While there is no question that the Danny Boyle film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE did much to rivet attention in the West on the cinema of India and southern Asia, the various film industries in the second largest country on earth has been a staple of moviegoing in Asia, South America, Africa and even Europe for many decades. Very few of the quality films from the region are given big screen time in North America but that represents both an obstacle and a challenge for the New York Indian Film...

  The 9th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announced today its line up with 13 feature films, 6 documentaries and 13 short films that will make up their 2011 program.   The list includes the Los Angeles premiere of I AM KALAM and the world premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' ZOKKOMON which will be this year's galas screenings bookending the festival at ArcLight Hollywood, April 12th-17th.   Opening this year's festival is the award-winning and i...

  The Indian Film Festival: Bollywood and Beyond is delighted to announce the winners of the 2011 Western Union Short Film Competition. Indian director Collin D'Cunha is the International winner for his film MUMBAIKAR GANESH, director Ridwan Hassim is the Australian winner for his film, KHATABAH, and the New Zealand winner is Rajneel Singh with BLANK SPACES. Varan Sharma's ADJUST which tells the story of an Indian student realising his Australian dream received an Honorary Menti...

9-Eleven is the first Bollywood film shot entirely in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. So says a SAJA media alert  about a press con in Amrika. Scrolling through the list of actors, I found majorly Indian American names with 3 exceptions: Samir Stewart , Vicki Yung and Paul Singh.  So what's with the title?   ...

Hollywood and Bollywood have come together to a create a Los Angeles-India Film Council which will attract more Indian filmmakers to LA part of an ongoing effort to spice up the relationship between the world's largest movie markets.The new cooperation agreement aimed at facilitating Bollywood producers to shoot in LA, by facilitating permits, visas and tax breaks, and expand the U.S. anti-piracy, illegal interference with Indian films in the U.S. Motion Picture Association of America and the In...

The Indian Film Festival 2011 – Bollywood and Beyond Calling for entries with a ‘dream’ theme for the Western Union Short Film Competition Dreaming of a career in film? The Indian Film Festival (IFF) is delighted to announce that the Western Union Short Film Competition is now calling for entries for the 2011 Festival.Launched in 2010 and with Western Union confirmed as the 2011 naming rights competition sponsor, this exciting competition is aimed at discovering the future Peter Jacksons, ...

The ninth edition of the "RIVER TO RIVER" Florence Indian Film Festival opened in this elegant north Italian city on December 4 at its new location, the landmark ODEON cinema, just around the corner  from the world famous Uffizi Art Galleries.  The spotlight this year is on the recently "rediscovered" genius of Indian film, Guru Dutt, with three of his key features being screened and a documentary on his life and career entitled "In Search of Guru Dutt". The f...

The ninth edition of the "RIVER TO RIVER" Florence Indian Film Festival opened in this elegant north Italian city on December 4 at its new location, the landmark ODEON cinema, just around the corner from the world famous Uffizi Art Galleries. The spotlight this year is on the recently "rediscovered" genius of Indian film, Guru Dutt, with three of his key features being screened and a documentary on his life and career entitled "In Search of Guru Dutt". The festival kicked off in style with a p...

  New York City prides itself as being the "capital of the world", as it has attracted immigrants from all over the globe and set up individual communities within the city's urban grid. For the past few decades, the communities of South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan, have become vibrant parts of the city's mosaic, producing in their midst the finest curry dishes, sari shops and music concerts this side of Delhi and Peshawar. This past weekend, New York opened up ...

723 accreditated professionals took part in the five-day-long Roman film market, The Business Street | Mercato Internazionale del Film, which opened on Thursday, October 15 in Via Veneto. Market venues included the Terrace at the Hotel Bernini Bristol; the Spazio Cinema at the Hotel Majestic, where conferences were held; the Casa del Cinema, the Levi'sҭov, and the Green House at the Auditorium.The Business Street is growing, with an increase in the number of countries represented and a 16%...

With the continued appeal of Bollywood and last year’s Oscar win by SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the history of Indian cinema is en vogue. This year as part of its Masterworks section, the New York Film Festival is offering the first compete New York retrospective of the works of Indian film artist Guru Dutt. Born in 1925, Dutt was an Indian film director, producer and actor, who is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema. He made quintessential 1950s and 1960s classics such ...

   Guru Dutt in PYAASA (1957) With the continued  appeal of Bollywood and last year’s Oscar win by SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the history of Indian cinema is en vogue. This year as part of its Masterworks section, the New York Film Festival is offering the first compete New York retrospective of the works of Indian film artist Guru Dutt.   Born in 1925, Dutt was an Indian film director, producer and actor, who is often credited with ushering in the golden era of...

As an indication of the ever increasing outreach of Bollywood, one of the most famous practitioners and directors of this special Indian brand of film, Yash Chopra, 76, will be honored at the upcoming 14th annual Pusan IFF in South Korea, where he will  be named "Asian filmaker of the year".  An Asian (Indian) cinema night will be held in Chopra's honor. Since his directorial debut in 1959 with a film called "Dhool ka Phool" (Blossoms in the dust) Chopra has dir...

As an indication of the ever increasing outreach of Bollywood, one of the most famous practitioners and directors of this special Indian brand of film, Yash Chopra, 76, will be honored at the upcoming 14th annual Pusan IFF in South Korea, where he will be named "Asian filmaker of the year". An Asian (Indian) cinema night will be held in Chopra's honor. Since his directorial debut in 1959 with a film called "Dhool ka Phool" (Blossoms in the dust) Chopra has directed a total of 21 features, whic...

Mainstream Indian entertainment films from Bombay, which means the flashy three hour song and dance extravaganzas which have come to be know by the somewhat patronizing appellation "Bollywood" -- as opposed to the "serious art" films from India which had been making the festival rounds until now, are suddenly beginning to surface at major international film festivals, the latest instance being Toronto 2009.  At the 34th  instalment of this mega-festival (for that is e...

Mainstream Indian entertainment films from Bombay, which means the flashy three hour song and dance extravaganzas which have come to be know by the somewhat patronizing appellation “Bollywood” -- as opposed to the “serious art” films from India which had been making the festival rounds until now, are suddenly beginning to surface at major international film festivals, the latest instance being Toronto 2009. At the 34th instalment of this mega-festival (for that is exactly what Toronto ...

From March 14-21, 2009, the 23d edition of the Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) will once again bring the Swiss public new gems from Asia, Latin America and Africa. Today in Solothurn, its artistic direction has revealed the first elements of the program. The international competition will comprise twelve feature films - both documentary and fiction. Six sections, i.e. a grand total of about sixty films, have been announced. Contemporary Indian cinema will feature as a special highlig...

Freelance Media Journalist Combine, in association with Malini Kishore Sanghvi College of Commerce and Economics have organised the "Film Riview Writing Competition" on January 20th 2009 in Mumbai, in India. The competition was well attend by mumbai based colleges... Veteran film journalist and critic Siraj Sayed took an introductory session in which he introduced a film "Perhaps Love" directed by Peter Hun Chang. The film was recently screened at IFFI-Goa 09. Mr. Siraj briefed young student jo...