What’s been happening in global South Asian film this week…
Historic Golden Globe nominations for India’s ‘All We Imagine as Light’
PAYAL KAPADIA continues to cement her reputation as one of the most exciting global auteurs to have emerged in recent times.
The Indian writer-director whose second film ‘All We Imagine as Light’ has won her two Golden Globe nominations – a historic first for an Indian film and director.
She is impressively nominated in the Best Director Motion Picture category alongside such global icons as Jacques Audiard (‘Emilia Perez’); Sean Baker (‘Anora’) whose films also premiered at Cannes this year and came with awards too as she did – ‘All We Imagine as Light’ picked up the Grand Prix – a sort of runners up to the top Palme d’or which Baker’s ‘Anora’ won; while Audiard’s Emilia Perez won a collective Acting Award.
Kapadia’s film, also features in the Best Motion Picture in a Non-English language category where the film is up against ‘Emilia Perez’; ‘The Girl with the Needle’ which www.asianculturevulture.com saw in Cannes here); ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ which also screened at Cannes and the other three films, ‘I’m Still Here‘ from Brazil and ‘Vermiglio’ from Italy.
The winners will be announced on January 5. The nominations were announced on Sunday (December 8) by Hollywood actor, writer and showrunner Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut.
We interviewed Kapadia and lead actor Kani Kusruti when they came to London for its UK premiere at London Film Festival in October. The film is currently on general release in the UK.
We are running a series of short videos from these interviews – see them on Youtube and other channels on social media soon…
Two star Patels, and Indian film likely to blaze a trail to the Mountains of Utah
BOTH Dev Patel and Himesh Patel are likely to head to the Sundance Film Festival for the world premieres of their respective films.
Himesh Patel appears in ‘Bubble & Squeak’ about a country where cabbages are banned (!) but Patel and his on screen partner have smuggled them in and are just newly married. The film features in the prestigious US Dramatic section; while Dev Patel’s ‘Rabbit Trap’ has been selected for the Midnights category. A British production and set in 1973, Patel is part of a couple whose music disturbs local ancient folk magic in a remote house in Wales and prompts some strange incidents.
From India and London based producer Neeraj Churi is ‘Sabar Bonda’ (‘Cactus Pears’) about a 30-yearold city dweller who finds companionship with an unmarried farmer on a rural farm, following a penance ritual dedicated to his late father. The film will feature in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section.
The film festival, one of the largest in the US and a beacon for independent productions globally, will screen 87 feature films and six episodic projects and will take place between January 23-February 2 2025.
Most of the festival takes place in the mountain resort town of Park City, Utah. Created by Hollywood star Robert Redford, the festival has outgrown its roots in Park City and is scouting possible replacement cities, including the nearby and much larger Salt Lake City; Boulder in Colorado and Cincinnati in Ohio for 2027, with an announcement expected next year. ACV covered the festival in person in 2019 and was among the last batch of media to see Redford in person welcome us to the festival…http://asianculturevulture.com/portfolios/sundance-film-festival-2019-bird-bite-takeways-fest-awards-and-its-a-wrap/
Santosh wins BIFAs and release date updates
SANDHYA SURI’S ‘SANTOSH’ won the Best Screenplay at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA).
The film which premiered in Cannes in May (see reviews – Youtube/print) will be released in the UK in late March and has just signed a deal with Indian distributor PVR Inox, a part of a chain of upmarket cinemas in India. It already generated sales of around 150,000 in France and heads to the US for December 27.
At the same awards on Sunday (December 8), ‘Santosh’ producers Balthazar De Ganay and James Bowsher picked up Breakthrough Producer awards.
The film, which is Britain’s official Best International Feature category to the Oscars is a twisty, crime thriller, set in Uttar Pradesh; and puts a new woman police woman officer Santosh (Shahana Goswami) at the centre of an investigation that goes off the rails as the drama unspools.
Suri, who has a documentary background, started to write the story as a response to the Delhi rape case of 2012.
More in our London Film Festival interview here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZi0VitZc3o
‘Unicorns’ co-director James Krishna Floyd and lead actor Jason Patel were nominated in the The Douglas Hickok Award which recognises an emerging director, and Breakthrough Performance award, respectively.
Another film which acv covered at LFF this year won two awards – ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’ is out on general release currently in the UK and won BIFA The Raindance Maverick Award and Best Debut Director – Documentary for filmmakers Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane.
Our preview LFF interview
Bandit Queen 2 – takes up where original left off…
WRITER Farrukh Dhondy told an audience at the British Film Institute (BFI) on the Southbank in London that he has completed the script on ‘Bandit Queen 2’.
His original film, ‘Bandit Queen’ premiered in Cannes in May 1994 and went onto establish Shekhar Kapur as a director of international repute. The latter went onto make ‘Elizabeth’ (1998) – to great acclaim and another woman centric film. This new film is officially titled ‘Bandit Queen MP’ and picks up where the original left off, with dacoit leader Phoolan Devi (Seema Biswas) putting down her weapons and being released from jail in 1994 and making it as an Indian MP before being assassinated in 2001.
“It’s been delivered to (producer) Bobby Bedi,” Dhondy told www.asianculturevulture.com.
Dhondy, who was commissioning editor for multi-cultural programming at Channel 4 between 1984-1997, is not credited as the screenwriter of ‘Bandit Queen’ – he helmed the UK side of the production and his script is based on his late ex-wife Mala Sen’s book on Devi – entitled ‘India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi’, published in 1991. Dhondy pulled in Kapur from his presenting gig on a late night discussion programme on Channel 4 – Kapur had directed Bollywood films prior and there was much controversy after its first screening in Delhi, where initially there was opposition and a threat of a ban but money (indirectly) and a passionate focus on the film itself led Devi not to oppose it, recounted Dhondy. Separately, Bedi unveiled a slate of film projects, including ‘Bandit Queen MP’ at India’s International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and Film Bazaar in Goa, last month. Dhondy made the disclosures in a wide-ranging Q&A with film historian Charles Drazin after hosting a masterclass on screenwriting organised by the South Asian Cinema Foundation (SACF), run by former BBC journalist and filmmaker Lalit Mohan Joshi. Its latest project is looking at the contribution of British Indian producer-director Ismail Merchant. SACF screened his directorial effort ‘In Custody’ (1993), a charming film adapted from an Anita Desai novel – with the legend that is Shashi Kapoor, featuring as a famed Urdu poet in some decline and also starring Shabana Azmi and Om Puri. Dhondy and cultural historian and SACF co-founder, Kusum Pant Joshi, both introduced the Hindustani language film, produced by Channel 4. Earlier on the same day, (Monday, December 9), Dhondy urged budding screenwriters to think of their scripts as short stories and illustrated his masterclass with clips from ‘Bandit Queen’ and ‘Jinnah’ (1998), a film about the founder of the modern state of Pakistan and directed by Jamil Dehlavi with an all-star cast that was led by Hollywood star Christopher Lee, controversially at the time playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Kenyan film ‘Nawi’ on Oscars trail and comes to London
LAST but by no means least – is the remarkable feature, ‘Nawi’ – from Kenya and forming the country’s official entry to the 2025 Oscars.
Set in Turkana, Northern Kenya it charts the story of Nawi (Michelle Lemuya Ikeny), a bright and brilliant student, whose father somewhat cedes to local customs and sets up a marriage between Nawi and a rich local leader. You will need to see the film to discover Nawi’s fate and it is far from predictable.
A German-Kenyan production, the incredible Ikeny who is just 14, holds the screen with such grace and power, and along with original story writer Kenyan Milcah Cherotich, the pair were in London, courtesy of filmmaker and activist Surina Narula. She has been supporting screenings.
“This film says everything I’ve been trying to say,” declared an emotional Narala, who revealed her own sister had perished in a domestic violence case. “I want to show this film in India,” she told acv after the screening.
The film has been screened in Kenya and in the locality, where is it based and shot. It has been doing the awards round in the US, just before arriving in London on Tuesday (December 10).
Ikeny is one to look out for and is making her debut, alongside seasoned Kenyan professionals who are also extremely impressive in this film, which is directed by a collective made up of two Kenyan directors – Vallentine Chelluget and Apuu Mourine, and German brothers Kevin and Tobias Schmutzler, who were also in London with Ikeny and Cherotich, along with producer Lydia Wrensch. The film was produced with the support and assistance of Learning Lions, an IT educational centred charity, dedicated to improving the lives of young people in East Africa.
