The Movie Blog

Seven Samurai (1954)

Directed by : Akira Kurisawa

A three and a half hour marathon by the master film maker. The story revolves around a small village in Japan in the 1600's. Due to the constant conflict with the bandits, the farmers recruit seven samurai to defend the village. The film describes, in great details, every aspect of the recruitment and the war. But unlike 'Once upon a time in America' which was almost as long, you don't really get the feeling of experiencing the drag in the movie; The story flows through time.

Teardrops of Karnaphuli (2005)

Teardrops of Karnaphuli (60 min)
Bangladesh, 2005, Directed by Tanvir Mokammel

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is home to twelve predominantly Buddhist ethnic groups who are collectively known as the “Jumma” nation. The first disruption of the peace in CHT took place from 1959-1962, when a dam was constructed on the Karnaphuli river, submerging 54,000 acres of arable land and making refugees of 100,000 people in the process. These hill people suffered a second crisis in 1979 when the government brought plain land Bengalis from various districts and settled them in CHT.

Team Nepal (2005)

Team Nepal (37 min)
Nepal, 2005, Directed by Girish Giri

A passionate team of Nepali footballers, representing a youth club from the Nepali border town of Birgunj, travel to Sonpur, Bihar in India to play in a tournament there. Team Nepal is the documentation of their experiences in Bihar, travelling, meeting and mixing with other footballers, living in a foreign country, and playing the game they love.

Sunset Bollywood (2005)

Sunset Bollywood (54 min)
India, 2005, Directed by Komal Tolani

A struggling actor in Bollywood dreams of his big screen break. It arrives, and he skyrockets to stardom. Becoming number one is easy after all – staying there is the hard part. Overnight success is sought by millions, but what happens when the lights go out? Where are they now? And why did they disappear in the first place? In Bombay’s glamorous celluloid world, failure is not an option. The film follows three actors on their journey back, each one unable to accept failure, craving the narcotic high of celebrity.

The Life and Times of a Lady from Avadh: Hima (2005)

The Life and Times of a Lady from Avadh: Hima (135 min)
Pakistan, 2005, Directed by Shireen Pasha

This documentary, on 90 year old Hima, explores the extraordinary time in the history of the subcontinent (Awadh after the decline of the Mughal Empire in the 18th century). It traces history, Hima’s life, and her relationship and letters with her renowned talukdar writer father.

The Legend of Fat Mama (2005)

The Legend of Fat Mama (23 min)
West Bengal/India, 2005, Directed by Rafeeq Ellias

This is a bittersweet story of the Chinese community in Calcutta intertwined with the nostalgic journey in search of a woman who once made the most delicious noodles in the city’s Chinatown district. Thriving street food, disappearing family-run eateries, mahjong clubs, a Chinese printing press that has shut down and its handwritten counterpart that continues to deliver the news every morning, and the first all-woman dragon dance group preparing for the Chinese New Year make up the Chinese heritage in Calcutta.

Lanka: The Other Side of War and Peace (2005)

Lanka: The Other Side of War and Peace (75 min)
Sri Lanka, 2005, Directecd by Iffat Fatima

In February 2002, after more than 20 years of fighting, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government of Sri Lanka signed a ceasefire agreement. Soon after that the A9 highway that links north and south Sri Lanka was opened to civilian traffic after twelve years. Structured like a travelogue, the film traverses the northern and southern landscape of Sri Lanka. As it shifts between north and south, it spans the history of last three decades of violence in Sri Lanka.

The Great Indian School Show (2005)

The Great Indian School Show (53 min)
Maharastra/India, 2005, Directed by Avinash Deshpande

How ordinary is a school in which the management has installed 185 closed circuit televisions to monitor its students and every inch of the premises? Imagine how different school life would be under the constant gaze of surveillance, how easily discipline could be misrepresented and misinterpreted, how memories of schooldays would be filled with television monitors, classroom cameras and crackling sound boxes.

Good News

Good News (17 min)
Assam/India, 2005, Directed by Altaf Mazid

A writer looks for a bit of good news in the days of the Assam Movement (1985-1990), when the youth had sunk to the lowest depths of degradation, and civilized emotions seemed to be wiped completely out of existence. Newspapers had chilling pages of depressing stories and to read them was to be overcome by an even greater feeling of horror and helplessness. Finally, the writer discovers a small piece of news item in a morning paper that gives him hope.

Girl Song (2003)

Girl Song (29 min)
West Bengal/India, 2003, Directed by: Vasudha Joshi

The film enters the life of Anjum Katyal, blues singer, poet and mother, capturing her voice as she performs the blues in her home city of Kolkata, as she reads her poems and journal entries aloud to her daughter, and as she converses with her mother of the cultural heritage she is so proud to be a part of. Anjum also talks of confronting the climate of hostility and distrust towards minorities that is spreading throughout India.

Dirty Laundry (2005)

Dirty Laundry (42 min)
South Africa, 2005, Directed by: Sanjeev Chaterjee

More than a hundred years after Gandhi left South Africa to pursue a life of Indian nationalist politics, South Africans of Indian origin continue the quest to define themselves and who they are. Dirty Laundry is a travel essay and historical journey that offers a glimpse of this struggle for self-definition and cultural identity in today’s world, from the role of South African Indians as revolutionaries in the anti-apartheid struggle up to the activities of the present.

City of Photos (2005)

City of Photos (60 min)
India, 2005 Director:Nistha Jain
Special Commendation at FSA ’05

The film explores the little known ethos of old neighborhood photo studios in a variety of Indian cities, discovering entire imaginary worlds in the smallest of spaces. Tiny, shabby studios that appear stuck in a time warp turn out to be throbbing with energy. These afford fascinating glimpses into individual fantasies and popular tastes. Yet beneath the fun and games runs an undercurrent of foreboding.

The City Beautiful (2003)

The City Beautiful (78 min)
Delhi/India, 2003, Director:Rahul Roy

Sunder Nagri is a small working class colony on the margins of India’s capital city, Delhi. Most families residing here come from a community of weavers. The last ten years have seen a gradual disintegration of the handloom tradition of this community under the globalisation regime. The families have to cope with change as well as reinvent themselves to eke out a living. The City Beautiful is the story of two such families struggling to make sense of a world which keeps pushing them to the margins.

The Movie Blog

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Seven Samurai (1954)

Monday, March 27, 2006