Wednesday, February 10, 2016

4th Chennai Film Festival : Screening Schedule

4th Chennai International Documentary and Short film Festival 2016 : Screening Schedule

Curtain Raiser: 15 Feb: 5 pm; M.M. Preview Theatre, T.Nagar (near Kodambakkam bridge), Chennai

Film: Velutha Rathirikal
Dir: Razi Muhammed; 130 min; Malayalam with English subtitles; Feature film; 2015
Velutha Rathrikal (White Nights) is an independent cinematic adaption of the eponymous novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Manu is an artist in searh of a new sky, from his troubled past, in a forest settlement. He meets Chelly, a tribal girl from a nearby settlement who bears the brunt from her own share of life. As she awaits the return of her beloved friend Jyothi, Manu gets closer to her.

16 Feb:Department of Journalism, Madras Christian College, Tambaram
9:30 am Atho Antha Paravai
Dir: Dayalan; 14 min; Tamil; Documentary; 2016
The film is about Climate Change and justice. It describes the vulnerability of fisher folks in and around Ennore creek, an unique landscape located between Kosasthalaiyar and Pulicat Lake. The eco system is changing fast in the name of development as power plants and factories are seriously destroying the environment.
9:45 Interaction with Dayalan
10: 00 Our Metropolis
Dir : Gautam Sonti & Usha Rao; 87 min; Documentary; Kannada, Hindi, English; 2014
Bangalore is being refashioned as a 'world-class' metropolis. Livelihoods and homes make way for flyovers, glitzy malls and a shiny Metro. Threatened with violent transformation of their city, residents confront the authorities. Beneath the State's ideal of a 'global city' lurks the intent to clear a pasture for big business.
11:30Playgrounds
Dir: Pallavi MD & Shamik Sen Gupta; 18 min; Short film; Hindi, Kannada & Tamil; 2014
In a dusty suburban street, children play hide ’n’ seek in the dusk. 3 year old Murli hides somewhere no one can find him and falls asleep. When he wakes up he is in a different neighbourhood where an angry bearded man is shouting at everyone. But Murli can’t understand a single word of what the man is saying. He just wants to go home to his mother.
11:50 Interaction
12:00 Spaces Between
Dir: Roohi Dixit and Ziba Bhagwagar; 43 min; English; Documentary; 2013

 Spaces Between is a poetic interpretation of the performance artist Nikhil Chopra’s fifty hour long
performance confined in a room on the banks of a river. The film follows the artist Nikhil Chopra’s
journey as he performs La Perle Noir II: Aspinwall for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale held in the State of
Kerala in the South of India.
1:00 Lunch break
2:00 Velutha Rathirikal
Dir: Razi Muhammed; 130 min; Malayalam with English subtitles; Feature film; 2015
4:10 Discussion

17 Feb: Department of Visual Communication, Loyola College, Nungambakkam
9:30am Inauguration
9:45 The Street Musicians
Dir: Kirill Burdov; 25 min; Russian; Documentary; 2015; Russia
Each one on the way home, descending into a pedestrian subway, notices people playing musical instruments. But not everyone knows what makes them take such a step – to go down to the dungeons of the city. What a plight it is to be a street musician? What are the rules and regulations of this sub culture?
10:10 Uthanjali
Dir: Som; 27 min; Bengali; Short film; 2014
Ujantali is a remote village in Bangladesh. A little girl who was born and brought up in this village, was compelled to leave along with her father during the partition of Bengal. But she has been carrying the sweet memories of her village all along. When she revisits her village after a long time, her memories still are fresh.
10:40  Nafir
Dir: Roy Dipankar; 30 min; Music documentary; English; 2015
Nima Lavafpour is a traveling musician from Iran and shares a deep bond with India. On one visit to India, he gets to rediscover a memoir after 8 years. This sparks an infectious wave of creativity in his life and others around. The film is a musical exploration, reminding us of an age-long spiritual and cultural bond between India and Iran.
11:10 Jagadish Bhai – A life in Progress
Dir: Shasi Ghosh Gupta; 23 min; Hindi; Documentary; 2015
Life and journey of a security guard and an ex Border Security Force personnel Jagadish Bhai, is told through his daily chores of protecting one of the premier educational institutions in India.
11:40 Moving in Circles
Dir: Maxim Dashkin; 14 min; Russian; Short film; 2015; Russia
Maria lives with her husband at the military base and dreams of getting out from the bad living conditions. The husband does not share Maria’s dreams. Maria decides to accept the offer of another officer.
12:00 God on the Edge
Dir: Ashok Patel; 46 min; Documentary; Bengali & English; 2014
Abandoning his family more than once, 60 year old Mohammed Jaan Baksh, the 'Elephant Keeper', has dedicated his life to serving elephants. The film is about his bitter-sweet relationship with 'Shivprasad', the elephant with whom his journey began at the age of twelve.
1:00  Lunch break
2:00 Velutha Rathirikal 130’
Dir: Razi Muhammed; 130 min; Malayalam with English subtitles; Feature film; 2015
4:10  Discussion with Razi  Muhammed

18 Feb : University of Madras, Chepakkam campus
9:30 Inauguration
10:00  Velutha Rathirikal 130’
12:10  Interaction with Razi Muhammed
12:30 Lunch break
1:30  Mounam Pesumpothu
Dir: Nisha Ponthathil; 57 min; 2014; Tamil with English subtitles
The film Mounam Pesumpothu portrays the violence against women, despite incredible social changes achieved by our country. Though the film narrates the experiences of women in Tamil Nadu specifically, every Indian woman can relate to these narratives.  From sexual harassment to rape, acid attack, female infanticide, female foeticide, marital rape, domestic violence, dowry harassment, police atrocities, this film unravels the horrific ways our patriarchial society treats women. The film also discusses the root cause for the violence and proposes the different ways by which these violence can be mitigated. 
2:30 Interaction with Nisha Ponthathil
2:45 Jews Step Forward Jews Step Forward
Dir: Marjorie Wright; 112 min; English; Documentary; USA; 2015
The film traces a path grounded in Jewish identity, which ultimately separates personal conscience from a socialized mythology loyal to Israel. Having moved beyond self censorship, despite institutional power
and social censure, they recognize that, just as the American Jewish community helped create the
foundation for Israel’s evolution, so must it address the unvarnished truth today.
4:40 Interaction

19 Feb : Periyar Thidal, Veppery (behind Egmore Station)
10:00  Muzaffar Nagar Baaqi Hai (Muzaffarnagar Eventually)
Dir: Nakul Singh Sawhney; 136 min; Hindi with Eng subtitles; 2014
Sawhney’s 136-minute long documentary is set in the aftermath of the communal riots that broke out in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in Uttar Pradesh in August and September two years ago. Sawhney travelled to the western Uttar Pradesh districts soon after the riots, which killed over 60 Muslims and Hindus and drove several Muslim survivors out of their homes and into refugee camps. He interviews survivors, local residents, and activists and leaders of all hues to understand the conditions that contributed to the situation. 
12:30 What the Fields Remember
Dir: Subasri Krishnan; 52 min; Documentary; Assamese; 2015
On 18th February 1983, around 1800 Muslims were killed in Nellie and surrounding village in Assam, in one morning. No one was ever prosecuted and the incident remains in the annals of India’s violent history. The film revisits the event and explores how the survivors remember the violence 32 years later, and how do the spaces that have witnessed this violence continue to mark people’s relationship to history and memory.
1:30 lunch break
2:30 Let the Butterflies Fly
Dir: Gopal Menon; 74 min; Tamil and Kannada with English subtitles; 2012
The film captures  Shilpa’s story. She is a Hijra who faced severe police torture; abuse from medical institutions , who tried to make her a 'man' by force. This film captures the everyday life of Hijras  – their pains, struggles, joys, celebrations, relationships, work -  through Shilpa’s story.
3:45 Discussion with Gopal Menon
4:00 Lohit Diary
Dir: Ramachandra PN; 76 min; English, Hindi, Mishimi and Assamese; Documentary; 2015; Films Division
Amidst rampant opium cultivation in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh in North East India, Basamlu Kisikro engages opium growers into shifting to green tea, Tewa Manpoong supports fellow addicts into rehabilitation and Uncle Moosa spreads the joy of reading amongst children

20th Feb : Periyar Thidal
Films from Australia – curated by Shweta Kishore, filmmaker/scholar
11 am Welcome to Australia
Dir: John Pilger; 50 min; English; Documentary; 1999; Films from Australia – curated by Shweta Kishore 
The Australian heroine from start, when she carried the Olympic torch into the stadium, to finish, as she crossed the line to take 400m gold, was the indigenous athlete Cathy Freeman. Against the will of many of her still oppressed people, she came to represent the symbol, albeit shallow, of reconciliation between White and Aboriginal Australia. But the frenzy of flames and fireworks surrounding the Games blinded the rest of the world to the darker side of a land down under.
12:00 The Hungry Tide
Dir Tom Zubrycki; 53 min; English; Documentary; Films from Australia - curated by Shweta Kishore
As part of her work for a non-government organization, Maria Tiimon, who lives in Australia, promotes awareness of the consequences of climate change. "People experience the impacts of global warming but they don't know what causes it," she explains. It turns that global warming also affects Maria personally: she was born in Kiribati, which scientists believe will be one of the first countries to disappear beneath the waves as a result of global warming.
1:00 Lunch break
2:00 The Trial
Dir: Joan Robinson; 52 min; English; 2009; Films from Australia – curated by Shweta Kishore
In February 2008 twelve Muslim men went on trial in Melbourne for terrorism offences. The trial ran for nine months, heard 482 secretly taped conversations and presented 66,000 pages of evidence. With unique access to Greg Barns, one of the key defence barristers, and Omar Merhi, the brother of the youngest accused, The Trial takes us inside one of the biggest court cases in Australia’s history. A trial where there is more at stake than just the fate of the accused.
3:00 Freedom Stories
Dir: Steve Thomas; 99 min; English; Australia; Documentary; 2015; Films from Australia – curated by
Shweta Kishore
Freedom Stories is a documentary exploring the contribution being made to Australian society by
former asylum seekers who arrived by boat around 2001 – the year of political controversy over the MV Tampa, the Pacific solution, the children overboard affair and the SIEV X disaster. They found themselves in indefinite mandatory detention in remote places such as Woomera or Nauru
and then placed on temporary protection visas (TPVs), which extended their uncertainty. It has taken
much resilience and many years for them to build secure lives, become Australian citizens and start
contributing to their new country.

21st Feb : Discovery Book Palace
11 am  Lights on Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Dir: Prasanna Ramaswamy; 85 min; English; 2013
The film brings the filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan upclose, working through different processes of film making, speaking about the philosophy and aesthetics of his work. Besides that  the filmmaker is looking at reference points to where those resonances that would have determined the course of thoughts behind that filmmaking like Adoor's engagement with nature, his childhood influences and so on.
12:30  Interaction with Prasanna Ramaswamy
1:00 Lunch break
2:00  Life in Metaphors: A Portrait of Girish Kasaravalli
Dir: O.P.Srivastava; 84 min; Kannada & English; Documentary; 2015
The film tries to explore  “Cinema “ –  the need, the art, the  craft, the language, the grammar and its purpose through the eyes of Master filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli.
3:30 Kapila
Dir: Sanju Surendran; 62 min; Malayalam with Eng subtitles; 2014
As a student, Surendran was struck by something his teacher, the inimitable Mani Kaul told him – an ideal film, he said, is like a Koodiyattam performance, where gestures communicate and silence speaks. Years later, he explored that same idea using cinema as a medium – and with a talented Kootiyattam artist as his protagonist. Kapila moves at a pace as detailed as any description in Koodiyattam, leaving the artist and her craft, the ambience of her kalari, the silence, percussion music, the picturesque frames and even the rain, to unravel the nuances of the art form.
4:30 A Picture of You
Dir: Ajay Norohna; 73 min; English; Documentary; 2012
A Picture of You is the story of a cinematographer trying to piece together an image of the father who passed away when he was six. Growing up with one framed photograph on the wall and little else, Ajay Noronha sifts through memories, anecdotes and silences to come closer to the person he hardly knew.
A Picture of You is a difficult inquiry into the need to complete the picture of one's own self. 
6:00 Closing Ceremony
6:30 Yaadhum
Dir: Kombai S Anwar; 57 min; Tamil with English subtitles; 2012
The film ‘Yaadhum’(All) is a celebration of diversity within the Tamil, Indian and Islamic world. It throws the spotlight on the less spoken Tamil Muslim community, its history and identity, and how Islam took early roots in the Tamil country, even as it was spreading across the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. The story is told through Kombai S. Anwar’s perspective, himself being a Tamil Muslim. It covers archaeological excavations, inscriptions, old mosques built in the architectural traditions of Tamil Nadu & Kerala, other existing traditions, Sufism, literature and interviews with well known historians. The film showcases more than a millennium old harmonious co-existence of Islam in Tamizhagam. 

4th Chennai Film Festival 2016 : Films from Australia

4th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016

Package from Australia curated by Shweta Kishore

1) Welcome to Australia
2) The Hungry Tide
3) The Trial
4) Freedom Stories

Amudhan R P
Festival Director

Sunday, February 7, 2016

4th Chennai Film Festival 2016 : Curtain Raiser Screening

4th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016
16-21 Feb; Multiple venues; 10 am to 6 pm
Organized by MARUPAKKAM
Curtain Raiser Screening
Film : Velutha Rathirikal (White Nights)
Feature film by Razi Muhammed
Date : 15th Feb; Time : 5 pm
Venue : MM Preview Theatre, Kodambakkam High Road,T Nagar, Near Kodampakkam flyover (Pratap Plaza)
The filmmaker Razi Muhammed and his team will present their film and take part in the discussions.
We welcome you all

கட்டியத் திரையிடல் : 15 பிப்ரவரி, மாலை மணி

4வது சென்னை சர்வதேச ஆவணப்பட மற்றும் குறும்படவிழா 2016
16-21 பிப்ரவரி; பல்வேறு அரங்குகளில்; காலை 10 மணி முதல் மாலை 6 மணி வரை
அமைப்பு : மறுபக்கம்
கட்டியத் திரையிடல் : 15 பிப்ரவரி, மாலை மணி
இடம்: எம்.எம்.பிரிவியூ தியேட்டர், தி நகர், சென்னை
திரைப்படம்: வெளுத்த ராத்திரிகள்
இயக்கம்: ராசி முகம்மது
மலையாளம், 120 நிமிடங்கள்; 2015
ரஷ்ய எழுத்தாளர் தாஸ்தயேவ்ஸ்கியின் "வெண்ணிற இரவுகள்" எனும் நெடுங்கதையைத் தழுவி எடுக்கப்பட்ட முழு நீளத்திரைப்படம்.
திரையிடலில் இயக்குநர் ராசி முகம்மது கலந்து கொள்கிறார்.
அமுதன் ஆர்.பி.
விழா இயக்குநர்

4வது சென்னை சர்வதேச ஆவணப்பட மற்றும் குறும்படவிழா 2016

4வது சென்னை சர்வதேச ஆவணப்பட மற்றும் குறும்படவிழா 2016
16-21 பிப்ரவரி 2016; காலை 10 மணி முதல் மாலை 6 மணி வரை
பழைய, புதிய, இந்திய, சர்வதேச ஆவணப்படங்கள் & குறும்படங்கள் திரையிடப்படும்
அமைப்பு : மறுபக்கம்
அட்டவணை
16 பிப்ரவரி : சென்னை கிறிஸ்தவக் கல்லூரி
17 பிப்ரவரி: லயோலா கல்லூரி
18 பிப்ரவரி: சென்னை பல்க்லைக்கழகம்
19 பிப்ரவரி : பெரியார் திடல்
20 பிப்ரவரி : பெரியார் திடல்
22 பிப்ரவரி : டிஸ்கவரி புக் பேலஸ்
அனைவரும் வருக!
அமுதன் ஆர்.பி.
விழா இயக்குநர்
4வது சென்னை திரைப்படவிழா 2016

4th Chennai Film Festival 2016 : Venues

4th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016
Old, new, Indian and international; documentaries, short films, music videos
16-21 Feb 2016; 10 am to 6 pm; Multiple venues
Organized by MARUPAKKAM
Screening Schedule
10 am to 6 pm
16 Feb : Madras Christian College
17 Feb: Loyola College
18 Feb: University of Madras
19 Feb: Periyar Thidal
20 Feb: Periyar Thidal
21 Feb: Discovery Book Palace
More details soon!
Amudhan R.P.
Festival Director
4th Chennai Film Festival 2016

4th Chennai Film Festival 2016

4th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016

16-21 Feb; Multiple venues; 10 am to 6 pm
Highlights

1) Velutha Rathirikal, a feature film by Razi Muhammed
2) Kapila by Sanju Surendran
3) Our Metropolis by Gautam Sonti & Usha Rao
4) Lohit Diary by Ramchandra PN
5) What the Fields Remember by Subasri Krishnan
6) Life in Metaphors: A Portrait of Girish Kasaravalli by O. P.Srivastava
7) Yaathum by Kombai S Anwar
8) Essential Arrival by Merajur Rahman Baruah
9) Lights on Adoor Gopalakrishnan by Prasanna Ramaswamy
10) Spaces Between by Roohi Dixit and Ziba Bhagwagar
11) Nafir by Roy Dipankar
12) A Picture of You by Ajay Noronha
13) Muzzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai by Nakul Singh Sawhney
14)  Films from Australia : curated by Shweta Kishore

We welcome you all!

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