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Siraj Syed is the India Correspondent for FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. He is a Film Festival Correspondent since 1976, Film-critic since 1969 and a Feature-writer since 1970. He is also an acting and dialogue coach. @SirajHSyed
MIFF 2018, XV: Tribute to Rob Stewart
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Den of Thieves, review: Thieving Merrimen and a cop called Nick
There is little Gerard Butler does here that he has not done before, more than once. The bulgy steely eyes, the scowl, the contorted mouth speech (is there something Scottish about it?), the man on the brink... As producer, he could have either picked a better script, or, as actor, moulded himself better. He decides to remain he.
Den of Thieves is as much about thievery as the Afghanistan war is about a flying carpet. Our brand ...
MIFF 2018, XIV: "Selvi inspired me to pick up my camera again"-Elisa Paloschi
Elisa was a Jury member at the just conclided Mumbai International Film Festival
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MIFF 2018, XIII: IDPA's Open Forum No. 1
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MIFF 2018, XII: Meet the Baby of the International Jury, Baby Ruth Villarama
Hailing from the Tagalog (main dialect) speaking heartland of the Philippines, a country of several thousand islands, Baby Ruth is easy to get along with. She also reveals that it is easy to trace somebody in her country based on the surname, which is specific to an island!
Known for films like Sunday Beauty Queen, Jazz in Love and Little Azkals, Baby Ruth Villarama did an MA in Film Distribution and Marketing, from...
MIFF 2018, XI: 400 years of the Negro
That is what it took for the black people in America to get civil rights. And almost prophetically, the then Attorney-General and brother of the President, Robert Kennedy predicted that America would have a black President in 40 years. But not before thousands had been brutalised, beaten and even killed, including leaders like Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., none of whom lived to be 40.
Oscar nominated documentary on the...
MIFF: First day first show
Monday morning, 29th January, marks the beginning of the 15th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentaries, Shorts and Animation Films. So which will be the first films at each venue? I have already given you the choice you have if you make it to Auditorium 1, Films Division Complex, at 10.30 am. You will be watching a film in the International Competition section:
My Turn (Nae Chalye)/Dir: Nakyung Kim/ Short Fiction/...
Under the Smokey Roof, review: Choked souls and misguided goals
A classic Iranian family drama with a four players who let life dictate to them, rather than take the bull by the horns, provides an excellent backdrop for the intersections and conflagrations to launch a rivetting back and forth exercise of a swinging emotional see-saw. Not this time. Shows how easily a tale full of promise can turn into a pointless enactment of the plot that moves from point A to point B. Even that would not ha...
MIFF 2018, X: Screening Schedule at Jehangir Bhownagery Hall
15th MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ( MIFF ) 2018
for Documentary, Short & Animation Films
SCREENING PROGRAMME
29 JANUARY 2018, MONDAY
JB HALL – FD COMPLEX
SPECIAL PACKAGE
&nbs...
MIFF 2018, IX: I Am Not Your Negro to flag off the fest
Director General of Films Division (Additional Charge) Manish Desai addressed a press conference at the Press Club, Mumbai, on 24 January 2018, a curtain-raiser to the 15th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation films. The festival begins with an inaugural function at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), on the 28th of January, and then moves to its base at the Films Division complex...
Five-film package of Iran in Mumbai
Bleeding Heart (Delkhoon) was the first film to be screened in the festival comprising five Iranian films. The festival is being organised by Culture House of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mumbai, and the Federation of Film Societies of India, Maharashtra, at Ravindra Mini Theatre, until January 26, 2018.
I could not make it to this film but caught up with the second film, Hello Mumbai (Salaam Mumbai), shown on 23rd January. As the name gives away, this is...
MIFF VIII: S. Korea’s My Turn first film at Audi 1
South Korean film My Turn will be the first film to be screened at Auditorium 1, Films Division Complex. Here is the full screening programme at this auditorium. Remember, screenings will also be held at five other venues: AUDI – II, J.B Hall, R.R II Theatre, R.R III Theatre and the Russian Centre for Science & Culture.
15th MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ( MIFF ) 2018
for ...
FICCI FRAMES 2018, I: Dates announced, venue changed
Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has been organising a three-day international media and entertainment summit during the month of March every year. It is called FRAMES. This year, the dates are 5-6-7 March.
FICCI FRAMES 2018, Asia's largest convention on the business of media & entertainment, will be held at Hotel Grand Hyatt, Bandra-Kurla Cimplex, Mumbai. For several years, the venue used to be Renaiss...
MIFF VII: Pitching for documentary films
Nilotpal Majumdar, founder of DocedgeKolkata and maker/editor/cinematographer of more than 18 documentaries, fiction and short films, including Dhatujhar/Metal Storm’96 and The Vehicle with the Soul of a Man, will conduct a workshop at Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) on Pitching. Besides making films, he also has more than 20 years of film teaching experience. This year, he has been given the 2017 EDN Award, from the European Documentar...
MIFF 2018, VI
The oldest and largest film festival for non-feature films in South Asia, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation films (28 Jan – 03 Feb 2018),
which began in 1990, is organised by the Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. The Organising Committee of MIFF is headed by the Secretary, I&B, and consists of eminent film personalities, documentary makers and film critics.
This year, th...
2nd Global Content Bazar concludes in Mumbai
After organising the technology show Broadcast India for 26 years, Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd., decided to organise India's very first Content Market, in January 2017.
The success of the first venture prompted the company to continue this year, and the 2nd Global Content Bazar (GCB) was held on January 19 and 20, at the World Trade Center complex in south Mumbai.
Strategically, the dates are important, because by coming on ...
12 Strong, review: Lucky by the Dozen
You are about to watch the declassified true story of the first American soldiers sent into Afghanistan after 9/11. They were called the Army Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha 595 (ODA 595) and consisted of just twelve. On the battleground in Afghanistan, they were outnumbered 40 to 1. But they won their battle, and all of them returned, largely unscarred. Now that is what I would call being lucky. They were heroes, nevertheless, but since the ope...
The Commuter, review: Taken, for a $100,000 ride
More than the USA, India has a several million persons commuting to and fro work in local trains on a daily basis. There are groups that travel in the same train every day, sit at the same spot and forge strong friendships, for decades. Mumbai-ites pack local trains much beyond capacity and travel on footboards too, since the city is overpopulated and these are open trains. Metro rails are coming along, and gradually supplementing the local rak...
Iranian Film Festival begins in Mumbai on 22nd January
Culture House of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mumbai, and the Federation of Film Societies of India, Maharashtra, are holding a festival of films from Iran. Five films will be screened at Ravindra Mini Theatre, during Jan 22-26, 2018.
Mon. Bleeding Heart (Delkhoon)
22nd Jan. Dir: Mohammadreza Rahmani
(2008/88min/Col/Eng. Subtitle)
Emad has killed his wife & now waiting for his court verdict, but a female lawyer does her best to...
MIFF 2018, V
A total of 24 films are scheduled to be screened in the National Prism section at the Mumbai International Film Festival, to be held in Mumbai, during January 28-February 3. These have been clubbed under three categories: short fiction, up to 45 minutes; documentaries up to 60 minutes and documentaries above 60 minutes. Here is the list. It includes Breaking all the Way, directed by Sunita Malpani, who has worked in TV serials and feature films, and produced by Films Division. En...
MIFF 2018, IV
Besides the competitive section, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2018 will screen national and international films in the Prism category. A list of twenty films has been released in the International category under Prism. They are divided into three categories: Animation, short fiction up to 45 minutes in length, and documentaries of any duration. National selection will follow in the next update.
LIST OF FILM SELECTED FOR INTERNATIONAL PRISM SECTION...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: XI
Sixteen years is a long time in the life of a film festival. It seems an even bigger achievement when you consider the upheavals that the Third Eye Asian Film Festival has undergone during its tenure. In fact, it is a miracle that it has continued, against all odds. Asian Film Foundation, headed by Kiran Shantaram, son of late V. Shantaram, remains the driving force, as does Sudhir Nandgaonkar, journalist and a bunch of teenage students pool in their res...
Magnum Opus Padmavati adds a, drops i, eyes release on 25th January
It will now be called and spelt Padmaavat, from its original moniker of Padmavati. The deletion of the i is in deference to the wishes of many Indians who hold the folklore of Rani Padmavati very dear, and would not allow a film that shows the actor playing her dancing, midriff exposed, to be released. Protests led to a delay of eight weeks in rescheduling the release, and even now, entire states, like Rajasthan (where the st...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: X
Besides features and docu-features, the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival (TEAFF) had a competitive section for shorts. As many as 25 films competed. Countries represented included India, Iran, Myanmar, Turkey, Tajikistan and South Korea. They were packaged into two screening slots, one of which I managed to attend.
Audience Award, Short Film: Taghdir (Fate)/Iran/13 min/Azar Faramarzi
Actress, producer and director Azar Faramarzi graduated in Film and ...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: IX
Biler Diary, Cyanide and Jana Aranya. A Bengali film about a boarding school based on Hindu religious values, an Iranian political thriller about the period immediately preceding the Islamic revolution and a raved work of the master, Satyajit Ray—these were the last feature films I saw at the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Mumbai.
The festival was organised in December 2017 by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Acad...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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