Lights, Sound ... Lockdown

Lights, Sound ... Lockdown
Mumbai In The Time Of COVID-19

On 25 March 2020, Mumbai, the city that never sleeps, went into a slumber during the world's largest lockdown launched by India to control the spread of COVID-19. For the first time, in the history of the Maximum City, her lifeline - the trains - came to a halt, roads lay barren and the city...shut!

Marking the successful completion of one month of the national lockdown today - 25 April 2020, The Draft in conjunction with DraftCraft Films, has released 'Lights, Sound ... Lockdown' - a documentary capturing 'Mumbai In The Time Of COVID-19' at Ground Zero.

Conceptualised by Film-maker Gajanan Khergamker, this DraftCraft Films Production was created in conjunction with The Draft as part of The Ground Zero Project. The project documents reality in India and Beyond Borders...at Ground Zero!

All material provided in the documentary is copyrighted. It may, however, be shared and distributed freely but only 'as is' and 'with attribution' to DraftCraft Films Productions.

NOTE: The material for this documentary was generated during the first month of India's lockdown from 25 March 2020 to 24 April 2020 by Team DraftCraft from across Mumbai while, at all times, observing the mandatory social distancing norms as laid down by law.

YouTube link to the documentary: https://youtu.be/IiINc4Bl7FI
www.draftcraftfilms.com
www.thedraftworld.com
www.draftcraft.org
www.gajanankhergamker.com

#LightsSoundLockdown #DraftCraftFilms #TheDraft #DraftCraftInternational #Documentary #GroundZero #COVID19 #TheGroundZeroProject #COVID19India #MumbaiLockdown #MumbaiInTheTimeOfCOVID19 #CoronavirusPandemic #IndiaFightsCorona

IFFI 2019 to focus on Asian films

Team DCF | Panjim

The 50th year of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), considered one of the oldest in Asia, will be presenting a specially-curated section for new and dynamic films from Asian countries and film-makers. Keeping this spirit in mind, the section has been named the Soul of Asia.

Films to be showcased in this section include Chinese films - 'Feelings to Tell' by Wen Li, 'Summer is the Coldest Season' by Sun Zhou, 'The Fourth Wall' co-directed by Zhang Chong and Bo Zhang; Japanese film 'Ten Years Japan'; Taiwanese film 'Ten Years Taiwan'; 'The Other Half' directed by Lalith Rathnayake from Sri Lanka and 'Wet Season' directed by Anthony Chen co-produced by Singapore and Taiwan.

Among these films, 'Ten Years Japan' and 'Ten Years Taiwan' are omnibus films which started with the Ten Years series in 2015. These films reflect how young directors from their respective countries envision their immediate surroundings in a decade’s time, wonderfully depicting the dark times ahead.

Through this section, the films will celebrate the bold and dynamic efforts in film-making from various Asian countries. The 50th IFFI will honour these film-makers on its platform which serves as a bridge between films and audiences from around the world and also open new vistas in terms of cinephilia.

International Film Festival of India (IFFI)), considered one of the earliest film festivals in Asia, completes 50 this year. The golden jubilee edition will witness more than 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and 15 non-feature films in the Indian Panorama Section and more than 10,000 people and film lovers. To commemorate the glorious fifty-year journey, the festival will also showcase 12 prominent films in different languages that have completed 50 years in 2019.

#IFFI2019 #IFFIGoa #IFFI50 #IFFIAt50

PM Modi inaugurates National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai

Team DCF | Mumbai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) in Mumbai on 19 January. The state-of-the-art Museum, built at a cost of Rs. 140.61 crore, aims to take its visitors through an absorbing journey of over a century of Indian cinema in a story-telling mode with the help of visuals, graphics, artefacts, interactive exhibits and multimedia expositions.

The creation of the Museum has been guided by the Museum Advisory Committee headed by Shyam Benegal. An innovation Committee headed by Prasoon Joshi was also constituted to provide an upgrade to NMIC.
The Museum is housed in two buildings – the New Museum Building and the 19th century historic palace Gulshan Mahal – in the Films Division campus in Mumbai.

The New Museum Building has four Exhibition Halls which encapsulate:

* Gandhi & Cinema: it not only depicts the movies made on the life Mahatma Gandhi but also showcases the deep impact his life had on cinema.
* Children’s Film Studio:  it gives visitors, particularly children, an opportunity to explore the science, technology and art behind filmmaking. It offers hands-on experience on various facets associated with making cinema like camera, light, shooting, the experience of acting, etc. – presented in an interactive format. The exhibits displayed include chroma studio, immersive experience zone, stop-motion animation studio, virtual makeover studio, etc.
* Technology, creativity & Indian cinema: it showcases the creative use of technology by Indian filmmakers over the years to produce a cinematographic impact on the silver screen.
* Cinema across India: it showcases the charismatic kaleidoscopic presence of the vibrant cinematographic culture across India.

Gulshan Mahal is an ASI Grade-II Heritage Structure which has been restored as part of the NMIC project. The displays showcase the journey of over a hundred years of Indian cinema.  It is divided into 9 sections viz. The Origin of Cinema, Cinema comes to India, Indian Silent Film, Advent of Sound, The Studio Era, The impact of World War II, Creative Resonance, New Wave and Beyond and Regional Cinema.

Once-bitten Biggies of Hindi Film Industry Remain Politically Correct

The Me-Too movement has gained momentum across India, yet in the Hindi film industry, despite legally-orchestrated and guarded comments from a few, there is a general hush. The hush has an on-the-face-of-it ‘legal’ yet a more real ‘commercial’ basis to it. The Tanushree Dutta episode has exposed the underbelly of self-righteous sections of the film industry.

Actor Tanushree Dutta’s tirade against actor Nana Patekar for having allegedly “sexually harassed” her on the sets of a song sequence for the 2008 film 'Horn OK Pleassss' culminated into a FIR filed by Tanushree against Nana Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang on October 10th. Now, while the legal process has been initiated and will meet its logical conclusion, it’s the guarded silence and orchestrated statements made by a selective few, known to be belligerent across media, that exposes them.

With a statement released on Twitter on 10 October 2018 reading “We are not an investigative agency, nor are in any position to pass judgement on anyone – that is for the police and judiciary to do. So, without casting any aspersions on anyone in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film,” by Aamir Khan with Kiran Rao, the superstar ended his awkward silence on the #MeToo movement while referring to another issue in question. Why he even said, “For far too long, women have faced the brunt of sexual exploitation,” and, “We condemn any act of sexual harassment, and equally we condemn any and all false accusations in such cases.”

He made things clear, at least on the face of it, and without offending anyone too. Why, he did not even make any reference to the director in question, against whom a sexual harassment case is pending in court or to the movie in question too. One tight-rope walk successfully completed. The Tanushree issue, on its part, remained unaddressed by Mr Khan.

When asked to opine on the Tanushree incident a little earlier, Mr Khan had said, “Without knowing the veracity of something or details of something, I don’t think I can comment on it. It’s not right for me.”

The last time Aamir Khan publicly commented fetching public outrage was on the issue of ‘Intolerance’ when he said, “I feel a sense of insecurity and a growing sense of despondency…For the first time, Kiran asked me if ‘we should move out of India.’ She fears for her child and the atmosphere of India…feels scared to open newspapers.”

He had also said, “Innocent Indians were killed by a leader who is responsible, with his party, for the killings of thousands of Indians. In my opinion, the person and the people who do this are most unpatriotic, completely anti-Indian,” on Godhra and the-then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in a 2014 interview with Shekhar Gupta. On the US refusing a visa to Narendra Modi, he had added, “Hey, we didn’t do this earlier. If US is doing it, we have missed the point and should take cognisance of it now.” Then, Mr Khan was either oblivious to the fact that the Godhra issue had been examined by a Supreme Court Appointed SIT which had not found any evidence against Mr Modi back in 2012 itself or chose to overlook it.

That said, Amitabh Bachchan’s baritone “No means No” fizzled out into a seemingly-lame “My name is not Tanushree nor is it Nana Patekar”, fetching harsh criticism from across industries. His guarded silence on the issue seems odd considering he doesn’t usually pull punches while dishing out opinions on issue pertaining to India, women and the Hindi film industry.

There are two sides to a coin and nobody knows that better than the thespian who was banned by the media for a good 15 years following insinuations of his “hand in the censorship of films” and “role in the clamping of Emergency on the Press” owing to his affinity to the Gandhi family. This, till ‘Coolie’ happened, and the anger dissipated into well-meant concern before all turned well.

It’s pertinent here to make note of an earlier interview with Arnab Goswami when Mr Bachchan was asked about the Hindi film industry’s rallying after Salman Khan after the Hit-and-Run episode and silence towards the victims of the incident. When the interviewer drew parallels to the industry’s silence to Sanjay Dutt’s sentencing in the ‘90s, the icon maintained it was easier for the film industry to identify with people they “know on a personal level”.

On identical lines, of late, on the Tanushree issue, Salman Khan when asked about the issue at the endorsement of a sports event, maintained a stoic silence and said, “I am not aware of this. Let me know and understand what is happening. We will see what is going on. I am not aware of it.”

The price for eloquence among the Hindi film industry’s players is compounded by the frail travesties, political leanings and commercials exposed by one’s silence or guarded comments on the other end of the spectrum.