2011
66	This is not a Film	Dir:Mojtaba Mirtahmasb\|Jafar Panahi /Iran /75' /2010
67	Three	Dir:Tom Tykwer /Germany /119' /2010
68	Together	Dir:Zajedno /Zerbia /86' /2011
69	Tomboy	Dir:Céline Sciamma /France /84' /2011
70	Trishna	Dir:Michael Winterbottom /UK /117' /2011
71	Urumi-The Boy Who Wanted to Kill Vasco da Gama	Dir:Santhosh Sivan /India /Malayalam /110' /2011
72	Viva Riva!	Dir:Djo Munga /Democratic Republic of the Congo \| France \| Belgium /French \| Lingala /98' /2010
73	You Are Here	Dir:Daniel Cockburn /Canada /English /78' /2010
74	Zohra: A Moroccan Fairy Tale	Dir:Barney Platts-Mills /Morocco /Darija /85' /2010

Adaminte Makan Abu (Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-12-05T00:36:00.001-08:00

Adaminte Makan Abu (Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)
Abu, Son of Adam

Adaminte Makan Abu

India/2011/Colour/101’/Malayalam

Direction, Screenplay: Salim Ahmed

Synopsis:

Abu and Aisumma are aging Muslim couple. Their aspiration is to go for Hajj and they make many sacrifices to achieve this aim. Abu approaches a Travel agent who tries to help them. Their struggle to make enough money for the trip is filled with obstacles. They sell everything they have, even the jackfruit tree in front of their house. But the tree is hollow inside. The timber merchant who bought the tree is prepared to give him the money, though it is a loss for him. Abu, being a true Muslim, wants to go for Hajj only according to all diktats of Islam. So, he turns down the offer. Good-natured people try to help him, but since this is against the accepted practices of the religion, he refuses to take them. Can they be able to go for Hajj? If yes, where will they get the money? Or will they avoid the journey?

click here for more details

Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam: ആദാമിന്റെ മകൻ അബു, English: Abu, Son of Adam) is a 2011 Indian drama film written, directed and co-produced by Salim Ahamed in his debut film. It stars Salim Kumar and Zarina Wahab in the lead roles along with Mukesh, Nedumudi Venu, Kalabhavan Mani, andSuraj Venjarammoodu in other supporting roles. The cinematography was handled by Madhu Ambat, and the film was edited by Vijay Shankar. The film features songs composed by Ramesh Narayan, and the score is by Isaac Thomas Kottukapally.

The film tells the story of a poor attar (a kind of perfume) seller Abu (Salim Kumar) whose only remaining wish in life is the Hajj pilgrimage, which he strives hard to fulfill, and at the verge of the fulfillment, he opts out when he fears that the means is not fully legitimate. Development on the film began roughly a decade before the film was released. The film was shot digitally over one month beginning on 7 November 2010. Thrissur and Kozhikode inKerala, India were the major filming locales.

Distributed by Laughing Villa, a distribution company owned by Salim Kumar, and Allens Media, Adaminte Makan Abu released in theatres on 24 June 2011. It received wide critical acclaim, with numerous praises for its story, direction, cast, cinematography, and score. It received honours for its music, cinematography and writing, as well as for Salim Kumar's performance. At the 58th National Film Awards, the 2010 awards for the best in Indian cinema, it earned four major national awards: for Best Film, Best Actor (Kumar), Best Cinematography and Best Background Score. It performed similarly at the Kerala State Film Awards, where it won the awards for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Background Music. The film has been chosen as India's official entry to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the 84th Academy Awards

Adaminte Makan Abu Trailer

Traffic(Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-12-05T00:09:00.001-08:00

Traffic

India/2011/Colour/35mm//116’/Malayalam

Direction: Rajesh Pillai

Synopsis

Sidharth Shankar is a famous film actor whose daughter is seriously ill. On September 16, he is getting ready for the release of his new film. On the same day, Traffic Constable Sudevan joins back on duty, after being suspended from service for taking bribes. The day is special for Dr. Abel who is celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Raihan, an aspiring television journalist, is starting his first job with an interview with Sidharth Shankar the very same day. But at a crowded traffic junction in Kochi, Raihan and Rajeev, travelling in a bike is fatally hit by a speeding car. Raihan goes into a comma and is declared brain dead although he is kept alive using ventilator. Meanwhile, Siddharth’s ailing daughter’s condition becomes worse and she urgently needs a heart transplant. Raihan’s parents agree to donate his heart. There begins the breath taking journey of Sudevan, Dr. Abel and Rajeev to hand over Raihan’s heart to Sidharth’s daughter in Palakkadu, about 150 KM away from Kochi.

Rivew from http://www.nowrunning.com

Rajesh Pillai's Traffic is a brutally brilliant film in which he lends color to coincidence and unveils before us a cogitation on the dynamics of chance. A strikingly crafted film that is raw and genuine, it crawls right under your skin and stays there.

It all takes place on the 16th of September, when a few men and women, going on with their distinct lives in diverse worlds, find their paths crossing each other at a traffic island. Rehan (Vineeth Sreenivasan) is all excited about joining Indiavision as a journalist and sets out with his best friend Rajeev (Asif Ali). Aditi (Sandhya), getting over a divorce, sees him off and looks forward to something more. Dr. Abel (Kunchacko Boban) has plans to surprise his wife Shwetha (Remya Nambeesan) with a brand new car on their wedding anniversary.

Sudevan (Sreenivasan) is back at work as a police constable, after a brief stint of suspension for having accepted bribes. Superstar Siddharth (Rahman) has a new release on the day, while his wife (Lena) is worried about their young daughter's failing health. Miriam (Roma), Manager at an FM Radio station gets an alarming text message on her mobile. And all this in a matter of twelve hours on the same day.

Bobby and Sanjay's script is one in which there has been a close scrutiny of all possible leak cracks, and in which almost all of them have been filled shut. Hence the several events that take place in the film simultaneously hold together amazingly well, and there is hardly a moment in the film where your focus drops. This is quite a feat, since it involves an adept juggling between emotions aplenty, some outstanding twists, a few mind boggling thrills and some well-kept suspense. The bottom-line is that Traffic could easily boast to have one of the best scripts written in Malayalam in recent times.

The least claustrophobic of men would lean out of the car window for a gulp of fresh air at the traffic junction when the traffic grinds to a halt, where a seemingly endless line of automobiles have streamed in from all around. The horns honking behind, over and around, and an air of impatience that hangs like a smog above whipping up a whirlpool of edginess that disperses as the lights change color, and the drive back to a hazy life where sometimes it gets as cluttered as beneath a traffic signal - Rajesh Pillai's film digs deeps down into those coarse and at times savage feelings that bond together humans in complex webs of love, passion, grief and deceit.

A couple of aerial shots of the hectic traffic on a sweltering day make it assume serpentine proportions, as it slithers around forebodingly threatening to gulp down the tiny vehicles that make it up. The visual panache that is maintained throughout is courtesy some terrific cinematography by Shyju Khalid and some real tight editing by Mahesh Narayanan.

It's a mammoth star cast in Traffic, and rarely does a film offer almost all its actors what they are truly capable of. The 'moments' are there for everyone, and they impress us for a while, and gracefully make way for another to occupy center stage. No star charisma at work here; just plain acting at its very natural best. Among the men, I was enamored by Kunchacko Boban's performance and Asif Ali is quite impressive as well. Lena proves beyond doubt what an amazing actor she is, while Sandhya accentuates our belief in her.

All those apprehensions as to whether Traffic has been inspired by the Paul Haggis directed Oscar Winner 'Crash' or the renowned Mexican neo-noir film Amores Perros can now be brushed aside. The only semblance between Traffic and the other two films is that it involves an accident. Nothing more, nothing less.

After a false start a few years back, the signal has turned a smashing green for the director of Traffic. Zoom ahead, Rajesh! We're already eager to see what you have in store for us next.

Sankaranum Mohananum (Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-12-05T00:02:00.001-08:00

Sankaranum Mohananum- The Shadow and Light

India/2011/Colour/110’/Malayalam

Direction, Screenplay: T.V. Chandran

Synopsis

This is a film about the parallel journeys of two brothers – Sankaran and Mohanakrishnan. While one journey is posthumous, the other is through the all-too-real world of human relationships and dreams. Sankaran, a middle-aged school teacher, after long years of celibacy, decides to marry a young girl. Mohanakrishnan, his younger brother who lives in the city and is estranged from his wife, comes for the wedding. The morning after the wedding, Sankaran is bitten by a snake and dies. The narrative takes a sudden turn from this tragic moment when Sankaran appears before Mohanan, pleading with him to listen to him and his woes.

Sankaranum Mohananum Trailer

Pranchiyettan and the Saint (Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-12-04T23:53:00.001-08:00

Pranchiyettan and the Saint

India/2010/35mm/Colour/80’/Malayalam

Direction, Production, Screenplay: Ranjith

Chirammal Enashu Francis, a.k.a. Pranchiyettan, is a successful businessman based in Thrissur. He is a devotee of Saint Francis of Assisi and often has imaginary conversations with the saint. His ancestors were rice traders, but he has grown beyond the small rice shop to expand his business into jewellery, real estate, finance, shopping complexes and lot more. Even with his successful and wealthy life, he is unhappy with his name and wants to become a celebrity. He is called Ari (“rice”) Pranchi by everybody, citing his ancestors’ business. He wants to change his image from Ari Pranchi to something great and is ready to spend any amount of money for it. The film deals with how Pranchi tries to get a good name and what changes that brings to his life.

Paresh C Palicha reviews Pranchiyettan and the Saint

Once in a while along comes a movie that makes your spirits soar and helps you forget the mediocrity that this medium often serves. That is does it without seeking recourse to any manipulative tools, that we are all too familiar with, makes is even more remarkable. It solely depends on unalloyed storytelling skills.

Director Ranjith's latest offering Pranchiyettan and the Saint, starring Mammootty, is one such effort where the viewer is drawn into the story to experience the sheer joy of it. This film just tells the story of a rich but uncouth simpleton, C. Francis -- popularly known as Pranchiyettan. As his family has been into rice business, he is also known by a nickname Aripranchi, and this pains him.

So, he makes serious efforts to get rid of the nickname -- and his efforts include diversifying into other businesses and supporting worthy charitable causes. But, as fate would have it, the nickname that has troubled him since school days, never leaves him.

Even the efforts that he makes are hilarious: one of them is starting a jewellery shop, contesting the elections for the president-ship of an aristocratic cultural club of the city, and even buying a Padmasri award for himself.

The brain behind all these efforts is his friend Vasu Menon (Innocent).

The story takes a turn when he meets a female artist by the name of Padmasri (Priyamani) who wants Pranchi to inaugurate her painting exhibition, the proceeds of which are to go to charity. His name has been suggested to her by his childhood flame Omana (Kushboo). He had lost Omana to his arch rival Jose (Siddique), who is a reputed doctor now.

What works for the narrative of this film is the simple humour, which is continued till the fag end of the film. Initially Mammootty is ably supported by Innocent and Tini Tom in the comedic portions of the film. In the latter half the responsibility falls on Priyamani to support him.

Another twist that gives some depth to the story is when Pranchi takes the responsibility of a wayward teenager Pauli (Master Ganapathi) to help him clear his tenth class board exams at the behest of his school principal, played by Sivaji Guruvayur.

The film depends heavily on Mammootty's histrionic skills to be convincing and it works. It is this effortless and natural performance that gives Pranchiyettan the lifeblood.

Mammootty as an actor has resorted to slapstick comedy to prove his credentials too, but in this film it is quite different -- the middle aged character that he plays here possesses a natural sense of humour and does not require any help in the form of slapstick situations.

Among the supporting cast, Innocent gives ample support to Mammootty in keeping our attention rivetted to the screen. It has been a long time since he has portrayed such a character, but here he gets a chance to bring back the memories of vintage Innocent that we fondly remember.

Priyamani may not have much screen time for a leading lady but her performance will remain etched in viewers' memory.

On the whole, the success of Pranchiyettan and the Saint rests on the shoulders of writer director Ranjith who gives a meaty story to actors to dig their teeth into. It is the near flawless script and direction that give this simple and straight forward narrative multiple dimensions.

PRANCHIYETTAN and the Saint Mammootty | PROMO TRAILER

Pakarnattam (Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-11-29T04:50:00.001-08:00

Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today

Pakarnnattam

Language: Malayalam

Release Year: 2011

Cast: Jayaram, Sabitha Jayaraj

This film would have Jayaram and Jayaraj's wife Sabitha Jayaraj in the lead roles.Jayaram as Thomas, an environmentalist who leads a war against Endosulfan. Jayaraj to discuss the Endosulfan menace in 'Pakarnnattam'

PAKARNNATTAM Movie Trailer

Khaaddama/Expatriate House Maid(Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-11-29T04:43:00.001-08:00

(Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

Directed by	Kamal
Produced by	P. V. Pradeep
Screenplay by	K. Girishkumar Kamal
Story by	K. U. Iqbal
Starring	Kavya Madhavan Sreenivasan Biju Menon K. P. A. C. Lalitha Sukumari Suraj Venjaramood Lena Jaffer Idukki Murali Gopy Manu Jose
Music by	Background score: M. Jayachandran Songs: Bennet Veetraag Lyrics: Rafeeque Ahammed
Cinematography	Manoj Pillai
Editing by	K. Rajagopal
Studio	Anitha Productions
Distributed by	Murali Films
Release date(s)	February 4, 2011 ^[1]
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Khaddama (Malayalam: ഗദ്ദാമ, Arabic: خدامة‎, English translation: Housemaid[2]) is a 2011Malayalam drama film co–written and directed by Kamal. It stars Kavya Madhavan in the title role and was produced by P. V. Pradeep under thebanner of Anitha Productions. Cinematography is by Manoj Pillai and the filmwas edited by K. Rajagopal. The film features songs composed byBennet Veetraag and the background music isby M. Jayachandran.The title of the film is a colloquial version of the Arabic word Khadima (Arabic: خادمة‎ "servant"). The film narrates thestory of some immigrants in the Gulf through the life of a housemaid in Saudi Arabia. It is scripted by K. Girishkumarand Kamal and the story is based on a feature by K. U. Iqbal, publishedin Bhashaposhini, depicting the real–life incidents of a Kerala–born housemaid in Arabia.Principal photography for the film began in October 2010 and took place mainlyin the Middle East. After a special screening in the last week of January, the film madeits theatrical debut in Kerala on 4 February 2011. The film's release wasbanned across the Middle East.[3]

REVIEW FROM

http://www.indiaglitz.com

2011 has started with a decent note with 'Traffic' in Mollywood. Now for the month of February, it's 'Gaddama'. Senior director Kamal's latest offering is a sensitive saga about the suffering inflicted on Indian women who are working in the Middle East as domestic servants. A disturbing premise, which makes you remove those blinkers and experience the truth, 'Ghaddama' remains as a purposeful and powerful take on the lives of expatriates in the Arabian Gulf. Kamal has utilised all his experience to tell a real story of suffering with the intensity that is demanded by the script.

The movie has Kavya as Ashwathy, who takes a chance of working in Saudi Arabia due to the untimely death of her husband Radhakrishnan, who was a J C B driver. She has to help her own and her husband's family to tide over their deep financial difficulties. With the help of Usman (Suraj Venjaramoodu, this time in a well knitted role), her husband's friend, she fetches a job in a household where Usman is working as a driver. The movie then follows the physical and mental abuses that Ashwathy faces in the house of her sponsor. She also finds that she is not a lone case as the Ghaddama's (domestic servants) are all subjected to similar kind of treatment in the entire middle east. And her attempt to run off from the house results in her being charged for robbing jewellery from her sponsor's house.

Though the story seems like a one dimensional look into the problem, the treatment of interspersing Ashwathy's fate in Gulf with the character of Good Samaritan social worker Razaaq Thottekad (played by Sreenivasan), who is in search of this missing Gaddhama, manages to keep us interested along much of the narratives. You do relate to the characters since you've either heard or watched tales of domestic abuse and most of the time the corporeal abuse that Aswathy is subjected to, shatter your heart.

Kavya Madhavan, who plays a meaty role of one who continues to take the beatings silently on a foreign land, takes much of the chances and emerges with winning performances. She displays the helplessness and pain that this character demands with gusto. But as she is asked to maintain a distraught, puzzled face much of the time; she has to limit herself from displaying variety of emotions. Sreenivasan once again is in his elements with sharp thoughtful dialogues. Mohanakrishnan, Biju menon, Lena and plenty of freshers match pretty well with their characters. The actress who plays the Indonesian servant also makes a commendable act.

The movie takes some time to make a safe landing and leisurely conventional pacing may not interest the new generation audience, but regular Kamal fans may not find this without interest. Manoj Pillai's camera work, now in a different terrain excels in capturing the murkiness and vulnerability of the isolated victims of the desert. Benett Weetrag's couple of songs are pretty good while M Jayachandran's theme music is also impressive.

All in all, 'Gaddama' is a quality offering from the master director, with a genuine upsetting story. The movie has plenty of faces that continue to haunt you even after the film has ended. This is a film for the discerning viewer who likes to go a little beyond the regular masala stereotype.

Gaddama MalayalamMovie Trailer

Karmayogi(Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today)

2011-11-29T04:22:00.001-08:00

Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today

Karmayogi

Language: Malayalam

Release Year: 2011

Cast: Indrajith, Padmini Kolhapure

Karmayogi is a g malayalam movie ,noteble directer V K Prakash direct the movie.

Indrajith do the lead role in this movie.The movie is based on shakespeare's renowned play 'Hamlet'

Karmayogi Trailer

Akam/Palace in Bloom -Malayalam Cinema Today(16 IFFK)

2011-11-29T03:59:00.001-08:00

Celebration of Malayalam Cinema Today
India/2011/Malayalam dialogue with English subtitles/Colour/35 mm/97 mins
World Premiere
Cast & Credits

Director: Shalini Usha Nair
Producer: Sudheer KR
Scriptwriter: Shalini Usha Nair
Cinematographer: Christopher John Smith

Composer: Deepak Raghu , Murari Vasuadev
Editor: Arunima Shankar
Main Cast: Anumol K , Fahadh Fasil

Synopsis
“Akam” is the story of Srinivas, whose perfect life is turned upside-down, when a terrible accident traumatizes him. He continues to spiral into depression, until he meets the mysterious, Ragini, whom he finds irresistible and ends up marrying. Shortly after the wedding, strange occurrences prompt Srinivas to question his wife’s origins and he soon begins to suspect she is a “yakshi” or outer-world spirit. At work, his boss and mentor, CK is convinced Srinivas’s wild imagination is the consequence of his tragic accident. However, Srinivas has other plans – to murder Ragini, before she kills him…( from http://www.dubaifilmfest.com)

Akam is based on the novel 'Yakshi' written by Malayatoor Ramakrishnan.Screenplay and Dialogues written by Shalini Usha.Cinematography by Christopher John Smith.

Akam Malayalam Movie Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkp8YGImaE

The Painting Lesson/La Leccion de Pintura(International Competition film)

2011-11-20T05:51:00.001-08:00

THE PAINTING LESSON

a film by Pablo Perelman

Release: 2010

Format: 35 mm

Genre: Drama histórico

Production: Jaleo Films, Tequila Gang (México), Woods Production (Chile) y Oasis PC (España)

Direction and Screenplay: Pablo Perelman

Cast: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Verónica Sánchez

Production Year: 2009

Plot

A boy from the countryside, the son of a teenage single mother, has shown himself to be a gifted painter in the eyes of the pharmacist of the small town for whom his mother works. Set in the years previous to the military coup of 1973.

The Colours of the Mountains/Los colores de la montaña (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T05:39:00.001-08:00

The Colours of the Mountains/Los colores de la montaña

Director: Carlos César Arbeláez/ Colombia | Panama/90min/2011

Plot summary

Manuel, 9, has an old ball with which he plays football every day in the countryside. He dreams of becoming a great goalkeeper. His wishes seem set to come true when Ernest, his father, gives him a new ball. But an unexpected accident sends the ball flying into a minefield. Despite the danger, Manuel refuses to abandon his treasure... He convinces Julián and Poca Luz, his two friends, to rescue it with him. Amid the adventures and kids' games, the signs of armed conflict start to appear in the lives of the inhabitants of 'La Pradera

Review by: John Esther

Deep in the mountains of the U.S. client state Colombia, a young boy named Manuel (Hernán Mauricio Ocampo) just wants to go to school and play soccer with his friends. Thanks to the impoverished conditions and civil unrest in the community this is harder than it appears. Teachers never stay long, paramilitaries and guerrillas swarm the area, and Manuel's family is somewhat poor.

Shortly after receiving a brand new soccer ball and goalie gloves for his ninth birthday (putting "the drunken ball" to rest), Manuel loses the ball in a guerrilla minefield rigged for paramilitary helicopters. Although prohibited from retrieving the ball, Manuel and his buddies devise numerous schemes to get it back.

Meanwhile, the armed people of the community tug at its citizens for allegiance to the illegal rightist paramilitaries or the leftist guerrillas cause while most of the simple farmers just want to be left alone. But indifference is not an option in a country riddled with human rights abuses.

As the civil conflict intensifies in the area and people increasingly disappear, Manuel and his friends try to cope with the unraveling of their community through friendship and futbol, but there is no real escape from the horrors.

An endearing feature debut by writer-director Carlos César Arbeláez, which is, fortunately, nowhere near as heartwarming as the San Francisco International Film Festival 2011 program states, The Colors of the Mountain (Los colores de la montaña) is the kind of honest, direct film that illustrates the worth of film festivals. It is unlikely the film will receive a U.S. theatrical release.

Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4A0WebZo7E&NR=1

The Cat Vanishes/ El gato desaparece (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T05:21:00.001-08:00

The Cat Vanishes

TIFF 2011 Review

[Guacamole Films; 2011]

Director: Carlos Sorin

Runtime: 89 minutes

A psychotic break has fractured Luis (Luis Luque) and Beatriz’s (Beatriz Spelzini) marriage in El gato desaparece [The Cat Vanishes], playing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Proud parents of two, successful in life as a professor and translator respectively, and completely in love, they still prove ill equipped to handle mental instability. Brought on by the ceaseless toiling to validate his research and publish his magnum opus, paranoia sets in as ideas of sabotage begin to manifest. Accusations against his assistant at the university, Fourcade (Javier Niklison), are made while aggression takes hold. He beats his friend up in unjustified anger and then turns his violence onto Beatriz when the idea that she has been helping the traitor misguidedly appears logical. It is the sort of event that ruins lives, but Luis is lucky to find a second chance through psychiatric help, drugs, and compassion from those he wronged. The memory of unchecked and unprovoked chaos, however, is never easy to forget.

Argentinean writer/director Carlos Sorin never shows us these events, deciding instead to allow Luis’ doctors explain what happened as they make a case to release him back into the world. We hear a detailed and thorough account of the horrors in question while the director in control of discharging patients doodles in his notebook, making us believe they’ve seen worse. Brain and blood scans all come back negative as Luis shows remorse—everything pointing towards the conclusion he had a brief loss of control and it wouldn’t happen again. We don’t know how long he was in their care, but the nervous tension of Beatriz picking him up shows it was lengthy enough for her to become accustomed to an empty house. That’s not to say she isn’t excited to have him back, but there is a sense of dreadful caution behind her movements and constant offering of assistance. Where Luis seems ready to put it all behind him, his return only helps Beatriz remember what happened.

The majority of the film is shot in close-up so that we can see into the eyes of these characters. Like all good thrillers, it is our understanding of motivations that help invest us into the puzzle at play. We feel for Beatriz’s insecurity as she apologetically describes the changes she’s made to the house while he was gone, forgive her crippling fear from nightmares recalling the night her husband chopped through their bedroom door screaming to be let in, and understand her hesitance to blindly accept this is the man she loves. And on the flip side of the coin, we can’t help but see how tentative Luis is upon his return. He remembers what he did with full clarity and knows things need to take time before they can get back to normal. It’s an adjustment that renders sleep difficult, but with a wife who rightfully isn’t ready to rekindle a romantic relationship yet, all he has to keep him company during the night are his own thoughts.

There is something noticeably amiss during the drive home and things only get more uncomfortable as the story progresses. The look on Beatriz’s face when Luis leans out the car window to give a hypnotically talented mime money is unmistakable. It wasn’t something he’d normally do, sentiments corroborated later by a visiting student who admits this new man is more relaxed and less sarcastic than the professor be who taught him. Perhaps it’s all an act, overcompensating for his transgression as even the cat, Donatello, can feel something amiss. Hissing and clawing at his old master as though he were a stranger, it really seems as though Luis no longer exists—the world kept moving as time stood still in the confines of his hospital room. So he carries on and adjusts with the present, clearing away the clutter in his life and planning a retreat to Brazil with his wife. He’s making a concerted effort to rebuild, but once the cat is found missing, Beatriz can’t help but fear the worse.

She saw the anger in Luis’ face and heard the threats made when Donatello bounded out of the kitchen with his master’s flesh in his claws. The disappearance drives her mad as the nightmares amplify at the exact rate of her husband’s newfound calm. She begins to spy on her husband, fearing he did something to their pet and working herself up to the point his calling her name in the night causes her to run out of the house at four in the morning to find safety with their daughter. It’s as though Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart is pounding in her ears, the paranoia in wondering whether he was truly cured or not too hard to bear. And it all culminates into a frightening sequence as she wanders the house, following the squeals of a rat and the meows of her cat waging battle in the air ducts. The sound is so real and her fright so pronounced that it’s easy to think the fantasy holds deeper meaning than appears on the surface.

The Cat Vanishes is definitely a mood piece full of anxious suspense. Subverting the characters by making the crazy one’s sanity push the sane one’s psyche to the brink is a superb device and both Luque and Spelzini excel in giving the necessary nuance for such a reversal. We do meet Fourcade and listen to his genuine concern, believing his innocence; we see Luis’ look of love watching his son’s family brave the wild of Montana on tape, all rage suppressed by a combination of desire and pills; and we experience Beatriz’s slow descent into her own overactive imagination, risking make her forever fear the man she cares for most. Sorin gets us to believe a vacation is just what they need, dangling that carrot of happily ever after as the tension rises higher. And while the crescendo eventually ends in a whimper, the fitting revelation makes up for its rushed depiction. At first I felt cheated and misled as the credits rolled, but after more thought acknowledged the bittersweet parting shot to be a tonally perfect finish to a methodical, intelligent thriller.

Written by Jared Mobarak, September 9, 2011

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDeF9xxZdZY

September Rain/ Matar Ayloul (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T05:07:00.001-08:00

Syria/2010/Arabic dialouge with English subtitles /Colour/35 mm/87 mins

Genre: Musical, Experimental, Animation

Cast & Credits

Director: Abdullatif Abdelhamid
Producer: Haitham Hakki
Scriptwriter: Abdullatif Abdelhamid
Cinematographer: Joud Gourani
Editor: Rauf Zaza
Composer: Essam Rafea
Cast (in alphabetical order): Ayman Zidan, Kassim Milho, Samar Sami

Synopsis

Legendary actor-director Abdullatif Abdulhamid opens his latest feature 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. Anything but a traditional film, the veteran director employs surreal touches and visual metaphors but with such a lightness of touch that they blend into the compelling narrative. This is a beautifully composed and shot tour de force.

Abdullatif Abdelhamid was born in Syria in 1954. He obtained his diploma from High Film School of Moscow. Abdulhamid worked for the Syrian National Film Organization. He directed nine feature films, including ‘Jackal Nights’, ‘Verbal Messages’,’ Rising Rain’, ‘Breeze of the Soul’, ‘Two Moons and Olives Tree’ , ‘Listeners Choice’,’ Out of Coverage’. He was last at DIFF with ’Days of Boredom’ in 2008.

September Rain Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm2R00fKHB4

Palawan Fate/Busong (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T05:00:00.001-08:00

BUSONG (PALAWAN FATE)

BY AURAEUS SOLITO

Synopsis:

Punay was born with wounds in her feet so that she cannot step on the earth. Her brother, Angkarang, carries her through a hammock, as he searches the changing landscape of Palawan in hoping to find a healer who can cure Punay. Different people help him carry his sister along the way- a woman looking for her husband, a fisherman who lost his boat and a young man who is searching for himself- and each one meets their fate.

Filmmaker’s Profile

Auraeus Solito was recently chosen in Take 100, The Future of Film which presents an emerging generation of the most talented filmmakers around the world.   This book published by Phaidon Press, New York is an unparalleled survey featuring 100 of the most exceptional emerging film directors from around the world selected by 10 internationally prominent film festival directors. His first feature film "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros)” won 15 international awards including 3 awards at the Berlinale (The Teddy award, International Jury Prize at the Kinderfest and Special Mention from the Children's Jury of the Kinderfest). It is also the first Philippine film nominated for Best Foreign film at the Independents' Spirit Awards in the US. It has been shown in more than 50 film festivals around the world.“Tuli (Circumcision)”, his second feature film won Best Picture and Best Director at the Digital Competition at the 2005 CineManila Film Festival ; won the NETPAC Jury Prize at the the Berlinale, International Forum for New Cinema and the Best International feature Film at Outfest in Los Angeles. He is the first Filipino to make it to the premiere independent film festival in the world, the SUNDANCE Film Festival in Park City, Utah, USA; two years in a row for both “The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros” and “Tuli”. His films have been screened in major festivals around the world including Berlin, Sundance, Montreal, Pusan, Toronto and Rotterdam. He recently finished a screenplay development program at the Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam where he wrote “Deluge”.

Major Credits: Cast:

Alessandra de Rossi, Dax Alejandro, Clifford Banagale

Production:

Cinematography-Louie Quirino, Editing-Chuck Gutierrez, Production Design-Hai Balbuena, Music and Sound-Diwa de Leon, Executive Producer-Jong de Castro, Screenplay-Kanakan-Balintagos and Henry Burgos, Script Consultant-Armando Y. Lao, Produced by-Auraeus Solito, Hai Balbuena, Baby Ruth Villarama, Chuck Gutierrez and Alfred Vargas, Director-Auraeus Solito

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeASJt-DrQI

Busong (Palawan Fate) Official Website

http://busongpalawanfate.com/

Ndoto za Elibidi (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T04:54:00.001-08:00

Director: Kamau Wa Ndung'u|Nick Reding/Kenia/72min/2010

An improbable duo, a British actor turned charity founder and a Kenyan art director, came together and shot a movie on HIV/AIDS. The result was Ndoto za Elibidi (The dreams of the Elibidis) which was presented at the Zanzibar Film Festival last summer, winning the award assigned by the Italian Cinema Africano di Verona. Nick Reding is an actor from the UK with a long background in film television and theatre. In 2002 he founded Sponsored Arts For Education (S.A.F.E.), a charity working with slum dwellers in Nairobi and other locations in Kenya. SAFE works with young Kenyan artists, producing theatre and films, to challenge stigma and discrimination with a message of compassion solidarity and hope. Kamau Wa Ndung’u grew up in Mathare slum in Nairobi. He has worked as an actor and director in theatre for many years. Kamau has been the creative director for SAFE for the last five years. Ndoto za Elibidi is their first film. The story was devised originally as a stage play with actors from the Nairobi slums. The plot pivots around the theme of acceptance and love as the protagonists – parents, four daughters and their lovers – come to terms with HIV and ghetto life. Cutting back and forth from fiction to documentary, from the original stage play to actual locations, the film takes viewers on two parallel journeys: we watch the story, but we are also watching it through the eyes of the ghetto audience. Southworld has met the two film directors in Verona, where they presented their film at the local Festival of African cinema.

“This movie comes from a theatrical opera, says Kamau, after we performed the play in slums, schools or near a health centre, many asked us to have a DVD, they wanted to watch it again and again. We thought to shoot the theatrical performance and put it on a DVD. Then we thought, why not shooting it in a better way. This is how we developed the idea of this movie”. “The cast of the original play was chosen through an open audition in Nairobi, adds Nick. We wanted to look at a series of issues facing the people in the slum. The play was devised over a six months period and has been performed for over five years in the slums. I think there is quite a lot of information in the movie that usually Europeans are not clear with. Actually, many young people in Europe are confused. They believe that drugs are available and there is a cure. Also the treatment of rape victims, another underlying theme in the movie, is important. So there is information there, and Europeans should not get too complacent and believe they know it all”.

NDOTO ZA ELIBIDI TRAILER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDXlSkwfYMI

Flamingo No.13/Flamingo Shomareh 13 (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T04:14:00.001-08:00

Flamingo No. 13 (Flamingo Shomare 13)

Hamid Reza Aligholian

Iran | 2010 | 82mins | Beta | Colour

Producer Houman Ahmadi Tofighi

In a community of exiles located in a remote area of Iran, Soliman spends his days hunting flamingo. While frowned upon by the authorities, the brooding hunter will not be deterred, and even his marriage to the village beauty Tamay does little to deflect him from his restless quest. When Soliman apparently disappears, Tamay believes he will return, but jealous rival Davood seizes his chance to take what he believes is rightfully his. Making full use of the majestic snow covered landscape, Flamingo No. 13 has a stark mythic power and can be viewed as an allegory on the role of the artist in an unforgiving climate.

Delhi in a Day (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T02:09:00.000-08:00

Delhi in a Day

Dir: Prashanth Nair

/Hindi|English/88min/2011

MORE ABOUT CAST AND CREW

Genre :


Comedy
Drama
Artists (Cast) :
Lee Williams
Lillete Dubey
Victor Banerjee
Kulbhushan Kharbanda

Producer :
Prashant Nair
Chintu B. Mohapatra

Director :
Prashant Nair

Production Company(s) :
Nomad Productions PLC

Story Writer :
Prashant Nair

Cinematographer :
Eun-Ah Lee

Executive Producer :
Kumar C Dev

Casting Director :
Andrea Clark

Plot Summary:

The staff of a Delhi household are given one day to return a British traveler's stolen money

Review

by Margaret Julian Alexander

This film is about a typical, rich Delhi household which includes six domestic helpers, and how the arrival of a ‘foreign’ guest brings out the real human beings in this happy-go-lucky bunch. It is also about stereotypes and prejudices, not only in India but also about India.

You find the gang amusing although it is difficult to connect with them on a personal level as there are so many characters. But you definitely fall in love with some of them, like Rohini, the vivacious maid, the wise and witty grandfather, and Jasper, the foreign visitor.

Though this is not a nonsensical comedy, its punches are amusing. Contrary to perception, Delhi In A Day is not a dark comedy but it does have a message: Who says you have to make cheesy films to make people laugh?

Its original music score by the brilliant Mathias Duplessy sets the mood just right. This film offers some beautiful shots and neat cinematography. And, finally, Prashant Nair has roped in some amazing talent from the National School of Drama and the performances are not disappointing.

Delhi In A Day - Official Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNE6CI2Lr8w

Some news

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-delhi-in-a-day-to-amreeka/866470/

Body/Vucut (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T02:01:00.000-08:00

More about film

Review by edgarchaput

source url http://betweentheseats.blogspot.com/2011/08/ffm-montreal-2011-vucut.html

What your body means to you and what it means to those around you may be entirely different ideas. Each party will influence one another to a degree, but whose influence shall carry over more, yours, or that of the public? Beware if the pressure of the latter group gains the upper hand, for suddenly your life may be lived not under the conditions you want, but under societal pressures. But where exactly are the boundaries of this pressure and how can one overcome it? It is even possible? The more important question remains: do you respect yourself enough just the way you are? Turkish director Mustafa Nuri unabashedly dives into the delicate, sensitive issue of self image in some provocative ways for his directorial debut, Vucut, which played at the FFM in Montréal.

The drama begins immediately in Vücut, as in the very first scene Leyla (Hatice Aslan), and aging porn star, is desperately knocking (read: slamming) on the door to her former business partner and producer’s apartment. Dressed like a hooker but behaving like a women pleading for her life, Leyla simply wants in. Evidently something has happened between the two, but Yilmaz (Cengiz Bozkurt), the producer, is not answering. At the sound of police sirens, Leyla flees. Shortly after, Yilmaz arrives at Leyla’s home, finds his prized but bruised actress in her room and attempts to make up for earlier by proposing that they make one final film together. He’ll find a great young chap to co-star, she will earn some more money with a new bank account and retire rather comfortably. She agrees. Enter Izzat (Hakan Kurtas), a 20 year old, very handsome young man living with his obese mother (Seyla Halis) and younger sister in a small apartment. While Izzat may look attractive, he is not much of a gentleman, easily flustered, very temperamental and lazy. His mother insists that he get a job, even going so far as to locating job interviews for him, ungrateful as he may be. One thing leads to another and Izzet finds himself on the shooting set of Yilmaz’s latest porn show, which is essentially a tiny kitchen room. The scene goes through terribly, so much so that Yilmaz is enraged by Izzet’s incompetence and fires him on the spot, but the youth is captivated by Leyla. Following this tumultuous event, he does everything he can to be a part of her world...

Vücut is a stunningly multilayered film, involving several subplots, each relating to the overall theme of body image. Virtually every character in the film, be they one of the principal starts of the show or merely supporting members who appear for precious few minutes, brings a different dimension to the discussion. There are so many large and small threads Vücut juggles with that it almost becomes difficult to remember them all, but suffice to say that all earn their place in the story and help drive home the movie’s ideas, which are in fact more like challenges than any genuine attempts in talking down to the audience about how people should be respectful of everyone regardless of body types. People should know that anyhow, so why would the film spend time reiterating the obvious? Rather, Mustafa Nuri’s calculated choice to make each character three dimensional, complex and fully realized as possible, which includes a long line of strengths and weaknesses for each, means that the audience gets to see ‘life’ at work. The social setting itself, lower middle class, is equally important in dictating some of the dynamics that erupt as the story moves along. None of the characters featured in the movie are multimillionaires, each has some important things to think about with regards to their future.

Director Nuri is unafraid in his storytelling, demonstrating full capabilities in developing a theme through pure character interactions. The exploration of these individuals, from Izzet, to his mother, to Leyla, to Leyla’s sister, to Izzet’s bodybuilding friend, to Yilmaz, to Yilmaz’s attractive but sexual interested wife, all of it adds fascinating layers to the discussion of body image and the prejudices which can easily arise to cause friction, embarrassment, rage, depression, overconfidence, exclusion, inclusion, etc. Despite offering a few humorous scenes, mostly during the horrendous porn movie shoot, Vucut plays things as straight as possible. Since most of the people involved are coming from dark places, whether by circumstances, as in Leyla’s case, or by their own creation, as in Izzet’s case, the film is a rather tough drama. What its story does incredibly well is have the viewer understand the consequences of prejudice. How those subjected to it react as how do its perpetrators behave. It is not as though audiences are oblivious to the topic, we make up ideas of people based on how they look almost all the time. Vücut confronts this practice head on and does not let up until the bitter end. The mere fact that it features a group of leading characters like a good looking young man, an porn star in her late forties, a fat woman and a fat little girl is indicative enough of the sort of cinematic territory the film is willing to venture into. Those brief descriptions alone conjure up thoughts in people’s heads, not just with regards to how those people might look, but also about why they might look that way, which in turn prompts people to start guessing, for good or ill, about their lifestyles and who they are.Vücut challenges that practice in an unforgiving manner.

Punctuated by the study of prejudice are the very real, very emotional ties between all the people we are seeing on screen. At the forefront of these relationships is that sought after by the young Izzet, played wonderfully by Hakan Kurtas, who stars in a movie for the very first time (just like his character in the film itself). He and Leyla form an odd couple, At first, Leyla wants very little to do with this brash little boy. She is already wrestling with the very thought that her life has gone to waste. As her sister puts it, Yilmaz used her up during the best years of her life. Those years have now passed and Leyla is left with the notions of what could have been. Izzet is smitten by her, which is immediately comes as something of a shock. Not that actress Hatice Aslan is unattractive, but that he could go for so many girls of his age. Yet, his devotion to Leyla functions as the lone attempt in the film to destroy a prejudice. Leyla is a washed up porn star is slowly losing her looks, but Izzet wants nothing more than to be with her. The irony of the entire situation is that by inadvertently trying to go beyond a boundary set by a prejudice (or several prejudices, one other being the odd sight of a young, twentysomething going out with another person in her late forties), their time together creates as much tension as existed in their lives before. Leyla is fighting depression, thus causing a slavish devotion to a collection of pills, Izzet is still the easily irritable fellow he was before, and so when Leyla is not the mood to do what he likes, well, things don’t go so well. It certainly makes for an interesting way to this plot thread to develop seeing how things to do not go as happily as one might like. Then again, both are from worlds so far apart, because of culture and age, that one must stop and think that has to be a better way to break down a boundary. Maybe. Then again, maybe not. Special mention should go to Hatice Aslan, who is spellbinding in Vücut. Her vulnerability is infinitely watchable. The scenes in which her sister comes to visit are fantastic in how they award her some happy moments and we get to see Aslan offer beautiful smiles. Those smiles leaves a lasting impression since they are the few we have privy to in the picture. A haunting performance, one that perfectly captures the story of a broken soul.

Vücut is easily one of the more powerful films to come out in 2011. Turkish films do not make it out to North America very much, thus doubling the privilege felt by having seen Mustafa Nuri’s terrific drama.

Vucut trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82exK-fkCIM

HELPFUL LINKS

http://betweentheseats.blogspot.com/2011/08/ffm-montreal-2011-vucut.html

http://english.sabah.com.tr/Arts/2011/08/16/theres-no-stopping-for-turkish-cinema

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Turkey

Black Blood (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T01:49:00.000-08:00

The bleakness of the harsh rural landscape is impressively captured.

Director:	Miaoyan Zhang
Screenplay:	Miaoyan Zhang, Yang Zhihong
Music:	Andy F. Butler, Anette Bauer
Cinematography:	Miaoyan Zhang
Editing:	Miaoyan Zhang
Cast:	Danhui Mao, Mengjuan Liu, Yingyang
Awards:	Nagroda NETPAC – MFF w Rotterdamie / NETPAC Award – IFF Rotterdam (2011)

Miaoyan Zhang — born in Manchuria in 1964 and growing up during the Culture Revolution, ZHANG Miaoyan barely had a chance to see movies. In the 90s he got an opportunity to study art at UC Berkeley which enabled him to watch foreign movies nonstop. Miaoyan started writing stories about contemporary China. None of them were published due to state censorship.

Plot

As the dark smoke of the factory hits Xiaolin’s throat, he knows he is getting close. Up ahead he sees the rattling old truck, at the edge of the crumbling Great Wall and the queue of villagers, eager to sell their blood. Xiaolin decides to returns to sell his blood in order to pay for his daughter's tuition. And soon his wife joins him. They decide to start a blood collecting business named Ali-Baba. They start to make considerable profits and their once empty courtyard soon becomes the bustling home to a large herd of sheep. Although their lives appear to be going well, it is a matter of time before disaster strikes.
They both fall victim to an incurable disease. Xiaolin and his wife Xiaojuan are only two of many thousands that are infected with HIV each year, selling their blood. As the couple fight for their lives, Xiaolin goes from door to door to try and get their daughter Ying adopted. Finally, Xiaojuan passes away, leaving Xiaolin with an deserted blood collecting station and a hungry daughter. But life still goes on...

Review
By Mark Adams

Miaoyan Zhang’s beautifully shot bitter drama Black Blood is a simple, but grippingly absorbing, story of an impoverished Chinese family in remote northwestern China who resort to selling their blood as the only way to try and survive. The film, which premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival, is Zhang’s second film and received post-production support from the festival’s Hubert Bals Fund.

Shot in widescreen black-and-white – apart from two atmospheric colour sequences of factories billowing out smoke and fumes – the film is structured in a simple linear fashion, but Zhang makes great use of his set-ups, allowing the strange eroded landscape and the dusty village locations to tell the story as much as his protagonists.

Couple Xiaolin (Danhui Mao) and his wife Xiaojuan (Mengjuan Liu) are struggling to make ends meet, with water in short supply and needing money to pay for their daughter’s tuition. Xiaolin decides to sell his blood to try and raise funds, and before long both husband and wife are selling blood.

They decide to start a blood collecting business – named Ali-Baba – and before long he is wearing a suit and making the grand gesture of buying a toilet for the house. But when both become infected with HIV their dreams crumble around them, with Xiaolin eventually even going from door to door to try and get their daughter adopted.

The bleakness of the harsh rural landscape is impressively captured, as is the harshness of the life the family lead. The actual blood-giving is never explicitly captured on film – instead Xiaolin simply wanders towards a road where he patiently waits for a man driving a tractor to arrive. It is here – in the middle of nowhere and with no medical backup – the blood is bought and sold.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SBqI30Olio

At the end of it all/Abosheshey (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T01:30:00.000-08:00

At the end of it all/Abosheshey

Dir: Aditi Roy/Bengali/118min/2011

More about film & Director

http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/103564011-interview-neel-b-mitra-bengali-movies-nandini-2011-and-abasheshe-2012

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110130/jsp/graphiti/story_13507426.jsp

A Stone’s Throw Away/A Tiro de Piedra (International Competition film)

2011-11-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

A tiro de piedra | A Stone's Throw Away

Sebastian Hiriart (Mexico, 2011). 117 mi

Jacinto is a goat-herder in a part of Mexico that looks quite desolate and inhospitable. There aren’t many other people around. His life seems quite boring and lonely. The bells the goats wear do make a nice musical clang but that’s hardly exciting. Sometimes, while looking after the goats, Jacinto falls into a reverie where he is struggling through a pine forest that’s deep in snow – he looks exhausted, like he’s on his last legs. But then he finds a large wooden box buried in the snow – a treasure chest, maybe? When he finds a keychain in the shape of a barn surrounded by trees, stamped with the name of a town in Oregon, he takes it as “a sign” that he should go there, and that’s just what he does, though not without many trials and tribulations. On the way, some people help him, and some people take advantage of him - that’s the way real life is, for many of us. Jacinto survives through a combination of good nature, stubbornness and stoicism. His jutting chin seems like the physical manifestation of hat stubbornness.

Director

Sebastián Hiriart started his film career as a child-actor. He has worked as a director, actor, photographer, and camera operator on various films and TV shows. In 2001 he attended a film workshop at New York Film Academy. A tiro de piedra is his first feature film

Story

Jacinto Medina is 21 years old and lives a simple, boring life as a shepherd in northern Mexico. He experiences visions, potentially of things to come, or an alternate life. When he finds a key with an engraved address in Oregon, USA, he is certain it is a sign and decides to leave. Driven by the urge to seek the meaning of his strange visions, he sets out on a journey to cross the US-Mexico border.

More about film

Mexico, Drama, 2010
118 min, 35mm, Color
Spanish with English subtitles

Producer: Sebastián Hiriart
Production Companies: Galopando Films
Screenwriter: Gabino Rodríguez, Sebastián Hiriart
Cinematographer: Sebastián Hiriart
Editor: Pedro Gómez García
Sound Design: Matias Barbieris, Gustavo Bellon
Music: Emiliano Motta, Emiliano Gonzalez de Leon
Cast: Jacinto Medina, Gabino Rodríguez

Some Reviews

A Stone Throw Away

A tiro de piedra

(Mexico)

By JAY WEISSBERG

With: Gabino Rodriguez, Monserrat Angeles, Rogelio Medina, Alejandra Espana, Julian Silva, Randy Watkins, Janice Reese. (Spanish, English dialogue)

A Galopando Cine production, in collaboration with Verde Espina Studios. Produced by Ximena Hiriart, Sebastian Hiriart. Directed by Sebastian Hiriart. Screenplay, Gabino Rodriguez, Sebastian Hiriart.

A Mexican hick with only a dream to go on wends his way to Oregon in Sebastian Hiriart's debut feature, "A Stone Throw Away." Well made on a shoestring, the pic says nothing new about the illegal-immigrant experience, though the current debate on the topic could offer platforms for exploitation. Still, given the large number of well-worn situations here, Hiriart needs to engage more thoughtfully with the question: Is a cliche still valid film fodder when it reflects the truth? While programmers throw that one about, "A Stone" is likely to roll around south-of-the-border sidebars.

Shepherd Jacinto (Gabino Rodriguez, "Perpetuum Mobile") is bored with herding goats in the arid scrub of central San Luis Potosi state. He finds an incongruous 4-H Club Oregon keychain and takes it as a sign that his dream, of uncovering treasure in a snowbound forest, will come true. Stealing money from his sympathetic uncle, Jacinto embarks on the journey north; he gets robbed, enjoys the company of a kind-hearted prostitute and encounters the usual assortment of well-meaning folk and scam artists. Good framing and solid lensing, plus Rodriguez's thesping strengths, hold interest.

Camera (color, HD-to-35mm), Hiriart; editor, Pedro G. Garcia; music, Emiliano Motta, Emiliano Gonzalez de Leon. Reviewed at San Sebastian Film Festival (Latin Horizons), Sept. 19, 2010. Running time: 94 MIN.

Malayalam Cinema Today

2011-11-20T00:35:00.000-08:00

Malayalam Cinema Today

1. Akam/Palace in Bloom

Dir: Shalini Usha Nair/Malayalam/97min/2011

2. Karmayogi

Dir: V.K.Prakash/Malayalm/11min/2010

3. Khaaddama/Expatriate House Maid

Dir: Kamal/Malayalam/107min/2010

4. Pakarnattam

Dir: Jayaraj/Malayalam/98min/2010

5. Pranchiettan and the Saint

Dir: Ranjith/Malayalam/120min/2010

6. Sankaranm Mohananum

Dir: T.V. Chandran/Malaylam/110min/2011

7. Traffic

Dir: Rajesh Pillai/Malayalam/116min/2011

Indian Cinema Now

2011-11-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

One of the great attractions of IFFK

Indian Cinema Now

1. Aadukalam/Arena

Dir: Vetri Maran/Tamil/120min/2011

2. Azhagarsamy's Horse

Dir: Susindran N./Tamil/122min/2011

3. Baboo Band Party

Dir: Rajesh Pinjani/Marathi/127min/2010

4. Chaplin

Dir: Anindo Bandopadhyay/Bengali/137min/2011

5. Handover

Dir: Saurabh Kumar/Hindi/73min/2011

6. I want to be a Mother/Mala Aai Vhhaychyl

Dir: Dir: Adv. Samruoddhi Sanjay Porey/Marathi/115min/2010

7. Naukadubi/Kashmakash

Dir: Rituparno Ghosh/Bengali/135min/2011

International Competition

2011-11-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

Preview Committee Report: 16th International Film Festival of Kerala

International Competition

1. A Stone’s Throw Away/A Tiro de Piedra

Dir: Sebastian Hiriat/Mexico/118min/2010

2. Aadimadhyantham

Dir: Sherrey/Malayalam/104min/2011

3. Adaminte Makan Abu/Abu Son of Adam

Dir: Salim Ahmed/Malayalam/101min/2010

4. At the end of it all/Abosheshey

Dir: Aditi Roy/Bengali/118min/2011

5. Black Blood

Dir: Miaoyan Zhang/China|France/123min/2011

6. Body/Vucut (debut)

Dir: Mustafa Nuri/Turkey/104min/2011

7. Delhi in a Day

Dir: Prashanth Nair/Hindi|English/88min/2011

8. Flamingo No.13/Flamingo Shomareh 13

Dir: Hamid Ahmadi Tofighi/Iran/82min/2010

9. Ndoto za Elibidi

Dir: Kamau Wa Ndung'u|Nick Reding/Kenia/72min/2010

10. Palawan Fate/Busong

Dir: Auraeus Solito/Philippines/93min/2011

11. September Rain/ Matar Ayloul

Dir: Abdellatif Abdelhamid/Syria/85min/2010

12. The Cat Vanishes/ El gato desaparece

Dir: Carlos Sorin/Argentina/89min/2011

13. The Colours of the Mountains/Los colores de la montaña

Dir: Carlos César Arbeláez/ Colombia | Panama/90min/2011

14. The Painting Lesson/La Leccion de Pintura

Dir: Pablo Perelman/Chile|Mexico|Espana/85min/2011