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...

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...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VIII Besides Marathi, Bengali language films saw fair representation at TEAFF. There were two Assamese films as well. Internationally, of course, we had a strong Iranian contingent. The festival was organised in December 2017 by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. An annual event, it is supported by Department of Culture, Government...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VII TEAFF was organised by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. An annual event, it is supported by Department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra. Screenings were held at Ravindra Natya Mandir Mini Auditorium, Mumbai, which has been the venue for the last few years. In my last instalment, I covered two Marathi films. Today, we wi...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VI Three Marathi films are the focus of today’s post: Nati Khel, Nadi Vahate and Copy. They were shown as part of a package at that consisted of as many as eight films, the maximum in any language from any Indian language. TEAFF is organised by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. It is supported by Department of Culture, Gover...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: V Open Forum, a festival tradition, was held at the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival too, on six of the eight days. It was thoughtfully scheduled between 2 and 3 pm, December 22-27, a slot when no films were being screened. Santosh Pathare of Prabhat Film Society moderated. Compared to the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Open Forum here was confined to an interaction with the cast/directors/producers of films screened on earlier day(s). Santo...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: IV Screenings continued on Day 4, 5 and 6, and two films were memorable. One was a blast from 1956, made by an all-time great, and the other a laudable 2011 effort, shot in his home country, guerrilla style, by a returning prodigy, without permission I managed to attend nine shows out of the 15, which is a reasonable score. But here I will speak of just two films, since there is much to say. Return to Burma, 2011, 84 min So now we know that Ice Poison ...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival opens in Mumbai on 21 December Prabhat Chitra Mandal, one of India’s oldest and most active film societies that is celebrating its golden jubilee this year, in collaboration with P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, is holding its 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, supported by the Department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra. The festival will be inaugurated on Thursday, the 21st of December, 2117. The inauguration will be followed ...