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New Generations Filmfestival
26 – 28 November 2010 at Orfeos Erben Frankfurt, Germany

  

In 2010 the successful „New Generations- Indian Independent Film Festival“ will take place for the second time, presenting international productions focusing India. Regarding its programme the festival is unique in its kind in Germany.

The „New Generations Film Festival” started in all 2009 and turned out to be cutting edge, as since fall 2009 a new type of Indian films is released, addressing the current Indian reality. A new realism in the films and a spirit of optimism can be experienced. Meanwhile the term „New Bollywood“ is used for this phenomenon. India’s emerging and growing urban middle class wants to see other films than the rural audience. Vice versa the situation of the middleclass has become so good that escapism into the dream worlds of Bollywood is not necessary or desired anymore. The urban audience longs for a new realism, according to the reality of their own lives, also addressing different subject matters. „Indian“ films from abroad were always more committed to realism than the traditional film industry in Bollywood. So the festival „New Generations is up to date and modern.

As director and author Dorothee Wenner stresses, unlike the Bollywood movies the new films are not longer geared to the N.R.I.s, who do not live in India since years and whose frozen image of India does not correspond with the India of nowadays anymore. Also the second and third Generations Asians living all over the world do not exclusively cling to the old movie ideas but wish contemporary films. Significantly the new type of Indian films also matches with Western viewing patterns. This should not be considered as an act of adjustment, as the films could be identified clearly as Indian, i.e. the do not abandon their country-specific character.

The “New Generations Film Festival” supports this development. The name is programme and it could not be chosen better.

With its programme the “New Generations Film Festival” aims to impart an image of the current India, regarding the cultural context of the second and third generation Indians as well as the urban India.

New Generations presents fascinating highlights from the genres feature film, documentary and short film, among them some Germany premieres. A festival prize as well as an audience will be awarded.

©Indian Vibes Neue Generationen e.V., 2010
design: ©amvisual, 2010

 

Just leaf through our programme brochure New Generations - Independent Indian Filmfestival 2010

 

Ticketreservation 069 707 69 100 Orfeos Erben 
Ticket per film 7,50 €/ reduced 6,50 €

www.orfeos.de 

 

 

 

Friday, 26 November 10, 8 pm
Germany premiere
Cooking with Stella


Cooking with Stella

The first feature from writer/director Dilip Mehta, which premiered to great reviews at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, “Cooking With Stella” is a quirky, warm-hearted comedy about scheming cook Stella.

Stella Elizabeth Matthews, played by “Bandit Queen” Seema Biswas, has been a cook in the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi for 30 years. She is brilliant as a cook, and brilliant at creatively padding her salary – with a few pilfered items, some minor overcharging, and a special phone--‐order duty free business. A newly posted Canadian diplomat and her husband Michael arrive with their baby.

After an initial jolt when Stella learns that Michael will be staying home as “diplomatic housewife” while Maya goes off to work, everything goes swimmingly for Stella. Michael was a chef in Ottawa and he is longing to learn authentic Indian cooking. Stella agrees to be his “cooking guru”. But Stella’s cozy domestic set-up implodes when Tannu, an honest nanny, joins the household, and threatens to expose Stella’s deceptions. Eventutally Stella wins Tannu’s full cooperation (and then some!). This unlikely partnership embarks on a much grander, riskier scam, which seems to bring disaster. An unexpected kind of justice is found, but not until the guru--‐student relationship between Stella and Michael has been sorely tested. Michael has learned many important lessons from his teacher …including glorious traditional South Indian cooking. And Stella? Well…. let’s just say dreams sometimes come true in unexpected ways.

Canada 2009, 103 minutes, Englisch and Hindi (with English subtitles)
Director: Dilip Mehta
Script: Dilip Mehta, Deepa Mehta,
Cast: Seema Biswas


www.cookingwithstella.com

 


 

 

 

Friday, 26 November 10, 22: 15 h
Lonely Pack 

Justin Peach will present the film personally

Together with other children, the eleven year old Sonu lives on the streets of Katmandu. Their daily routine is a fight to survive in the chaotic capital of Nepal: always on the prowl for food, drugs, charitable tourists and what they seek most - as small boys do anywhere– is fun and adventure. The life of Sonu and his pack is shaped by hunger and violence but is also filled with childlike moments of freedom on the streets! This film follows ideas of Direct Cinema: no narrator, no music, no staging. We wanted to understand the everyday life of a street child in Kathmandu. The story is told by the kids themselves. “Lonely Pack”.

Germany 2009
Directors: Justin Peach, Lisa Engelbach 
German subtitels


www.kleinewölfe.de

www.lonelypack.com

  




 

Saturday, 27 November 10, 6 pm
Peepli [Live]

Peepli Live

After losing their plot of land over an unpaid government loan two brothers and farmers by profession, Natha and Budhia residing in the heart of rural India seek the help of a local politician. Not concerned with their plight the politician mockingly suggests that the brothers commit suicide and benefit from a government scheme that aids the families of indebted farmers who have done so.

Budhia the shrewder of the two immediately encourages Natha a simpleton by nature to think of the greater good of their family and do the needful. Their drunken conversation in a bar is overheard by a journalist. The next day it appears in a local newspaper under the header “A Death Foretold in Peepli Village.” The article sparks off a chain of events that reaches the highest corridors of power in India’s political machinery. With elections around the corner what would otherwise have been common fare turns into a ‘cause celebre’ with everybody wanting a piece of the action. From the glitzy television studios in New Delhi to the Agricultural Ministry, journalists, newsmen, local and national politicians descend upon the little village to stake their claim. The question on everybody on everyone’s lips is, “Will he or Won’t he?” As the circus propagates itself what will be the fate of farmer Natha where nobody stops to ask how he really feels.

http://peeplilivethefilm.com

 

Filmparent

 


 

 


Saturday, 27 November 10, 8 pm
Germany Premieres
Notes from transient places. Contemporary Short Films from Indien
Curated and presented by Ulrike Mothes

 

The program sketches a moment of modern India, seen through the eyes of 5 Indian filmmakers. The Fluid and elusive nature of the subcontinent awakening to modernity, is reflected in the portrayal of history through personal conflict (These Old Frames). It is narrated in the location of humble identity between rural community and modern metropolitan life (One Way) or the decision of a cowherds boy facing a sacrificial ritual (Harika).

 

Ulrike Mothes is a documentary filmmaker and film curator. Between 2007 and 2010 she was working at the Film Department of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India, as a lecturer. As an Artist in residence a t the same institution she realized several video works. Ulrike Mothes is currently an assistant professor at Bauhaus University, Weimar. Within the framework of her Ph.D. thesis she researches experiments in documentary narrative in India.

Flood of memory / Baad ki raat

Anitha Balachandran, Animated documentary, 2008, 11 min
Four months after a flood in the Barmer desert in Rajasthan, the event is retold through the memories of survivors, local residents, an activist, a news reporter and a bardic singer.

The Delhi-based filmmaker Anitha Balachandran combines live‐action and experimental techniques of animation in her short films. An animation graduate from the National Institute of Design in India, she has a M.A. from the Royal College of Art, London. Her current interests lie in non‐fiction, particularly in exploring oral histories

These old frames .
Tahireh Lal, documentary, 2008, 15 min
The portrait of the film‐makers grandfather sculpted using imagery from his own archive

Tahireh Lal was born in New Delhi, 1986. „These Old Frames“ ist he second of her exlorations of personal history through the medium of Found Footage Film.


One way
Ayisha Abraham, documentary, 2007, 15 min
One Way profiles the life of a Nepali immigrant working as a security guard in Bangalore, the busy hub of India’s high tech trade. The present day lensing of Shyam Bahadur's humdrum existence is intercut with archival footage narrating Bahadur’s own story.

A. Abraham was born 1963. She holds a BFA in Painting from MS University, Baroda, India. In 1991 she participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program, New York City, and has an MFA from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Ayisha has held solo exhibitions in New York and India, and her works have been exhibited in numerous group shows. Her short film ‘One Way’, was screened at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2007.

EchoesEchoes
Rebana John, experimental, 2008, 9 min


The artist filmmaker was born in Mumbai, India. She completed her specialization in Digital Video Production/Film studies at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in Bangalore. Her interests lie in understanding the science of image making, deriving nourishment from philosophy & psychology, employing the language of sound and investigating the constantly mutating position of an artist in society.

Harika (sacrifice)
Vinay Ghodgheri, short fiction, 2008, 20 min
Basu, a handicapped boy in a small town is forced to take a decision when the buffalo he takes care of, is slated for sacrifice.

Vinay Ghodgeri is a filmmaker/artist based in Bangalore, India exploring various forms of imagemaking. 'Harake/sacrifice' was his graduation film, plucking at the relationship between man and nature. Working currently with abstract personal mythology, he sees these images as riddles, unravelling themselves subconsciously.

Filmparent 

 


 


Saturday, 27 November 10, 10.15 pm
Hesse Premiere
Bombay Summer

 

Bombay Summer

Bombay Summer explores the delicate friendship between three young people and its eventual disintegration in the face of betrayal. Set in contemporary Mumbai, the film subtly mirrors the turmoil within tradition bound Indian society as it struggles to cope with rapid modernization and social change.

At the center of the story is Geeta, a self-assured career woman who seeks out new experiences while deftly balancing the competing demands of work, love and family.  Unbeknownst to her conservative family, she is having a forbidden relationship with Jaidev, an aspiring writer who chafes at his privileged background as he struggles to establish his own identity. Their lives take a dramatic turn when they meet Madan, a migrant to the city who ekes out a living as a commercial artist but occasionally resorts to petty crime to make ends meet.

The three become quick friends as Madan shows Geeta and Jaidev a side of India they’ve never really known—from the studios of Bollywood poster painters, to a crumbling textile mill on the outskirts of the city, to the bleached, worn beauty of the seaside village where Madan spent his childhood.  But shortly the bond of friendship begins to crack, as youthful passion and the looming consequences of Madan’s criminal lifestyle threaten to engulf them.

 

USA 2008, Hindi with English Subtitles
Director: Joseph Mathew Varghese
Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee (Geeta), Samrat Chakrabarti (Jaidev), Jatin Goswami (Madan) and Gaurav Dwivedi (Zakir)

www.bombaysummer.com


 

 

 

Sunday, 28 November 10, 3.30 pm
Hesse Premiere
Kerala Café

 

Kerala Cafe 1

For the first time in the history of malayalam cinema one film conceived by a team force of 10 directors.

The segments bound together by a single concept "yatra". supported behind the scenes by a committed team of technical talent from the industry

Ten cinematographers, musicians, editors, art directors and all other artistes involved in the aspect of film making join inn this unique venture. Featuring the best width of on screen acts. A film from the Kerala film fraternity bringing together styles, genres and talent from Kerala.

The project features ten different stories from different settings in Kerala providing ample scope for a diverse bouquet of looks in films.

<´/h1>On the common theme of journeys, each filmmaker presents their cinematic impression of contemporary times in Kerala.The independent narratives integrate when, during these journeys, their characters pass through Kerala Café - a quaint railway cafeteria; thereby creating a joint mosaic of issues and impressions; in a symbiotic space and time .Kerala Café  will have one signature song which brings together the behind-the-scenes making of the different films using the footage of the crew. The theme song is an ode to Thunchath Ezhuthachan's famous verse" Kathaya mama, Kathaya mama, Kathakalathisadaram...: "a story, it is a story, stories that salutes the time..."Lyrics by Rafeeq Ahmed and Music by Bijibal.
The chief architect behind the project is Ranjith, the renowned writer, director, producer and actor from Kerala.

The project includes confirmed stars from the industry; viz. Mammooty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Jagathy Sreekumar, Siddique, Nedumudi Venu, Zarina Wahab. Casting is in progress.

Malayalam with English Subtitles

www.keralacafe.in


 

 

Sunday, 28 November 10, 6 pm
Speak to my Televisnu @Streetlight

 

TelevisnuTelevisnu

Televisnu is a surreal tale of a young Indian women who works at a call center. Her computer breaks down and in an attempt to fix it she falls into a magical, mythical web of electronic wires where memories, secrets, and hidden desires reveal themselves.

USA/India 2010, 15 minutes, English
Director: Prithi Gowda

www.televisnu.com

Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan

A small biographical film based on the sitar maestro Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan. He lives in Bandra and  is eighty years old. Together with the other two giants  of sitar – Pandit Ravishankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan,  he blazed the Indian Classical instrumental music circuit  for over four decades.

Ustadji is a very well read man and has great insights to  offer on music and religion – two of his pet subjects. With  his dazzling artistry, a  great sense of humour, and a generous personality, Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan is an unforgettable musician. A true representation of the Indian spirit.

India 2008, 19 minutes, Hindi with English subtitles
Director: Nagnath Mankeshwar

 
Street Light

Street Light is a touching story about an electrical fault in a residential area. The electricity department is receiving calls every day about an electrical fault that needs to be fixed. Finally when the electrician arrives, he is in for a surprise, the man you initiated the complaint has reasons which are not easy to understand?

Born and brought up in Mumbai, India. Mailesan Rangaswamy has a passion for filmmaking. He is a freelance cinematographer into Ad film making and he aims to shoot and direct his own feature film someday. He has won several times at the MOFILM festival (London 2009, Tribeca,NY 2010 & Cannes 2010). His only short film "Streetlight" has won several awards such as TATA DOCOMO mini movie contest 2010, Campus 18 2009 and Philips awarded it the best short film at MOFILM 2009.He is currently working on several scripts and hoping to transform them into a movie soon.

India 2007, 3 minutes, Hindi with English subtitles
Director: Mailesan Rangaswamy

Speak My Language

In  this comedy of errors, shoot in Cologne, an Indian cook gets integrated at high speed simply by preparing Currywurst and Pommes (sorry, too German to translate even though Pommes mean French fries), even without be able to speak any German.

Germany, 2006, German, Hindi with German subtitles
Director: Jennifer Sperling
Script: Ahjosh Elavumkal

 


 

 

 

Sunday, 28 November 10, starting at 6 pm
Indian Dinner - Sold out!

 

We will finish our festival with a delicious Indian Dinner
Excellent cuisine by Mrs. Chenchanna
Chicken Curry, Dhal, Veg Curry, Rice
15 Euro per person

Please make your reservation until 25 Nov 10 at this phone number:
069 707 69 100.

 


 

 

The "New Generations - Independent Indian Film Festival" is realised with the friendly support of the City of Frankfurt, Department of Cultural Affairs, Department of Multicultural Affairs

 

 

 
 


 


 

 



 


 

 

 

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