Osian Film Festival - 2007 (20-29July)

This goes out for all the cinema lovers out there..

"Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art" is organizing 9th Osian's-CineFan Film Festival in
Delhi starting from the 20th to 29th July(in 7 theaters across Delhi).

[from Osian's site]

Osian’s-Cinefan is one of Asia’s leading film festivals devoted
principally to Asia and the Arab world. Established in 1999 in New Delhi
in July every year, the Festival enjoys an international reputation for the
quality of films screened over nine days complemented by panel discussions,
one major seminar each time, an Auction of Popular Culture and Film
Memorabilia along with a number of exhibitions, the Talent Campus for
budding young filmmakers from South Asia, and the presence and
participation of film professionals from all over the world and all over India.
We present a Lifetime Achievement Award for distinguished contribution to
writing on cinema – perhaps the only Festival in the world that recognizes the
role of the scriptwriter and the critic in the creation and the promotion.

This year, the Festival, with the tagline ‘Recreating Cinematic Culture’
will focus on Japan, with a nine-film tribute to Kenji Mizoguchi. A number
of contemporary films and films on the samurai will be shown.

A must attend event for serious Movie Buffs and a should try event
for all the rest. Those of you who prefer staying in the confines
of Bollywood can try any of the following

Shatranj Ke Khiladi(Satyajit Ray), Dor(Nagesh kukunoor)
The Rising : Ballad of Mangal Pandey(Ketan Mehta),
Mr & Mrs 55(Guru Dutt),Omkara(Vishal Bharadwaj),
Mithya(Rajat Kapoor), Khosla ka Ghosla(Dibakar Bannerjee)
Anubhav (Rajiv Nath),Thang(Amol Palekar),
Jashn-e-Azadi(Sanjay Kak), Kaal(Bappaditya Bandopadhyay),
Devdas(P C Barua),Via Darjeeling(Arindam Nandy),
Kya Tum Ho(Anish Ahluwalia), Shoonya(Arindam Mitra),
A Little Box of Sweets(Meneka Das),Chaurahen(Rajshree Ojha)
Lage Raho Munnabhai(Raj Hirani),Manorama Six Feet Under,
Jagte Raho,Return to Rajapur,1971, and even
Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd(Reema Kagti).

Piece of Advice: In case you are thinking of trying a foreign movie
search more about it on IMDB and see if fits the bill.

Drop in a comment if you plan to catch a flick,also mention the
name of the films you are planning to watch...

Hope to see you there

Ciao !!!!

Links:
1) Schedule
2) Osian's Site
3) Archives
4) Osian's Booklet
5) Event @ Facebook

Waking Life

"The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving.
Saves on introductions and good-byes"

"It’s like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now, you may get the 8-pack, you may get the 16-pack. But it’s all in what you do with the crayons, the colors that you’re given. And don’t worry about drawing within the lines or coloring outside the lines. I say color outside the lines. You know what I mean? Color right off the page. Don’t box me in."

Above mentioned lines come straight from the script of "Waking Life", one of the movies that beckon you and without realising you are lost in 'em (or with 'em). Written and Directed by Richard Linklater, Waking Life is the kinda movie that makes me(atleast) say WOW out loud, partly maybe because its about the thing that i am quite passionate about, yes if you are observant enough its TALKING.

Mostly its about the young protagonist in a dreamy state conversing with people from different walks of life and some random people talking randomly about anything from Information Revolution to Collective Memory, Free will to Evolution and much much more..

This is just the kind of Cinema(I am in love with this word) that gets your brain cells working overtime, the way mine are right now...If you are in a habbit of thinking then chances are that you might find a discussion or two on some familiar topics. This being perhaps the only movie ever, that i watched in both directions, going back again and again to some mind-expanding dialogue or the other from the beginning right till the end.

"I’m afraid we’re losing the real virtues of living life passionately, sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feeling good about life"

"In short, I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as the victim of various forces. It’s always our decision who we are."

So if you are one of those compulsive thinkers or one of those who are into experimental cinema or someone having a high curiosity index( a self coined term) or someone who found the above written prate intriguing, then you know where to go from here.

Thanks Linklater for this Intellectual Coming....

My Rating: 4.5 ++
Imdb Rating:7.4

Which is the most universal human characteristic - fear or laziness?