MAMI's
new avatar is called
Mumbai Film Festival (MFF)
The 11th edition of MAMI in its
new avatar as Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) will begin on 29th
October, 2009, as a Reliance Big Entertainment initiative.
The registration of delegates has already
started. You can register on line. The process is very simple. The fees
is Rs. 1000. Concessions will be given to students (Rs.500) and film
professionals (Rs.600) who are members of a known association. Please
visit the MFF site to register.
200 films from 56 countries will be shown
at the main venue Fun Republic, Andheri (W), Mumbai.
There is the news that Paul Shrader will be a conducting a workshop on script writing for the students of cinema for a nominal fees of Rs.1000/- . Please contact the festival office for details and a whole lot of other information. The office opens a little late in the morning - 11 PM and one hopes it is fully functional by now. Here are the contact details :-
11 th Mumbai Film Festival
Mumbai Academy of The Moving Image (MAMI)
B 111, Crystal Plaza ,
New Link Road , Andheri (W),
Mumbai 400 053 India .
Tel. : +91-22-4016 8223 (Boardline) / 4016 8221
Fax : +91-22-4016 8222
E-mail: mumbaifilmfest@gmail.com
www.mumbaifilmfest.com
RBE has roped in some really big names from
world cinema as jury members who will judge the Competition Section
Films which is open to the first feature films of a director. The prize
is big this time - Rs.50 lakhs.
Here is a brief introduction of the two of
the jury members.
PAUL SCHRADER
One of America's most highly regarded writer-directors, Paul Schrader began his involvement with film by taking a summer cinema course at Columbia University while he was a student at Grand Rapids' Calvin College. After graduation in 1968, he attended UCLA's film school, quickly becoming a film critic for the L.A. Free Press and an editor of Cinema magazine. His thesis on Ozu, Bresson and Dreyer was published as Transcendental Style in Film by the University of California Press. Schrader's first success came with his screenplay for THE YAKUZA, directed by Sydney Pollack in 1974. This was followed by his classic screenplay for Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER (1976). In 1977 Schrader began his own directorial career with the working-class drama BLUE COLLAR (Harvey Keitel, Richard Pryor). He has written scripts for such directors as Brian De Palma (OBSESSION,1976), Joan Tewkesbury (OLD BOYFRIENDS, 1978), Peter Weir (THE MOSQUITO COAST, 1986), Harold Becker (CITY HALL, 1995) and, of course, Scorsese (RAGING BULL,1980, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, 1988 and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, 1998).
In 1999 Schrader received the Writer’s Guild Laurel Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2002 he was the recipient of the Telluride Film Festival Silver Medallion Tribute and in June of 2005, was awarded the Franklin Schaffner Alumni Medal by the American Film Institute.
Schrader's career as a director reflects his vast knowledge and love of different film styles and genres, ranging from the Neo-Western HARDCORE (George C. Scott), to the romantic thriller AMERICAN GIGOLO (Richared Gere and Lauren Hutton), the supernatural CAT PEOPLE (Natasia Kinski), the artist's biography MISHIMA (produced by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola), the political docudrama PATTY HEARST (Natasha Richardson), the erotic thriller THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (Natasha Richardson, Rupert Everett and Christopher Walken, Helen Mirren), the haunting LIGHT SLEEPER (Willem Dafoe and Susan Sarandon) and the ironic TOUCH (Skeet Ulrich, Christopher Walken and Bridget Fonda). In 1997 Schrader adapted and directed Russell Banks’ AFFLICTION (Nick Nolte, James Coburn), released to critical acclaim in late 1998. In 2001, he shot his fourteenth film entitled AUTOFOCUS (Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe). After making film trivia history as one of the two directors of the twice made prequel to the EXORCIST (Schrader’s version was titled DOMINION), he returned to writing/directing with his original screenplay of THE WALKER (Woody Harrelson) which premiered at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival. Schrader filmed ADAM RESURRECTED, based on the novel by Yoram Kaniuk and featuring Jeff Goldblum, in the Spring/Summer of 2007 and it is premiering at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival. Most recently he oversaw the tele-cine of MISHIMA, which was released by Criterion in the Summer of 2008.
He lives in New York with his wife, actress Mary Beth Hurt, and their two children.
PAUL SCHRADER'S FILMOGRAPHY
THE YAKUZA ( Warner, 1975) Writer. Director: Sydney Pollack
TAXI DRIVER (Columbia, 1976) Writer. Director: Martin Scorsese
OBSESSION (Columbia, 1976) Writer. Director: Brian DePalma
BLUE COLLAR (Universal, 1978) Writer & Director
HARDCORE (Columbia, 1979) Writer & Director
OLD BOYFRIENDS (Avco-Embassy, 1979) Writer. Director: Joan Tewkesbury
AMERICAN GIGOLO (Paramount, 1980) Writer & Director
RAGING BULL (United Artists, 1980) Writer. Director: Martin Scorsese
CAT PEOPLE (Universal, 1982) Director
MISHIMA (Warner, 1985) Writer & Director
MOSQUITO COAST (Warner, 1986) Writer. Director: Peter Weir
LIGHT OF DAY (Tri-Star, 1987) Writer & Director
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (Universal, 1988) Writer. Dir: Scorsese
PATTY HEARST (Atlantic/Zenith, 1988) Director
THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (Skouras Pictures, 1990) Director
LIGHT SLEEPER (Fine Line Features, 1992) Writer & Director
WITCH HUNT (Home Box Office, 1994) Director
CITY HALL (Paramount, 1995) Writer. Dir: Harold Becker
TOUCH (MGM/UA, 1996) Writer & Director
AFFLICTION (Lionsgate, 1997) Writer & Director
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1998) Writer. Director: Martin Scorsese
FORVER MINE (1999) Writer & Director
AUTO FOCUS (Sony Pictures Classics, 2002) Director
DOMINION: A PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST (Warner Bros./Morgan Creek, 2003) Director
THE WALKER (Pathe, 2007) Writer & Director
ADAM RESURRECTED (2007) Director
JAFAR PANAHI
Born on July 11, 1960 in
Mianeh in Iranian Azerbaijan, Jafar Panahi is a graduate of filmmaking
from the IRIB College in Tehran. After directing 5 short films, Panahi
made his debut feature, The White Balloon in 1995, which turned to be
the event of Cannes `95. The film won 3 awards, including the
prestigious Camera d’Or and was sold already to all territories. His
second film, The Mirror received 6 international awards too.
JAFAR PANAHI'S FILMOGRAPHY
1988) The Wounded Heads (short documentary)
1989) The Second look (short documentary)
1991) Kish (short documentary)
1992) The Last Examination (short fiction)
1992) The Friend (short fiction)
1995) The White Balloon (feature)
1997) The Mirror (feature)
1997) Ardekoul (short documentary)
2000) The Circle
2003) Crimson Gold
2006) Offside
2007) Untying the Know [short film, part of a group work, Persian Carpet]
RKS
