Singapore Film Society presents....India's film festival

SFS at GV Marina 5A Raffles Avenue #03-01 Marina Leisureplex Singapore 039801

24-hour enquiry line 90-170-160

INDIGO 2005

The third edition of Indigo is back with a treasure trove of movies from and about India.

When: 27 July to 3 August 2005 Venues: Golden Village Great World City and The Singapore History Museum Admission: Tickets at GV Great World City Box Office S$ 9.50 (public) S$8.50 (SFS members). Tickets for sessions at The Singapore History Museum, now on sale at: The Substation 45 Armenian Street Singapore 179936. Phone Box Office +65 6337 7800. Open 12 - 8.30 Monday to Friday. You can pay cash or NETS. Enquiry Hotline: 90-170-160

Indigo back with the Singapore premier of award winners

Organised by Anand Rego, Sangeetha Madhavan and the Singapore Film Society, INDIGO 2005 once again brings the best of contemporary globally award winning Indian cinema, this time opening with a clbuttic revived with contemporary recolourization technology - the 1960 blockbuster Mughal-e-Azam.

In the spirit of entente that has taken over thawing Indo-Pakistan relations, our diaspora pick this year is Khamosh Paani (Silent Waters), a film helmed by Pakistani director Sabiha Sumar and starring Indian thespian Kirron Kher. Winning the Best Actress at the Locarno Festival, Kher's nuanced portrayal is of a widow in conflict with forgetting the traumatic Partion in the past and coming to terms with her son being influenced by General Zia ul-Haq's Islamisation of Pakistan. Twinned together with this poignant film is the Oscar- nominated short film The Little person by Ashvin Kumar, which takes a look at a Pakistani boy accidentally wandering over the border into India and the confusion that raises social, political and religious issues.

This year's Academy Award Best Documentary winner Born into Brothels by photographer Zana Briski and Ross Kaufman follows a group of Kolkata kids living in the city's red-light districts, whom she teaches to wield a camera; and the startling revelation through the pictures of their hopes, dreams and aspirations.

India's entry to the Academy Awards this year, Sandeep Sawant's Shwaas (A Breath) is a delightful film about a grandfather showing his grandson - about to go blind - the rich treasures of the here and now.

Well-known Indian actress and activist Ms Shabana Azmi (Fire, City of Joy)stars as a clbuttical South Indian vocalist in the latest offering from playwright,writer and director Mahesh Dattani, Morning Raga.

The marigold eating contractor of Monsoon Wedding, Vijay Raaz is back as a philosophy spouting rickshaw driver who chaperons and utlimately falls in love with a French tourist in Bharat Bala's Hari Om. Camille Natta co-stars. Another Monsoon Wedding alumni Neha Dubey stars in Anup Kurian's Manasarovar, which stunningly captures the backwaters of Kerala and the high albreastudes of the Himalayas through inspired camera-work and a very appealing international sound-track.

Rounding up the Indigo 2005 showcase is Sudhir Mishra's critically acclaimed Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi (A Thousand Dreams Such as These) set during the politically sensitive 1975 Emergency period and seen through the lives of a charismatic group of na•ve student activists.

SCHEDULE

(BORN INTO BROTHELS screenings on Jul 23 & 30 to be held at Singapore History MuseumThe rest - GV Grand)

Jul 23 (Sat) 5.00pm BORN INTO BROTHELS - NC16

Jul 27 (Wed) 9.00pm MUGHAL-E-AZAM (official opening) - PG

Jul 28 (Thu) 9.00pm LITTLE person & KHAMOSH PAANI - NC16

Jul 29 (Fri) 7.00pm MORNING RAGA - PG 9.30pm HARI OM - PG

Jul 30 (Sat) 4.00pm MUGHAL-E-AZAM - PG 5.00pm BORN INTO BROTHELS - NC16 9.50pm MANASAROVAR - PG

Jul 31 (Sun) 4.30pm SHWAAS - PG 7.00pm MORNING RAGA - PG 9.30pm HAZAARON KHWAISHEN AISI - NC16

Aug 1 (Mon) 7.00pm LITTLE person & KHAMOSH PAANI - NC16

Aug 2 (Tue) 7.00pm SHWAAS - PG

Aug 3 (Wed) 7.00PM HAZAARON KHWAISHEN AISI - NC16

SYNOPSIS

MUGHAL-E-AZAM Urdu-Recolourized version of the 1960 original-173 mins-Drama-PG Director: K Asif Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Nigar Sultana, Ajit, Durga Khote

Set in the 16th century AD, the movie brings to life the tale of the doomed love affair between the Mughal Crown Prince Salim and the beautiful, ill-fated court dancer Anarkali, whose fervour and intensity perpetrates a war between the prince and his father the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and threatens to bring an empire to its knees.

This clbuttic, which took 15 years and US$3 million dollars to make at a time of US$200,000 film budgets, was a magnum opus of its director K Asif and stars stalwarts of the Indian film industry from those times. With colour technology having just arrived in India, Asif decided to shoot one reel in colour. Impressed with the results, he re-shot the last three reels in colour as well. So excited with the coloured portions, he wanted to re-shoot the whole film in colour, which was not possible, and so the film was released 85% in B&W and 15% in colour.

Sixty years later, it has been successfully restored and recolourized by its producers with technology developed by the Indian Academy of Arts and Animation. The restoration process was a challenge because of the detail of exquisite jewellery, costumes and sets used in the film. The original music composer Naushad Ali, was retained to re- create the background score and musical composition using original Hindustani clbuttical musicians. The grandeur of the film can now be seen in vivid colour, wide-screen format with clbuttical music in true digital surround sound. The new version of the film has received rave reviews from all corners and done extraordinary business in India, drawing new audiences and successfully completing 100 days in 14 cinemas across the country.

National Awards for Best Film 1960, Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Best Dialogue, Best Cinematography Festivals: Berlin International Film Festival 2005

HAZAARON KHWAISHEIN AISI (A Thousand Dreams Such as These) Hindi-2003-120 min-Drama-NC-16 (Coarse language) Dir: Sudhir Misra Cast: Kay Kay, Shiny Ahuja, Chitrangada Singh

Set in the 1970s during the rise of the Naxal movement, the story revolves around three protagonists with completely different ideologies, aspirations and social backgrounds. Siddharth, a rebel by nature dumps his extravagant lifestyle and begins working in the backwaters of Bihar as a Naxalite. Vikram wants to break free from his middle clbutt mores and acquires quick money by brokering deals between rich bureaucrats. Geeta, blinded by her love for Siddharth abandons her husband and joins him in his revolutionary crusade. They set out to create `change' but keep stumbling upon many unforeseen hurdles.

Mishra's most complex, ambitious film to date, "Hazaaron..." knits the major political upheavals between 1968 plus 1 and 1977 into a love triangle, as he minces no words in castigating Nehruvian "ideals". Swift cuts (editing Catherine D'Hoir) and the relentlessly probing cinematography (Jacques Bouquin, Aseem Bajaj) suggest a close link between the politics of the state and the politics of the conscience.

Festivals: Berlin, Edinburgh, Manchester, Washington, Turkey, Estonia, Florence, Bradford, Los Angeles, Dallas Website: www.hkathefeature.com

BORN INTO BROTHELS English & Bengali-2004-85 mins-Documentary-NC-16 (Crude language) Dir: Zana Briski, Ross Kaufman

British-born photojournalist Zana Briski overcame barriers of language, culture, and ethnicity when she immersed herself into an impoverished and illegal neighborhood in Kolkatta (Calcutta), India. An award-winning photographer, Briski befriended the children of Sonagachi (the city's red light district), starting a photography workshop for them and equipping them each with their own camera. The transformative power of this simple object is remarkable; within weeks, the children show new spirit and several have discovered a talent for the art. Briski and co-director Kaufman follow the children as they filter their marginalized, forgotten world through the camera lens. Over the course of the film, a central narrative unfolds--the children's quest, fuelled by their newfound hope and strength, to leave the brothels for a better life.

Best Documentary, 77th Academy Awards 2004, 2004 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Best Documentary Feature at 2004 Chicago Int'l Film Festival, 2004 L.A. Film Critics' Best Documentary of the Year

Tickets $10 on sale at :The Substation 45 Armenian Street Singapore 179936 Box Office +65 6337 7800. Box Office is open 12 - 8.30 Monday to Friday. You can pay cash or NETS

KHAMOSH PANI (Silent Waters) Punjabi-Urdu-2003-105 mins-Drama-NC-16 (unsuitable for children) Dir: Sabiha Sumar Cast: Kiron Kher, Aamir Ali Malik, Arsad Mahmud, Salman Sahid, Shilpa Shukla

Set 32 years after Pakistan's tumultuous 1947 parbreastion from India, when women faced traumatic futures after abduction and humiliation on both sides, Khamosh Pani is Ayesha's story of struggling to forget her past while focussing on the future - namely on her oblivious 18 year old son Saleem. 1979's Pakistan, under martial law, sees a fast moving political situation influence small villages like Charkhi and its youth like Saleem much to Ayesha's dread. As Sikh pilgrims pour into the village, events escalate when one of them decides to look for his sister Veero who was abducted in 1947 thereby awakening heart- rending memories...

Director Sumar's research on the issue of abducted women met with stony silence, leaving her to wonder how a woman reconciles herself to a life, not of her choice or making, a life that began with violence and a future in which she has no say. Empathizing with such intense vulnerability, Sumar thought of abducted or captive women in Bosnia, Kosvo and even of Jewish women in war-torn Europe.

Golden Leopard & Best Actor (Kirron Kher), Locarno Film Festival 2003

LITTLE person Hindi-2004-15 min-Drama-PG Dir: Ashvin Kumar Cast: Julfuqar Ali, Sushil Sharma, Meghna Mehta

Ten-year-old Pakistani lad Jamal, accidentally crosses the border into India, while playing cricket setting off a person alert. Finding an unusual ally in Bhola, Jamal hides from the Indian soldiers who soon descend on Bhola's village. Rani, Bhola's niece, initially resists letting a Muslim into their Brahmin Hindu home. With Bhola and Rani grappling with the consequences of harboring a Pakistani and their deep-set prejudice against Muslims, Jamal's only hope is the humanity shared by a people separated by artificial boundaries.

Best short Film, Montreal World Film Festival 2004, UIP Ghent Award, Flanders International Film Festival 2004,Oscar Nomination for Best Short Film 2005

MORNING RAGA English-2004-110 mins-Drama-PG Dir: Mahesh Dattani Cast: Shabana Azmi, Perizaad Zorabian, Lillette Dubey, Prakash Rao

Morning Raga tells the very dramatic story of a Carnatic singer, Swarnalata, who loses her little son and her close friend, who's also her violinist-accompanist, in a bus accident. Believing she's cursed, Swarnalata's self-imposed exile never allows her to leave her village. Twenty years later, the dead woman's son Abhinay, now a jaded advertising jingle composer, returns to the village opening up hardly healed wounds. Along with Pinkie, a young urban girl, connected to the tragedy, he is convinced that getting Swarnalata to the city for his music will help all of them.

Morning Raga is about the meeting of worlds. Bringing together the modern and the traditional, the past and the present, Carnatic music and Western music, fate and coincidence. Spear headed by Shabana Azmi's compelling performance and inspired camerawork by Rajiv Menon, Morning Raga is well-known play-write Dattani's second more buttured feature.

Festivals: Toronto, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale Website: www.morningraga.com

Ms Shabana Azmi will be present at the film's screening on July 29th, 2005 1900hrs at GV Grand Cinema 2

HARI OM English-French-Hindi-2004-108 mins-Drama-PG Dir: Bharat Bala Cast: Vijay Raaz, Jean-Marie Lamour, Camille Natta

Isa and Benoit are a French couple traveling through India on a luxury train known as the Palace On Wheels. Isa takes a detour to see the sites and misses the train. Fate places her in the auto rickshaw of Hari Om a career driver on the run from crooks. Despite all cultural, economic and language barriers, the two embark on a journey through scenic Rajasthan.

Part road adventure, part unconventional love story with music by Nitin Sawhney, Hari Om is ultimately a cross-cultural romantic road journey of self-discovery that goes from luxury trains to desolate desert back roads, from magical havelis to forts.

New Voices Award & Best Debut Film maker Award, Bangkok Film Festival Festivals: Vancouver, Manchester, Los Angeles, Rio, Toronto

SHWAAS (A Breath) Marathi-2003-107 min-Drama-PG Dir: Sandeep Sawant Cast: Arun Nalavade, Sandeep Kulkarni, Ashwin Chitale

A villager brings his grandson Paarsha to a town doctor only to learn that the child is a one-in-a-million victim of retinoblastoma -- a rare retinal cancer. The operation will save his life but leave him blind. We accompany the doctor through the hospital rounds, waiting for doctors, certificates, tests, scans, results and watch the child's tantrums when the operation is postponed. Suddenly the grandfather goes missing from the hospital: taking along little Paarsha on a pleasure trip through a park, a fair and a temple, showing him sights he will never see again. But the panic in the hospital over the missing patient bursts into comedy, when nobody wants to take responsibility, and newshounds sniff, hoping for a scandal.

India's Official Entry to the 77th Academy Awards, Golden Lotus for Best Feature Film and Best Child Actor at the National Film Awards of India 2004 Website: www.shwaasthemovie.com

MANASAROVAR English-2004-90 min-Drama-PG Dir: Anup Kurian Cast: Neha Dubey, Zafar Karachiwala, Hidayat Khan, Atul Kulkarni, Yadu Sankalia

Ravi Roy and Malathy Chandran connect through the matrimonial columns but remain friends without actually meeting. A co-incidental buttignment brings Ravi to Malathy's city, Pune where he begins to woo her, believing firmly that its divine intervention at work. Malathy rejects him wanting to stay just friends. Years later, Malathy meets George, Ravi's younger brother, the consultant hired to restructure her department and soon discovers that Ravi has disappeared leaving his will in the name of a "Malathy" much to the anguish and bewilderment of his family. As the past comes back through their letters, Malathy decides to set off for Manasarovar where all conflicts, regrets and pain end.

Director Kurian's debut feature subtly explores the shifting values of modern India. Aided by a global soundtrack and the backdrop of the ubiquitous outsourcing phenomenon, Kurian's Manasarovar is ultimately about the choices one makes and about those forced on you. Shot extensively in Maharashtra, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, Manasarovar takes you across the rugged landscapes of the Deccan Plateau, the greenery of Kerala and the serenity of Dharamsala. Music composed and recorded by Chicago area musicians David Prahl (original guitar and piano), Lisa Stanislawski and Craig Leininger feature their hit single "I believe the rain". The film's theme song "Falling Through The Clouds" is by the Irish band Random.

Best film & International Jury Prize, International Film Festival of Mumbai, Gollapudi Srinivas National Award & Aravindan Puraskaram for Best Director Festivals: London, Fukuoka, Shanghai

============= SPECIALLY RECOMMENDED!!!

The Academy Award winner for Best Documentary 2004, Born Into Brothels, will be screening at Singapore History Museum on July 23rd and 30th at 5 pm. The film is a powerful testament of the power of photography to change lives. Tickets are available at $10 from The Substation Box Office, open Mon-Fri 12 noon to 830 pm.

They will also be available on Wednesday before our regular screening, and an hour before the screenings on both dates.

Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prosbreastutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.

This screening is organised by the Singapore Film Society and is part of Indigo, the Indian Film Festival. More details about Indigo here:

Awards: 77th Academy Awards¨ Best Documentary Feature

2005 IFP Independent Spirit Awards DIRECTV-IFC Truer Than Fiction Award

2004 L.A. Film Critics Winner, Best Documentary of the Year

2004 International Documentary buttociation Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award

2004 National Board of Review Winner, Best Documentary of the Year

2004 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award

2004 Human Rights Watch Best Documentary Award

2004 Silverdocs Film Festival Audience Award

2004 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Audience Award

2004 Atlanta Film Festival Audience Award

2004 Amnesty International Film Festival Audience Award

Planete Doc Review, Warsaw 2005 Audience Award

And many others.

Critical Praise:

"Anyone who has ever thought that documentaries lack the emotional impact, drama or sheer movie-going pleasure of fiction films will likely change their mind after seeing Born into Brothels ... this is a work of art so deep and resonant that it puts most narrative films to shame." - James Greenberg, Hollywood Reporter

"This is the kind of film that reminds you of what movies, at their best, are capable of." - Boston Globe

"Heroism can come in subtle forms. This is one of them." -- Desson Thomson, WASHINGTON POST

"Zana Briski's documentary about children growing up in Calcutta's rough and squalid red light district is moving, charming and sad." -- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

"Beautifully filmed, and devoid of the kind of patronizing beneficence that First Worlders often bring to the Third World." -- Steven Rea, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

"This is the harsh reality that London-born, New York-based photographer Zana Briski captures in her documentary Born into Brothels. Yet what lingers is not the difficulty of the children's lives, but their resilience, wisdom, humour and talent." -- Gabriella Coslovich, The Age

"Juror Mark Salisbury summed it up well in a statement: "Seeing the film is a life-changing experience. It has re-set my life's barometer. The things I moan about now pale into insignificance." -- Wendy Mitchell, indieWIRE.com

The website for the film is located here:

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