Friday, November 25, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival : Films from India

Films from India - Synopsis


1.   Galli ( the lane)
Dir: Santosh Ram; 19:00; Marathi; 2015; Short Film
Galli (The Lane) is about the people and the Life  in the Lane   . The Lane   in the times of a modern small town India which is restless and wants to break free from its shackles of convention, moral and existential crisis and the rigid socio-cultural structure. The Film tries to explore the incidents happening in Seven days time

2.    Aasaiyenum
Dir: Navaraj; 21:37; Tamil; 2016; Short Film
Desires are the root cause for dissappointments or stress or worry. Sanjay, the 12 year old boy plans to go to their town’s carnival along with his friends for the first time.he gets a less amount than what his friends have decided to bring.

3.     Abhinay
Dir: Shridhar Sudhir; 23:00; Hindi/English; Short film
The story revolves around a young protagonist who is disillusioned by his life, and is trying to figure out a purpose that would define his existence. 

4.     Vande mataram
Dir: Shridhar Sudhir; 27:00; Hindi/ English/ Gujarati; documentary
Vande mataram strives to take a brief and historical look into the idea of the nation and nationalism in modern India, and juxtapose it with its manifestations in contemporary society.

5.     Nuclear Hallucinations
Dir: Fathima Nizaruddin; 54:00; Tamil, English; Documentary
Nuclear hallucinations is a film, which claims to be a documentary, and it is centered the anti-nuclear struggle against the kudankulam atomic power project in south India.

6.    Orey Ganam
Dir: Arun Bhagath; 20:17; Tamil; 2016; Short Film
Journey of an ignored youth and the gateway he meets in his journey.

7.     Appoppanthaadi ( Floating Milkweeds)
Dir: Sivaprasad K.V; 26:09; Malayalam; 2016; Short Film
Appoppanthaadi (Floating Milkweeds), a sweet reminiscent tale of 'loss' begins when a gang of friends meet up on a Maundy Thursday to booze on ’Memories’ (a fictional liquor brand).

8.     Sirens of Grief 
Dir:Aniket Prakash Deore ; 29:00; Gujarati, Hindi and English; Documentary
“Sirens of grief” is about the rise of the textile industry in Ahmedabad (once known as ‘Manchester of East’), its downfall and subsequent impact on mill workers & their families. 

9.    An Affair
Dir: Ninni R Sahu; 17:00; Hindi; Short Fiction
Taarini is a 25 year old wife who is married to a 27 year old Girish who works as a bank manager in Ahmedabad in 2015. Girish, who got recently posted to a bank manager lately, is a workaholic who hardly has time for family and hardly communicates with his spouse who stays home as a housewife. 

10.  Broken Chord
Dir: Anubha Jain; 22:20; Short film; 2015
What will happen if one day you are not allowed to express yourself anymore? You are told that expressing yourself is a symptom of a sickness? The cure is living in a total state of inactivity.

11.  Insight
Dir: Shwet Rajguru, Zara Davina Mann & Charlene Fernandes; 19:09; English; Short Film
Upasana Makati decided to launch a Braille English lifestyle magazine to provide information and entertainment to its visually impaired readers. The magazine’s subscribers—Kriti Banga  and Ummehani Bagasrawala—and Vijay Nawale from The National Association for the Blind tell us about the magazine. 

12.  Mandakini Ki Goonj
Dir: Zara Davina Mann; 01:51; English; Short film
This broadcast report traces the impact of the community radio station ‘Mandakini Ki Awaz’ on its listeners who inhabit tiny hamlets scattered on the hills of Rudraprayag.

13.  Super Uncle 
Dir:Darshana Jain; 03:31; Hindi; Short Film
Mr Syed Feroze Ashraf, also known as Uncle, gave up his illustrious career of writing, journalism, NGO work etc. - in order to educate underprivileged children. The one incident that shattered him the most was the 1992 riots that took place in Bombay now known as Mumbai. He has transformed the lives of many underprivileged children.

14.  Thiraikathai
Dir: Varatharajan;16:51; Tamil; Short film
The Story portrays the actual mentality of an assistant director who thinks about a concept and leaves it behind, with the disapproval from hishead (the producer). Later he changes the concept and recreates it, this suits the mood of the producer. I wanted to show this simple concept with lots of ideas and twists in the screenplay and Iwanted to show the reality in the fantasy world of the director.

15.  Visuvaasam 
Dir: Manibharathi Thraiyur; 15:38; Tamil; 2015; Short Film
After being away from family for 20 years, the father wants to get back to his wife and grownup sons. Despite the elder son’s warning, younger son decides to bring him back understanding his mother’s wish. In this effort, he gets to know the another face of the world. 

16.  Save the Sparrow
Dir: Shweta Rajguru
03:54; English; Short film
The chirpy Sparrows may soon disappear from Mumbai, into the folds of the internet, books and paintings. There are reasons galore for this decline in their numbers, but concerned people are trying unusual methods to keep the sparrow-chirp alive.

17.  With Grace
Dir: Rajbir Kaur
14:51; English; 2016; Documentary
With Grace shares the love and care with which Grace serves the street dogs of Rishikesh. She had been treating and healing them for the past nine years.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival : Screening Schedule

18th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016

6-10 Dec, Multiple Venues; Madurai
Around 100 international and Indian documentaries, short films, animation films and music videos will be screened.


Screening Schedule

Screening A
10 am to 4 pm
6 Dec : Arul Anandhar College, Karumathur
7 Dec: Fatima College, Madurai
8 Dec: Department of Folklore, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai
9 Dec : Madurai Media and Film Studie Academy, Madurai
10 Dec: IDEAS, Madurai

Screening B
5:30 to 8.30 pm
LENS Media Centre, Madurai
Organized by MARUPAKKAM