Parque Via::A Man Alone::Enrique Rivero

A Man Alone//Parque Via (Mexico/86 min/) Dir: Enrique Rivero



Locarno 2008: Enrique Rivero presenta Parque Via

Sometimes, Beto's calm and secluded life is interrupted. From time to time, potential buyers destroy his peace. Regularly Lupe, a prostitute, comes to see him; he always welcomes her in the same laconic way. ("Hello. You're beautiful.") Then his landlady, a tall and rigid elderly woman with a strong moral sensibility, inspects his maintenance work. One day, she takes her employee to the market where he breaks out in panic; he can't stand the crowd and all the synaesthetic impressions of the place — the smells, the colors. It's the outburst of an indigenous individual who fears he'll find no other work or space of his own in the still-fractured society of modern Mexico.
Nicole Hess
© FIPRESCI 2008
Source: http://www.fipresci.org/paraque-via

Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

Hafez::Abolfazl Jalili /IFFK 2008

Hafez (Iran-Japan/98 min/) Dir: Abolfazl Jalili ( see wikipedia )



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpm_R5yRWqU

Shamsadin (Mehdi Moradi) a talented 17-year-old who receives the title of Hafez(given to those who had memorized the Koran by hear Shamsadin (Mehdi Moradi) a talented 17-year-old who receives the title of Hafez (given to those who had memorized the Koran by heart), is invited by the Great Muftí, the religious leader of the town, to come to his house and teach his daughter Nabat (Kumiko Aso). Even if he's not allowed to see her, between the two starts to develop a strong bond through their discussions on religion, philosophy and poetry. Their affection though wouldn't be accepted by the community they live in...
This beautiful, tough, poetic story is told by Iranian director Abolfazl Jalili in the mesmerizing Hafez, that received the Special Jury Award at 2007 Rome Film Festival.

Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

Farewell, Gulsary::Proshai Gulsary

Farewell, Gulsary!::Proshai Gulsary (Kazakhstan/102 min/) Dir: Ardak Amirkulov

ADIEU GOULSARY / FAREWELL GULSARY / PROSHAI GULSARY (523)
Dir.: Ardak Amirkulov, Kazakhstan , 2008, Color, 102 min.
SYNOPSIS : A timeless saga of human (and animal) heroism, FAREWELL GULSARY has an old nomad of the steppes reminiscing about the parallel lives of himself and his old horse Gulsary, who is dying.


Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

Castle in the air::Aakashagopuram

Castle in the air/Aakashagopuram (India/105 min/) Dir: K.P. Kumaran

Gulabi Talkies ::Dir: Girish Kasaravalli

Gulabi Talkies has a huge canvas, it deals with almost every contemporary issue?

Girish Kasaravalli : Many of my films deal with the individual and the problems created by their milieu. While I was writing this film, I had actually decided to make a film where an individual called Gulabi was important, but equally the whole milieu, the whole fisherman community, was as dominant as Gulabi. So, while preparing, I decided I would focus on the whole lot of issues that haunted the contemporary society, but still make a story that would be dramatically quite intense and that would not fall apart.

Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

Dreams of Dust :: Reves de poussiere

Dreams of Dust/Reves de poussiere (Burkino Faso-Fr-Can/86 min/) Dir: Laurent Salgues

REVES DE POUSSIERE
DREAMS OF DUST

Mocktar, a Nigerian peasant who lost his entire family in a terrible accident, tries to rebuild his life. He goes to Essakane, a dusty gold mine in Northeast Burkina Faso, to look for work and to forget the past that haunts him. He is quickly introduced to the small community of miners and begins working in the dangerous tunnels of the mine. Little by little, Mocktar discovers that the gold rush ended twenty years before, and the inhabitants of this wasteland manage to exist simply from force of habit. In Essakane, the life of the whole population revolves around the irrational expectation of finding gold. Hope makes them surpass the threat of the mines. Among the inhabitants, the beautiful Coumba is still courageously struggling to raise her daughter. She takes care of her alone as her husband died in the mine. As he falls in love with Coumba, he fights not only to survive, but also to provide a better future for her and her child. He puts together enough money to prepare for their departure for France where Coumba's daughter will get a proper education and a chance of becoming
http://www.facecouncil.org/



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlI2wFMDPek

The Imprints/Adayalangal Dir: M G Sasi

The Imprints/Adayalangal (India/99 min/) Dir: M G Sasi



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOSXg1sClY

The film beat Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Naalu Pennungal, which was a strong contender for best film as well as direction.

According to the director, "Adayalangal takes you through the kaleidoscopic world which Nandanar created through his works comprising children's literature, re-creations of rural life and stories which smell of blood and gun powder. Hunger is the leitmotif of the film, especially hunger of the body and mind. The movie presents in a frame work all these hungers, heightened or lessened, which form the substance of all human life in all ages."

Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

Firaaq (India/101 min/) Dir: Nandita Das

Firaaq (India/101 min/) Director Nandita Das

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4VpJ6T9ZnM

Indian actress Nandita Das directs her first film Firaaq, about the emotional impact of the 2002 riots in Gujarat, India

Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

Postcards from Leningrad / Posatle de Leningrado

Postale de Leningrado : - Postcards from Leningrad / Posatle de Leningrado ( Venezuela/90min) dir: Mariana Rondon

postcards from leningrad
Postales de Leningrado
Country:Venezuela
Year: 2007
Running time: 90 Minutes
Genres:Black Comedy, Coming of Age, Drama
Program:New Directors Showcase
Language: Spanish
Sub-Titles:English Sub-Titles
Other Countries: Peru
Being the daughter of a guerrilla in 1960s Venezuela isn't easy, just ask la Niña, narrator of Postales de Leningrado. Together with her cousin Teo, she copes with her clandestine life of underground secrecy and makes up a new life filled with superhero revolutionaries.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6rDl7bCW28

http://www.guardian.co.uk/postales.de.leningrado

Machan Director:Uberto Pasolini

Machan (Sri Lanka-Italy/109 min/) Dir: Uberto Pasolini



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK4q69KmvDU

A group of desperate slum dwellers, living on the margins of society under impossible pressures, find an invitation to a handball tournament in Bavaria to be the answer to their prayers, a one way ticket to the West and the wealth that will solve all their problems.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172522/

Fire keeper/Atashkar

4) Fire keeper/Atashkar (Iran/82 min/) Dir: Mohsen Amiryoussefi

Read about another move at IFFK 2008 here

My Marlon and Brando

3) My Marlon and Brando (Turkey/91 min/) Dir: Huseyin Karabey



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r02zbifnOzA

Three years ago, in real-life, Hama Ali, a charismatic B movie actor from Iraq, and Ayca, a similarly rotund but charming actress from Turkey, met on a film-set. Their love affair continued across borders through video love letters and broken phone-calls until the Americans invaded Iraq and hellish violence engulfed the country. As most people fled from East to West seeking safety, Ayca decided to make the journey from West to East, seeking her lover. GITMEK, a dramatic feature film, is the true the story of her extraordinary, and ultimately tragic, experiences in such mad times...

Huseyin Karabey

The Yellow House/La Maison Jaune

2) The Yellow House/La Maison Jaune (France-Algeria/83 min/) Dir: Amor Hakkar



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5qJPw2Gxno

Official Website: http://lamaisonjaune-lefilm.fr/

Synopsis:
A lya, a girl of twelve, spade a piece of barren land.

A police car approached. One of the gendarmes him a letter and informed him that his elder brother who was doing his military service in the gendarmerie, died in an accident.

The handlebars of his motor tricycle without waiting and braving all banned, Mouloud, the father, a farmer of modest Aures, recover the body of her son.

Fatima, mother, is plunged into an immense sadness.

The stubborn farmer knows that in the Aures, renounce it die a little.

The father, very affected and helped her daughter Aliya, will happen to restore the smile to his wife and his family?

Mülteci - Reis Çelik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AQ1yVxeFII

Sivan, at around the age of 20, is a native of the Southeastern region of Anatolia. His father Saho is the leader of the Givdanli tribe who stays distant both to the state and to the insurgents who are influent in the region, in order to secure its existence. One day, Sivan meets with the girl he loves, Berfin in a field around the village. The same day the field is burnt by saboteurs and the whole harvest of the village is wasted. The investigation initiated after the incident, changes Sivan's life drastically. Taken in for an interrogation, Sivan is caught between the police and the insurgents. Thinking his son's life is in peril, Saho assures Sivan's fleeing out of the country. Taken to Germany by the help of a illegal network, Sivan is located in a refugee camp. However, in this new land whose language is alien to him, Sivan will go through an ordeal which will add a new dimension to the residue of his experiences in Turkey.

13th IFFK 2008 Competition Section

List of Films

The following films have been selected for screening at the 13th IFFK

Competition Section 
1) Refugee/Miilteci (Turkey/104 min/) Dir: Reis Celik

2) The Yellow House/La Maison Jaune (France-Algeria/83 min/) Dir: Amor Hakkar

3) My Marlon and Brando (Turkey/91 min/) Dir: Huseyin Karabey

4) Fire keeper/Atashkar (Iran/82 min/) Dir: Mohsen Amiryoussefi

5) Machan (Sri Lanka-Italy/109 min/) Dir: Uberto Pasolini

6) Postcards from Leningrad / Posatle de Leningrado ( Venezuela/90min) dir: Mariana Rondon

7) Firaaq (India/101 min/) Dir: Nandita Das

8) The Imprints/Adayalangal (India/99 min/) Dir: M G Sasi

9) Dreams of Dust/Reves de poussiere (Burkino Faso-Fr-Can/86 min/) Dir: Laurent Salgues

10) GulabiTalkies (India/125 min/) Dir: Girish Kasaravalli

11) Castle in the air/Aakashagopuram (India/105 min/) Dir: K.P. Kumaran

12) Farewell, Gulsary!/Proshai Gulsary (Kazakhstan/102 min/) Dir: Ardak Amirkulov

13) Hafez (Iran-Japan/98 min/) Dir: Abolfazl Jalili

14) Parque Via (Mexico/86 min/) Dir: Enrique Rivero

13th IFFK Online Delegate Registration: www.iffk.in

The delegate form for 13th IFFK Online Delegate Registration is available at www.iffk.in

Instructions to Delegates:

The filled up form can be sent either online or by post
Please note the registration no of the form and send along with stamp size photograph and delegate fee to Secretary ,Federation of Film Societies of India Office, Kalabhavan, Trivandrum 695014, Kerala Ph: 0091 471 2321953
You may collect your Delegate card only after submission of money from Federation of Film Societies of India Office, Kalabhavan, Trivandrum after 15th Nov 2008.

IFFK 2008 Delegate Registration will open 1st of November

IFFK Delegate Registration will open 1st of November

The 13th edition of IFFK will be held at Thiruvananthapuram (formerly known as Trivandrum), the capital city of Kerala in the South of India from 12th - 19th December 2008.

Film selection Jury's screening started on Kalabhavan Theater

Delegate Registration will open 1st of November 2008

more details coming soon

Last Date for Sending Entries Extended

The last date for sending entries to 13th IFFK from December 12 2008 has been extended to 6th October.

International Film Festival of Kerala IFFK 2008

13th International Film Festival of Kerala
12th – 19th December 2008
Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, India

Organised by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy
For the Department of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Kerala

10 Theaters as venues for IFFK 2007

• Sreekumar ph:2331222
• Sri Visakh ph:2331222
• Ajantha ph:2472825
• Dhanya ph:2476773
• Kairali ph:3013030
• Kalabhavan ph:2322314
• Kripa ph:2471655
• New Theatre ph:2323244
• Remya ph:2476773
• Nisagandhi

12th IFFK 2007 Competition Section

12th International Film Festival of Kerala Competition Section 7th to 14th December 2007

List of selected films - Synopsis to chart your schedule.

1. Teeth of Love/ Aiqing de yachi(China)
Dir. Zhuang Yuxin
(China/Chinese/114 mins/35mm/2007)
" Smartly written and cast, with a magnetic lead perf by actress Yan Bingyan, "Teeth of Love" draws a satisfying amount of dramatic blood. Following a young woman's three painful affaires du coeur across 10 years, impressive debut feature by Beijing Film Academy prof Zhuang Yuxin puts her emotional maturation centerstage rather than just retreading China's changing social and political landscape."

http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/1645/

2. Suely in the sky/o Cue de Suely ( Love for Sale / Céu de Suely, O )
Dir. Karim ainouz //Brazilian Karim Ainouz's single mother drama "O ceu de Suely" (Suely in the Sky)
(Brazil/Portuguese/110 mins/35mm/2007) 17 November 2006 (Brazil)
In order to get funds, a young woman living in the Northeast of Brazil decides to raffle her own body.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0841175/
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934415.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

3. El Rey de San Gregorio (The King of San Gregorio)
Dir. Alfonso Gazitua
(Chile/spanish/35mm/2006)
Alfonso Gazitua's "El rey de San Gregorio" (The King of San Gregorio), a romance about a man living on the edge of society
“The King of San Gregorio” is a story about a pure and simple love. The film talks about the life of Pedro Vargas – who plays himself – a 30 years-old man living in the slum of San Gregorio and presents a physical handicap and a certain grade of mental disability. Nevertheless, none of these factors will stop him from being the protagonist of this beautiful love story with his “princess” Cati, a girl who has a severe mental disability.
http://www.trigon-film.org/de/movies/Gregorio

4. Turtle family/Familia Tortuga(db)
Dir. Ruben Imaz
(Mexico/spanish/136 mins/35mm/2007)
After the mother has died from a Mexican middle-class family, an uncle, a brother-in-law and two children have to find a new balance together.
http://cinemaztlan.net/film_Familia%20tortuga.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0969705/

5. Strangers/Strangers(db)
Dir. Erez Tadmor, Guy Nativ
(Israel/English,Hebrew,French/85 mins/35mm/2007)

6 days in Paris, which starts with an accidental meeting in the Berlin Subway

During the World cup finals, will change them completely.

Eyal, who came to meet his accidental girlfriend, and Rana who came to cheer

The French team, are forced to share as apartment and spend three intensive

Days together.

http://ucm-film.com/?CategoryID=212
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1064215/

6. 10+4/Das be alaveh Chahar( Dah be alaveh Chahar / 10+4 )
Dir. Mania akbari
(Iran/Farsi/77 mins/35mm/2007)

In this sequel to Abbas Kiarostami's Ten, Mania Akbari, the leading actress of the film, again drives a car and talks to her son, her sister and other people. Her situation in this sequel differs because of her suffering from cancer. As the disease progresses, she's unable to drive.
http://sansebastian.mister-i.com/galerias2007/pelicula_in2.jsp?id=550130
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935000.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
http://www.viff.org

7. XXY/XXY()
Dir. Lucia Puenzo
(Argentina/Spanish/90 mins/35mm/Apr-07)
Alex lives with her parents, whose reaction to her indeterminate gender has been to exile the family to a small island community. As she comes of age, her parents feel it is time for them to decide if she is to be a woman or a man.
http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/films/xxy/
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=cannes2007
http://www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/filmdetails.aspx?id=705301410001386
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995829/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_5Acz7gieE

8. Sleepwalking Land/Terra somnambula(db) / Terra sonambula
Dir. Teressa Prata
(Portugal,Mozambique/Portuguese,Xangana/103mins/2006)
tell the story of a country traumatised by war an pain and people looking for peace through an young boy and a thin old man
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242029/
http://www.mannheim-filmfestival.com/en/Archive/Filmfestival_2007/
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=cannes2007


9. Casket for hire/Ataul for Rent
Dir. Neal buboy Tan
(Philipines/Tagalog/93 mins/35mm/2007)
Ataul For Rent (Casket for Hire), a social satire depicting the lives of urban slum dwellers, recently received an “A” rating
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/oct/23/yehey/life/20071023lif1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8T2RuPEW7o

10. Getting Home/Luo Ye Gui Gen
Dir. Zhang Yang
(Hongkong, China/Chinese/97 mins/35mm/2007)
A black comedy about a farmer who tries to bring home the body of his friend, who died far from their town.
http://www.denverfilm.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=21530&fid=39
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783475/
Berlinale 2007: Zhang Yang about "Getting Home"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hfBUtPIdHGw
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k3cs7H3p_v0

11. Bliss/Mutluluk
Dir. Abdullah Oguz
(Turkey/Turkish/105 mins/35mm/2007)

In a godforsaken village in east Anatolia a 17-years-old unconscious girl is being found. She has lost her virginity and her family locks her up in a cabin. Her stepmother throws a rope at her and says: „You know what you have to to.“ But Meyem refuses to do what she is required. They confide her to her cousin Cemal, the traumatised ex-soldier who just came back from civil service, and put them in a train to Istanbul. The girl is not supposed to ever arrive there. She is not registered in any birth registry anyway. But things take a different turn. When Meryem wants to jump from a bridge, Cemal even detains her. In Istanbul different values apply.
http://www.mutlulukfilm.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978649/

12. Lord! Let the Devil Steal my Soul/Probhu noshto Hoi Jai(db)
Dir. Agnidev Chatterjee
(India/Bengali/100 mins/35mm/2007)


13. Four Women/Naalu Pennungal
Dir. Adoor gopalakrishnan
(India/Malayalam/105 mins/35mm/2007)

The film distills to a rare purity four tales of village women in south India. Their titles are elemental: “The Prostitute,” “The Virgin,” “The Housewife” and “The Spinster.” In each, a woman submits to a role society decides for her. Each role offers a paradox of freedom and bondage in nearly equal measure.

http://www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/filmdetails.aspx?id=707101313381293

http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/4482/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986244/

14. Paradesi/ Paradesi Kunhi mohammed
Dir. P.T. Kunhi muhhammed
(India/Malayalam/134 mins/35mm/2007)

And what happens when they are dispossessed of their land just because a piece of paper claims them to be aliens? Well, this scenario is vividly captured on the celluloid by P T Kunhi Mohammed in his film Paradeshi starring Mohanlal. A splendid performance by Mohanlal
http://in.rediff.com/Pardesi review at rediff

Paradesi Mohanlal 2007 Official Trailor
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GrJprIv9JSg