Indian films ‘Sikandar’, ‘Samaantar’ to compete at Stuttgart fest

October 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The 11th annual Osian's-Cinefan Film Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, starting here Oct 24, will focus on Indian films and filmmakers for the first time since its inception a decade ago. "Osians-Cinefans young friends Vishal Bhardwaj, Imtiaz Ali, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee along with their wonderful star actors and technicians will directly present in NewStream (Cinema Section) the emerging new face of Indian cinema through their films that have won both critical and popular acclaim, Mani Kaul, director general of the film fest, said in a statement released here Tuesday.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The 11th biennial Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation films 2010 will have three new features - students films/videos, mobile films and puppet animation films. Organised by the information and broadcasting ministry, the gala event will be held Feb 3-9 next year at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Nariman Point, Mumbai.

September 5th, 2009 LONDON - Veteran Bollywood director Yash Chopra has been named the Asian filmmaker of the year by organisers of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) to be held in South Korea next month. Chopra's popular films, including Lamhe, Dhoom 2, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and New York, will be showcased in a retrospective section at the fest, said a press release from Yash Raj Films.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Joining the league of commercial Hindi films like Road Movie, Delhi-6, "What's Your Raashee?" and "Dil Bole Hadippa" being screened at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the latest one to gain entry at the fest is NFDC's Konkani film The Man Beyond The Bridge. Directed by National Award-winning Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, the Konkani feature film will be screened under the Discovery Section of the fest and will have a total of five screenings during the gala.

August 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Two of the most popular Bollywood actors of their time, Amol Palekar and Sharmila Tagore, are all set to fascinate hearts with their forthcoming film. 'Samaantar' a Marathi film, will see veterans Amol Palekar and Sharmila Tagore teaming up after a gap of 30 years in an intense story, which is a tale of two parallel lives crossing each other in the twilight of life.

August 21st, 2009 By Abhijit Mhamunkar Sikandar: An engrossing fare Rating: 3 out of 5 * Starring: R. Madhavan, Sanjay Suri, Parzaan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Ketaki Thatte and introducing Arunoday Singh Director: Piyush Jha Parents less Sikandar (Parzaan) is a 14 year old boy who stays with his uncle and aunt in Kashmir.

August 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After making comedies like "Chalo America" and "The King of Bollywood", director Piysush Jha returns with suspense-thriller "Sikandar". Releasing Friday, the film is about the tensions in Kashmir seen through children's eyes.

July 26th, 2009 Producer TP Aggarwal and Rahul’s next film ‘Red Alert-The War Within’ is hailed by critics and audiences at Stuttgart Film Festival 2009 as ‘the film that will take Indian Cinema to another height in International world Cinema”. It was given the ‘Director’s Vision Awards’ at the 6th edition of Stuttgart Film Festival 2009.

July 24th, 2009 MUMBAI - At Germany's only annual festival celebrating Bollywood cinema in Stuttgart the highest honour went to Santosh Sivan's Hindi film "Tahaan", but the cinematographer-filmmaker was unaware of it. The festival titled Bollywood and Beyond concluded July 19 and "Tahaan", about the adventures of a little boy and his pet donkey in Kashmir, won The German Star Of India award.

July 14th, 2009 STUTTGART - Zoya Akhtar's directorial debut "Luck by Chance" inaugurated Germany's only annual festival of Indian cinema here Tuesday amidst great fanfare. Zoya's director brother Farhan Akhter's "Rock On!", which marks his debut as an actor, will also be screened at Bollywood and Beyond, Germany's only festival dedicated to Indian movies.

July 12th, 2009 STUTTGART - The economic crisis has forced organisers of Germany's only Indian film festival to scale back this year's event after a number of sponsors pulled out. The number of entries has dropped to 47 from 56 last year and will be shown at a venue on the outskirts of Stuttgart instead of in the city centre as in previous years.

July 3rd, 2009 Anant Mahadevan is more than a happy man. Earlier, it was his directorial venture Staying Alive which has been acclaimed at various film festivals.

July 1st, 2009 Before the stand off between multiplexes and producers began, Sikandar started, BIG Pictures’ Sikandar was scheduled for a March 27th release date. But then with the strike declared by the Producers’ forum the film could not get released.

June 5th, 2009 DHARAMSALA - The Tibetan government-in-exile will organise a two-day film festival here June 12-13 to commemorate its 50 years in exile. "The film fest will screen 17 Tibetan films at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.

May 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Hrithik Roshan starrer mega-budget 'Kites' will be among a bouquet of films that will be marketed by Reliance BIG Pictures at the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival, starting May 13. Directed by Anurag Basu, 'Kites' also stars Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, Nick Brown and Kabir Bedi in pivotal roles.