Birth Centenaries - Directorate of Film Festivals

IFFI-2007 

Birth Centenaries 

163 

HOMAGE: VANMALA DEVI

³ÖÖ¸üŸÖ úÖ 38 ¾ÖÖÑ †ŸÖ¸üÖÔÂÒüßµÖ ×±ú»´Ö ÃÖ´ÖÖ¸üÖêÆü 2007 

38th International Film Festival 

of 

India - 2007 

¯Ö Ö•Öß, ÖÖê¾ÖÖ, Ö¾Ö´²Ö¸ü 23 - ×¤üÃÖ´²Ö¸ü 3, 2007 

Panaji, Goa, November 23 - December 3, 2007 

Directorate of Film Festivals 

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting 

Government of India 

i

Director of the Festival : Neelam Kapur 

Editor : Utpal Borpujari 

Editorial Assistant : Kalyan Ray 

Coordinators : Srinivasa Santhanam, N.K. Saini, Gautam Singh 

Production : S. Roy, V.K. Meena, A.K. Gulati, Vilas Pagare 

Film Selection Committee Members : Mike Pandey, Dr. Savita Bhakhry, Rashmi Doraiswamy, Aziz qureshi, 

U Radhakrishnan, Maria Aurora Couto, Nandini Sardesai, Saroj Nagi, 

Anita Katyal, Renu Mittal 

We are grateful to the various film and festival 

publications, the extracts from which have helped enrich 

this brochure. The opinions expressed in this brochure 

are not necessarily those of the Directorate of Film 

Festivals or of the Editor. 

Published by the Director of Film Festivals 

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting 

Siri Fort Auditorium, August Kranti Marg, 

New Delhi - 110049 

Produced by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, 

Printed at M/s. Aravali Printers & Publishers Pvt Ltd., New Delhi-110020. 

ii

iii

vii

CHIEF MINISTER 

GOA 

MESSAGE 

Goa is privileged to host the 38th International Film Festival of India 

(IFFI) 

this year. This is the fourth successive year that we are hosting IFFI in Goa. 

For nearly 38 years, the International Film Festival of India has made cinema 

enthusiasts journey afar, providing them with wonderful moments of cinematic 

discoveries. IFFI has become a platform for the biggest screen legends, 

launching many dreams and new talent of national and international repute. 

In short, IFFI, has created a platform for true recognition of talent. 

The International Film Festival of India plays a unique role in the life of 

the cinema lover. As a showcase for masterpieces created the world over, it 

provides a culturally diverse rich selection of cinematic fare, reflecting the 

fabulous vitality and values of the film industry. With Goa having become the 

permanent venue for IFFI, we deem it our responsibility to not only sustain, 

but also add to its grandeur and help attract the best talent and best 

entertainment products in the world of cinema to Goa. It is our intention to 

ensure the State of Goa acts as a converging point of great creative ideas, 

cutting across linguistic and geographic barriers. 

Goa intends to utilize the opportunity of IFFI to build a stronger base of 

quality entertainment and cultural integration of music and arts, as it goes 

hand-in-hand with Goa’s repute as the tourism and hospitality destination of 

the country. 

On behalf of Goa and her hospitable people, the state Government would 

like to roll the red carpet to cine buffs of India and abroad, the jury, delegates, 

film personalities and media, who would be assembling in this tourist paradise 

for meaningful interactions to showcase the best cinema from across the 

globe. 

Dated : 19/10/2007 

viii 

Digambar V. Kamat 

Chief Minister

Contents 

Opening Film 

Romania 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days Cristian Mungiu 1 

Competition Section 

(Asia-Africa-Latin America) 

Jury 6-7 

Films 

Argentina Olga, Victoria Olga Time Without Time Mercedes Farriols 8 

Bangladesh On the Wngs of Dreams Golam Rabanny Biplab 9 

China The Postmodern Life of my Aunt Ann Hui 10 

Colombia A Ton of Luck Rodrigo Triana 11 

India Night Rain Lenin Rajendran 12 

Tale of a River Samir Chanda 13 

Israel The Debt Assaf Bernstein 14 

Mexico More than Anything in the World Andres Leon Becker & Javier Solar 15 

Morocco The Satanic Angels Ahmed Boulane 16 

Pakistan In The Name of God Shoaib Mansoor 17 

Georgia Svani Soso & Badri Jachvliani 18 

Sri Lanka Cruel Embrace Anuruddha Jayasinghe 19 

Taiwan The Wall Lin Chih Ju 20 

Thailand Me Myself Pongpat Wachirabunjong 21 

Cinema of the World 

Argentina Hunabku Pablo Cesar 25 

Argentina 

France-Germany 

The Other Ariel Rotter 26 

Argentina- 

Germany 

Possible Lives Sandra Gugliotta 27 

Bahrain A Bahraini Tale Bassam Al Thawadi 28 

Brazil Not By Chance Philippe Barcinski 29 

Canada Emotional Arithmetic Paolo Barzman 30 

Romeo & Juliette Yves Desgagnes 31 

The Ring Anais Barbeau Lavalette 32 

Chile Pretending Claudio Dabed 33 

China Cherries Zhang Jiabei 34 

The Exam Pu Jian 35 

The Tokyo Trial Qunshu Gao 36 

Unfinished Girl Cheng Er 37 

x

Cuba El Benny Jorge Luis Sanchez 38 

Denmark Cecilie Fabian Wullenweber 39 

Finland Lights in the Dusk Aki Kourismaki 40 

France 99 Francs Jan Kounen 41 

Changement d Adresse Emmanuel Mouret 42 

Love Songs Christophe Honore 43 

Strange Crime Roberto Ando 44 

The Intimate Enemy Florent Emilio Siri 45 

The Second Wind Alain Corneau 46 

Taxi 4 Gérard Krawczyk 47 

Orchestra Seats Daniel Thomson 48 

Turning Pages Denis Decourt 49 

Russia Leningrad Alexander Buravsky 50 

Germany Counterparts Jan Bonny 51 

Paperbird Vanessa Van Houten 52 

The Calling Game Felix Randau 53 

Germany- Goodbye Bafana Bille August 54 

France-Belgium- 

South Africa-Italy- 

Belgium-Luxembourg 

Greece-Italy Uranya Costas Kapakas 55 

Hungary Dolina Zoltan Kamondi 56 

The Eighth Day of the Week Judit Elek 57 

Iran Iranian Prince Mohammad Nourizad 58 

The Day Looms Bijan Mirbagheri 59 

Israel No Exit Dror Sabo 60 

Someone to Run With Oded Davidoff 61 

Israel-France Tehilim Raphael Nadjari 62 

Italy Me, The Other Mohsen Melliti 63 

Ossidiana Silvana Maja 64 

Red Like The Sky Cristiano Bortone 65 

Rush Hour Vincenzo Marra 66 

Italy-Bulgaria- 

Spain-France 

The Lark Farm Paolo & Vittorio Taviani 67 

Italy-France- 

Switzerland 

The Missing Star Gianni Amelio 68 

Japan Beyond the Crimson Sky Masaki Hamamoto 69 

Love My Life Koji Kawano 70 

Japan-France The Mourning Forest Naomi Kawase 71 

Latvia Don’t Talk About It Una Celma 72 

Malaysia Heir to the Spiritual Tiger Shuhaimi Baba 73 

Mexico Pan’s Labyrinth Guillermo del Toro 74 

Wait for Me in another World Juan Pablo Villasenor 75 

xi

The Netherlands Black Book Paul Verhoeven 76 

New Zealand Out of the blue Robert Sarkies 77 

Norway Reprise Joachim Trier 78 

Poland-Italy- 

Canada 

Karol un Papa rimasto uomo Giacomo Battiato 79 

Poland Tricks Andrzej Jakimowski 80 

Portugal Dot.Com Luis Galvao Teles 81 

Romania 12:08 East of Bucharest Corneliu Porumboiu 82 

Serbia Last Waltz in Sarajevo Nikole Stojanovica 83 

South Africa Tsotsi Gavin Hood 84 

South Korea Psychopath Kim,Shin Hea 85 

Spain Under the Stars Felix Viscarret 86 

Spain-UK Salvador Puig Manuel Huerga 87 

Sweden When Darkness Falls Anders Nilsson 88 

Sweden-Germany- 

France-Denmark- 

Norway 

You, the living Roy Andersson 89 

Switzerland- 

Finalnd-Germany 

Sonic Mirror Mika Kaurismaki 90 

Thailand Mid Road Gang Pantham Thongsange 

& Somkait Vituranich 

91 

Turkey Lovelorn Yavuz Turgul 92 

Waiting for Heaven Dervis Zaim 93 

UK Full Circle Michael Jaffer 94 

Love Me Still Danny Hiller 95 

USA American East Hesham Issawi 96 

Last Stop For Paul Neil Mandt 97 

Quarter Life Crisis Kiran Merchant 98 

The Memory Thief Gil Kofman 99 

The Jane Austen Book Club Robin Swicord 100 

Film India Worldwide 101-103 

AIDS Jaago Mira Nair 

Amal Richie Mehta 

The Pool Chris Smith 

Retrospectives 

Ingmar Bergman 106-110 

Biography 

Films Autumn Sonata 

Fanny and Alexander 

The Seventh Seal 

The Virgin Spring 

Through a Glass Darkly 

xii

Shame 

Wild Strawberries 

Living together 111-113 

Looking For Cheyenne Valerie Minetto 

Quand Tu 

Descendras Du Ciel 

Eric Guirado 

Samia Philippe Faucon 

Voisins Voisines Malik Chibane 

Wesh Wesh - qu’est 

ce qui se passe ? 

Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche 

Zim And Co Pierre Jolivet 

Flander’s Image 114-117 

Belgium Gilles Jan Verheyen 

King of the World Guido Henderickx 

Love belongs to everyone Hilde Van Mieghem 

The Intruder Frank Van Mechelen 

Award Winning Films From PFF 118-122 

A Stranger of Mine 

Border Line 

Hole in the Sky 

Timeless Melody 

Yoshino’s Barber Shop 

Volker Schlondorff 123-125 

Circle of Deceit 

Legends of Rita 

The Voyager 

Country Focus 127-134 

Hungary Black Brush Roland Vranik 

Dealer Benedek Fliegauf 

Eastern Sugar Ferenc Török 

Hukkle György Pálfi 

Temptations Zoltán Kamondi 

The Porcelain Doll Peter Gardos 

Vagabond György Szomjas 

IFFI Goa Film Treasures 135-142 

Thomson Foundation for Film and TV Heritage, 

National Film Archive of India 

and Cinémathèque Française, 

with support of Film and Television Institute of India 

xiii

Indian Retrospectives 

Tapan Sinha 144-146 

Biography 

Kabuliwallah 

Sagina Mahato 

Adalt O Ekti Meye 

Aadmi Aur Aurat 

Vijay Anand 147-149 

Biography 

Guide 

Tere Ghar Ke Samne 

Jewel Thief 

Nau Do Gyarah 

Navya Movement 150-151 

Samskara 

Chomana Dudi 

Ghatashradha 

India@60 152-154 

Biyalis (Bengali) 

Nam Iruva (Tamil) 

Shaheed (Hindi) 

Kala Pani - A Pilgrimage 

Gandhi An Emerging Reality 

India Wins Freedom 

Tribute 155 

Aribam Syam Sharma 

Homage 157-162 

K K Mahajan 

O P Nayar 

Vanmala Devi 

Birth Centenaries 163-166 

Devika Rani 

Khemchand Prakash 

T R Sundaram 

Master Class 168 

Adoor Gopalkrishnan 

Special Screening 169 

India Last Lear Rituparno Ghosh 

Closing Film 171 

Portugal-Spain Fados Carlos Saura 

Indian Panorama lists 172-173 

Feature 

Non-Feature 

xiv

Opening Film

2 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

Otilia and Gãbiþã share the same room in a student dormitory. They are colleagues 

at the University in this small town in Romania, during the last years of 

Communism. Otilia rents a room in a cheap hotel. In the afternoon, they are going 

to meet a certain Mr. Bebe. Gãbiþã is pregnant, abortion is illegal and neither of 

them have passed through something like this before. When the foul Bebe requests 

something far more precious than money for his services, the girls descend into a 

harrowing journey of the soul that is nothing short of shattering. Taking place 

over a single Saturday in 1987, the film holds an enormous emotional gravitas. It 

evolves into a profound exploration not only of sorority in harsh times but of 

choices and responsibility when options are few. This film belongs to a larger 

project called Tales from the Golden Age - a subjective history of Communism in 

Romania told through its urban legends. The project’s aim is to talk about that 

period with no direct reference to Communism but only through different stories 

focused on personal options in a time of misfortunes that people had to live like 

normal times. It is the first film of the series. Abortion was a crime in Romania 

from 1966 until 1989. Mungiu’s dark tale brilliantly captures the decrepit spaces 

of the dour Romanian 1980s. The dialogue is spare and authentic, music is nonexistent 

and each scene unfolds in a single take, shot with a steady camera that 

captures the characters’ tortured hearts. While there is little relief from desperation 

in Mungiu’s not-so-distant Romania, the note-perfect mastery of his filmmaking 

offers no small degree of transcendence. 

Cristian Mungiu was born in 1968 in Iasi, Romania. He studied English literature 

at the University of Iasi and Film directing at the University of Film in Bucharest. 

He worked as a teacher and a journalist for written press, radio and television 

until 1994. During his film studies, he worked as an assistant director for foreign 

productions shot in Romania. After his graduation, in 1998, he made several shorts. 

His first feature, Occident, was premiered in Director’s Fortnight in Cannes in 

2002 and later won prizes at several festivals. He co-founded Mobra Films in 

2003. Mungiu is the brother of political analyst Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. 

3 

OPENING FILM 

Romania 

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days / 4 luni, 

3 Saptamani 2 Zile 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 113 mins, Romanian 

Director 

Cristian Mungiu 

Screenplay 

Cristian Mungiu 

Cinematography 

Oleg Mutu 

Editor 

Dana Bunescu 

Cast 

Anamaria Marinca (Otilia), Vlad Ivanov (Bebe), Laura Vasiliu 

(Gabita), Alexandru Potoceanu (Adi) 

Art 

Mihaela Poenaru 

Sound 

Titi Fleancu, Dana Bunescu, Cristian Tarnoveþchi 

Costumes 

Dana Istrate 

Production 

Oleg Mutu, Cristian Mungiu 

Mobra Films 

5, Intrarea Serdarului, Sector 1, 011377 

Bucharest, Romania 

Tel/Fax: +40 21 666 48 27 

email: info@mobrafilms.ro 

www.mobrafilms.ro; 

World Sales 

Wild Bunch 

99 rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris, France. 

Tel: 33-1-5301-5030 

Fax: 33-1-5301-5049 

email: avicente@wildbunch.eu 

Festivals & Awards 

Cannes (Palm d’Or), Toronto

Competition 

(Asia-Africa-Latin America)

COMPETITION 

Márta Mészáros 

(Chairperson) 

Márta Mészáros is considered one of Hungary’s 

best filmmakers and also one of most significant 

woman directors to emerge from central Europe. 

She began making films in 1970s drawing on the 

oppression of both state and gender. Her two sons, 

Nyika Jancsó and Miklós Jancsó Jr., have separately 

worked as director of photography on many 

of her films. Her critically acclaimed film Napló 

apámnak, anyámnak was produced in 1990. She 

directed a film about Imre Nagy in 2003-2004, 

titled The Unburied Dead.. Meszaros’ work has 

directly confronted issues of gender, society, politics 

and identity and have been acknowledged 

worldwide for its outspoken nature. Mészáros was 

born in Hungary, she in 1936 moved to Russia 

with her Hungarian parents, who had been lured 

there by Stalin’s openness to “fellow travellers” 

in his Socialist experiment. Once there, they were 

sent to the barren plains of Kyrgyzstan and forced 

to forge an existence for themselves. Stalin 

changed his mind about these foreigners, though, 

and a crackdown soon followed. Mészáros’s 

mother died in childbirth and her father vanished 

into a concentration camp following a trial. Although 

the awful truth of her father’s fate had long 

been suspected, it was not until after 1999 that 

Mészáros received confirmation from the authorities 

that he had been executed. These early traumatic 

experiences were to form the basis of her 

autobiographical series of “Diary” films during 

the 1980s, which broke new ground in Hungarian 

cinema in terms of what they showed politically 

as well as their being sensitive portrayals 

of the petulance of youthful rebellion and the processes 

of personal and historical memory. By the 

time she made the Diary films, though, Mészáros 

was already famous. Her under-production fillm 

is Hanna Wende, and earlier she has made films 

like A Temetetlen halott (The Unburied Man), 

Csodálatos mandarin (The Miraculous 

Manderin), Kisvilma - Az utolsó napló (Little 

Vilna: The Last Diary), A Szerencse lányai (Córy 

szczescia), Siódmy pokój (The Seventh Room), etc. 

Her films have won awards at prestigious festivals, 

including the ones in Cannes and Berlin. 

Meltem Cumbul 

(Member) 

A noted actor from Turkey, Meltem Cumbul 

graduated with a major in drama when she was 

21. She then worked as an actress for the 

Shakespeare Company in London. Taking on a 

career in television, she hosted the reality 

programme Aþaðý Yukarý and the game show 

Nereden Baºlasak. During this time, Meltem also 

played a number of supporting roles in movies, 

most notably Bay E and Böcek. In 1996, she 

starred in a Sahte Dünyalar, a popular soap opera. 

Meltem was given her own show The Meltem 

Cumbul Show, a year later. She did leading parts 

in the movies Karýþýk Pizza, Geboren in 

Absurdistan and the musical Anlat ªehrazat Anlat. 

Meltem acted in the popular TV series Biz size 

aþýk olduk, Beºik Kertmesi and Gurbet Kadýný. 

She also starred in the extremely popular Yilan 

Hikayesi, which is to date the highest-rated 

programme ever in the history of Turkish television. 

Meltem’s role in the movie Abdülhamit 

Düserken won her the Golden Orange Prize at the 

Antalya Film Festival. She has also acted in the 

award-winning and critically- acclaimed movies 

Gegen die Wand and Gönül Yarasý. Her latest 

films A Beautiful Life and The Alphabet Killer 

are getting ready for release soon. She has won 

the best actress award at Ankara International 

Film Festival in 2000 for the film Durusma , and 

the FIPRESCI prize for the best actress at the 

Palm Springs International Film Festival for 

Gönül yarasi in 2005. 

6 

Pablo Cesar 

(Member) 

IFFI-2007 

The 1962-born Pablo Cesar has made films like 

Blood, Aphrodite (the garden of the perfumes), 

Unicorn (the garden of the fruits), Grey Fire, 

Equinox and The Holy Family. He has also made 

a number of short films. His latest film Hunabku 

is being screened in the Cinema of the World section 

of this festival as an Asian Premiere. His 

earlier films have been widely screened in various 

international film festivals in India. Cesar has 

also made a large number of short films during 

his career, which has also seen him as a Professor 

in the University of Cinema of Buenos Aires.

IFFI-2007 

Robert Sarkies 

(Member) 

New Zealand director Robert Sarkies has had a 

passion for filmmaking since he first began making 

movies in his hometown of Dunedin as an 

eight-year-old. Combining his love of drama, 

technology and pyrotechnics, Rob’s commitment 

to being a filmmaker saw him save his lunch 

money at school and put it towards his student 

films. The sacrifice paid off: by his early 20s, his 

short Dream Makers had won him first prize at 

the Semana de Cine Experimental Festival in 

Madrid, and Signing Off picked up six international 

awards, including first prize at the Montreal 

International Film Festival. He chose a true-life 

story based on a tragedy for his second feature 

Out of the Blue, which is being shown in this festival 

in the Cinema of the World section . His 

debut feature Scarfies was a cult hit in New 

Zealand in 2000, and also won seven awards at 

the NZ Film Awards, including Best Picture and 

Best Director. 

Shaji N Karun 

(Member) 

Born in Kerala in 1952, Shaji N Karun is one of 

India’s most-respected directors. Karun studied 

Cinema and Television at the Film & Television 

Institute of India at Pune, graduating to become 

the cinematographer of nearly 40 films and almost 

all films of G Aravindan. His work won him 

the Eastman Kodak Award for Excellence in 1990. 

His directorial debut was not until 1988 with 

Piravi (The Birth), which attracted tremendous 

acclaim. Selected in no less than 70 international 

film festivals, amongst them Cannes, it received 

31 awards, including the prestigious Charlie 

Chaplin Award at Edinburgh, the Silver Leopard 

at Locarno, the Special Mention of Camera d’Or 

at Cannes, the Silver Hugo at Chicago and President 

of India’s Gold Medal Award for the best 

film in the year 1989. His second film Swaham 

was received with equal praise, as it was selected 

not only in the Official Competition at Cannes in 

1994, but also invited to numerous international 

festivals gathering a large number of awards. 

Vanaprastham (The last dance), was his third 

film. It was also his third to be selected at Cannes 

Film Festival, an honour bestowed on only a 

handful of directors in the world. It was adjudged 

as the best film of the National film Festival of 

India in 1999 and won several national and international 

recognitions. Nishad, was a film by him 

in Hindi, unlike all his previous films in mother 

tongue Malayalam, and it was premiered at the 

Fukuoka International Film Festival in 2002 in 

Japan. As a short filmmaker, he has been awarded 

the gold medal from The President of India in 

1996 and won many honours in international film 

festivals. For his achievements in cinema, the 

government of Kerala honoured him by granting 

a Civilian Award ‘Prathibha Pranamam’ in 2000. 

In the same year, he was decorated with the 

Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the 

Government of France. He has worked with reputed 

filmmakers like K G George and M T 

Vasudevan Nair as a cinematographer. His camera 

work, especially in the films of Aravindan 

from Kanchana Seeta to Chidambaram, for some 

defines the look of Kerala’s New Wave Cinema. 

He is right now making a film on the 19 th Century 

painter Raja Ravi Varma. 

7 

COMPETITION

Argentina 

COMPETITION 

Olga, Victoria Olga (Time Without Time) 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 89 mins, Spanish 

Director 

Mercedes Farriols 

Screenplay 

Mercedes Farriols 


Ricardo De Angelis 

Editor 

Pablo Colafrancesco 

Music 

Federico Jusid 

Cast 

Juana Hidalgo, Mariana Levy, Pepe Novoa, Adriana Salonia, 

Beatriz Spelzini 

Art 

Santiago Elder 

Sound 

Fernando Soldevila 

Costume 

Marcela Vilarino 

Production 

Criacine Srl 

Aguilar 2356 PISO 22 F 

Tel: +541147814960 


2006: Trieste-Italy (Best Sound Track Award), 

Israel (Best Foreign Film) 2007: Shanghai, Eilat (Best Film), 

Lisbon Village Festival, Santiago 

8 

IFFI-2007 

Described as a poetic drama in which the histories of three women, three 

generations, interlace and overlap, this is a film with a history with iterations, 

with paths of life that repeat themselves again and again; with similar dreams, 

desires, hopes, frustrations… Barbara is overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by her 

parents’ relationship, by the existing contradiction between her longings and the 

society she has to live in, for the love, the lack of love, the misunderstandings… 

One dawn she turns from a party driving at nearly 100 km per hour with her 

boyfriend Federico, two friends and lots of alcohol. Last thing she sees before 

sinking into water is a suspension bridge; a bridge from which will arise, in the 

middle of death, impotence, incomprehension, the history of her grandmother, 

Olga. In the precise moment, with the exact wisdom. For the record, says the 

film’s makers, every 30 minutes one person dies in a car accident due to driving 

under the influence of alcohol. This is the main cause of death among teenagers, 

and a huge concern for many parents in Argentina. 

Mercedes Farriols is a writer, director, actress and teacher. Prolific authoress, 

she has written many texts in almost every genre: 17 theatre plays, novels, TV 

scripts, short stories, poetry, essays and articles; all of them traversed with the 

same commitment to non-violence, human rights and women rights. For this 

intense commitment, she has been acknowledged around Europe and Latin 

America. This is her first film. Farriols, who studied literature in the Universidad 

de Buenos Aires specialising in classic and modern languages, and in the 

Università degli Studi di Milano, has also been awarded a scholarship by the 

government of France to study the French language, literature and history.

IFFI-2007 

A gossamer fable with a steely core, it couches its real-world economics in pastoral 

beauty. Fazlu sells dubious medicines at local fairs, but can barely support his 

family. His daughter has a bad leg and needs special care, and his son, Ratan, is 

growing fast. So when Fazlu’s wife finds some money in a pair of second hand 

trousers bought for Ratan, the whole family is thrilled. It looks like they have got 

a fortune, but the money is in a foreign currency they’ve never seen before. How 

can they turn it into cash they can use? From this simple premise, the film builds 

a story that delves deep into the economic and emotional struggles of villagers in 

Bangladesh. The family hopes to find a bank in the city that will exchange the 

money, but that’s easier said than done. Fazlu enlists the help of his friend Siraj, 

a man who knows the ways of the world. Siraj agrees to assist but demands 50 per 

cent of the money. For Fazlu, this is only a minor inconvenience, as he expects to 

be a rich man very soon – so rich, in fact, that he starts courting a pretty younger 

woman in the village, imagining he will easily be able to afford a second wife. 

Fazlu’s growing hubris demands a fall, but it is in how events play out for him 

and his family that the film attains its grace and insight. 

Golam Rabbany Biplob makes his directorial debut with this film. Following the 

lead given by his countryman and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 

Biplob shows how broad economic forces affect the most modest of Bangladeshi 

villagers. Biplob, born in Naogaon, Bangladesh, in 1974, studied Bengali language 

and literature, philosophy and English. He is the secretary general of the 

International Federation of Film Societies and the founding director of the 

International Film Festival Bangladesh. 

9 

Bangladesh 

On the wings of Dreams / Swopnodanay 

2007, 35mm, Colour, 88 mins,Bengali 

COMPETITION 

Director 

Golam Rabbany Biplob 

Screenplay 

Golam Rabbany Biplob, Anisul Huque 


Mahfooz Ur Rahman Khan 

Editor 

Junaid Halim 

Music 

Bappa Mozumder 

Cast 

Mahmuduzzaman Babu (Fazlu Kabiraj), Rokeya Prachy 

(Kabiraj’s wife), Fazlur Rahman Babu (Shiraj Member), 

Momena Choudhury (Shiraj Member’s wife), Shamima Islam 

Tusty (Rehana), Ratan (Ratan) 

Art 

Shahid Ahmed Mitu 

Sound 

Anup Mukharjee, G.D.Babu 

Costumes 

Shomser Ali 

Production 

Impress Telefilm Ltd 

62-A Siddeswari Road, 2nd Floor 

1217 Dhaka 

Bangladesh 

Tel: +8828322168 

Fax: +8828313665 

email: frs@bdcom.com 

World Sales 

MDC International Gmbh 

Schillerstr. 7a, 10625 Berlin (Germany) 

Tel: +493026497900 

Fax: +493026497910 

email: info@mdc-int.de 


Shanghai (Best Director Asian New Talent Award), 

Rotterdam, Paramaribo (Surinam), Sofia, Festroia (Portugal), 

Durban, Toronto, Rio Di Janeiro, Hamburg, Chicago, Warsaw, 

Bangladesh’s official entry for the Foreign Language Oscar at 

the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

China 

COMPETITION 

The Postmodern Life of My Aunt / 

Yi Ma de Hou Xian Dai Sheng Huo 

2006, 35mm, Colour, 111 mins, Mandarin Chinese 

Director 

Ann Hui 

Screenplay 

Ann Hui, Qiang Li 


Lu Lik-Wai, Kwan Pun-leung 

Editor 

Liao Ching-Song, Yang Hong Yu 

Music 

Joe Hisaishi 

Cast 

Siqin Gaowa (Ye Rutang), Chow Yun-fat (Pan Zhichang), 

Vicky Zhao Wei, Lisa Lu, Shi Ke, Guan Wenshuo (Kuankuan) 

Art 

Wu Lizhong 

Sound 

Tu Du-Chih 

Costumes 

Ma Yutao 

Production 

Cheerland Entertainment Organisation 

1-2F, Building 1 

Madianjingdian Jiayuan, No. 8 

Qijiahuozi, Chaoyang District 

Beijing 100029 (China) 

Tel: +861082015522/6641 

Fax: +861062018669 

Email: houli@qixinran.com 

10 

IFFI-2007 

In this film, renowned director Ann Hui blends her humanist cinema with the 

spirit of Chinese opera. She has created both a humorous look at China today and 

a new genre of filmmaking: the post-Cultural Revolution satirical melodrama. 

Cool and articulate, the film has a generous heart, a sensitive soul and a clever 

mind. Featuring a first-class cast of China’s great actors, it is the story of oldfashioned 

Ye Rutang, a single woman in her 60s who struggles to maintain a 

dignified life amid the dangers of Shanghai, a city that seems to have become the 

receptacle for all kinds of con men. The first to pull a scam on Ye is her 12-yearold 

nephew Kuan-kuan. He moves to her old-fashioned apartment after breaking 

a leg in an accident, but when he cannot bear her stinginess, he runs away and 

pretends to have been kidnapped in order to get the ransom money. Then comes 

Pan Zhichang, an amateur opera singer, who tricks Ye into a relationship and 

steals most of her savings with a complicated swindle involving speculation in 

the price of cemetery plots. Focusing the film on the experience of women in her 

home country and around the world, Hui sketches a fine portrait of changing 

values. She situates her story in a precise cultural moment - a time where the past 

seems to carry meaning only in the stubborn memories of individuals. This 

charming social tale takes an original approach to issues including the atrophy of 

mores in a society that is no longer egalitarian; its freshness rests in its ironic yet 

compassionate look at its curious protagonists. 

Ann Hui was born in Anshan, China and moved to Hong Kong as a child. She 

studied at the University of Hong Kong and the London Film School, and worked 

as an assistant director before directing a series of shorts and television 

programmes. One of Hong Kong’s most prominent and innovative filmmakers, 

she has directed numerous features, including The Secret (1979), Woo Yuet’s Story 

(1981), Boat People (1982), Love in a Fallen City (1984), Song of the Exile (1990), 

Summer Snow (1994), The Stunt Woman (1996), Visible Secret (2001), July 

Rhapsody (2002) and Goddess of Mercy (2003).

IFFI-2007 

This black comedy recounts the antics of a battalion of underpaid, overworked 

Columbian soldiers who come upon a cache of $40 million. When the 147 members 

of the anti-guerrilla patrol, on a rescue mission in the jungles of Caqueta, stumble 

on a staggering cache of drug money, the men face a tough moral dilemma: What 

to do with loot? For the testosterone-fuelled soldiers, the answer is to shirk their 

duty, divvy up the treasure, and — if they can — keep it secret. Based on a true 

story of military corruption that happened in May 2003, Triana’s morality tale 

takes a local incident and expands it into a smart, witty and sometimes 

heartbreaking look at the ravages of greed and the foolishness of easy 

opportunities. Flush with wealth, but stuck in the middle of nowhere, the grunts 

start paying each other through the nose for the smallest conveniences, such as 

hundreds for a roll of toilet paper or a radio. Some burn cash to make campfires. 

Poor, uneducated and victims of their own naïve youth, the men are even more 

careless when they return home from active duty. A smash hit at the domestic 

box office last summer, topping even “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s 

Chest”, Triana’s deft mix of comedy, absurdity and tragedy tells its story through 

the eyes of four main characters, each of whom travel different routes in 

reconciling their dream-come-true chance at happiness with their ultimate 

misfortune. The result is a compelling look at human nature. 

Rodrigo Triana’s first feature film, Como el gato y el ratón (2002), won a number 

of awards in festivals around the world. This second feature film of his became 

the biggest box office hit in Colombian history, was nominated for a Goya Award, 

and was Colombia’s official submission for the Academy Awards’ Foreign 

Language film category. He is currently working on his next projects, Espérame 

en el Cielo and A Ton of Luck II. 

11 

COMPETITION 

Colombia 

A Ton of Luck / Soñar no cuesta nada 

2006, 35 mm, colour, 96 mins, Spanish 

Director 

Rodrigo Triana 

Screenplay 

Jorge Hiller, Clara Maria Ochoa 


Sergio Garcia 

Editor 

Alberto Ponce 

Music 

Nicolás Uribe 

Cast 

Diego Cadavid (Lloreda), Juan Sebastian Arangón (Venegas), 

Manuel José Chavez (Buddies Porras), Carlos Manuel Vesga 

(Perlaza), Marlon Moreno 

Art 

Gabriela Monroy 

Sound 

Gonzalo Guerra, Rafael Umana 

Production 

Clara María Ochoa Dominguez 

Eva Carrillo Telesisteme Mejicaho 

SA de CV Balderas 

No 420 Mezanine Col Centro 

Historico 06070 Mexico DF 

World Sales 

CMO Producciones SA 


2006: Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival 

2007: Colombia’s entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, Palm 

Spring, Miami, Cartagena (Best actor to Marlon Moreno), 

Guadalajara, Chicago (Public Choice Award), Cannes

India 

COMPETITION 

Night Rain / Rathri Mazha 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, Malayalam 

Director 

Lenin Rajendran 

Screenplay 

Lenin Rajendran 


Madhu Neelakantan 

Music 

Ramesh Narayan 

Cast 

Vineeth, Meera Jasmine, Manoj K Jayan, Biju Menon, Lalu 

Alex, Cochin Haneefa 

12 

IFFI-2007 

Two youngsters, Harikrishnan and Meera, come to know each other through a 

matrimonial advertisement on a web site. Through intermittent chat sessions they 

get drawn to each other. Though they have not met, love blossoms. But what they 

love is what each imagines the other person to be. When they eventually meet, 

however, the dreams are shattered. But their minds have been so bonded together, 

they decide to marry and make the best of it. It is now society that looks askance 

at the relationship. 

Starting out as director P A Backer's assistant, Lenin Rajendran made his directorial 

debut with Venal (1982). Lenin has been consistent with the quality of his 

films, by not surrendering to market forces even while using the form and stars 

of popular cinema. An active member of the Communist party, his Meenamasithile 

Sooryan (1985) was about the anti-feudal upheaval of the 1940s in Kerala from a 

Communist viewpoint. Swathi Thirunal (1987), a period film was a biographical 

work of a 19th century king of Travancore, better known as a musical composer, 

Daivathinte Vikrithikal (1992) was the cinematic adoption of M Mukandan's novel 

of the same name, Mazha (2001) was adopted from Madhavikutty's story, and 

Annyar (2003) deals with the hot topic of communal polarisation in Kerala. His 

other films are Chillu (1982), Prem Nazirine Kanmanilla (1983), Meenamasathile 

Sooryan (1985), Puravrutham (1988), and Vachanam (1992).

IFFI-2007 

‘Tale of a River’ celebrates the special relationship that fathers and daughters 

share. Darakeshwar is Anu’s hero and she is her father’s pride and joy. The bond 

that Darakeshwar and Anu share transcends time and even death. Darakeshwar’s 

mission is to rename the river Keleghai as Anjana in memory of his daughter who 

lost her life in the river. Is Darakeshwar right in wanting to rename the river?… 

Can the names of rivers be changed so easily?… Who will help Darakeshwar in 

his mission?… Will Darakeshwar ever manage to rename the river?… 

Samir Chanda is a professional film, commercials and television designer with 

almost 25 years of experience and across the wide range of both large and small 

projects. He has worked with some the best directors in Indian cinema – Mrinal 

Sen, Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Subhash Ghai, Mani Rathnam, Vishal 

Bhardwaj and many others. He has made a significant, indelible and influential 

contribution to the development of production design in the Indian film industry. 

Chanda has also been instrumental in developing the postgraduate diploma in art 

direction at the Film & Television institute of India, Pune. This is his directorial 

debut. 

13 

COMPETITION 

India 

Tale of a River / Ek Nadir Galpo 

2007, 35mm, Colour, 127 mins, Bengali 

Direction 

Samir Chanda 


Rajen Kothari 

Editor 

Sanjib Datta 

Music 

Nachiketa 

Cast 

Mithun Chakrabarty, Shweta Prasad, Nirmal Kumar, Anjan 

Srivastava, Krishna Kishore, Jishu Sengupta 

Production 

Leela Chanda, Sangeeta Ajay Agrawal 

World Sales 

Lissac Entertainment 

B 103, Uranus Apartments 

Sai Baba Galaxy, Link Road 

Goregaon (W), Mumbai 400004, India 

Tel: (+91) (22) 28792093 

Fax:(+91) (22) 66994202 

email: samirchandaone@gmail.com

Israel 

COMPETITION 

The Debt / Ha’Chov 

2007, 35mm Colour, 93 mins, Hebrew/German/Russian 

Director 

Assaf Bernstein 

Screenplay 

Assaf Bernstein, Ido Rosenblum 


Giora Bejach 

Editor 

Einat Glazer-Zarhin 

Music 

Jonathan Ber Giora 

Cast 

Gila Almagor (Rachel Brener), Netta Garti (young Rachel 

Berner), Edgar Selge (Maximilian Reiner), Itay Tiran (young 

Zvi), Yehezkel Lazarov (young Ehud) 

Art 

Illya Isupov, Ido Dolev 

Sound 

Aviv Aldema 

Costumes 

Galina Otenko, Inbal Shuki 

Production 

Eitan Evan 

Evanstone Films 

18 Beit Hillel 

Tel Aviv, Israel 

Tel: 972-3-5612045 

Fax: 972-3-5612492 

email: evanstone@bezeqint.net 

World Sales 

United King Films 

Cinema City Complex 

Zomet Glilot 

Ramat Hasharon 47100 

Tel: +97236909994 

Fax: +97236997022 

14 

IFFI-2007 

The year: 1965, Rachel Brener is one of three young Mossad agents who capture 

the “Surgeon of Birkenau”, a monstrous Nazi war criminal. In their safe house, at 

the outskirts of Berlin, the three agents wait for their return to Israel in order to 

deliver “the Surgeon” for public trial. As they watch over their captive, a 

psychological duel commences between the Nazi doctor and the young agents. 

Matters rapidly deteriorate and “the Surgeon” manages to escape. Unable to face 

their horrible failure, Rachel and her friends decide to fabricate the Surgeon’s 

death and return to Israel as “national heroes”. In 1997, more than 30 years later, 

“the Surgeon” suddenly resurfaces in Ukraine, determined to confess to his crimes 

against humanity. Now, the three ex-Mossad agents need to protect their lie. The 

mission falls on Rachel who must terminate a man known to be dead and to redeem 

the debt against which she had built her life. 

Assaf Bernstein is an New York University Film School graduate and an awardwinning 

writer-director. His short films won awards in the international film 

festivals of Jerusalem, Chicago, San Francisco, Northampton and Mannheim- 

Hidelberg. In 2001, Assaf won the Golden Trailer Award in the Best Trailer-No 

Movie category for the trailer he directed for his soon-to-be-produced feature 

film, a.k.a. The same year, Assaf completed Run, a crime drama shot on location 

in a trailer park in Israel.

IFFI-2007 

The relationship between beautiful Emilia and her imaginative young daughter, 

Alicia, is tested in this understated Mexican drama. Disoriented after moving to a 

new apartment and left to herself when her mother starts bringing men home, 

Alicia takes refuge in dreams that soon become nightmares, especially after she 

begins to fear that her mom has become possessed by the vampirish man next 

door. With a keen eye for the rhythms and struggles of contemporary Mexican 

family life, this film illuminates the secret worlds of lonely children while never 

straying from its true subject: the uncommon love. 

Andres Leon Becker and Javier Solar are innovative storytellers with an 

extraordinary sense of humour and visual flare. Their debut film is dramatic and 

emotionally charged. Becker was born in Mexico City in 1970. He studied at the 

Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), where he specialised in 

cinematography. Born in Puerto Rico in 1969, Solar also studied at the CCC, 

specialising in screenplays and directing. The two co-directed the shorts Mi último 

encuentro con Víctor (1995), UFO (1995), Cococobana (1997) and Cerebro 

(2001). This film marks their feature-length directorial debut. 

15 

COMPETITION 

Mexico 

More than Anything in the World / 

Mas Que A Nada En El Mundo 

2006, 35mm, Colour, 90 mins, Spanish 

Director 

Andres Leon Becker, Javier Solar 

Screenplay 

Andres Leon Becker, Javier Solar 


Damian Garcia 

Editor 

Luciana Jauffred Gorostiza 

Cast 

Elizabeth Cervantes (Emilia), Juan Carlos Colombo (Hector), 

Julia Urbini (Alicia), Andrés Montiel (Mario), Daniel 

Martínez (Doctor), Silverio Palacios 

Art 

Barbara Enriquez, Alejandro Garcia 

Sound 

Pablo Tamez Sierra 

Costumes 

Fernanda Velez 

Production 

Ángeles Castro, Issa Guerra, Hugo Rodríguez 

C.C.C./IMCINE, FOPROCINE 

Mexican Film Institute 

Insurgentes Sur 674, 

2nd Floor 

Del Valle 03100 Mexico City 

Mexico 


best first film at both the Guadalajara (best first film), and 

Montreal (best first film), Miami

Morocco 

COMPETITION 

The Satanic Angels / Les Anges de Satan 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 84 mins, French-Arabic 

Director 

Ahmed Boulane 

Screenplay 

Ahmed Boulane 


Serge Hannecart 

Editor 

Arbi Ben Ali 

Music 

Joel Pelligrini 

Cast 

Mansour Badri (Hakim), Younes Megri (Momo’s Father), 

Driss Roukhe (Kader), Rafik Boubker (Said), Amal Ayouch 

(Lawyer), Amal Chabli (Meriam), Salah Dizane (Police Chief) 

Art 

Amine Mohamed Soulaymani 

Sound 

Mohamed Bounouar 

Costumes 

Dana Shondelmeyer 

Production & World Sales 

Ahmed Boulane 

Boulane O’Bryne Production 

Bvd Yacoub El Mansour 

Résidence El Beida Imm H Appt 4 

Casablanca, Morocco 20100 

Tel: +212 61 298491 

Fax: +212 22 230051 

email: bobprod@wanadoo.net.ma 

www.lesangesdesatan.com 

16 

IFFI-2007 

Casablanca, Morocco, 2003. Fourteen young musicians are accused of shaking 

the foundations of Islam because they play hard rock. They are sentenced to 

prison for up to a year after a surrealistic trial. The civil society mobilizes to try 

to free them... Based on actual events. 

Ahmed Boulane was born in Sale, Morocco in 1956. He was expelled from school 

three times, and was only 15 when they threw him out for good. However, this 

did not stop him from learning to speak four languages fluently. During the past 

30 years, he has worked on msore than 50 feature films and documentaries and 

more than 100 commercials, both Moroccan and international. During the mid- 

1990s Boulane began to feel restless, and decided to add a nationality: he became 

an Irish citizen in 1995. And he decided he needed to direct his own projects. 

The result... in 1996 he created his production company, Boulane-O’Bryne 

Production (B’OB Prod), to produce Voyage dans le passé and Ali, Rabiaa et les 

autres, two films that earned him both critical acclaim and the respect of the 

public.

IFFI-2007 

It is the story of Mansoor who goes to the United States for higher education. 

During his study years, the tragic events of 9/11 take place, and somehow the 

young man gets arrested by the American authorities. Mansoor’s younger brother 

Sarmad is being motivated by his old extremist friend Sher Shah on the ‘path of 

God’ and to quit all musical activities in favour of the ‘straight path’. Meanwhile, 

his uncle arrives from the UK with his only cousin Maryam who wanted to marry 

her non-Muslim boyfriend back in the UK against her father’s wishes. He brings 

her to Pakistan where Sher Shah trucks them to their village in a tribal area near 

Afghanistan and leaves Maryam after forcibly getting her married to Sarmad. 

She tries to escape but Sher Shah and Sarmad follow her and brings her back to 

the village. Naseeruddin Shah plays the powerful cameo of a Muslim scholar 

who clarifies oft misunderstood and misinterpreted tenets of Islam during the 

course of a court case. The film is about the difficult situation in which the 

Pakistanis in particular and the Muslims in general are caught up since 9/11. 

Shoaib Mansoor is rated by critics as one of the most influential figures on the 

Pakistan showbiz scene. He has produced and directed TV shows like Alpha Bravo 

Charlie, Sunehre Din and Gulls & Guys for PTV, the national channel. He has 

also successfully dabbled with song writing and has penned the stories and 

screenplays for many of his drama productions that he also directed. Between 

2001 and 2003, Shoaib directed the Supreme Ishq series of songs. He was the 

backbone of songs by Junaid Jamshed and produced most of the albums by the 

1980s pop sensation Vital Signs. He wrote and composed a number of their hit 

numbers such as Dil Dil Pakistan and Aitebar. He has been awarded Pesidential 

Pride of Performance and Sitara-e-Imtiaz award by the Government of Pakistan. 

This is his first feature film. 

17 

Pakistan 

In the Name of God / Khuda Ke Liye 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 170 mins, Urdu 

COMPETITION 

Director 

Shoaib Mansoor 

Screenplay 

Shoaib Mansoor 


Ali Mohammad, Neil Lisk, Ken Seng, David Lemay 

Editor 

Ali Javed, Aamir Khan 

Music 

Khawar Jawad, Rohail Hayat 

Cast 

Shaan (Mansoor), Fawad Afzal Khan (Sarmad), Iman Ali 

(Maryam), Naseeruddin Shah (Maulana Wali), Hameed 

Sheikh (Sher Shah), Austin Marie Sayre (Janie), Humayun 

Qazi (uncle) 

Art 

Jennifer Gerber, David Christopher Krause 

Costumes 

Ronald G Forsyth, Emma Potter, Kuba Zelazek 

Production 

Shoman Productions 

House No. 311, Block S 

DHA, Lahore (Pakistan) 

Tel: +9242572511 

Fax: +92212215378 

Mobile: +923018469495 

World Sales 

Geo Films 

Printing House 

I.I.Chundrigar Road 

Karachi (Pakistan) 

Tel: +92212636961 

Fax: +92212636066 

Mobile: +923008489188, +923333536011

Georgia 

Svani 

COMPETITION 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 97 mins, Georgian 

Director 

Soso & Badri Jachvliani 

Screenplay 

Soso & Badri Jachvliani, Amiran Chichinadze, Amiran 

Dolidze, Eka Jangveladze, Irma Pirtskhalaishvili 


Evgeni Muzrukov 

Editor 

Paata Godziashvili, Temur Kotolashvili 

Music 

Tchabuka Amiranashvili 

Cast 

Badri Jachvliani (Jabeg), Darejan Kharshiladze (Martha), 

Elena Velikanova (Vika) 

Art 

Temur Arjevandze 

Sound 

Paata Godziashvili 

Costumes 

Ketino Palavandishvili 


Studio Tetnuldi 

21/95 G. Brtskinvale street 

Didi Digomi, 0131 Tbilisi, Georgia 

Tel/Fax: +(995 32) 253335 

email: tetnuldi@caucasus.net 

Festivals 

Venice 

18 

IFFI-2007 

Svani is a legend about life, feud and love. All based on reality. In the highest 

populated place of Europe, high up in the Georgian part of the Caucasus mountains, 

resides an ancient Christian tribe of Georgians who still follow the traditions of 

blood revenge. They are called the Svanetians... 

Soso & Badri Jachvliani are well known directors from Georgia.

IFFI-2007 

Yaso lives alone with her daughter after the death of her soldier husband 

Ratnaweera who fought in Sri Lanka’s civil war. Ratnaweera’s mother Hinnihami, 

who lives close by, is a typical hot-tempered but soft-hearted village woman. She 

looks after Yaso but is also very much in control of Yaso’s life. Hinnihami’s eldest 

son Amarasena does odd jobs in the capital city of Colombo. He is a drifter without 

drive and ambition. No one knows he lives in Colombo and his arrivals and 

departures are unpredictable. He returns home only after the traditional seventh 

day almsgiving for his dead brother. When he learns that Yaso is pregnant again, 

he starts to think about his brother’s unborn child, his niece Nayanakanthin and 

about Yaso. He is emotionally and physically drawn towards Yaso. Hinnihami 

notices this change in Amarasena. She believes that Ratnaweera died because of 

the bad luck brought on by Yaso and feels the same thing will happen to her 

eldest son as well. In this highly charged emotional climate, Yaso becomes 

depressed. She realises that if she is to own the land she lives on, she must marry 

Amarasena. If not, she will have to marry someone else and leave the house and 

property. But Hinnihami makes sure that neither of these happen. Amarasena is 

forced to agree to a marriage proposal negotiated by his mother in order to ease 

the highly tense situation, not because he wants to get married to another woman. 

But Yaso misunderstands him and breaks of their love affair to hurt him. Caught 

between Yaso’s rejection and his mother’s marriage plans for him, Amarasena 

disappears one day without telling anyone. Throughout the film, the many-faceted 

cruel results of armed conflict are brought into stark focus in the life-struggles of 

a war widow. 

Anuruddha Jayasinghe made his foray into the world of cinema in the late 1980s, 

as a schoolboy. Later, he worked with luminaries like Tissa Abeysekara, H D 

Premaratne and Sudath Rohana, before commencing his own directing career in 

television. Starting at Swarnawahini channel as a writer and producer of 

documentaries, dramas and music videos, Anuruddha became the programming 

director of Derana television, as it commenced operations in late 2005. Over the 

years, he has won best director awards in all the local television award 

presentations. His drama, such as Abi Samaya, Wiya Sidura, Dhawala Kanya and 

Maya Ranga, has established him as an integral part of the new wave directors. 

Sankranthi” was his first feature film. 

19 

COMPETITION 

Sri Lanka 

Cruel Embrace / Dhawala Duwili 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, Sinhalese 

Director 

Anuruddha Jayasinghe 

Screenplay 

Nimal Senanayake 


Ruwan Costa 

Editor 

Ravindra Guruge 

Music 

Navaratne Gamage 

Cast 

Dhlhani Ekanayake, Mahendra Perera, Grace Ariyawimal, 

Sandali Welikanna, 

Rebeca Nirmali, Sampath Jayaweera, Dimuthu Chinthaka 

Art 

Welegedera Ranasinghe 

Sound 

Kalinga Gihan Perera 

Costumes 

Athula Suthanagoda 


NS Productions 

No 16, 3/3, Falcon Court, 

Amarasekera Mawatha 

Colombo - 05 (Sri Lanka) 

Tel: +94773580451 

Fax: +94114410911 

Email: anuruddha@anuyaya.com 

www.anujaya.com

Taiwan 

The Wall 

COMPETITION 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, Mandarian-Japanese 

Director 

Lin Chih Ju 

Screenplay 

Wu Zhen Gang, Huang Shu Ling, Wu Luo Ying 


Zeng Xian Zhong 

Editor 

Lin Chih Ju, Liao Ching Song 

Music 

Li Yi Cang 

Cast 

You An Shun, Huang Tsai Yi, Kage-Yama Yuki-Hiko 

Sound 

You Jia Shuo 

Costume 

Zhuang Hui Yi 

Production 

Fig Co. Ltd 

7F, No. 11, Alley 20 

Lane 61, Pusin St., Shenkeng Township 

Taipei County 222 (Taiwan) 

Tel: +886953378877 

email: wening0612@yahoo.com.tw 

20 

IFFI-2007 

In the early 1950s, even the small villages in Taiwan were bathed in the atmosphere 

of White Terror. It was a difficult time for all. There was a beautiful young woman 

called A-zhen. She always felt that there was something weird in her house since 

she got married to her husband, A-yi, the village glassblower. A-zhen was very 

curious about the mystery surrounding the wall in her house. So, one day, she 

decided to investigate the real secret behind the wall. Apparantly, there was a 

Japanese man called Shouhei Kimura whom her husband respected as a master. 

Kimura came to Taiwan before the Pacific War to advocate the socialist revolution. 

Kimura enlightened A-yi, who had no idea about the world, the age and the class. 

A-yi followed Kimura whereever he went and worshipped him like a God. To 

prevent Kimura from being caught by the authorities, A-yi built a wall within his 

house and let Kimura stay to protect him. Kimura could only sense the changes 

around the outside world through the fissure of the wall. 

Lin Chih Ju is a prominent filmmaker from Taiwan.

IFFI-2007 

Tan suffers from amnesia, and he wants to know who he is. He lives with Oom, 

the girl who is the reason behind his amnesia. Oom is heart broken after breaking 

up from her boyfriend. She also has to look after her little nephew, the son of her 

dead sister. At first, it seems Tan and Oom cannot get along well, but their relationship 

is amazingly changed by Oom’s nephew who brings them together, and 

finally they fall in love. Later, Tan gradually recalls his memories and realises 

who he was. His past seems to be the big twist of his present life because it could 

hurt Oom’s feelings. 

Pongpat Wachirabunjong is a Thai singer, actor and director. He is well-known in 

Thailand for his role in the action films Heaven’s Seven and Seven Street Fighters. 

In addition, he has acted in many “lakorns” (Thai soap operas). This is his 

debut feature film. 

21 

Thailand 

Me Myself / Khaw Hai Rak Jong Jaroen 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 117 mins, Thai 

COMPETITION 

Director 

Pongpat Wachirabunjong 

Screenplay 

Kongdej Jaturanrasamee 


Sayombhu Mukdeeprom 

Editor 

Sunit Asvinikul 

Music 

Hualumpong Riddim 

Cast 

Ananda Everingham (Tan/Tanya), Chayanan 

Manomaisnatiphap (Oom), Monton Arunpabmard (Ohm), 

Puttachat Pongsuchat (Boss Oil), Piay Vimuktayou (Krit), 

Direk Amatayakul (Dr Kriangkrai), Maria Dissayanand (Dr 

Maria) 

Production 

Thanya Wachirabunjong, Piyalak Mahathanasap 

Mono Film 

200, Jasmine International Tower, 31st Floor 

Mao 4 Chaengwattana Road\ 

Pakkred, Nonthaburi 11120 (Thailand) 


Bangkok

Cinema of the World

CINEMA OF THE WORLD 

24 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 CINEMA OF THE WORLD 

At the very moment he begins to cross the line between childhood and adolescence, 

Lucas has to leave his home at Buenos Aires and move, along with his parents, 

Federico and Mabel, to the mysterious Patagonia, deep in the south of Argentina. 

Seduced by a promising work opportunity, the family tries to recreate their home 

in the isolated location. But Lucas quickly meets the immensity of the Glacier 

and starts wandering along the gigantic ice extension, looking for answers to its 

enigmas. Lucas believes something lies beneath the Glacier, something he cannot 

translate into language. A vibration. A secret. His parents are unable to listen to 

him. Federico is too busy pursuing his material goals while he digs into the land 

to build a vacation resort. Mabel cannot sleep at night, so during the day she is 

barely awake and stays in the house trying to fight her own daydreams. Soon, 

what looked like enjoying an adventure while rapidly becoming rich turns out to 

be a labyrinth of infinite directions where everyone has to look for his own way 

out. But the warm voice of the anthropologist Nicolás, a lonely scientist who has 

lived in Patagonia for many years, may help Lucas to find his road. He might also 

help the whole family by revealing that behind all the mysteries and secrets there 

lays a simple truth that many have chosen to forget. It is an agile and modern 

reflection on middle class people who are estranged from their own selves, and 

live in vicious circles of ambition and consumption. 

The 1962-born Pablo Cesar has made films like Blood, Aphrodite (the garden of 

the perfumes), Unicorn (the garden of the fruits), Grey Fire, Equinox and The 

Holy Family. He has also made a number of short films. 

25 


ASIAN PREMIERE 

Argentina 

Hunabku 

Director 

Pablo César 

Screenplay 

Jeronimo Toubes 


Abel Peñalba 

Editor 

Liliana Nadal 

Music 

Héctor Magni 

Cast 

Raul Taibo (Federico), Florencia Raggi (Mabel), Boy Olmi 

(Nicolas), Tahiel Arevalo (Lucas). Mauro Cesar Mori 

(Mariano), Miwa Oshiro (Liu), Juan Martin Otegui 

(Marcelo) 

Art 

Cecilia Figueredo 

Sound 

Adriano Salgado, Rodrigo Sánchez Mariño 

Production 

Mike César, with the support of Instituto Nacional de Cine y 

Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA), Universidad del Cine 


Amiens, Cinemagic International Film Festival (Northern 

Ireland), Cairo


Argentina-France-Germany 

The Other / El Otro 


Director 

Ariel Rotter 

Screenplay 

Ariel Rotter 


Marcelo Lavintman 

Editor 

Eliane Katz 

Cast 

Julio Chavez (Juan Desouza), Ines Molina, Maria Ucedo, 

Arturo Goetz 

Art 

Aili Chen 

Sound 

Martín Litmanovich 

Costumes 

Roberta Pesci 

Production 

Aquafilms 

Cabello 3644 

C1425APN Buenos Aires, 

Argentina 

Tel: +54 (11) 4802-4218 

Tel/Fax: +54 (11) 4809-3698 

email: produccion@aquafilms.com; 

AireCine (Argentina), Celluloid Dreams (France), Selavy 

Productions (Germany) 


Berlin (Grand Jury Prize, Silver Bear for Best Actor), 

Fribourg (Audience Award, Special Mention IFFS Jury - Don 

Quijote Award), Alba-Italy (SIGNIS Award) 

26 

IFFI-2007 

A run of the mill, one-day business trip to the country becomes another journey. 

On reaching his destination, Juan Desouza - a lawyer in his late 40s, who’s happily 

married and his wife is expecting a child – discovers that the man travelling at his 

side is not sleeping. He is dead. Secretly, almost like a game, he decides to adopt 

the dead man’s identity, inventing a profession for himself, finding a place to 

stay: the possibility of not returning. Desouza undertakes an adventure into nature, 

into the rediscovery of his tastes and his basic instincts. He tries to grasp the idea 

that the life dealt out for him, and which he chose to live, is not the only one 

possible. He eventually goes back home, stronger from the spiritual experience. 

Born 1973 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ariel Rotter is a film director and 

screenplay writer. His earlier film is Sólo por hoy (2001).


Luciano undertakes one of his regular business trips to the Patagonia. After days 

when Carla receives no news of her husband, she begins to search for information 

about his whereabouts. Increasingly desperate, she decides to travel to where 

he should have gone. There, she is totally disconcerted to find someone like 

Luciano, who leads another life and is married to another woman. From that 

moment Carla develops a set of strategies for achieving be close to that man, to 

possess and return him to his previous life. 

Sandra Gugliotta, whose latest film Tercera invasión (Third invasion) in under 

production, has earlier made films like Un día de suerte (One lucky day) (2002) 

and Noches áticas (Arctic Nights) (Short-1994). 

27 

Argentina-Germany 

Possible Lives / Las Vidas Posibles 


Director 

Sandra Gugliotta 

Screenplay 

Sandra Gugliotta, Pablo Fendrik 


Lucio Bonelli 

Editor 

Juan Pablo Di Bitonto, Víctor Cruz 

Music 

Sebastian Escofet 

Cast 

German Palacios (Luis / Luciano), Ana Celentano (Carla), 

Marina Glezer (Helena), Guillermo Arengo (Gutierrez), 

Natalia Oreiro (Marcia), Osmar Nunez (Caretaker) 

Art 

Fabiana Piotti 

Sound 

Vincent D’Elia 

Costumes 

Mariela Fondevielle 

Production 

El Angel Films 

Serrano 820 3-D 

(1414) Buenos Aires 

Argentina 

Tel: +54 11 4775 4377 

email: production@elangelfilms.com.ar; 

Fieber Film, Grünwald 


Berlin (First Prize of the World Cinema Fund)


Bahrain 

A Bahraini Tale / Hekaya Bahrainya 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 96 mins, Arabic 

Director 

Bassam Al Thawadi 

Screenplay 

Fareed Ramadan 


Shamdat Saimudeen 

Editor 

Osama Al-Saif 

Music 

Mohammed Haddad 

Cast 

Maryam Zaiman, Mubarak Khamis, Jaman Alrowayai, Fatima 

Abdulrahim, Yousif Buhalol, Nadeem Zaiman, Saad Abdullah, 

Hassan Almajed 

Sound 

Giles Khan 

Production 

Bahrain Cinema Production Company 

610, Building 203, Govt. Avenue 

Manama 304, Bahrain 

P.O.Box No. 33223 Isa Town, Bahrain 

Tel: +97339721321 

Fax: +97317224004 

Mobile: +97339666466 

email: bcpc.bcpc@gmail.com; bassam.althawadi@gmail.com 


2006: Dubai, Alwan Film Festival (New York), 

2007: Terra Di Siena (Italy), Emirates Film Competition (Abu 

Dhabi), Arab Film Festival (Rotterdam), International Arab 

Film Festival (Algeria), International Festival of Muslim 

Cinema (Kazan), International Euro-Arab Film Festival 

(Amal, 2007), Osian’s Cinefan (New Delhi) 

28 

IFFI-2007 

Set during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, this epic drama is both the personal 

story of a middle-class Bahraini family and an account of the hopes and faith the 

Arab world had in Jamal Abdul Nasser as its leader. Intimately told, it skillfully 

interweaves the personal and the general to reveal a society built on male 

domination and female sacrifice, as women attempt to enjoy freedom of choice. 

This is the third feature film from Bahrain, all directed by Al-Thawadi, who shows 

flexibility in both style and subject, always demonstrating a deep sense of reality 

and romanticism. The social concerns here are clear and the storytelling simple, 

yet help the film explore areas of Arab collective memory more powerfully than 

any other film has done in a long time. 

Bassam Mohammed Al Thawadi was born in Bahrain on December 13, 1960. 

From 1974 to 1978 he made his own series of short films on 8mm - in 1979 he 

went to Cairo to study film directing and graduated from the Higher Institute of 

Cinema (Cairo) in 1982. In 1990, he produced and directed Al-Hajiz (The Barrier), 

the first feature film ever produced in Bahrain. Fourteen years later, he directed 

and co-produced Visitor (2004), considered the first Dolby sound system 

production in the Gulf. Between those two films he directed many documentaries.


It is a contemporary story about love, loneliness and the desire to control the 

uncontrollable with Sao Paulo as one of its characters. Two men have never met, 

but they have a common lifestyle based on precision, control and method, until 

an unpredictable accident involving two women forever changes the course of 

their lives. Ênio and Pedro are about to find that an unpredictable world can rob 

them of something precious — then repay them with something else. In this drama 

of love and loss, Barcinski films São Paulo with the intimacy of a lover — showing 

its built-up streets in sweeping overhead shots during the clean, crisp daylight, 

then returning after dark to show its city lights in wooly soft focus. The film 

received the Alfred P. Sloan Grant at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. 

The 1972-born Philippe Barcinski studied physics at the University of Rio de 

Janeiro before assisting director Luis Carlos Lacerda. In 1992, he decided to 

study Film Production as a student of Jean Bernardet. At the University in 1996, 

he directed his first short films: The Stairs and The Cage,The Cage a gagne le 

prix du Festival de Brasilia, et le Prix spécial du Jury a Gramado. the latter winning 

the prize of the Festival of Brasilia, and the Special Jury Prize at Gramado. During 

1998 – 2003, he received numerous awards for his short films The White Postcard, 

Palindrome and The Open Window, at the film festivals of San Francisco, Mexico 

and Odense. He also participated in the festivals in Berlin, London and Clermont- 

Ferrand. 

29 

Brazil 

Not By Chance / Não Por Acaso 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 95 mins, Portuguese 

Director 

Philippe Barcinski 

Screenplay 

Fabiana Werneck Barcinski, Philippe Barcinski, Eugenio 

Puppo 


Pedro Farkas 

Editor 

Marcio Canella 

Music 

Ed Cortes 

Cast 

Rodrigo Santoro (Pedro), Leonardo Medeiros (Ênio), Letícia 

Sabatella (Lúcia), Branca Messina (Teresa), Rita Batata (Bia), 

Graziela Moretto (Mônica) 

Sound 

Ana Chiarini 

Costumes 

Vero Julian 

Production 

02 Films 

World Sales 

Ondamax Films 

(Eric Mathis/Donald Ranvaud) 

1360, Monad Terrace 

Suit 1, Miami Beach 

FL 33139 (USA) 

Tel: +13055353577, +13052152221 

email: eric@mediamaxgroup.com 

www.ondamaxfilms.com 


Middle East, Chicago


Canada 

Emotional Arithmetic 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 100 mins, English 

Director 

Paolo Barzman 

Screenplay 

Jefferson Lewis, based on the novel by Matt Cohen 


Luc Montpellier 

Editor 

Arthur Tarnowski 

Music 

Normand Corbeil 

Cast 

Susan Sarandon (Melanie Lansing Winters), Gabriel Byrne 

(Christopher Lewis), Max von Sydow (Jakob Bronski), 

Christopher Plummer (David Winters), Roy Dupuis (Benjiman 

Winters) 

Art 

Jean-François Campeau 

Sound 

Dimitri Ménard 

Production 

BBR Productions inc. 

3430, rue Saint-Denis Bureau 300 

Montreal, Quebec H2X 3L3 

Tel: (514) 288-0080, (514) 288-0081 

email: info@bbrprod.com 

www.bbrprod.com 

Triptych Media Inc. 

788 King St. W. 

2nd Floor 

Toronto, Ontario 

M5V 1N6 

Tel: (416) 703-8866, (416) 703-8867 

Email: info@triptychmedia.ca 

www.triptychmedia.ca 

World Sales 

Celluloïd Dreams 

2, rue Turgot 

Paris, France - 75009 

Tel: 33 1 49 70 03 70 

Fax: 33 1 49 70 03 71 

email: info@celluloid-dreams.com 

www.celluloid-dreams.com 


Toronto, Atlanta, San Sebastian 

30 

IFFI-2007 

A summer day, a lake, a house, a dinner table set outside, the promise of an 

upcoming celebration. Melanie has fulfilled her life’s dream of reuniting Jakob 

and Christopher. She hasn’t seen them in more than 40 years since the three of 

them were freed in 1943 from a transit camp for those who were to be sent to the 

death camps. Jakob was caught in the grips of history; having survived Auschwitz 

and Soviet mental institutions, he has now become a poet. Christopher cut himself 

off from the world; he studies insects and has buried deep down his untold love 

for Melanie. Melanie married David and has survived endless depressions. In her 

old age, she has become a lively, crazy nomad in her own story. Can we let past 

suffering suffocate our present? And what about love in all of this? 

Paolo Barzman began his creative career in painting and graphic arts at the 

Académie Jullian in Paris and at the University of California in Los Angeles. At 

19, he was hired by director Jean Renoir as his secretary in Los Angeles. Paolo’s 

debut as a writer/director was with the feature film Time is Money starring Max 

von Sydow, Charlotte Rampling and Martin Landau. A successful television 

director in North America and Europe, he has made All Around Town, starring 

Nastassja Kinski, and You Belong to Me, starring Lesley Anne Down. Other credits 

include Adventure Inc., Highlander, Largo Winch, Relic Hunter, Lonesome Dove, 

and 15/Love.


Juliette, 15, is the only child of an eminent judge and has had the best of education 

in the best of schools. Her father is in the limelight because he’s been chosen to 

preside over one of the most important trials of the past 10 years: the case of Réal 

Lamontagne, a notorious criminal accused of killing a child. Roméo, 17, is the 

son of the accused. Even though they come from diametrically opposed universes, 

Juliette and Roméo fall for each other. With the charm of Montreal adding a tragic 

dimension to the story, love and hate, those polar opposites, find each other in an 

ambience of rivalry and social incompatibility. 

Yves Desgagnés, is one of Quebec’s most appreciated artistes. In his 30 years in 

front of and behind the camera, Desgagnés has acted in more than 50 plays and 

shows, in many television series and has acquired a solid reputation as a director. 

In cinema, he has acted in such films as Yves Simoneau’s Pouvoir intime, Jean- 

Claude Labrecque’s Les Années de rêves, and Denys Arcand’s Les invasions 

barbares. In 2005, he directed his first feature film, Idole instantanée. 

31 


Canada 

Romeo & Juliette 

Director 

Yves Desgagnes 

Screenplay 

Normand Chaurette 


Pierre Mignot 

Editor 

Michel Arcand 

Cast 

Jeanne Moreau, Thomas Lalonde, Charlotte Aubin, 

Pierre Curzi, Gilles Renaud 

Sound 

Marie-Claude Gagné 

Production 

Cinémaginaire inc. 

5144, boul. Saint-Laurent 

Montreal, Quebec 

H2T 1R8 

Tel: (514) 272-5505 

Fax: (514) 272-9841 

email: info@cinemaginaire.com 

World Sales 

Fun Film 

5146 Boul St-Laurent Montreal 

Quebec H2T 1RB Canada


Canada 

The Ring / Le Ring 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, French 

Director 

Anais Barbeau-Lavalette 

Screenplay 

Renée Beaulieu 


Philippe Lavalette 

Editor 

Carina Baccanale 

Cast 

Maxime Desjardins-Tremblay, Julianne Côté, Maxime 

Dumontier, Jason Roy-Léveillée, 

Stéphane Demers, Suzanne Lemoine, Jean-François 

Casabonne 

Sound 

Olivier Léger 

Production 

Inis Relève inc. 

301, rue de Maisonneuve Est 

Montreal, Quebec 

H2X 1K1 

Tel: (514) 285-1840, 285-1953 

email: info@inis.qc.ca 

www.inis.qc.ca 

World Sales 

Christal Films Distribution inc. 

376, av. Victoria 

Bureau 300 

Westmount, Quebec 

H3Z 1C3 

Tel: (514) 336-9696, 336-0607 

email: info@christalfilms.com 

www.christalfilms.com 


Berlin, Montreal, Pusan 

32 

IFFI-2007 

Jessy, age 11, dreams of becoming a wrestler. Already, life is a daily fight; home 

is chaotic and his innocence is quickly disappearing. Reality hits hard in 

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a poor area of Montreal, but it cannot compete with the 

Friday night wrestling that gives Jessy the courage to escape his destiny. Le Ring 

tells the story of a little fighter determined to make his own way. 

In 2000, while studying at Quebec’s Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS), 

Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette made her first two documentary films, Sorcières comme 

les autres and Les Mots bleus. She then made the documentary Buenos Aires, no 

llores. In 2002, she represented Canada at the United Nation’s Volunteers’ Odyssey 

where seven teams of young reporters had the opportunity to film nearly 50 

volunteer sites in the world. Barbeau-Lavalette made 15 short documentaries. 

Later, in Si j’avais un chapeau, she had poor children from Quebec, India, Tanzania 

and Palestine create and film their own stories; in Les mains du monde, she 

presented six people in their quest to overcome solitiude. Le Ring is Barbeau- 

Lavalette’s first fiction feature film.


When the beautiful Amanda is humiliated by her lover and fired from her job, she 

decides to move to a new town and start over – this time, though, she makes 

herself into an ugly woman to be taken seriously. When she meets Marcelo, a 

cocky new coworker and quintessential ‘player,’ she decides to go one step further 

and test him by playing both her ugly persona and her real one (whom she now 

calls Helena) against him. But juggling a double life proves harder than she’d 

imagined, and when real feelings begin to develop between both Marcelo and 

Helena, as well as between Marcelo and Amanda, she finds her comedy of errors 

has turned into an odd and sexy love triangle. 

It is Claudio Dabed first feature film, and apart from directing it, he has also done 

the art direction and produced the film. Dabed studied at UNIACC Film School 

in Chile, and after graduating, he worked in advertising films for a short period. 

He won the first prize in the Sony Video Art festival. When, during dictator 

Pinochet’s period cinema was non-existent in Chile and advertising was the only 

visual media produced, he at 24 moved to Bali, Indonesia, where he lived for 11 

years designing clothes and furniture. After gathering experiences and releasing 

creativity through other channels, he was inspired to return to his passion and 

wrote, produced and directed his first feature film. Dabed lives in Los Angeles 

and is developing of his second feature. 

33 


Chile 

Pretending / Pretendiendo 

Director 

Claudio Dabed 

Screenplay 

Claudio Dabed, Franklin McDonald 


Masanobu Takayanagi 

Editor 

Danielle Fillios 

Music 

Justin Stanley 

Cast 

Barbara Mori, Marcelo Mazzarello, Amaya Forch, Gonzalo 

Robles, Rodrigo Munoz, Jaime Azócar 

Art 

Claudio Dabed 

Sound 

Marcos De Aguirre 

Costumes 

Carol Raddatz 


Cada Films 

Avda, Jose Pedro Aleasandri 1880 

Nunea, Santiago (Chile) 

www.pretendicndo.com 


Miami, New York Latino


China 

Cherries / Ying Tao 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 106min, Chinese 

Director 

Zhang Jiabei 

Screenplay 

Bao Shi 


Maruike Osa Me 

Editor 

Chen Xiao Hong 

Music 

Yasuda Fu Mio 

Cast 

Miao Pu, Tuo Guoquan, Long Li 

Art 

Lou Zhongguo 

Sound 

Wu Hao, Zhan Xi 

Production 

Shanghai Film Group Corporation 

No. 25, Sinwai St. 


Tel: +861062261485 

Fax: +861062264100 


Tokyo, Montreal 

34 

IFFI-2007 

Maternal love is the most common and yet the greatest affection one can experience 

in the world. It defines sublimity with platitude. This is a story that happened 

in Southern China in the early 1980s. It’s about an intellectually delinquent 

young woman and a deserted girl’s deep affection… In a small village on a 

mountain in Southern China, there was Cherrie, who was married to Ge Wang, 

slim and crippled. He couldn’t walk straight. Because of her mental state, Cherrie 

was unable to find a proper job except walking the hogs and feeding the chicken. 

Ge Wang alone was hence responsible for feeding the entire family. Making the 

ends meet wasn’t easy. Tough living hadn’t diminished Cherrie’s maternal nature. 

She adored children. On the night of this very day, Cherrie found a deserted 

baby girl lying right next to her…Cherrie stopped making love to Ge Wang him 

right after Hong Hong joined the family. Cherrie would carry Hong Hong with 

her around the house, eating or sleeping. One day, Ge Wang took the baby in 

Cherrie’s sound sleep and passed it to a city couple with a red car. After going 

through all the hardships looking for the baby, Hong Hong finally came back to 

Cherrie. Hong Hong had grown into a smart and lovely girl and also felt embarrassed 

for her mother who was intellectually delinquent. One day, to pick the 

wild cherries for Hong Hong, something happened to Cherrie who was later declared 

missing. 

Zhang Jiabei has earlier made Clay Fear in 2006.


Ms Qu, the only teacher of Zhaokaitun Primary School, has been working in the 

class-mixed school in the lonely island for 20 years. The director general of the 

District Education Bureau promised her that she would be transferred to work in 

the city as long as her students would have got the first place in straight 10 years 

after this examination. Ms Qu treasured the chance greatly as both of her daughters 

worked and studied in the city. However, when the exam was finished, Qu found 

that, totally not as usual, the students did a very bad job in the papers. After the 

investigation, Qu realized the fact that the head of the village had told the students, 

if they got the first place, Ms Qu would leave the island. All the kids didn’t want 

their dear teacher to leave them, so they wrote the poor papers on the purpose. Qu 

was deeply moved and made the final decision to stay on the island. It is based on 

a true incident. None of the actors in the film are professionals. All of them are 

people from the place where the incident happened and most of them portray 

themselves in the movie. Because of the low budget, the movie has not received 

substantial promotion and has not yet been released theatrically. 

Pu Jian is an assistant professor at the School of Cinema and Television, 

Communication University of China. Born in Guizhou Province of China in June, 

1968, he received primary and middle school education there. In 1990, he graduated 

from the Law Department of Wuhan University and in 1996 did his MA from 

Beijing Film Academy. Though he has made several TV films earlier, this is his 

first feature film. 

35 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 104 mins, Chinese 

China 

The Exam / Kao Shi 

Director 

Pu Jian 

Screenplay 

Chen Bei-ni, Pu Jian 


Ma Yong-cheng 

Editor 

Pu Jian 

Music 

Jiang An-qing 

Cast 

Qu Feng-qin (Ms Qu), Zhou Hai-chun (village head), Xu Bo, 

Liu Laifu, Yang Xinyu, Xu Jiawen, Xu He, Xu Qiang, Xu 

Mingliang, Xu Haoyue 

Art 

Tan Ze-en 

Sound 

Wang Jue 

Costumes 

Liu Yan-yan 

Production 

Communication University of China 

No.1, East St., Dingfuzhuang 

Chaoyang District, Beijing 

Tele/Fax: +86-10-6578-3316; 

Nanjing Film Studio 

No.8, Suojincun, 

Taipingmenwai, Nanjing 

Tel/Fax: +86-25-8541-1477 


Tokyo, Barcelona Asian Film Fest, Fribourg


China 

The Tokyo Trial / Dong Jing Shen Par 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 119 mins, English-Japanese-Chinese 

Director 

Gao Qunshu 

Cast 

Liu Songren, Zhu Xiatian, Lin Xilei, Ying Da, Zeng Zhiwei 

Production 

Shanghai Film Group Corporation 

No. 25, Sinwai St. 


Tel: +861062261485 

Fax: +861062264100 

36 

IFFI-2007 

The Tokyo Trial took place after World War II ended. It lasted two-and-a-half 

years, from May, 1946 to November, 1948, about half a year after the start of the 

Nuremberg Trials in Europe. All Japanese Class-A war criminals were tried by 

the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. The prosecution 

team was made up of justices from 11 Allied nations. Seven of the war criminals 

were hanged after the trial, including Hideki Tojo, the prime minister of Japan 

during the attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii in 1941. 

Gao Qunshu did a lot of research of firsthand footage of the trial, including varied 

video versions shot by the Japanese and Dutch press, to authentically portray the 

historical scenes. He found a valuable trial diary in Japan, which recounts its 

heated debates. As a result, in the movie, even the details of the actors’ costumes 

and gestures at the tribunal strictly follow historical evidence. Ninety per cent of 

the movie was shot in English and Japanese as it was in the trial. According to 

Gao, the film shows how a Chinese judge involved in the case managed to sway 

the opinion of an international panel of 11 judges to “narrowly avert a miscarriage


The film showcases the solicitude for truth. It is the story of a young girl who falls in 

love with self brother-in-law secretly, leading to repercussions. 

Cheng Er is a noted film director from China. 

37 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, Mandarin Chinese 

China 

Unfinished Girl 

Director 

Cheng Er 

Screenplay 

Cheng Er 


Xu Wei 

Editor 

Yang Hongyu 

Music 

Lin Hai 

Cast 

Gao Yuanyuan, Xu Zheng, Yan Po, Tao Hong 

Sound 

Wang Danrong 

Production 

Cheerland Entertainment Organisation 

1-2F, Building 1 

Madianjingdian Jiayuan, No. 8 

Qijiahuozi, Chaoyang District 

Beijing (China) 

Tel: +861082015522/5511 

Fax: +861062018669 

email: hm124zh@hotmail.com, DirtythreeD3@gmail.com


Cuba 

El Benny 


Director 

Jorge Luis Sánchez 

Screenplay 

Jorge Luis Sánchez, Abrahan Rodríguez 


José Manuel Riera Editor 

Manuel Iglesias 

Music 

Juan Manuel Ceruto 

Cast 

Renny Arozarena (Benny More), Enrique Molina (Olimpio), 

Mario Guerra (Monchy), Carlos Ever Fonseca (Angeluis), 

Limara Meneses (Aida) 

Art 

Erik Grass 

Sound 

Osmani Olivare, Ricardo Iztueta 

Costumes 

Nanette Peña 

Production 

Iohamil Navarro Cuesta 

CORAL CAPITAL ENTERTAINMENT, Ltd 

Calle 23 No. 1111 e/ 8 y 10 , Vedado 

Ciudad de La Habana, CUBA 

Tel/Fax: : 00537 833-4826 /00537 833-3281 

World Sales 

ICAIC International Producter 

Street 23 % 10 and 12 

Vedado Havana City Cuba 


TelFax: (5-37) 8383128/(5-37) 3833707 


Miami, Palm Springs, Locarno (Boccalino prize for best 

performance to Arozarena) 

38 

IFFI-2007 

It is the life story of Benny Moré, the greatest Cuban musician of all time, who 

died far too young yet profoundly changed the course of Latin music forever. 

More famous during his lifetime in Venezuela and Mexico than in his own home 

country of Cuba, he was asked in 1957, not long before he died, to play at the 

Oscars in Los Angeles. Never having formally studied music, he arranged big 

band orchestras and combos from the music he heard in his head and felt in his 

soul without being able to read or write music. A true musical genius, Benny was 

a man of supreme charisma and passion, but his attraction to the night, the women 

and the partying excesses led to his untimely death. His legacy is still felt today 

in most contemporary Latin music. 

Jorge Luis Sánchez, born in Havana in 1960, was a founder of the Federación 

Nacional de Cine Clubes de Cuba - the National Federation of Cine Clubs of 

Cuba.He started to work in ICAIC in 1981 as camera assistant, and later as assistant 

director. This is his debut feature.


Cecilie sees and hears things no one else does; places suddenly change appearance, 

people aren’t really there. One night she experiences a rape, but no traces are to 

be found. Her husband Mads commits her to a psychiatric hospital. With the help 

of a psychiatrist, Per, she begins to see a frightening connection between her 

condition and a brutal murder that happened more than 30 years before. 

Born 1967 in Denmark, Hans Fabian Wullenweber graduated in direction from 

the National Film School of Denmark, 1997. He then went to England for further 

study. He wrote and directed the short film Udenfor/Still Around (2000), which 

was awarded at the international short film festival in Montecatini. Klatretøsen/ 

Catch that Girl (2002), his feature film debut, was a hit at the domestic box office 

and won awards at Berlin, Chicago and Amsterdam festivals. After that he made 

Tvilling / Gemini. 

39 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 93 mins, Danish 

Denmark 

Cecilie 

Director 

Hans Fabian Wullenweber 

Screenplay 

Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg 


Jacob Kusk 

Editor 

Kasper Leick 

Music 

Trond Bjerknaes 

Cast 

Sonja Richter, Anders W Berthelsen, Claus Riis Ostergaard 

Art 

Christian Svans Kolding 

Sound 

Bjørn Vidø 

Production 

Nimbus Film Productions Aps 

World Sales 

Danish Film Institute 

55, Gothersgade DK 1123 

Copenhagen K Denmark; 

Trust Film Sales Aps 

Filmbyen 12 

DK-2650 Hvidovre 

Email: post@trust-film.dk 

www.trust-film.dk 


Palm Springs


Finland 

Lights in the Dusk / Laitakaupungin valot 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 78 mins, Finnish 

Director 

Aki Kaurismäki 

Screenplay 



Timo Salminen 

Editor 


Cast 

Janne Hyytiäinen, Maria Järvenhelmi, Ilkka Koivula, Maria 

Heiskanen 

Art 

Markku Pätilä 

Sound 

Jouko Lumme, Tero Malmberg 

Costumes 

Outi Harjupatana 

Production 

Sputnik Oy (with support from The Finnish Film Foundation) 

Museokatu 13 A 

00100 Helsinki 

Finland 

Tel: +358 9 6877 100 

Fax: +358 9 6877 1010 

email: sputnik@sputnik.fi 

World Sales 

The Match Factory GmbH 

Michael Weber 

email: info@matchfactory.de 

www.the-match-factory.com 


2006: Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Pula (Croatia), Toronto, 

Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, Reykjavik, Haifa, Pusan, London, 

Kiev, Bratislava, Jakarta, Istanbul, Jerusalem 

2007: Adelaide, Hong Kong, Troia, Melbourne, Brisbane, 

Buenos Aires 

40 

IFFI-2007 

Lights in the Dusk concludes the trilogy that started with Drifting Clouds (Kauas 

pilvet karkaavat, 1996) and continued with The Man Without a Past (Mies vailla 

menneisyyttä, 2002). Where the trilogy’s first film was about unemployment and 

the second about homelessness, the theme of Lights in the Dusk is loneliness. Like 

Chaplin’s little tramp, the protagonist, a man named Koistinen, searches the hard 

world for a small crack through which he could crawl in, but both his fellow 

beings and the faceless apparatus of the society see it their business to crush his 

modest hopes, one after another. Criminal elements exploit his longing for love 

and his position as a night watchman in a robbery they pull off, leaving Koistinen 

to face the consequences. This is done with the help of the most callous woman 

in the history of cinema since Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve (1950). As 

a result Koistinen loses his job, his freedom and his dreams. Luckily for our 

protagonist, the author of the film has a reputation of being a soft-hearted old 

man, so we can assume there is a spark of hope illuminating the final scene. 

The 1957-born Aki Kaurismäki has been directing films since early 1980s. His 

filmography includes over 15 features and several short films. Among his films 

are The Saimaa Gesture (Saimaa-ilmiö) done with his brother Mika Kaurismäki, 

Crime and Punishment (Rikos ja rangaistus), Calamari Union, Shadows in 

Paradise (Varjoja paratiisissa), Hamlet Goes Business (Hamlet liikemaailmassa), 

Ariel and Leningrad Cowboys Go America.


Octave is the master of the universe. He is in the profession of copywriting. He 

decides today what you will want tomorrow. For him, “man is a product like 

everything else”. Octave works for the world’s largest advertising agency, Ross 

& Witchcraft, nicknamed “The Ross”. He’s swimming in money, girls and coke. 

Even so, he has his doubts. Two events will turn Octave’s life on its head: his love 

affair with Sophie, the agency’s most beautiful employee, and a meeting at Madone 

to sell an advertisement to this major company in the diary sector. Gifted Octave 

loses the plot and decides to rebel against the system that created him, by botching 

his greatest publicity campaign. From Paris, where agency bosses negotiate deals, 

to Miami, where advertisements get shot while gulping anti-depressants, from 

Saint-Germain-de-Près to an isolated island in Central America, will Octave 

manage to escape his golden prison? 

Jan Kounen was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1964 and first made a name 

for himself by directing around 30 advertising films and music videos, mainly in 

Great Britain. In 1989, he directed his first short film, Gisèle Kérosène, that won 

the top prize for a short film at the following year’s Avoriaz Festival. In 1990, he 

directed L’âge de plastic, a musical with the group Elmer Food Beat. In 1993, 

Vibroboy, a “trash fantasy comedy” was awarded the Innovation Prize by the jury 

at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival. In1996, he filmed Emmanuelle Béart in the tale 

of The Last Red Riding Hood, another musical, with choreography by Philippe 

Decouflé. Dobermann was his first feature film. He has since made films like 

Blueberry, Darshan, a journey in India, and D’Autres mondes. 

41 


France 

99 Francs 

Director 

Jan Kounen 

Screenplay 

Jan Kounen, Nicolas, Bruno 


David Ungaro 

Editor 

Anny Danche 

Cast 

Jean Dujardin (Octave), Jocelyn Quivrin (Charlie), Patrick 

Mille (Jeff), Vahina Giocante (Sophie), Elisa Tovati (Tamara), 

Nicolas Marié (Dujer), Dominique Bettenfeld (Jean-Christian 

Gagnant), Antoine Basler (Marc Maronnier), Fosco Perinti 

(Giovanni) 

Art 

Michel Barthélémy 

Costumes 

Chattoune 

Production 

Equinoxe Films


France 

Changement d Adresse 

2006, 35mm, Colour, 85 mins, French 

Director 

Emmanuel Mouret 

Screenplay 

Emmanuel Mouret 


Laurent Desmet 

Editor 

Martial Salomon 

Music 

Franck Sforza 

Cast 

Fanny Valette, Frédérique Bel, Dany Brillant, 

Emmanuel Mouret, Ariane Ascaride 

Art 

David Faivre 

Sound 

Maxime Gavaudan 

Production 

Moby Dick Films, Les Films Pelléas, Shellac , Velvet Films 

World Sales 

Shellac 

42 

IFFI-2007 

David, a shy, awkward musician who has just moved to Paris, falls madly in love 

with his young student, Julia. He tries everything to win her heart. His roommate, 

Anne, provides encouragement, advice and consolation... passionately! A 

film of great passion, the characters are endearing in their naivety. 

A native of Marseille, Emmanuel Mouret directed his first short film when he 

was 19, before heading for Paris. He started working in cinema as production and 

directing assistant on various commercials, while also taking classes at the Drama 

School in Paris’s 10th arrondissement. With writing manuals as a guide, he threw 

himself into writing and entered the FEMIS, from which he graduated from the 

Directing section in 1998. The same year, he directed the short film Promène toi 

donc tout nu. Laissons Lucie faire was his first feature film. He has made films 

like Un baiser s’il vous plait (2006), Venus & Fleur (2003), Laissons Lucie faire! 

(2000), Caresse (1999), Il n’y a pas de mal (1997).


Every love song tells the same story: “Too many people love you”... “I could 

never live without you”... “Sorry Angel”. This film tells that story too. 

French director Christophe Honore was born on April 10, 1970 in Brittany. His 

past three films were Seventeen Times Cecile Cassard (Dix-Sept Fois Cecile 

Cassard) in 2002, My Mother (Ma Mere) in 2004 and Inside Paris (Dans Paris) 

in 2006. 

43 

France 

Love Songs / Les Chansons D’Amour 

2007, 35mm, Colour, France 

Director 

Christophe Honore 

Screenplay 

Christophe Honore 


Rémy Chevrin 

Editor 

Chantal Hymans 

Music 

Alex Beaupin 

Cast 

ActorsLouis Garrel (Ismael), Ludivine Sagnier (Julie), Chiara 

MAstroianni (Jeanne), Clotilde Hesme (Alice) 

Art 

Samuel Deshors 

Sound 

Guillaume Le Braz 

Costume 

Pierre Canitrot 

Production 

Alma Films 

176 rue du Temple 

75003 Paris - France 

Tel: +33 (0)1 42 01 07 05 

email: almafilms@orange.fr 

World Sales 

Alma Films 

Paulo Branco 

Tel: +33 (0)6 72 97 31 90 

Email: pbranco.almafilms@orange.fr 


Cannes, Toronto


France 

Strange Crime / Le Prix du Desir 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, French 

Director 

Roberto Ando 

Screenplay 

Roberto Ando 


Salvatore Marcarelli, Maurizio Calvesi 

Editor 

Claudio Di Mauro 

Music 

Ludovico Einaudi 

Cast 

Daniel Auteuil (Daniel), Greta Scacchi (Nicoletta), Anna 

Mouglalis (Mila), Giorgio Lupano (Fabrizio), Magda Mielcarz 

(Ewa), Serge Merlin (Père de Daniel), 

Art 

Andrea Crisanti 

Sound 

Luc Yersin 

Production 

Vision International 

Massimo SAIDEL 

cel : 06 20 82 73 05 

email : massimo_saidel@yahoo.com 

Juliette PHAM 

Tel : 06 70 79 51 20 

email : juliettepham@hotmail.com 

Gilles SOUSA 

Tel : 06 32 51 00 25; 

Canal +, Titti Film, Medusa Film, Agi.di – Italie, Vega Films - 

Switzerland 

World Sales 

Vision Distribution 

Sylvie GROSPERRIN 

Tel : 06 19 68 21 64 

email : s.grosperrin@visiongroupe.com 


Venice (Best Script Pasinetti award & Youth Golden Lion 

(jury of children); Nominated at Golden Globes (Best foreign 

picture); Brussels (Golden Iris) 

44 

IFFI-2007 

Famous for his best seller A Journey in Winter, Daniel Boltanski lives with his 

wife Nicoletta and her son Fabrizio, to be married in Capri. Daniel has lived 

secluded, in his luxurious house on the Lake of Geneva, overprotected by his 

agent David Grinsberg. On the boat to Capri, Daniel meets a beautiful younger 

girl, Mila and spends the night with her on the island. The next day, at the wedding, 

he is surprised to discover that she is Fabrizio’s bride to be. She becomes his 

obsession. Shortly thereafter, faced with mysterious blackmail, Daniel must 

confront the multiple layers of his “double” life and sexual obsession. 

Roberto Ando was born in Palermo in 1959. After studying philosophy, he became 

Francesco Rosi and Federico Fellini’s young assistant, before working with 

Michael Cimino and Francis Ford Coppola. During his training, he met the great 

Sicilian writer Leonardo Scacia, who remained a close friend of him during all 

his life. Since 1980, he alternates stage directions – which made him famous both 

in Italy and abroad – and his movie projects. In 1994, he signed, with Daniele 

Abado and Nicola Sani, the multimedia opera Piece of Apocalypse, with Moni 

Ovadia, at the Roma Europa Festival. Between 1994 and 1996, he also directed 

Robert Wilson‘s videos Memory Lost. In 1999, he directed his first feature for the 

big screen, The Prince’s manuscript, in French, with Michel Bouquet, Jeanne 

Moreau, Leopoldo Trieste and Paolo Briguglia. In 2001, he directed, in Palermo, 

Harold Pinter’s The room -The birthday party, and Old Times with Greta Scacchi, 

Umberto Orsini and Valentina Sperli. This is his second movie as writer-director.


Algeria, 1959. Military operations intensify. High in the mountains of Kabylia, 

Terrien, an idealistic lieutenant takes command of a section of the French army. 

Among the troops, he meets Sergeant Dougnac, a cynical soldier. Their differences 

and the harsh reality of warfare quickly put both men to the test. Lost in a war 

with no name, they discover that they have no worse enemy than themselves. 

Florent Emilio Siri has directed around ten music videos, including the latest two 

clips for the group IAM. In addition to Une minute de silence, his first feature 

(winner of the Cyril Collard award), he also directed a documentary, La Mort 

douce (1992), both of which explore the theme of miners in France’s Lorraine 

region. In 1997, he wrote the screenplay for another feature film, Tour de cité. 

45 

France 

The Intimate Enemy/ L’ Ennemi intime 

2007. 35mm, Colour, 108 mins, French 

Director 

Florent Emilio Siri 

Screenplay 

Patrick Rotman, Florent Emilio Siri 


Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci 

Editor 

Olivier Gajan 

Music 

Alexandre Desplat 

Cast 

Benoît Magimel, Albert Dupontel, Aurélien Recoing, Marc 

Barbé, Éric Savin, Fellag, Vincent Rottiers, Lounes Tazaïrt, 

Abdelhafid Metalsi 

Art 

Dominique Carrara 

Sound 

Antoine Deflandre 

Costumes 

Mimi Lempicka 

Production 

Les Films du Kiosque, France 2 Cinéma, SND, Canal +, 

CinéCinémas, Agora Films Agora Films 

World Sales 

SND , France


France 

The Second Wind / Le Deuxieme Souffle 


Director 

Alain Corneau 

Screenplay 

Alain Corneau, based on the novel by José Giovanni 


Yves Angelo 

Editor 

Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte 

Music 

Bruno Coulais 

Cast 

Daniel Auteuil, Monica Bellucci, Michel Blanc, Jacques 

Dutronc, Eric Cantona 

Art 

Thierry Flamand 

Sound 

Pierre Gamet, Laurent Quaglio, Gérard Lamps 

Production 

ARP Sélection/TF1 Films Production 

13 rue Jean Mermoz, 

75008 Paris, France 

World Sales 

Wild Bunch 

99 rue de la Verrerie - 75004 

Paris - France 

Tel: +33 1 53 01 50 20 

Fax: +33 1 53 01 50 49 


Rome, Toronto 

46 

IFFI-2007 

It is the end of the 1950s. Gu is a vicious, infamous gangster who has just broken 

out of jail, where he was serving a life sentence. He needs to do one last job to 

secure enough money to leave the country with his girl, Manouche, whom he 

wants to protect from harm at all costs. Despite every police officer in France 

working at full-throttle to recapture him, Gu has the skills and the know-how of a 

hardened criminal: he carries off the hold up perfectly. However, the police – led 

by the steely Inspector Blot – have played dirty tricks behind the scenes, arranging 

things in such a way so that Gu’s gang believe him to be an informer. Labelled a 

traitor, Gu finds his gang’s loyalty evaporating. Luckily, Manouche reveals her 

nerves of steel. She is willing to go to great lengths to defend her man, and so she 

sets to work to save Gu and clear his name, whatever the cost. 

Alain Corneau was born in Orleans, France, and studied at L’Institut des Hautes 

Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC). His feature directorial debut was France 

société anonyme (1974). His other features are Police Python 357, La Menace, 

Série noire, Le Choix des armes, Fort Saganne, Le Môme, Nocturne indien, Tous 

les matins du monde, Le Nouveau monde, Les Enfants de Lumière, Le Cousin, Le 

Prince du Pacifique, Stupeur et tremblements and Les Mots bleus.


Before being extradited to Africa to stand trial, a notorious Belgian criminal is entrusted 

to the Marseilles police department for less than 24 hours. But the wily crook convinces 

bumbling policeman Emilien he’s a lowly Belgian embassy employee who got railroaded 

by the brilliant master criminal. 

After graduating from the I.D.H.E.C. film school, Gérard Krawczyk directed three 

short films between 1981 and 1984, all nominated for Cesar awards. The first, The 

Subtle Concept, won him eight international prizes including the Grand Prix at the 

Montreal World Film Festival. His second short film, Toro Moreno, was awarded the 

Grand Prix for a Comedy at the Chamrousse Festival, and his third short, Homicide by 

Night, took out the Grand Prix at the Rennes Fantasy Film Festival in 1984. He made 

his feature film debut in 1986 with I Hate Actors, starring Jean Poiret, Michel Blanc 

and Bertrand Blier. This film was nominated for a Cesar and won the Michel Audiard 

Prize. L ‘Eté en pente douce, which he directed in 1987, features Jean-Pierre Bacri, 

Jacques Villeret, Pauline Laffont and Guy Marchand. Since 1988 he has directed some 

50 commercials and corporate films, and in 1992 he won the Bronze Lion Award at the 

International Cannes Advertising Film Festival. From 1990 to 1994, Krawczyk cowrote 

numerous screenplays. 

47 


France 

TAXI 4 

Director 

Gérard Krawczyk 

Screenplay 

Luc Besson 


Pierre Morel 

Editor 

Frederic Thoraval 

Music 

Simplet Tefane, Weallstar-Da-Octopusss 

Cast 

Damiens, Mourade Zeguendi, Édouard Montoute, Sidney 

Zaoui, Henri Cohen 

Art 

Hugues Tissandier 

Sound 

Francois-Joseph Hors 

Costumes 

Fabienne Josserand 

Production 

EuropaCorp, ARP, TF1 Films Productions, Apipoulai 

World Sales 

EuropaCorp


France 

Orchestra seats / Fauteuils d'orchestre 


Director 

Danièle Thompson 

Screenplay 

Danièle Thompson, Christopher Thompson 

Cast 

Cécileé De France, Valérie Lemercier, 

Sydney Pollack, Albert Dupontel 

48 

IFFI-2007 

A young woman arrives in Paris where she finds a job as a waitress in bar next to 

a theatre. She will meet a pianist, a famous actress and a great art collector, and 

begin to have her own dreams of fame... 

Danièle Thompson is a French film director and screenwriter. She is the daughter 

of film director Gérard Oury and actress Jacqueline Roma. Thompson has written 

the screenplay for a number of highly-successful films including Cousin, cousine, 

La Boum, Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre, La Reine Margot and Jet Lag which 

she also directed. She was nominated for the 1976 Academy Award for Writing 

Original Screenplay for Cousin, cousine. Her 2006 film Fauteuils d'orchestre was 

France's entrant for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.


A small-town butcher daughter, Melanie (Deborah Francois) has a special gift for playing 

the piano. She takes the Conservatory entrance exam, but fails after being distracted by 

the thoughtless behaviour of the chairwoman of the jury, a well known concert pianist. 

Bitterly disappointed, Melanie gives up her musical dream. Some ten years later, while 

working as an intern with a law firm, Melanie meets Monsieur Fouchecourt, the husband 

of the chairwoman who changed her life. Melanie efficiency and devotion are quickly 

noticed and Monsieur Fouchecourt invites her into his home to look after his young 

son. His wife, Madame Fouchecourt (Catherine Frot) soon warms to Melanie when her 

musical sensitivity shows through, and the young woman becomes the former chaiwoman 

page turner, waiting patiently for her revenged... 

An outstanding filmmaker in French cinema, Denis Dercourt also moonlights as a 

conservatory teacher. This is his first large-scale production. 

49 

France 

Turning Pages / Tourneuse de pages, La 


Director 

Denis Dercourt 

Screenplay 

Denis Dercourt, Jacques Sotty 

Cast 

Deborah Francois, Catherine Frot, Pascal Greggory and Julie 

Richalet 

Production 

Michel Saint-Jean


Russia 

Leningrad 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 117 mins, Russian 

Director 

Alexander Buravsky 

Screenplay 

Alexander Buravsky 


Vladimir Klimov 

Editor 

M.Scott Smith 

Music 

Yuri Poteyenko 

Cast 

Gabriel Byrne (Phillip Parker), Mira Sorvino (Kate 

Davis), Aleksandr Abdulov, Vladimir Ilyin, Yuliya Rutberg, 

Mikhail Yefremov, Mikhail Trukhin 

Art 

Alexander Boim, Alim Matvejchuk, Vera Zelinskaya 

Sound 

Rostislav Alimov, Alexander Kopeikin 

Production 

Aleksandr Buravsky, Peter Doyle 

50 

IFFI-2007 

It is 1941, and World War II rages on; the German army has succeeded in 

taking over half of Europe and is charging forward into Russia. The superiorlyequipped 

Germans are able to push back the Russian defences until they reach 

Leningrad and Moscow. Facing a long and protracted struggle on the battlefield, 

Hitler decides that he will disperse part of his armoured units from Leningrad to 

Moscow, and, instead of taking Leningrad by force, he will surround the city and 

starve three million people to death. In the midst of this horrific siege, a young 

English journalist named Kate Davis finds herself isolated within the famished 

city of Leningrad. “Leningrad” actually ended up in two different versions: a 

four-hour television mini series and a two-hour feature film. Although that’s a 

common practice in the local film industry, in this case the two resulting works 

could hardly be more different in subject and tone. In an interview, Buravsky has 

said they shared only about 10 per cent of their material. “When I wrote the 

original script, it was as a feature film.When I took it to the producers, their 

response was: You wrote ‘Schindler’s List,’ now add ‘Indiana Jones.’ So I wrote 

around the original, and that was pretty difficult,” is what he has been quoted as 

saying. Buravsky’s script blends the lives of ordinary Russians caught in the siege 

with the story of two foreign journalists, the British Kate Davis and the American 

Philip Parker. 

Alexander Buravsky, a prominent Russian director, depended for his 

research for the film on The Blockade Book, a 1981 compilation by the Soviet 

writers Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich, and The 900 Days, an earlier work 

by British journalist Harrison Salisbury, the Moscow correspondent for The New 

York Times 

during much of World War II. A third source was historian Nikita Lomagin’s 

The Unknown Blockade from 2004.


Police officer George is very popular amongst his colleagues for always being 

calm and cool-hearted. His partner Michael also admires him for his apparently 

harmonic marriage with Anne, an attractive primary school teacher. When a 

promotion is announced to George, he begins to lose control over the carefully 

maintained façade of his ‘intact’ family. During Christmas season, the conflicts 

that have been dominating the couple’s life for years, start to surface: Anne’s 

struggle for recognition, the patronising of her parents, George’s attempt to always 

suit everybody, their children that helplessly look away - while the traces of 

domestic violence can no longer be hidden. Under the Christmas tree tragedy 

unfolds - “It ain’t no drama, Anne!“ – Well, yes, it is. The director developed the 

idea from a newspaper article on a study on domestic violence. 

Born in Düsseldorf in April 1979, Jan Bonny has lived and worked in the United 

States, the Netherlands and Germany. He received his degree in media arts from 

the Kunst-hochschule für Medien Köln and has directed the short film 2nd and A 

as well as numerous commercials. This is his first feature. 

51 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 96 mins, German 

Germany 

Counterparts / Gegenüber 

Director 

Jan Bonny 

Screenplay 

Jan Bonny, Christina Ebelt 


Bernhard Keller 

Editor 

Stefan Stabenow 

Cast 

Matthias Brandt, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, Wotan Wilke 

Mohring, Susanne Bormann, Anna Brass, Pablo Ben-Yakov 

Art 

Tim Pannen 

Sound 

Martin Witte 

Costumes 

Frauke Firl 

Production 

Heimatfilm 

Lichtstr. 50 

D-50825 Köln 

Germany 

Tel: +49 221 97 77 99 

Fax: +49 221 97 77 99 

email: post@heimatfilm.biz 

World Sales 

Wide Management 

40 Rue Sainte Anne 75002 Paris 

France 


Cannes (Special Mention “Art et Essai - CICAE” - Director’s 

Fortnight), Munich, Pusan, Copenhagen


Germany 

Paperbird 

2007, Digi Beta, Colour, 101 mins, English 

Director 

Vanessa van Houten 

Screenplay 

Vanessa van Houten, Korbinian Greiner, Natalie Lambsdorff 


Philipp Kirsamer 

Editor 

Susanne Hartmann 

Cast 

Thomas Fränzel (Nic), Tschagsalmaa Borchuu (Coco), Lars 

Rudolph (Charlie) 

Art 

Andrew Perry 

Production 

Dor Film-West, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), 

Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF), Munich, 

ARRI, Schesch Filmproduktion 

World Sales 

Atrix Films GmbH 

Postfach 900702 

81545 München, Germany 

Beatrix Wesle 

Tel: +49 8964282611 

Fax: + 49 89 649 57 349 

email: info@atrix-films.com 

52 

IFFI-2007 

It is a story about love, lost childhood and the search for your own way. Nic, an 

eclectic 23-year old young man is waiting in Bangkok for his lost luggage. Whilst 

searching for necessities of daily life, he is pulled into Bangkok. Like Alice in 

Wonderland, he stumbles with curiosity through a world unknown to him. When 

Nic meets Coco her spirit reminds him of a person he once knew in his childhood. 

He starts to remember his almost forgotten past und begins his journey to look for 

his House of Wishes. Nic is mesmerized by Coco and a love story begins… 

Vanessa van Houten was born in San Rafael, California in 1971. She grew up in 

the Bahamas, Berlin and Augsburg, Germany. After completing studies of Photography 

and Photo Design at Polytechnic University in Dortmund, Vanessa van 

Houten relocated to New York to study Anthology Film Archives in NYC. During 

1997–2007 she studied at Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film, Munich, in the 

Department of Feature Films and Telemovies. This is her first feature film and 

final graduation film from Film School Munich. She works as a Photographer and 

Filmmaker and lives in Melbourne, Australia. She has earlier made Karma Cowboy 

(2001), a docu-fiction, and numerous short films.


“Please, can you tell me another story? No, not a bedtime story. A really exciting 

one…,” the voice of a lonely child begs somebody on the telephone. Craving for 

warmth and compassion, it is Irm, a woman in her early 30s. She calls strangers 

and, imitating a child´s voice, pretends she is a young cancer patient. In heartrending 

conversations, she establishes relationships that she abruptly ends when 

they threaten to become too close. This is Irm’s way of reaching out from her 

life, a life in which she jobs in a laundrette and looks after her bed-ridden mother. 

Though no longer able to talk, her mother still makes it clear that her favourite 

was always Irm´s sister Margit. But now Irm has the upper hand and lets her 

know it. When she meets the self-assured but emotionally vulnerable Sina, she 

comes up against a woman who is in great need of a friend and thinks she´s found 

her in Irm. Caught between the pull of her mother´s imminent death and her 

manipulative play-acting, Irm is increasingly drawn to the strong, life-loving 

woman who offers her friendship. She knows that Sina must learn the truth some 

day and is afraid of losing her. But Sina is more tenacious than she thinks - and 

believes in Irm more than she does herself... 

Felix Randau was born in 1974 in Emden. After studies in German Literature and 

Ethnology in Bonn, he enrolled in the directing programme at the German 

Academy of Film & Television (dffb) in Berlin. He made several short films before 

making his feature film debut with Northern Star (2003). 

53 

Germany 

The Calling Game / Die Anruferin 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 80 mins, German 

Director 

Felix Randau 

Screenplay 

Vera Kissel 


Jutta Pohlmann 

Editor 

Gergana Voigt 

Music 

Thies Mynther 

Cast 

Valerie Koch (Irm Krischka), Esther Schweins (Sina 

Lehmann), Franziska Ponitz (The Mother) 

Costumes 

Sandra Fuhr 

Production 

Wuste Film West in co-production with ZDF | ARTE 

World Sales 

Bavaria Film International 

Bavariafilmplatz 8 

D-82031 Geiselgasteig 

Tel: +49-89-6499-2686 

Fax: +49-89-6499-3720 

email: international@bavaria-film.de 

www.bavaria-film-international.com 


Munich (best actress), San Sebastian


Germany-France-Belgium-South Africa- 

Italy-UK-Luxembourg 

Goodbye Bafana 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 140 mins, English & Xhosa 

Director 

Bille August 

Screenplay 

Greg Latter & Bille August 


Robert Fraisse 

Editor 

Hervé Schneid 

Music 

Dario Marianelli 

Cast 

Joseph Fiennes (James Gregory), Dennis Haysbert (Nelson 

Mandela), Diane Kruger (Gloria Gregory), Shioh Henderson 

(Brent Gregory), Megan Smith (Natasha Gregory), Faith 

Ndukwana (Winnie Mandela), Lesley Mongezi (Walter Sisulu) 

Art 

Tom Hannam 

Costumes 

Diana Cilliers 

Production 

Jean-Luc Van Damme, Ilann Gorard, Andro Steinborn 

54 

IFFI-2007 

South Africa – 1968. Twenty-five million Blacks are ruled by a minority of four 

million Whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party 

Government. Black people have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of 

movement, to own a business, to housing or education. Determined to retain power, 

Whites ban all Black opposition organisations, forcing their leaders into exile or 

imprisoning them for life on Robben Island. James Gregory, a typical White 

Afrikaner, regards Blacks as sub-human. Having grown up on a farm in the 

Transkei, he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This makes him an ideal 

choice to become the warder in charge of Mandela and his comrades on Robben 

Island. After all, Gregory speaks their language and can spy on them. However, 

the plan backfires. Through Mandela’s influence, Gregory’s allegiance gradually 

shifts from the racist government to the struggle for a free South Africa. Goodbye 

Bafana tracks the unlikely but profound relationship between these two men. 

Through their unique friendship, we witness not only Gregory’s growing 

awareness of man’s inhumanity to man, but South Africa’s evolution from 

Apartheid to a vibrant democracy. The story, which documents how Mandela 

became the most inspirational political figure of the modern world, poses the 

questions: Who is the prisoner? And who sets whom free? 

Bille August was born in Denmark in 1948. In the late 1960s he attended Christer 

Strömholm’s School of Photography in Stockholm and then went to the Danish 

Film School in the early 1970s. He worked as a cinematographer on 14 movies 

and TV-features, mainly in Sweden, before starting his directing career with films 

like In My Life (1979), Zappa (1982) and Twist & Shout (1985). It was Pelle the 

Conqueror (1987) which put Bille August firmly on the map of the international 

movie world. In 1988, it was awarded the Palme d’Or in Cannes and in 1989 it 

won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film. 

The legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman chose August to direct his script 

about his parents, The Best Intentions, which won Bille a second Palme d’Or in 

1992. August also directed two episodes in George Lucas’ TV-production The 

Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He has made films like The House of the Spirits 

(1993), Jerusalem (1995), Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1996), Les Misérables (1997), 

A Song for Martin (2001) and Return to Sender (2004). He has been honoured 

for his work as a film director with both the Danish and the Swedish Royal Order 

of Chivalry and the French order Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres.


Five teenagers struggle to discover love but also the whole world. In a small 

village, a group of young people are growing up on dreams, prejudices, secrets 

and lies. And passions – both political and “family”. The summer of 1969 will 

leave its mark on their dreams… Uranya is a very beautiful woman who lives on 

the outskirts of the village, near the sea. The entire male population of the village 

passes through her house. The children watch her, drool over her, dream about 

her. They are bound by a common oath they have sworn in secret: to save money 

so they can pay Uranya a visit and she can finally initiate them in the secrets of 

love. Achilleas, a smart and sensitive boy, dreams more than the others. His dreams 

to reach the moon: he wants to fly, he wants to see the man who set foot on the 

moon, he wants to taste love with Uranya. When the kids are faced by the major 

dilemma of whether to buy the first black-and-white television so they can watch 

the moon landing or use the money to pay Uranya a visit, opinions differ and 

Achilleas is left alone. Will they go back on the oath they gave for Uranya? But 

dreams and fantasy prove more powerful. And the deus-ex-machina knows how 

to do a good job... Uranya was the brand name of the first television sets in Greece 

at the end of the 1960s as well as the name of the film’s lead female character, and 

therefore, as Kapakas admits, “the movie title came only naturally”. 

Born in 1953 in Rhodes, Costas Kapakas studied and worked in Berlin till 1983. 

His first work in film was in animation. He has made several short films that have 

won several international awards. He made his first feature film in 1999, called 

Peppermint, which won a host of awards. 

55 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 98 mins, Greek 

Greece-Italy 

Director 

Costas Kapakas 

Screenplay 

Costas Kapakas 


Stefano Falivene 

Editor 

Giorgos Mavropsaridis 

Music 

Panayotis Kalantzopoulos 

Cast 

Maria Grazia Cucinotta (Uranya), Aria Tsapis, Andreas 

Kyriakakis, Nikos Vassilikiotis,Yorgos Liatis 

Art 

Olga Leontiadou 

Sound 

Marinos Athanassopoulos 

Costumes 

Eva Nathena 

Production 

Cinegram S.A. 

43, Gounari Street 

153, 43, Ag. Paraskevi 

Athens (Greece) 

Tel: +302106078700 

Fax: +302106391318 

email: cinegram@cinegram.gr 

www.cinegram.gr 

World Sales 

FilmSharks Intl 

43 Gounari Street 

153 43 Ag. Paraskevi 

Athens-Greece 

Tel: +302106078700 

Fax: +302106391318 

email: alpha@filmsharks.com 

www.filmsharks.com 


Houston 

Uranya


Hungary 

Dolina 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 122 mins, Hungarian & Romanian 

Director 

Zoltán Kamondi 

Screenplay 

Ádám Bodor, Zoltán Kamondi 


Gábor Medvigy 

Editor 

Zsuzsa Pósán 

Music 

László Melis 

Cast 

Adriano Giannini, Piroska Molnár, Stefania Rivi, János 

Derzsi, Ioana Abur, Milán Vajda, János Bán, Zsolt Trill, Mari 

Törõcsik, Coca Bloos, Gábor Kocsó, Erika Molnár 

Art 

György Árvai 

Sound 

György Kovács 

Costumes 

János Breckl, Edit Szûcs 

Production 

Honeymood Ltd. 


2007: Bitola, Budapest, Karlovy Vary, London Raindance, 

Warsaw 

56 

IFFI-2007 

Bogdanski Dolina is a rundown town in a remote corner of the Earth that has 

been overtaken by terror. At one time Dolina was a flourishing little place, but 

now everything shows the signs of destruction and poverty, even though the 

inhabitants are doing their best to smarten things up a bit for the arrival of a highranking 

guest in the person of the Archbishop. Instead of the Archbishop, however, 

a certain Gabriel Ventuza arrives. On instructions from his brother, Gabriel has 

left behind Western civilization and his medicinal plants, to take the long journey 

to Dolina with the aim of exhuming their father Viktor Ventuza, the famous people 

smuggler, and bringing back his earthly remains. Those in power of the strange 

ecclesiastical unit, the Vicarage, don’t look favourably on the stranger’s arrival. 

But Colentina Dunka, the head of one of the most important establishments in 

Dolina, the hairdressing salon, takes Gabriel under her wing – at which her 

combing ladies promptly fall in love for him. Even so Gabriel’s task is not easy. 

It is very costly, and Petrus, Colentina’s jealous foster son, soon turns up on the 

scene and does everything in his power to thwart Gabriel’s plans...Based on Ádám 

Bodor’s The Archbishop’s Visit. 

Zoltán Kamondi was born in 1960 in Budapest. After finishing his studies at the 

Faculty of Art, he went on to get a degree in film directing at the Academy of 

Theatre and Film Art Budapest, where he graduated in 1988. His examination 

film Kiki and the Males won the Best Direction Award at the West-Berlin Short 

Film Festival in 1985. In 1990, he made his first feature film Path of Death and 

Angels which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. In 1992, 

he started to work in theatre and became a highly acclaimed theatre director in 

Hungary. In 1997, he began shooting The Hungarian Speckled Variety, a 

documentary series, considered by critics as one of the most important documents 

of the years after the political changes in Hungary. In 1996, his video film The 

Golden Deck Chair won the Best Direction Award at the 27th Hungarian Film 

Week. In 1999, his second feature film The Alchemist and the Virgin won the 

Best Independent Feature Award at the Manchester International Film Festival.


After her husband’s death, Hanna Szendrõy, the former prima donna, is caught in the 

claws of the real estate mafia. She loses her lavish home and ends up homeless at the 

Keleti train station. When she returns to her house, now full of homeless people moved 

in by the real estate mafia, an unexpected relationship brings hope into her life again. It 

is a tragicomedy that tells its story through the fate of the protagonist; sometimes it is 

through the darkest hardships that the possibility of a cleaner and more truthful life 

arises, and, that the miracle of love is ageless. The film focuses on today’s familiar form 

of helplessness, the problem of the homeless. 

Judit Elek graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Film Art - Budapest in 1961. At 

the beginning, Elek worked as an assistant director, made several adaptations and 

newsreels in Mafilm. Elek is a founding member of Studio Béla Balázs. Among the 

films Elek made are La Dame de Constantinople / The Lady of Constantinople (1969). 

Peut-être demain / Maybe Tomorrow (1978), La fête de Maria / Maria’s Day (1983), 

and Mémoires d’un fleuve / Memories of a River (1989). 

57 

Hungary 

The Eighth Day of the Week / 

A hét nyolcadik napja 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 103 mins, Hungarian 

Director 

Judit Elek 

Screenplay 

Judit Elek 


László Berger 

Editor 

Judit Elek 

Music 


Cast 

Maja Komorowska (Hanna Szendrõy), Gyula Bodrogi, Franciszek 

Pieczka, Judit Pogány, Sándor Zsótér, Eszter Csákányi, Ádám 

Rajhona, Márta Martin 

Art 

Tamás Banovich 

Sound 

István Sipos 

Costumes 

Györgyi Szakács, János Breckl 

Production 

Dánielfilm Stúdió 


2006: Cairo 

2007: Budapest, Lagow, Paris, Vienna


Iran 

Iranian Prince 

2005, 35 mm, Colour, 101 mins, Persian 

Director 

Mokammad Nourizad 

Screenplay 

Mohammad Nourizad 


Hosein Maleki Mohammad 

Editor 

Bahman Dadashi 

Music 

Mohammad Freshteh Nejad 

Art 

Iraj Raminfar 

Cast 

Dariush Arjmand, Yousef Moradian, Asghar Hemmat, 

Parvanneh Ma’asoumi, Sorayya Ghasemi, Sirus Sabe 

Production 

Avini Cultural Institute 

Old Golestan Market 

Iran Zamin Ave. 

Sanat Square 

Tehran 1465845375 (Iran) 

Tel: +982188572134 

Fax: +982188572142 


Fajr (Iran) 

58 

IFFI-2007 

Tender friendship - he convinces the small group of boys to sneak out of school 

and go to the cinema down the street. For all of them, the experience is exhilarating. 

But the consequences are grim. Mirco is expelled. In the meantime, a broader 

struggle goes on. Once upon a time, an Iranian prince was assigned to arrest a 

champion and take him to the capital . If he could do that, he would add to the 

change in society that is taking place outside. The 1970s political protests are 

erupting. Students are taking to the streets. From of his earlier escapades, Mirco 

had made friends with Ettore, a blind university student with strong political 

awareness. Hearing that Mirco has been expelled, Ettore pushes the whole city to 

mobilize. Students and workers protest in front of the Cassone Institute, 

threatening to shut down the city’s blast furnace if Mirco is not re-admitted. As a 

consequence, the head of the institute is put under investigation. Mirco is finally 

re-admitted and granted special permission: to change the year-end show. Instead 

of reciting the usual religious poems, the children put on a performance of their 

“fairy tale in sound”, before an audience of blind-folded, spellbound parents. 

Mokammad Nourizad is a filmmaker who is taking forward Iran’s rich moviemaking 

traditions.


A young couple makes a trip to a calm place to rest for few days. On the very first 

night, however, an uninvited guest disturbs everything. It turns out that the guest 

is not a stranger. The ensuing narrative opens a Pandora’s box, where the weight 

of guilt and memory and the oppressions of the past bring each character into 

confrontation with the other. A tense and at times a terrifying film, it is an 

adaptation of the Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden to an Iranian context. 

The 1968-born Bijan Mirbagheri has an Art diploma in sculpture and a photography 

bachelor’s degree from The Art University. Since 1985, he has been as a painting 

instructor in the Center of Artistic Creativity (related to the Children and 

Adolescents Intellectual Development Center - CAIDC). He has been an animator 

in Noghli and the Snow Flecks, and an assistant puppet-maker in The Playmate 

directed by Mohammad-Reza Aabedi. 

59 

Iran 

The Day Looms / Rooz Bar Miayad 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, Persian 

Director 

Bijan Mirbagheri 

Screenplay 

Saeed Shahsavari, Bijan Mirbagheri 


Mehdi Jafari 

Editor 

Saeed Shahsavari 

Music 

Keyvan Jahanshahi 

Cast 

Dariush Farhang, Amir Aghaee, Yekta Naser, Mehran Rajabi 

Sound 

Arash Boroumand 

Production 

IRIB, Channel 3 

World Sales 

Cima Media International 

64 Hedayat St. 

Yakhchal Ave. 

Tehran 19497 (Iran) 

www.cmi.ir


Israel 

No Exit 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, Hebrew 

Director 

Dror Sabo 

Screenplay 

Amit Leor, Barak Salonim & Dror Sabo 


Dror Lebendiger 

Editor 

Ayelet Gil 

Music 

Ran Bagno 

Cast 

Gal Zaid, Ofer Shechter, Noa Barkai, Amnon Wolf, Mali Levi- 

Gershon, Michael Moshonov, Yaron Motolla, Eran Sarel, Amit 

Leor, Shiri Maimon 

Art 

Lee Levi 

Sound 

Michael Emet 

Costumes 

Maya Mor 

Production 

Ori Dickstein & Michal Dvash 

Shamaim Content & Productions, Ltd 

12 Hakeshem St, Herzeliya, 46100, Israel 

Mobile: 972 54 522 55 43 

email: dvash.michal@gmail.com, ori@shamaim.tv, 

dvash.michal@gmail.com 

World Sales 

Noa - International Film Marketing 

146/10, Arlozorov St. 

Tel Aviv, 62098 (Israel) 

Tel: +97235233678 

Mobile: +972523603660 

email: noaroll@bezeqint.net 


Jerusalem (Best Film, Best Actor), Melbourne, Shanghai 

60 

IFFI-2007 

It’s the middle of summer, and Zacky Reibenbach, the creator of the reality-show 

Choice of Heart, knows that without an excellent gimmick, there is no chance he 

will repeat the success of the previous two seasons. He recalls his film student 

from university –Yehuda, who has documented the rehabilitation of his friend 

Ethan for the past three years. Ethan became blind under strange circumstances 

during his military service. His exceptional rehabilitation process was developed 

by Yael, Ethan’s personal trainer and Yehuda’s girlfriend. Yael is Ethan’s eyes, 

and with her he is a true phenomenon, which is exactly what Reibenbach is 

searching for. Hence, in this season, ten beautiful women will compete to gain 

Ethan’s affection, but none of them knows that he is blind… 

Dror Sabo graduated with honors from the Sam Spiegel School of Cinema, 

Jerusalem. His graduate film Ancestral Desire represented the school in a 

retrospective held in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in 1996, 

and was screened at many film festivals worldwide and received several 

international awards. In the last eight years, he has developed and directed 

documentary features and TV series that were acclaimed in Israel. In 2004, he 

directed one of Israel’s first reality programmes, Project Y . Since 2006, he has 

been the head of Channel 10 Documentary Department. This is his first fiction 

feature.


Two parallel stories drive this exhilarating coming-of-age tale set in a vibrant, at 

times frightening, Jerusalem. Assaf is in search of the owner of a lost dog; Tamar 

is in search of her missing brother. As their stories converge, the two discover 

themselves and first love. The film is based on the bestselling novel by David 

Grossman. The director spins the tale with two parallel story lines — one 

representing Assaf’s journey in present day and the other of Tamar’s journey 

unfolding from the past, starting two months before her disappearance. This device 

is extremely effective in creating not only a context for the story, but also gives 

the characters a depth that makes them come alive. The complexity of the story 

complements the diversity of the characters in the film and the director succeeds 

in defining the characters in his film as human, multi-faceted and real. 

Oded Davidoff grew up in Jerusalem and graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film 

and Television School. He has directed a number of television commercials for 

many of Israel’s leading companies. His first feature film, the award-winning 

Clean Sweep, was hailed as an instant cult classic. Oded and screenwriter Noah 

Stollman have several new projects in development, including an adaptation of a 

story by IB Singer. 

61 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 118 mins, Hebrew 

Israel 

Someone to Run With / 

Mishehu Larutz Ito 

Director 

Oded Davidoff 

Screenplay 

Noah Stollman, based on a novel by David Grossman 


Yaron Scharf 

Editor 

Ron Omer 

Music 

Ran Shem-Tov 

Cast 

Bar Belfer (Tamar), Yonatan Bar-Or (Asaf), Yuval Mendelson 

(Shai), Rinat Matatov (Shelly), Tzahi Grad (Pesach), Danny 

Steg (Tzahi) 

Art 

Shahar Bar-Adon 

Sound 

Aviv Aldema 

Production 

B&K Productions 

18 Levontin Street 


Tel/Fax: +972-3-5664129 

World Sales 

Cinephil 

18 Levontin Street 


Tel/Fax: +972-3-5664129 


Miami (Special Grand Jury Mention), Calgary, Atlantic, 

Jerusalem, Melbourne, Warsaw, Atlantic, Chicago


Israel-France 

Tehilim 

2007, 35mm, Colour 

Director 

Raphael Nadjari 

Screenplay 

Raphaël Nadjari, Vincent Poymiro 


Laurent Brunet 

Editor 

Sean Foley 

Music 

Nathaniel Mechaly 

Cast 

Michael Moshonov (Menahem), Limor Goldstein (Alma), Reut 

Lev (Dvora), Yonathan Alster (David) 

Art 

Dror Sarogati, Benny Afar 

Production 

Shilo Films 

113, rue Vieille du 

Temple 75003 Paris 

France 

Tel: +33 (0)1 48 78 98 36 

Email: shilo@shilofilms.com 

www.shilofilms.com ; 

Transfax Film 

3 Yagia Kapayim 

67778 Tel Aviv - Israël 

Tel: +972 3 688 5210 

Email: production@transfax.co.il 

www.transfax.co.il 

World Sales: 

Films Distribution 

Tel: +33 (0)1 53 10 33 99 

email: info@filmsdistribution.com 

www.filmsdistribution.com 


Cannes 

62 

IFFI-2007 

In today’s Jerusalem, a Jewish family leads an ordinary life. But following a car 

accident, the father mysteriously disappears. They all deal with his absence and 

the difficulties of everyday life as best they can. While the adults take refuge in 

silence or traditions, the two children, Menachem and David, try in their own 

way to find their father. 

Writer and director Raphael Nadjari was born in 1971 in Marseille. In 1993, 

Nadjari started working for French television and in 1997, he wrote the television 

screenplay for TV drama Le P’tit Bleu. The same year he wrote and directed his 

first US feature, The Shade which was released in 1999. At the end of 1999, 

Raphael directed his second feature, I Am Josh Polonski’s Brother (2001). In 

2004, Nadjari shot Avanim in Tel Aviv.


When Yousef arrived from the Tunisia on exile, he began to work as fisherman, 

and met who would become his best friend: Giuseppe. The two friends decide to 

buy a small fishing boat, but after the 9/11 incident in the United States, the world 

seems to have totally changed. Every dimension of the life is decided by this 

factor of persisting war. Distant from the land, in the middle of the sea, the culture 

of suspicion easily reaches the two friends who in 24 hours will become the two 

new “collateral victims” of the so-called war of civility. 

Mohsen Melliti was born in Tunisia in 1967 but moved to Rome in 1989. In 

1991, he wrote the novel Pantanella hand along the street. This is his debut as a 

screenwriter and director. 

63 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, Italian 

Italy 

Me, The Other / Io, L’ Altro 

Director 

Mohsen Melliti 

Screenplay 

Mohsen Melliti 


Maurizio Calvesi 

Editor 

Marco Spoletini 

Music 

Louis Siciliano 

Cast 

Raoul Bova, Giovanni Martorana, Mario Pupella, Samia 

Zibidi, Lina Besrat Assefa, Mohammed Alì 

Sound 

Gilberto Martinelli 

Costumes 

Carolina Olcese 

Production 

Trees Pictures, Sanmarco Film 

World Sales 

Ondamax Films 

(Eric Mathis/Donald Ranvaud) 

1360, Monad Terrace 

Suit 1, Miami Beach 

FL 33139 (USA) 

Tel: +13055353577, +13052152221 

email: eric@mediamaxgroup.com 

www.ondamaxfilms.com 


Annecy-Italy (Special Jury Prize; Dauphiné Libéré Award), 

Durban, Haifa, Rome


Italy 

Ossidiana 


Director 

Silvana Maja 

Screenplay 

Silvana Maja, Rolando Stefanelli 


Roberta Allegrini 

Editor 

Giogio Franchini 

Music 

Davide Massropaow, Leandno Sorrentino 

Cast 

Teresa Saponangelo (Maria Palliggiano), Renato Carpentieri 

(Emilio Notte), Andrea Renzi (Victor), Vincenza Modica 

(Madre), Tina Femiano (Clelia), Marco Manchisi (Mario 

Persico), Stefania de Francesco (Anna) 

Art 

Giancarlo Savino 

Sound 

Lilio Rosato 

Costumes 

Anna Facchino 


Artimagiche / Thule Film 

Via Loffredi, No. 7 

80138, Napoli (Italy) 

Tel: +39814421403/610 

Fax: +39815571724 

email: thulefilm@virgilio.it 

64 

IFFI-2007 

Naples 1957 – 1969. Maria is a young Neapolitan painter, caught up in the wave 

of experimentation of the 1960s arts scene. She is a woman who lives her life 

enthusiastically embracing the ideals of love and exploration, which for her are 

also the most important guiding principles for an artist. She marries Emilio Notte, 

director of the Naples Academy of Fine Arts and a leading light in the arts avantgarde. 

They have already had a son, Riccardo. During these years Maria tries to 

reconcile the demands of being a mother, wife and artist, attempting to transform 

her life in order to raise it beyond the crude facts of existence. However, the 

withering grip of prejudice, the pressure to conform to what she considers to be 

unacceptable mores eventually takes its toll, inflicting psychological anguish. 

What for others is anxiety, is for her the desire to pursue that tantalising Utopia 

of perfection, rigour and youth. During her brief time, Maria Palliggiano strived 

to be that person who deep inside herself yearned to flourish. She committed 

suicide in 1969. 

Silvana Maja was born and raised in Naples, where she also studied law and 

sociology of communication. She also trained as a writer and journalist. She had 

written her first novel by the age of 18 and began working as a photo reporter, 

initially documenting events from the class conflict, and in later years, the working 

conditions of women in Southern Italy, India and South East Asia. By the end of 

the 1980s, her photo journalism work had shifted its focus to mental illness in 

women. At the same time, she wrote constantly, concentrating on themes related 

to psychology and relationships. This line of research led her in the following 

decade to take a comparative approach to her work, cross-fertilised with input 

from painters, photographers and theatre artists, and marking the start of a course 

of aesthetic development that would change her perception of her life. In 1997, 

she moved to Rome where she now lives and works. The screenplay of Ossidiana 

has been adapted from her eponymous novel, published at the end of 1999.


Inspired by the true story of Mirco Mencacci, one of the most gifted Italian sound 

editors working today, who happens to be blind. A small village in Tuscany, 

1971. Mirco is a bright, lively 10-year-old, crazy about the movies - especially 

Westerns and adventure films. His father, an incurable idealist, is a truck driver. 

One day, while Mirco is playing with an old rifle, the gun accidentally goes off; 

the boy is shot in the head. He survives, but loses his sight. At that time, Italian 

law considered blind people hopelessly handicapped, and did not permit them to 

attend public school. Hence, young Mirco’s parents are forced to shut their son 

up in a “special school for the blind”: the David Chiossone Institute in Genoa. In 

the beginning, Mirco does not accept his new condition. But he is feisty and 

determined. When he finds an old tape recorder and a few used reels and discovers 

that by cutting and splicing tape he can create little fairy tales made only of sounds, 

a brand-new world opens up to him. His new adventure is opposed by the religious 

authorities that run the boarding school, who are convinced that a blind boy is a 

disabled person who must not be allowed to harbour illusions. But Mirco will not 

give up. He continues to fight in every way possible, and he slowly involves his 

classmates, leading them to rediscover their dreams and capacities. 

Cristiano Bortone graduated in film and television from New York University 

after attending the University of Southern California. In 1991, he formed the 

independent production company Orisa Produzioni. Over the years, Bortone has 

been involved in a number of professional endeavors as a visual artist and writer. 

His work as a director, screenwriter and producer includes features, documentaries 

and television programmes for major Italian networks. 

65 

Italy 

Red Like The Sky / Rosso Come Il Cielo 


Director 

Cristiano Bortone 

Screenplay 

Cristiano Bortone, Monica Zapelli, Paolo Sassanelli 


Vladan Fadovic 

Editor 

Carla Simoncelli 

Music 

Ezio Bosso 

Cast 

Luca Capriotti, Paolo Sassanelli, Marco Cocci, Simone 

Colombari, Rosanna Gentili 

Art 

Davide Bassan 

Costumes 

Monica Simeone 

Production 

Orisa Produzioni 

(Daniele Mazzocca, Cristiano Bortone) 

Via Marsilio Ficino 5 

00136 Rome (Italy) 

Tel: +390639750996-64 

Fax: +390639889715 

email: info@orisa.it 

www.orisa.it 

World Sales 

Adriana Chiesa Enterprises Srl 

Via Barnaba Oriani 

24/a - 00197 Roma (Italy) 

Tel: +39068086052 

Fax: 0390680687855 

email: info@adrianachiesaenterprises.com


Itlay 

Rush Hour / L’ora di punta 

2007, 35mm, Colour, 95 mins, Italian 

Director 

Vincenzo Marra 

Screenplay 

Vincenzo Marra 


Luca Bigazzi 

Editor 

Luca Benedetti 

Cast 

Fanny Ardant (Caterina), Michele Lastella (Filippo), Giulia 

Bevilacqua (Francesca), Augusto Zucchi (Captain Salvi), 

Atonio Gerardi (Donati), Barba Valmorin (Anna) 

Art 

Beatrice Scarpato 

Sound 

Sandro Peticca, Remo Ugolinelli 

Costumes 

Daniella Ciancio 

Production 

R&C Prods., The French Connection, RAI Cinema 

World Sales 

Films Distribution 

34 rue du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France. 

T: (33-1) 5310-3399 F: (33-1) 5310-3398 

info@filmsdistribution.com 


Venice, Toronto 

66 

IFFI-2007 

Vincenzo Marra’s new film covers vast territory in the life of one man. With 

often breathtaking, and unsettling, narrative leaps, it follows the singular path of 

a protagonist who ultimately remains an enigma but whose choices profoundly 

affect the lives of others. The film feels like an epic because of the ground we 

travel, but the scale is intimate and small, intently focused on the central character. 

Filippo has been commissioned into the Guardia di Finanza, an Italian military 

police force under the authority of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Stiff, 

alert, attentive, Filippo – who is proud to be following in the footsteps of his 

father – has already caught the eye of his superior. Sent out to audit a company, 

he immediately uncovers false invoices and illegal workers, and levies a significant 

fine. When the owner approaches him with a bribe, Filippo makes his first key 

decision. It is not long before he is a man on the move, confidently navigating the 

shoals of Roman society, the only fly in the ointment being a messy split with his 

girlfriend whom he is unable to forget. Soon, however, he meets the svelte, 

charming, attractive – and older – owner of a gallery while conducting another 

investigation. Caterina is well-connected, and before long Filippo is mingling in 

society, rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty. Her many acquaintances 

lead him to new heights and new aspirations. Will his reach exceed his grasp? 

Marra’s previous films contained a subtle critique of Italian society, and this is 

no different. 

Vincenzo Marra was born in Naples. He has directed the short films Una Rosa 

prego (1998) and La Vestizione (1998), and the documentaries Outsiders of the 

Crowd (2001) and The Session Is Open (2006). His other feature films are Sailing 

Home (2001), which won several awards at the Venice International Film Festival 

in 2001, and Vento di terra (2004).


The Avakians are a rich Armenian family. Two family members are Aram, a landowner 

living in a small town in Turkey, and Assadour, a successful doctor from 

Venice. The brothers have not seen each other for a long time and decide to meet 

in Armenia. While Assadour prepares himself for his trip to his native land, Aram 

began preparing the old family seat. Meanwhile, the political situation has grown 

more acute as the times are volatile. Since coming to power in 1913, the 

government of Young Turks has made it their goal to create one vast Turkish 

empire. In 1915, Italy and France enter into an alliance against Turkey and Austria. 

Assadour is hoping to be able to travel from Italy to his homeland when all hell 

breaks loose in Armenia. The Young Turks order the massacre of the Armenians. 

The two brothers never meet as they get caught in the genocide. 

Vittorio Taviani (born 20.9.1929) and his brother Paolo (born 8.11.1931) were 

both born in San Miniato, Italy. Vittorio studied law in Pisa and his brother, art. 

Developing an interest in film, in 1954, the brothers made their first short film, 

San Miniato Lugilo ‘ 44, about their own village. They made names for themselves 

abroad with the 1977 work, Padre Padrone. In their long career, they have made 

films like L’Italia Non E Un Paese Povero (1960), Un Uomo Da Bruciare (1962), 

Il Prato (1979), La Notte Di San Lorenzo (1982), Kaos (1984), Good Morning 

Babylon (1987). 

67 


Italy-Bulgaria-Spain-France 

The Lark Farm / 

La Messeria Delle Allodole 

Director 

Paolo & Vittorio Taviani 

Screenplay 

Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani, based on a book by Antonia 

Arslan 


Beppe Lanci 

Editor 

Roberto Perpignani 

Music 

Giuliano Taviani 

Cast 

Paz Vega, Moritz Bleibtreu, Angela Molina, Alessandro 

Preziosi, Mohamed Bakri 

Art 

Andrea Crisanti 

Sound 

Daniel Fontrodona 

Costume 

Lina Nerli Taviani 

Production 

Ager 3, supported by MiBAC in collaboration with Rai 

Cinema, Eagle Pictures co-production with Nimar Studios, 

Sagrera TV TVE (Madrid); Flach Film, France 2 Cinema, 

Canal+, 27 Films Production, Ard Degeto (Paris); supported 

by Euroimages 

World Sales 

01Distribution 


Berlin, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Montreal


Italy-France-Switzerland 

The Missing Star / La Stella Che Non C’E‘ 


Director 

Gianni Amelio 

Screenplay 

Gianni Amelio, Umberto Contarello 


Luca Bigazzi 

Editor 

Simona Paggi 

Music 

Franco Piersanti 

Cast 

Sergio Castellitto, Tai Ling, Hiu Sun Ha, Wang Biao 

Art 

Attilio Viti 

Sound 

Remo Ugolinelli 

Costumes 

Cristina Fracioni 

Production 

Cattleya, Rai Cinema, Babe Films, CaracFilm, RTSI Swiis 

Television 


Copenhagen, Vancouver, Istanbul, Palm Springs, Seattle, Rio, 

Stockholm, London, Toronto 

68 

IFFI-2007 

Vincenzo, the maintenance manager of a steel mill in Bagnoli, is charged with 

the responsibility of shutting down the plant and selling the molten metal to the 

Chinese. When things are just wrapping up, Vincenzo realises that the Chinese 

were sold a defective machine, which years earlier had caused the death of a 

worker. Having discovered a way to fix to machine, Vincenzo leaves for China 

where accompanied by an interpreter, Liu Hua, he will try to track down the plant 

and fix the machine. As Vincenzo’s journey carries him deeper and deeper into 

the country, Amelio gently teases out the lessons of the tale’s developing 

metaphorical dimension. It is a story that serves to illuminate the cultural difference 

between West and East. The movie is based on the novel La Dismissione by 

Ermanno Rea. 

Gianni Amelio was born in San Pietro Magisano, Italy. He has won many 

international awards, including the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1992 Cannes Film 

Festival for Stolen Children. Five of his features have screened at the Cannes 

Festival: A Blow to the Heart (1982), Open Doors (1990), Lamerica (1994), The 

Way We Laughed (1998) and The House Keys (2004).


Set in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in mid-18th century, it is a story of a way of life, 

the subtleties of human nature, and intrigue. Based on an award-winning novel, it 

is above all a story about family — the ties that bind husbands and wives, parents 

and children, brother and sisters, and the quirks of fate that threaten to pull them 

apart. The film opens on a crowded bridge where a little boy is separated from his 

parents, and seems to disappear into thin air. He is the sole heir to a long-established 

tofu shop. Twenty years later, a young man named Eikichi comes from Kyoto to 

open a tofu shop in a friendly neighbourhood. He meets a feisty local girl Ofumi, 

who befriends him as he sets up his shop. Kyo-ya, Eikichi immediately encounters 

difficulties stemming from cultural differences between the two ancient capitals 

— including the favoured taste of the tofu itself. Not easily deterred, Ofumi keeps 

a positive attitude while Eikichi maintains his craftsman’s pride by continuing to 

make tofu and do business the Kyoto way. Eventually, Eikichi and Ofumi marry. 

They have become owners of the tofu shop on a more respectable street. Their 

firstborn son, Eitaro beas the burn of other tofu shops’ animosity toward Kyoya’s 

refusal to comply with Edo’s way of running business. He starts to frequent 

a gambling hall run by the mysterious ‘Boss’. 

Masaki Hamamoto, born in 1963, earlier made Ekiden in 2000. he built his career 

as an assistant director before making his directorial debut. He has previously 

worked under Masahiro Shinoda, co-writer of Akanezora, in the renowed director’s 

Owls’ Castle and Spy Sorge, and is regarded as one of the most promising directors 

today. 

69 

Japan 

Beyond the Crimson Sky / Akanezora 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 120 mins, Japanese 

Director 

Masaki Hamamoto 

Screenplay 

Masaki Hamamoto, Masahiro Shinoda 


Tatsuo Suzuki 

Editor 

Naoji Kawaguchi 

Music 

Taro Iwashiro 

Cast 

Masaaki Uchino, Miki Nakatani, Renji Ishibashi, Shima 

Iwashita 

Art 

Naoji Kawaguchi 

Production 

Akanezora LLP 

OLC Rights Entertainment (Japan) Inc 

Kyobashi Mitsubishi Building, 8th Floor 

1-7-3, Ginza Chou-ku 

Tokyo 104-0061 (Japan) 

Tel: +81351595050 

Fax: +81351595051 

World Sales 

Open Sesame Co Ltd 

Ritsuko Abe/Kaho Nakane 

14-6, Ginza, Chuo-ku 


Tel: +81351590871 

Fax: +81335616262 

Email: ritsuko@open-sesame.jp 


Taoramina


Japan 

Love My Life 


Director 

Koji Kawano 

Screenplay 

Hiroko Kanasugi 


Jun Fukumoto 

Editor 

Hiroaki Morishita 

Music 

Noodles 

Cast 

Rei Yoshii, Asami Imajuku, Naomi Akimoto, Miyoko Asada, 

Kami Hiraiwa, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi 

Sound 

Koji Yamada 


Open Sesame Co Ltd 

Ritsuko Abe/Kaho Nakane 

14-6, Ginza, Chuo-ku 


Tel: +81351590871 

Fax: +81335616262 

email: ritsuko@open-sesame.jp 


Atlantic (Nova Scotia), Pusan 

70 

IFFI-2007 

Ichiko Lzumiya, 18, goes to language school and works at a CD shop. She lives 

with her translator father after her mother passed away. One day, she falls in love 

with someone who is very smart, and shows her various worlds. The person’s 

name is Ellie. Yes, she is a girl. When Ichiko introduced Ellie to her father, he is 

surprised but he understood them at the same time. ‘Thank you Dad! I knew 

you’d understand us’, thinks Ichiko. However, she did not know that he would 

confess some secrets to her as well. ‘Ichiko, I am gay. And your mother was 

lesbian’. She did not see this was coming. What is love? What is usual? What is 

myself? Those questions never stops coming to her head, but no one gives her 

answers. Is it so hard to live just as oneself? Adapted from the Yuri Manga comic 

of the same name by popular female writer Ebine Yamaji. 

Koji Kawano was born in Fukuoka in 1972. After graduating from Visual Arts 

School, he worked at a film production company where he was involved in the 

films of Toshiaki Toyoda, Naoto Takenaka and Edward Yang. This is his feature 

directorial debut.


Old Shigeki, suffering from senile dementia, lives in a small retirement home 

filled with light and tranquility that sits on the edge of a mighty forest. He holds 

on to a special relationship with his dead wife, Mako, his long letters to her the 

silent testimony of his undying love. But now the 33 rd anniversary of Mako’s 

death is approaching and, according to Japanese Buddhist beliefs, this means the 

departed must travel to the land of Buddha. The time has come for the couple to 

part forever. Harbinger of this ritual separation is Machiko, a young nurse at the 

home who seems to devote special attention to Shigeki, even though she is still 

shakily coping with the recent death of her son. Only one syllable separates 

Machiko’s name from Mako’s, causing it to echo in Shigeki’s confused mind. 

One day, disoriented in the woods, the young woman and the old man lose their 

identities, then regain and redefine them. The weaker becomes the stronger, the 

caregiver becomes the cared for. The film is set in the breathtaking mountainous 

region of Tawara in western Japan, where villagers still perform archaic funerary 

rites, and where a spirit of bereavement seems to dwell in the mystical, verdant 

forest. Though grounded in the effortless performance of non-professional actor 

Uda, the film refuses to rely on a purely anthropocentric narrative. Kawase’s 

naturalistic touch creates an inner geography of emotion, gracefully linking it to 

the region’s awe-inspiring topography in a way that recalls Japan’s long tradition 

of landscape painting. It spotlights Kawase’s harmonious style of filmmaking, 

giving us a modern reflection on ageing that also lyrically exalts nature’s primeval 

majesty 

Naomi Kawase was born in Nara, Japan, and graduated from the Osaka School of 

Photography. She made her directorial debut with the short documentary 

Embracing (1992), which received a FIPRESCI Special Mention Prize at the 

Yamagata International Film Festival, and followed it with her first fiction film, 

White Moon (1993). Her first fiction feature was Suzaku (1997), which won 

multiple awards including the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Her other 

films include This World (co-director, 1995), The Weald (1997), Kaleidoscope 

(1999), Hotaru (2000), Shara (2003) and birth/mother (2006). 

71 

Japan-France 

The Mourning Forest / Mogari No Mori 


Director 

Naomi Kawase 

Screenplay 

Naomi Kawase 


Hideyo Nakano 

Editor 

Yuji Oshige, Tina Baz 

Music 

Masamichi Shigeno 

Cast 

Shigeki Uda (Shigeki), Machiko Ono (Machiko), Makiko 

Watanabe ( Wakako), Kanako Masuda (Shigeki’s wife), 

Yohichiro Saito (Machiko’s husband) 

Art 

Toshihiro Isomi 

Sound 

David Vranken, Vincent Maduit, Shigetake Ao 

Production 

Kumie Inc./ Celluloid Dreams Productions/ Visual Arts 

College Osaka 

1026-2 Horen-cho, Nara-shi, Nara 630-8113 Japan. 

Tel: (81-7) 4227-2216 

Fax: (81-7) 4226-1830 

email: noirmam@sepia.ocn.ne.jp 

World Sales 

Dreammachine 

Tel: +33 (0)1 49 70 03 70 

email: info@celluloid-dreams.com 

www.celluloid-dreams.com 


Cannes (Grand Prix), Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Melbourne, 

London


Latvia 

Don’t Talk About It / Par to nerunâ 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, Latvian 

Director 

Una Celma 

Screenplay 

Dace Ruksane 


Fanis Eclitis 

Editor 

Gunta Ikere 

Music 

Brauns Martins 

Cast 

Rçzija Kalniòa (Beatrise), Sandra Zvîgule, Ìirts Íesteris, Juris 

Þagars, Harijs Spanovskis, Lenarda Íestere, Lâsma Buðmane 

Art 

Kaspars Karklins 

Sound 

A Krenbergi 

Costumes 

Roberts Kraule 

Production 

Latsfilma 

Caka 33-43 Riga, Latvia 

Tel: +371 7280111 

World Sales 

Screen Vision 

72 

IFFI-2007 

Beatrise is in her thirties, drifting in her life. She has never made independent 

decisions but based her life on unsuccessful relationships collapsing one after 

another like sand castles. Forced to re-evaluate her life she realises that the only 

way to reach harmony is to start making decisions by herself not relaying to 

circumstances, illusory feelings and beautiful words. 

Una Celma studied at the University of Latvia Faculty of Law, and at the Russian 

State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in the Film Directing department. She 

has worked at the Riga Film Studio, freelanced for the TV channels NTV-5, 

Swedish TV and BBC World Service, and as an audiovisual author’s rights 

consultant for the AKKA/LAA (Latvian Copyright Association). As a director 

she has made ten films, working in both the documentary and the feature film 

fields. The biggest audience and critical response to date has been for her 

documentary film, 1960.gada meitenes (The Girls of 1960, 1994) – a biting story 

about her female classmates and their fates. Her feature film, Seko man (Follow 

me, 1999), a Latvian-Swedish co-production – an ironically-toned domestic 

comedy about a Latvian girl’s search for the perfect man in Sweden – provided 

her with co-production experience. Olu kundze (Egg Lady, 2000), became an 

international film festival bestseller, tugging at heartstrings with its charming 

main character, its kind-hearted tone, and its ability to artistically utilise Soviet 

Era newsreel material. Sauja lo•u (Handful of Bullets, 2003) was another Latvian- 

Swedish co-production. Un tad es atgriezîðos pa îstam (And Then I’ll Be Back 

For Good, 2003), is Una Celma’s documentary research on the Latvian guest 

workers in Ireland who have been forced to go abroad to earn a subsistence for 

their families. Work on the documentary film about the dreams and real lives of 

Swedish women, A Holiday in the Sun (2004), has been completed.


Tok Wan Rimau, the custodian of the spiritual tiger, is searching for a female heir 

to inherit her powers. Tina and Ari are the relatives of Tok Wan. They are also 

best friends. Tok Wan’s spiritual tiger protects her family and their village from 

harm. Tina, who is in love with Ari, nurtures her secret dream of marrying him 

even though the villagers often ridicule the effeminate Ari as a sissy. Deeply 

traumatised by these insults, Ari continues to hide behind his close relationship 

with Tina. Despite parental objections, Tina seems destined to be the next in line 

as custodian of the mystical tiger. But Ari steps in, offering himself instead... 

Based on local folkfore of “Rimau Datuk” (a guardian spirit in the form of tiger). 

Shuhaimi Baba has made several feature films till date. 

73 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 110 mins, Malay 

Malaysia 

Heir to the Spiritual Tiger / 

Waris Jari Hantu 

Director 

Shuhaimi Baba 

Screenplay 

Shuhaimi Baba, Halina Abd Samad 


Mohd Filus Ghazali 

Editor 

Kamaruddin Abu 

Music 

Shamsul Cairel Abdul Karim 

Cast 

Maya Karin Roelcke (Tina), Rusdi Ramli (Ari), Azean 

Irdawaty, Kavita Sidhu, Nanu Baharudin 

Sound 

Ashley Ronald Grenville, Ibrahim Elias 

Art 

Aida Buyong, Kamarul Nizam 

Costumes 

Hasnan Yaccob 

Production 

Pesona Pictures Sdn Bhd 

29, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 

7, Tmn Tun Dr Ismail 

60000 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) 

Tel: +60377282427, +60377282316 

Fax: +60377291586, +60377281446 

email: admin@pesonapictures.com.my 

www.warisjarihantu.com


Mexico 

Pan’s Labyrinth / El Laberinto del fauno 


Director 

Guillermo del Toro 

Screenplay 

Guillermo del Toro 


Guillermo Navarro 

Editor 

Bernat Vilaplana 

Music 

Javier Navarrete 

Cast 

Ivana Baquero (Ofelia), Sergi López (Capitán Vidal), Maribel 

Verdú (Mercedes), Doug Jones (Pan / Pale Man), Ariadna Gil 

(Carmen Vidal), Álex Angulo (Dr. Ferreiro), Manolo Solo 

(Garcés) 

Art 

Eugenio Caballero 

Costumes 

Lala Huete, Rocío Redondo 

Production 

Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, Bertha Navarro, Frida 

Torresblanco, Alvaro Augustin 


Oscar (Best Cinematography, Best Art, Best Make-up), 

Cannes, BAFTA Awards (Best Foreign Language Film, 

Costume, Make-up and Hair) 

74 

IFFI-2007 

Spain, 1944. Officially, the Civil War has been over for five years, but a small 

group of rebels fights on unbroken in the northern mountains of Navarra. Dreamy 

10-year-old Ofelia moves to Navarra with her delicate, pregnant mother Carmen, 

to become acquainted with her new stepfather, Captain Vidal, a Fascist officer 

under orders to rid the territory of rebels. Ofelia, who is fascinated by fairy tales, 

discovers an overgrown, tumbledown labyrinth behind the mill. In the heart of 

the labyrinth she meets Pan, an ancient satyr who claims to know her true identity 

and her secret destiny. But first, she must complete three tasks before the moon 

grows full. And no one must know: not her ailing mother, or her new friend, 

Mercedes. Time is running out, for Ofelia and for the rebels. Both will have to 

battle hardship and cruelty in order to gain their freedom. But, who can be trusted 

in a time of lies and danger? Is Pan telling the truth...? And if not, who is? Set 

against the backdrop of fascist Spain in 1944, Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fairy tale 

that distils his distinctive mix of fact and fantasy, poetry and politics, pain and 

pleasure. It’s an epic, poetic vision in which the grim realities of war are matched 

and mirrored by a descent into an underworld populated by fearsomely beautiful 

monsters - a transformative, life-affirming 

Guillermo del Toro Gómez, born in 1964 in Guadalajara, Mexico, is an Academy 

Award-nominated film director. Del Toro studied in the Instituto de Ciencias, and 

was raised by his Catholic grandmother. Del Toro first got involved with 

filmmaking when he was about eight years old. He executive produced his first 

feature in 1986 , at the age of 21. Before that he spent nearly 10 years as a makeup 

designer, and formed his own company, Necropia, in the early 1980s. He also 

co-founded the Guadalajara-based Mexican film festival. Later on in his directing 

career, he formed his own production company, the Tequila Gang. In 1998, his 

father was kidnapped in Mexico, which prompted del Toro to move abroad to 

live as an expatriate. Del Toro currently lives in Westlake Village, a bedroom 

community in Los Angeles. He has directed a wide variety of films, from comic 

book adaptations (Hellboy and Blade II) to historical fantasy and horror films, 

two of which are set in Spain during or in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War 

under the authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco. These two films, El espinazo 

del diablo (The Devil’s Backbone) and El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth), 

are among his most critically-acclaimed works. They also share similar settings, 

young children as protagonists, and themes . Del Toro, said in an interview about 

lists several fascinations that have become regular features in his films: “I have a 

sort of a fetish for insects, clockwork, monsters, dark places, and unborn things.”


Marcela lives in Mexico City and earns a living as a dance teacher. Her small 

world seems to be going fine; there is a prospect of opening to her own academy 

and there are love plans ahead. However, she finds out that something is not right 

in her parents’ house: an underground discomfort that grows week by week. Her 

mother Gloria has started to withdraw, talk about strange things out of the house’ 

everyday activities and memory drifts. At the same, her father Nacho loses his 

job and with it his self-esteem. Marcela tries to do the impossible to save to her 

family but how? 

Juan Pablo Villasenor was born in Morelia, Michoacán, where he studied 

Philosophy and Medicine. In 1982, he joined the Center of Cinematographic 

Qualification, from where he graduated with the short film and I who I want so 

much to it, winning an Ariel prize. His first film In case I do not return to see you, 

won 30 prizes, among them the Ariel de Oro to the Best Mexican film, in 1997, 

and several international awards. He is also a writer, and by all means a scriptwriter. 

He has written three story books: The shipwrecks of the coffer of Noah, Brothers 

and Hearts of smoke. 

75 

Mexico 

Wait for Me in another World / 

Esperame En Otro Mundo 


Director 

Juan Pablo Villasenor 

Screenplay 

Juan Pablo Villasenor 


Martin Boege 

Editor 

Miguel Lavandeira 

Music 

Jimena Jiménez Piece 

Cast 

Natalia Esperón (Marcela), Margarita Sanz (Gloria), Calf 

Fernando (Nacho), Jorge Galván (Dr Zavala), Luis Rábago 

(Dr Parra), Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez (Dra. Luengo), Carmen 

Huete (Tere) 

Art 

Claudius Contreras 

Sound 

Antonio Diego, Ernesto Gaytán 

Costumes 

Alexander Gastélum 

Production 

Mexican Film Institute 

Insurgentes Sur 674 

2nd Floor Del Valle 03100 

Mexico City, Mexico 


Guadalajara


The Netherlands 

Black Book 

2006, 35mm, Colour, 145 mins, 

Dutch-German-English-Hebrew 

Director 

Paul Verhoeven 

Screenplay 

Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven 


Karl Walter Lindenlaub 

Editor 

Job ter Burg, James Herbert 

Music 

Anne Dudley 

Cast 

Carice van Houten (Rachel/Ellis), Sebastian Koch (Ludwig 

Müntze), Thom Hoffman (Hans Akkermans), Halina Reijn 

(Ronnie), Waldemar Kobus (Günther Franken), 

Derek de Lint (Gerben Kuipers), Christian Berkel (General 

Käutner), Dolf de Vries (Notary Smaal) 

Art 

Wilbert Van Dorp, Maarten Piersma, Wilbert Van Dorp 

Sound 

Georges Bossaers 

Costumes 

Yan Tax 

Production 

Fu Works Productions, Hector, Motel Films, Clockwork 

Pictures, Egoli Tossell Film 

World Sales 

Sony Pictures Classics 

Carmelo Pirrone 

550 Madison Ave 

New York, NY 10022, USA 

Tel: 212-833-8833 

Fax: 212-833-8844 


Venice, Palm Springs, Toronto, Miami 

76 

IFFI-2007 

Director Paul Verhoeven returns to Holland to direct this World War II thriller. 

Rachel, a celebrated Jewish singer who joins the Dutch resistance to track down 

the Nazis who killed her family, is caught in a web of seduction, betrayal, and 

revenge. In this complex moral drama, no one is who they appear to be. 

Paul Verhoeven directed his first film Een Hagedis Teveel in 1960, followed by 

the TV series Floris and the box office hit Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight) starring 

Monique van der Ven and Rutger Hauer. His next exploits were Keetje Tippel 

(Katie Tippel), Soldier of Orange, Spetters and De Vierde Man (The Fourth Man). 

In 1999 Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight) was honoured as the Best Dutch Film of 

the Century; it was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. 

Verhoeven’s international breakthrough came with RoboCop, followed by the box 

office hits Total Recall and the trailblazing Basic Instinct. In 1997 he made Starship 

Troopers, an indictment of the establishment. In 2000, he made Hollow Man.


Ordinary people find extraordinary courage in the face of madness. On 13-14 

November 1990 that madness came to Aramoana, a small New Zealand seaside 

village. It came in the form of a lone gunman with a high-powered automatic 

rifle. As he stalked his victims the terrified and confused residents were trapped 

in the village for 24 hours while a handful of under-resourced and under-armed 

local policeman risked their lives trying to find him and save the survivors. It 

remains the worst mass murder in New Zealand’s history. Terrified and confused 

residents were trapped in their homes for 24 hours, not knowing where David 

Gray was – or if they would become his next victim. There were great feats of 

bravery on that terrible day – from ordinary people in the most extraordinary of 

situations. 

New Zealand director Robert Sarkies chose a true-life story based on a tragedy 

for his second feature. His debut feature Scarfies was a cult hit in New Zealand in 

2000, and also won seven awards at the NZ Film Awards, including Best Picture 

and Best Director. Sarkies has had a passion for filmmaking since he first began 

making movies in his hometown of Dunedin as an eight-year-old. Combining his 

love of drama, technology and pyrotechnics, Rob’s commitment to being a 

filmmaker saw him save his lunch money at school and put it towards his student 

films. The sacrifice paid off: by his early 20s, his short Dream Makers had won 

him first prize at the Semana de Cine Experimental Festival in Madrid, and Signing 

Off picked up six international awards, including first prize at the Montreal 

International Film Festival. 

77 


New Zealand 

Out of the Blue 

Director 

Robert Sarkies 

Screenplay 

Robert Sarkies, Graeme Tetley 


Greig Fraser 

Editor 

Annie Collins 

Music 

Victoria Kelly 

Cast 

Karl Urban (Harvey), Matthew Sunderland (David Gray), Lois 

Lawn (Helen Dickson), Simon Ferry (Garry Holden), Tandi 

Wright (Julie Ann Bryson), Paul Glover (Paul Knox) 

Art 

David Kolff, Ken Turner 

Sound 

Dave Whitehead 

Costumes 

Lesley Burkes-Harding 

Production 

Southern Light Films & Desert Road Films Production 

World Sales 

NZ FILM 

Kathleen Drumm 

Level 3, The Film centre 

119 Ghuznee Street, Wellington 6011 

New Zealand 

Tel: +64 4 382 7680 

Fax: +64 4 384 9719 

email: kathleen@nzfilm.co.nz 

www.nzfilm.co.nz 


Toronto, Goteborg, Dublin, Hong Kong, Natfilm Festival 

(Denmark), Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, Fantasy Film 

Festival (Germany), Saint-Tropez Antipodes Film Festival 

(France)


Norway 

Reprise / Auf Anfang 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 106 mins, Nordik 

Director 

Joachim Trier 

Screenplay 

Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier 


Jakob Ihre 

Editor 

Olivier Bugge Couté 

Music 

Ola Fløttum and Knut Schreiner 

Cast 

Espen Klouman Høiner (Erik), Anders Danielsen Lie (Phillip), 

Christian Rubeck (Lars), Odd Magnus Williamson (Morten), 

Pål Stokka (Geir), Viktoria Winge (Kari), Silje Hagen 

(Lillian), Henrik Elvestad (Henning), Thorbjørn Harr (Mathis 

Wergeland), Sigmund Sæverud (Sten Egil Dahl), Elisabeth 

Sand (Hanne, Erik’s mother), Tone Danielsen (Inger, Phillip’s 

mother) 

Art 

Roger Rosenberg 

Sound 

Morten Solum 

Costumes 

Maria Bohlin 

Production 

4 1/2 AS 

St. Olavsgt. 21C 

N-0165 Oslo, Norway 

Tel: +47 22 94 24 94 

Fax: +47 22 94 24 99 

email: karin@fourandahalf.no 

World Sales 

Nordisk Film International Sales 

Mosedalsvej 14, DK-2500 Valby 

Tel: +45 36 18 82 00 

Fax: +45 36 18 95 50 

email: contact@nordiskfilm.com 

www.sales.nordiskfilm.com 


2006: Karlovy Vary (Crystal Globe for Best Director, Don 

Quijote Award from FICC (International Federation of Film 

Societies), Norwegian International Film Festival (Haugesund), 

Toronto (Diesel Discovery Award), London, Sundance 

2007: Rotterdam (Young People’s Jury Award), Göteborg, 

Cleveland, Stockholm, Istanbul (Grand Prize “Golden Tulip”), 

Buenos Aires, Minneapolis, Linz, Jeonju (South Korea), San 

Francisco, Seattle, Festroia (Portugal), Transilvania, 

Melbourne, Milan (Best Film), Umeå (Sweden), Helsinki, 

Haifa, Seville, Athens, Riga (Latvia) 

78 

IFFI-2007 

It is a playful film about friendship, madness and creativity, about love and sorrow, 

great ambitions and the often unpleasant clash between youthful presumptions 

and reality. With its somewhat un-Norwegian structure, Reprise has a distinct 

style and narrative technique which moves the story forward in a rich and 

enthusiastic manner. Erik and Phillip are trying to make it as writers. Erik is 

rejected by publishers as lacking in talent, while Phillip’s manuscript is accepted 

and the young man becomes a major name on the Norwegian cultural scene 

practically overnight. Six months later, Erik and his friends come to visit Phillip 

at a psychiatric hospital to bring him home after long-term treatment. Writing is 

the last thing on Phillip’s mind, but Erik is continuing his literary attempts and 

tries to convince his friend to go back to writing. This film could be seen as a 

subtle reflection on youth as a time of promise, plans and hopes which gradually 

dissolve under the impact of life experiences. If the style of the narration is 

reminiscent of the poetic works of the French New Wave, it’s no coincidence: the 

director admits to the influence of François Truffaut, in particular, the latter’s 

Jules and Jim, in which fundamental themes are treated with an enchantingly 

light touch. 

Norwegian-Danish director Joachim Trier makes his feature film debut with 

Reprise. Trier, born in 1974, is a graduate of the National Film and Television 

School in England. He has already made a string of celebrated short films. Three 

of them, Procter (2002), Pietà (2000) and Still (2000), have been screened at 

more than 30 international film festivals and won many awards. The most 

important accolades include the Prix UIP and the Kodak Short Film Bureau Award 

for Best British and Best European Film, which Procter garnered at the Edinburgh 

Festival in 2002. Trier also directed commercials in England and Norway for the 

company Moland Film AS. Joachim has twice been the National Skateboard 

Champion in Norway.


The sequel to Karol-a Man who Became Pope was long awaited among many 

viewers since the director used his best endeavors to make the biopic of John 

Paul II most accurate and touching. While the first part dealt with the 1939-1978 

period and the early life of Karol Wojtyla, the sequel deals with his long, fruitful 

1978-2005 pontiff. The director dynamically presents the Pontiff. The movie is 

filled with wonderful symbolic moments. 

Giacomo Battiato, born in 1943, is an Italian film director and writer. Born in 

Verona, he started his career in 1973 on Italian Rai TV, Ten years later, he made 

his debut in cinema with I paladini. He directed two fiction dedicated at Pope 

John Paul II, Karol: A Man Who Became Pope (Karol, un uomo diventato Papa, 

2005) and Karol: The Pope, The Man (Karol, un papa rimasto uomo, 2006). 

79 

Poland-Italy-Canada 

Karol - The Pope, the Man / 

Karol un Papa rimasto uomo 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 200 mins, Polish 

Director 

Giacomo Battiato 

Screenplay 

Giacomo Battiato, Gianfranco Svidercoschi 


Giovanni Mammolotti 

Editor 

Alessandro Heffler 

Music 

Ennio Morricone 

Cast 

Piotr Adamczyk (Pope John Paul II), Dariusz Kwasnik 

(Stanislaw Dziwisz), Michele Placido (Dr. Renato 

Buzzonetti), Alberto Cracco (Agostino Casaroli), Adriana 

Asti (Mother Theresa), Raoul Bova (Father Thomas), Leslie 

Hope (Julia Ritter) 

Art 

Lorenzo D’Ambrosio 

Sound 

Dave Tinsley 

Production 

Pietro Valsecchi 

World Sales 

Jasna 10/120, 00-013 

Warszawa Poland


Poland 

Tricks / Sztuczki 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, Polish 

Director 

Andrzej Jakimowski 

Screenplay 

Andrzej Jakimowski 


Adam Bajerski 

Cast 

Damian Ul, Ewelina Walendziak, Rafa³ Gu¿niczak, Tomasz 

Sapryk 

Production 

Zjednoczenie Artystów i Rzemieœlników Sp. z o.o., 

Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych, Telewizja 

Polska S.A., Canal+ Cyfrowy, Opus Film 

World Sales 

Kino Œwiat 

Belwederska Str 20/22 

00762 Warsaw, Poland 

Tel: +48 22 840 68 01 

Fax: +48 22 840 68 06 

Email: kinoswiat@kinoswiat.pl 

http://www.kinoswiat.pl/ 


Venice (Best Film) 

80 

IFFI-2007 

Six-year-old Stefek challenges fate. He believes that the chain of events he sets 

in motion will help him get closer to his father who abandoned his mother. His 

sister Elka, 17, helps him learn how to “bribe” fate with small sacrifices. Tricks 

and coincidences eventually bring the father to the mother’s doorstep but things 

go wrong. In despair Stefek tries his good luck with the most risky of his tricks. 

Andrzej Jakimowski, born 1963 in Warsaw, is director and screenwriter. He studied 

philosophy at the Warsaw University and film directing at the Krzysztof 

Kieœlowski Faculty of Radio and Television of the Silesian University in 

Katowice. His debut feature Zmró¿ oczy (Squint Your Eyes) won numerous awards, 

among others the Main SKYY Prize at San Francisco IFF 2004, Main Prize “White 

Rose” at IFF Kinotavr in Sochi 2004, FIPRESCI Special Mention at Mannheim- 

Heidelberg IFF 2002, five awards at the Polish Feature Films Festival in Gdynia 

2003: Special Jury Prize, Best Debut, Best Cinematography, Best Set Design, 

Best Costumes, four Polish Academy Awards – Golden Eagles 2004: for Best 

Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor. This is his second feature.


If Jesus were alive today, he would have his own website. Pedro, an engineer 

posted in a village in the North of Portugal, waits desperately to be transferred 

back to Lisbon. Ever since his road project was cancelled, has had nothing to do 

except work in the village website he created. Just when a transfer seems imminent, 

Pedro receives a letter from a large multinational. They summon Pedro to close 

the site, citing domain name infringement. Failure to do so will result in a 5,00,000/ 

- Euro lawsuit. But only the village association can close the site. And the villagers 

refuse. Their logic: if the site is worth 5,00,000 Euros in damages, then it’s worth 

5,00,000 Euros. The situation spins out of control when the Press gets wind of the 

story and the villagers plight becomes a cause celebre from New York to Hong 

Kong. But as interest rises, so does dissension in the village. Under the media 

spotlight, the villagers start to change… The film reflects upon the effect of new 

technologies on the lives of people 

Luís Galvão Teles was born in Lisbon in 1945, and graduated from law school 

before studying film in Paris. He made his first feature film, A Confederação, in 

1978 and subsequently directed A Vida é Bela? (1982), Retrato de Família (1992), 

Elas (1997) and Tudo Isto é Fado (2003). 

81 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 103 mins, Portuguese 

Portugal 

Dot.Com 

Director 

Luis Galvao Teles 

Screenplay 

Suzanne Nagle 


Miguel Sales Lopes 

Editor 

Carlos Domeque 

Music 

Guy Farley 

Cast 

Joao Tempera, Maria Adanez, Isabel Abreu, Marco Delgado, 

Jose Eduardo, 

Margarida Caprinteiro, Lia Gama 

Art 

Luis Costa 

Sound 

Eladio Reguero 

Costumes 

Cristina Camargo 

Production 

Fado Films 

Rua Goncalves Zarco 

N 18-5, Dto 1400-191 

Lisbon (Portugal) 

Tel: +351213021032 

Fax: +351213021042; 

Zanzibar Films 

World Sales 

Rua Dr. Archer de Lima 

32, 1495-682 Cruz Quebrada 

Dafundo (Portugal) 

Tel: +351213021032 

Fax: +351213021042 

igteles@mail.telepac.pt 


Rio de Janeiro


Romania 

12:08 East of Bucharest / 

A fost sau n-a fost? 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 89 min, Romanian 

Direction 

Corneliu Porumboiu 

Screenplay 

Corneliu Porumboiu 


Marius Panduru 

Editing 

Roxana Szel 

Music 

Rotaria Group 

Cast 

Mircea Andreescu (Emanoil Piscosi), Teodor Corban (Virgil 

Jderescu), Ion Sapdaru (Tiberiu Manescu) 

Art 

Daniel Raduta 

Sound 

Alexandru Dragomir, Sebastian Zsemlye 

Costums 

Monica Raduta 

Production 

42 km films 

15, Costache Marinescu Street 

Code 011285, District 1 

Bucharest, ROMANIA 

Tel/Fax:+4031-1006837 

Mobile: +40740 011166 

email:office@42kmfilm.ro 

World Sales 

The Coproduction Office 

24, rue Lamartine 

75009 Paris 

Tel: +33 1 560 260 00 

Fax: +33 1 560 260 01 

Email: info@thecopro.de 

Web: www.thecopro.de 


Cannes (Golden Camera & Europa Cinémas Award), Toronto, 

Transilvania (Best Film, Audience Award & Romanian Days 

Award for Best Romanian Feature) 

82 

IFFI-2007 

At 12:08 p.m. on December 22, 1989, Romanians were glued onto their TV sets 

watching Nicolae Ceausescu flee in a helicopter from his presidential palace. 

Now it’s December 22 again. It’s been 16 years since the Revolution and Christmas 

is approaching. Pisconi, an old retiree, is preparing to spend another lonely 

Christmas. Manescu, a history teacher, does not want to lose his entire salary to 

pay his debts. Jderescu, the owner of the local TV station, doesn’t seem very 

interested in vacation. With Piscoci and Manescu’s help, he wants to find an answer 

to a 16-year-old question: “Did a Revolution really take place in their city”? 

Corneliu Porumboiu was born in 1975 in Vaslui (north-east from Bucharest, in 

eastern Romania). A well-known film director and script writer, he has made 

other films like Liviu’s Dream in 2004 and Trip to the City in 2003. In 2004, he 

won the second prize at the Cinéfondation section with his student short film Trip 

to the City and was selected in 2005 for the Résidence du Festival, a 

cinematographic project development programme that brought him almost a halfyear 

stay in France. His last film, Liviu’s Dream, was based on a young man’s 

recurrent nightmare about his unborn brother, aborted by his mother in the 

Ceauºescu era.


This is a story about the last days of the period known in Europe as “La Belle 

Epoque”, the period of tumultuous events on the Balkans, between the years 1910 

and 1914. This very important theme is seen from the point of view of the first 

Bosnian motion picture cameraman Anton Walitz, who made several significant 

film stories and an authentic documentary about the Sarajevo assassination. The 

chief historical facts are primarily used as a pretext for the fanciful shaping of a 

“dramatic comedy” about the epoch at the beginning of the last century, the epoch 

which is, in its variety of aspects, an inverted picture of our epoch at the end of 

the century. The cabaret numbers should offer a full range of information about 

the setting to the uninformed spectator, utilising first class entertaiment, an erotic 

atmosphere and sarcastic humour. This abundant and humorously flavoured picture 

about an unusual age, bizarre ambient and dramatic events, combined with romantic 

elements of melodrama, should offer excitement, joy and pure cinematic 

amusement. 

Born in 1942, Nikola Stojanoviæ is a film director and screenwriter, historian and 

theorist of cinema, and founder-editor of the highly-esteemed film periodical Sineast. 

He has wrote and directed seven features and many short films and won a 

lot of awards at the local and international festivals. Short and documentary films 

include In the Kitchen (1969), The Act (1980), Triptych (1982), The Alternative 

(1987), Quo Vadis? (1993), The End of Millennium (1995), Act Five (2002). Feature 

films include Dear Irena (1970), Pollen Dust (1974), Autograph (TV, 1977), 

Glimpse into the Night (1978), Great Talent (TV, 1984), Apple from Gold (1986), 

Belle Epoque / Last Waltz in Sarajevo (l990-2004). 

83 

Serbia 

Last Waltz In Sarajevo / Belle Epoque 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 135 mins, 

Serbian-Bosnian-French-Italian-German 

Director 

Nikola Stojanoviæ 

Screenplay 

Nikola Stojanoviæ 


Radoslav Vladiæ 

Editor 

Petar Putnikoviæ 

Music 

Arsen Dediæ 

Cast 

Davor Janjiæ, Radmila •ivkoviæ, Vita Mavriè, Petar 

Bo•oviæ, Boro Stjepanoviæ, Nebojša Kundaèina, Alain 

Noury 

Art 

Miodrag Nikoliæ 

Sound 

Velibor Hajdukovic, Nebojsa Zoric 

Costumes 

Emilija Kovaèeviæ 

Production 

Bosna film d.d.,Sarajevo, Maja film,U•ice 

World Sales 

Maja film 

Bosanska 49 

31000 U•ice, Srbija 

Tel: +381 31 552 392 

Fax: + 381 31 513 493 

Email: majafilmue@yahoo.com


South Africa 

Tsotsi 

2005, 35 mm, Color, 90 mins, Tsotsitaal/English 

Direction 

Gavin Hood 

Screenplay 

Gavin Hood, based on the novel Tsotsi by Athol Fugard 


Lance Gewer 

Editor 

Megan Gill 

Music 

Mark Kilian, Paul Hepker 

Cast 

Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Kenneth Nkosi, Mothusi 

Magano, Zenzo Ngqobe 

Art 

Mark Walker 

Sound 

Shaun Murdoch 

Costumes 

Nadia Kruger, Pierre Vienings 

Production 

The UK Film & TV Production Company Plc 

3, Colville Place 

London W1T 2BH (UK) 

Tel: +442074191060 

World Sales 

The Little Film Company 

12930, Ventura Boulevard #822 

South City, CA 19604 

Tel: +18087626999 

Robbie Little 

email: robbie@thelittlefilmcompany.com 


2005: Toronto (People’s Choice Award), Edinburgh (The 

Michael Powell Award For Best New British Feature Film, 

Standard Life Audience Award), Thessaloniki (Greek 

Parliament’s Human Values Award), Denver (Audience 

Award), Cape Town (Critics Jury Award), St Louis (Audience 

Award) 

2006: Best Foreign Language Oscar, BAFTA Nomination, 

Jury Prize for Best Feature, Pan African Film and Arts 

Festival (Jury Prize for Best Feature), Santa Barbara 

(Audience Award) 

84 

IFFI-2007 

Set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto - where survival is 

the primary objective – Tsotsi traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang 

leader who ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car-jacking. 

It is a gritty and moving portrait of an angry young man living in a state of extreme 

urban deprivation. His world pumps with the raw energy of “Kwaito music” - the 

modern beat of the ghetto that reflects his troubled state of mind. The film is a 

psychological thriller in which the protagonist is compelled to confront his own 

brutal nature and face the consequences of his actions. It puts a human face on 

both the victims and the perpetrators of violent crime and is ultimately a story of 

hope and a triumph of love over rage. 

After graduating with a degree in law in South Africa, Gavin Hood worked briefly 

as an actor before heading to the US to study screenwriting and directing at the 

University of California in LA. After completing his studies, he returned to South 

Africa. In 1998 Gavin made his 35mm film directing debut with a 22-minute 

short called The Storekeeper. His maiden feature, A Reasonable Man, starred Sir 

Nigel Hawthorne.


Following the modus operandi of two serial rapists’ crimes, this film examines 

the rapists’ psychology, the way they justify their crimes, and their manner of 

selecting their next victim. Also, the film studies the viewpoint and psychology 

of the women who became their victims. The film also questions the 

appropriateness of the statutory limitations for sexual criminals. 

Shin Hea Kim is among South Korea’s new filmmaking names. 

85 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 79 mins, Korean 

South Korea 

Psychopath 

Director 

Shin Hea Kim 

Screenplay 

Shin Hea Kim 


Sang Hoon Lee, Hak Jin Jeong 

Editor 

Mi Yeong Kim, Chang Rok Pak, In Yeong Kwon 

Music 

Wok Hyen Lee 

Cast 

Wuk Hyun Lee, Won Jo Jeong, Hee Yung Kim, Chol Min Lee, 

Hyeon Jin Sa, Ju Na Lee, Lee Seel Lee, Sun Aa Jeong 

Art 

Jan Di Kim 

Sound 

Yong Hee Chen, Chang Ju Ji 


Shin Hea Kim 

E-1210, Sanho Apt 

118-16, Wonhyoro 4ga 

Yong Sangu 

Seoul (South Korea) 

Tel: +82112494880 

Fax: +8227490754 

email: kimdrama@hanmail.net


Spain-UK 

Salvador Puig 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 134 mins, Catalan-Spanish-French 

Director 

Manuel Huerga 

Screenplay 

Lluis Arcarazo 


David Omedes 

Editor 

Aixala, Santi Borricon 

Music 

Lluis Llach 

Cast 

Daniel Bruhl, Tristan Ulloa, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Joel Joan, 

Celso Bugallo 

Art 

Antxón Gómez 

Sound 

Alastair Widgery and James Muñoz 

Costume 

Maria Gil 

Production 

Eva Carrillo 

Telesisteme Mejicaho 

SA de CV Balderas 

No. 420 Mezanine Col Centro 


World Sales 

Beta Cinema 

Isabelle Griessbach 

Gruenwalder Weg 28d 

Oberhaching, 82041 Germany 

Tel: 49-89-6734-6980 

Fax: 49-89-6734-6988 

email: beta@betacinema.com 

www.betacinema.com 

Festivals and awards 

Seattle, Palm Springs 

86 

IFFI-2007 

On March 2, 1974, the young militant of the Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación 

(Iberian Liberation Movement), Salvador Puig Antich, became the last political 

prisoner to be executed in Spain under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. This 

is his story and that of the desperate attempts of his family, colleagues and lawyers 

to avoid his execution. The film is based on the Francesc Escribano book Cuenta 

atrás. La historia de Salvador Puig Antich, which describes the execution of 

Antich. 

Manuel Huerga was born in Barcelona on October 20, 1957. A filmmaker from 

an early age, his is a popular name in experimental and avant-garde circuits. Among 

his films are Gaudí, which won the critics’ award at the Barcelona International 

Film Festival and the documentary Les Variacions Gould. In 1992, he directed 

the opening and closing ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics. His other film 

Antartida was released in 1995.


When Benito Lacunza, a shiftless waiter cum aspiring jazz musician, returns to 

his hometown Estella for a few days, he is surprised to learn that his cheerful 

brother Lalo - who makes sculptures out of scrap metal - is about to marry. Benito 

remembers the bride all too well from his adolescence days. She is Nines, a single 

mom who’s seen her share of hard times. Benito decides to prevent the marriage 

for his brother’s benefit. But unexpectedly he finds himself up against a formidable 

foe in Nine’s daughter, Ainara. Benito ends up forging a one-of-a-kind friendship 

with her despite her rebellious nature. When things take a turn for the worst in 

this peculiar family, Benito decides for the first time in his life to take control 

and offer his assistance - albeit, in his own way - to all those persons that he 

genuinely cares for. 

Félix Viscarret is one of the known Spanish directors who has made a name for 

himself in short-feature length films. This is his first full length feature film. 

Born at Pamplona in Spain in 1975, Felix studied on films in the United States. 

87 

Spain 

Under the Stars / Bajo las Estrellas 


Director 

Félix Viscarret 

Screenplay 

Félix Viscarret 


Álvaro Gutiérrez 

Editor 

Ángel Hernández Zoido 

Music 

Mikel Salas 

Cast 

Alberto San Juan, Emma Suárez, Julián Villagrán, Violeta 

Rodríguez 

Art 

Gustavo G Ramirez 

Sound 

Licio Marcos DeOliveira 

Costume 

Laura Renau 


Notro Films 

Lincoln, 11-3-4 

08006 Barcelona (Spain) 

Tel: (+34) 93 567 05 05 

Fax: (+34) 93 567 05 04 

email: marisa@notrofilms.com 

www.notrofilms.com 


Malaga (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor),


Sweden 

When Darkness Falls / 

Nar Morkret Faller 

2006, 35 mm, Colour, 131 mins, Swedish 

Director 

Anders Nilsson 

Screenplay 

Anders Nilsson, Joakim Hansson 


P A Svensson 

Editor 

Darek Hodor 

Music 

Bengt Nilsson 

Cast 

Lia Boysen, Reuben Sallmander, Per Graffman, Peter Engman, 

Anja Lundqvist 

Sound 

Niklas Skarp 

Costume 

Marie Flyckt 

Production 

Swedish Film Institute 

(P.O. Box 27126 / Borgvägen 1-5 SE-102 52 

Stockholm, Sweden); TV3; PAN Vision (SE); 

Multimedia Film und Fernseh; 

Film Förderung Hamburg (DE); Sonet Film 

World Sales 

Sonet Film 

Box 20105 

161 02 BROMMA 

Tel: +46 8 555 248 00 

Fax: +46 8 28 58 34 


Berlin (Amnesty International Film Award), Mill Valley 

(USA) 

88 

IFFI-2007 

Two young sisters act against their family’s “code of honour” and their lives 

become a deadly nightmare. Two bouncers at a popular club are attacked by 

criminals igniting total war. An award-winning journalist presses charges of 

spousal abuse against her husband only to become a hated pariah amongst their 

common colleagues. But what none of their aggressors could have foreseen is the 

enormous will to fight and prevail that is awake in the hearts of those threatened 

one time too many. It is a gripping and intense thriller about honour, loyalty, and 

the courage to fight for what you believe. It is the last of a trilogy, after Zero 

Tolerance and Executive Protection. 

Anders Nilsson is one of Sweden’s most-distinguished directors. Both critics and 

audiences consider him to be Sweden’s number one director of action-thrillers. 

His personal style and use of non-American crime themes has made his films 

enormously successful and possibly spawned a new genre. Nilsson was born in 

Kil, Sweden, in 1963. At the age of 19 Nilsson began as a camera assistant and 

sound editor, but soon worked his way up to the studio’s chief film editor, 

cinematographer, and second unit director. Before 30, he had racked up over 100 

film credits. While these films where all low-budget action adventures, thrillers, 

and comedies, the studio provided Nilsson with freedom to experiment with his 

craft and his art, which allowed him to develop his unique personal style. 

Currently, Nilsson is writing another trilogy: a historical epic about the ongoing 

birth of democracy.


You, the Living is about the human being, about her greatness and her 

‘miserableness’, her joy and sorrow, her self-confidence and anxiety. A being at 

whom we want to laugh and also cry for. It is simply a tragic comedy or a comic 

tragedy about us. 

Roy Andersson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1943. His first feature A 

Swedish Love Story won the main prize at the Berlin in 1970. Giliap, his second 

film, was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes 1976. In 1975 he started 

making unusual and very successful commercials, which won a total of eight 

Golden Lions at Cannes. In 1981, he founded Studio 24 in order to produce and 

make his films in total freedom. After Something Happened (1987) and World of 

Glory (1991), two shorts that returned with the most prestigious awards, he shot 

Songs From The Second Floor in his studio (March 1996-May 2000) and won the 

Special Jury Prize in Cannes 2000. You, the Living is his fourth feature film. 

89 

Sweden-Germany-France-Denmark- 

Norway 

You, The Living / Du Levande 


Director 

Roy Andersson 

Screenplay 

Roy Andersson 

Editor 

Anna Märta Waern 

Music 

Robert Hefter 

Cast 

Jessica Lundberg, Elisabet Helander, Björn Englund, Leif 

Larsson, Ollie Olson, Kemal Sener, Håkan Angser, Birgitta 

Persson, Gunnar Ivarsson 

Sound 

Jan Alvermark, Robert Sörling 

Costumes 

Sophia Frykstam 

Production 

Roy Andersson Filmproduktion AB 

Sibyllegatan 24 

114 42 Stockholm 

Tél. +46 8662 5700 

Fax +46 8662 9240 

www.royandersson.com 

World Sales 

Coproduction Office 

24, rue Lamartine 

75009 Paris, France 

Tél. +331 5602 6000 

Fax +331 5602 6001 

Email info@coproductionoffice.eu 

A Cannes Riviera L6 

Tél. +334 9299 3316 


Cannes


Switzerland-Finland-Germany 

Sonic Mirror 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 80 mins, Portuguese-German-English 

Director 

Mika Kaurismaki 

Screenplay 

Uwe Dresch, Marco Forster, Mika Kaurismaki 


Jacques Cheuiche 

Editor 

Oli Weiss, Christian Krämer 

Music 

Billy Cobham, Male Debale Brazil, Okuta Percussion Nigeria, 

Tunji Beier/Espoo Big Band Finland, Swiss Mix Switzerland 

Cast 

Bill Cobham, Randy Brecker 

Sound 

Uwe Dresch 

Production 

Marco Forster Productions, Vevey/CH - Marianna Films Oy, 

Helsinki/Fi - Uwe Dresch Films Ltd., Köln/D - Doc 

Productions GmbH, Zürich/CH 

World Sales 

WIDE Management 

40, rue Sainte-Anne - 75002 Paris 

France 

Tel: +33 1 53 95 04 64 

Fax: +33 1 53 95 04 65 

email: wide@widemanagement.com 


Nyon, Munich 

90 

IFFI-2007 

For most people music is a marvellous experience and part of their life whether 

or not they play an instrument themselves. They understand music and rhythm as 

a fundamental communication tool of mankind. Sonic Mirror is an emotional dive 

into the world of rhythm - an extraordinary trip to discover the magic relationship 

between Life and Rhythm. Drum legend Billy Cobham takes us from the 

bandstands of the Western world to the primal music of African origin with kids 

in a Brazilian community and on to the completely secluded world of musical 

experiences of artistes. These different worlds are connected in a mystical and 

secret way. 

Mika Kaurismäki studied cinema in Munich, Germany, and made his diploma 

film The Liar in 1980 in Finland. His younger brother Aki Kaurismäki, a journalism 

student, played the main role and co-wrote the screenplay. After the success of 

The Liar, Mika Kaurismäki decided to stay in Finland and together with his brother 

and friends he founded the production company Villealfa Filmproductions that 

became a home of vital low- or no-budget film making. During the active Villealfa 

years, Mika co-founded the legendary Midnight Sun Film Festival (1986) and the 

distribution company Senso Films (1987) with Andorra cinemas (and some bars) 

in Helsinki. In the 1990s, Mika started to produce through his company Marianna 

Films. He also established his base and second home in Rio de Janeiro and 

concentrated in international co-productions. Mika has just finished his last film 

Honey Baby, a road movie in the Baltic and Russia.


The age-old tale of a hero or heroine overcoming humble beginnings to find a 

successful and fulfilling future has inspired many a cinema and literary classic. 

In the case of this delightfully antic story from Thailand, the hero who pulls 

himself up by his bootstraps is a seventy-pound muscular russet mutt named 

Makham. Makham becomes the involuntary leader of six stray dogs of various 

ages and genetic cocktails: Uncle Kafe, Keng, Piak, Pikul and Sexy, the miniature 

French poodle. The dogs are a pretty tight team, scratching out a living on the 

mean streets of Bangkok. Catastrophe strikes, however, when the slum they call 

home is razed to make way for a supermarket. Homeless, drifting and hungry, the 

friends are hounded all over town by the dreaded dog catchers. After Uncle Kafe 

is hurt by a speeding motorcycle, Makham realizes his canine family needs to 

find a permanent safe harbour. Makham has heard a rumour he wants to believe 

is true – that there exists a haven for canines, where every pooch and puppy has 

a bed and never goes hungry; a place that some call “Dogtopia”. There’s only one 

problem: this refuge lies on the other side of a busy ten-lane superhighway. How 

Makham and his ragamuffin pack of friends navigate this treacherous road to 

find sanctuary is a gripping adventure story laced with both wit and slapstick. 

Pantham Thongsang was born in Bangkok and has a BA in film from 

Chulalongkorn University. He has worked as a producer on several films, including 

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady. His feature filmography includes 

Judgment and Mid Road Gang. Somkiat Vithuranich was born in Bangkok and 

has a B.F.A. in film and video from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. 

He began his career working as an assistant director and producer. 

91 

Thailand 

Mid Road Gang / Ma Mha 4 Khaa Khrap 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 90 mins, Thai 

Director 

Pantham Thongsange, Somkait Vituranich 

Screenplay 

Somkait Vituranich 


Wardhana Vunchuplou 

Editor 

Margenta Chumpol Porkar Karun Kumanuwong 

Cast 

Nitipaisalkul Pichaya, Maneerat Kham-uan, Channarong 

Khuntee-tao, Pitchaya Nitipaisankul, Pavarisa Phenjati, 

Panissara Phimpru 

Art 

Karanyapas Khamsin 

Sound 

Nakorn Kositpaisain 


NGR Co. Ltd. 

1 Soi Sannibattesabal Ratchadapisek Road 

Chankasem Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 

Thailand 

Tel: (66-2) 513 -2644 

Fax: (66-2) 512-5535 

email: pantham2006@yahoo.com 


Toronto, Bangkok, Giffony-Italy 

(Golden Gryphon best film award)


Turkey 

Lovelorn / Gonul Yarasi 

2005, 35mm, Colour, 139 mins, Turkish 

Director 

Yavuz Turgul 

Screenplay 

Yavuz Turgul 


Soykut Turan 

Editor 

Soykut Turan 

Music 

Tamer Çiray 

Cast 

Sener Sen, Meltem Cumbul, Timuçin Esen, Güven Kiraç, 

Devin Özgün Çinar 

World Sales 

Filma-Cass Film Yapim ve Pazarlama A.S. 


Boston Turkish Film Fest, Turkey’s Official Entry 

to the 2006 Academy Awards, Palm Springs 

(FIPRESCI Award for Best Actress) 

92 

IFFI-2007 

Idealist elementary school teacher Nazim (named after the great Turkish poet 

Nazim Hikmet) retires and returns home to Istanbul after 15 years of teaching in 

a poor, remote Kurdish village in Eastern Turkey. Politely ignored by his own 

children who secretly despise him for having chosen his ideals over his family, he 

begins a new life as a taxi driver. One night, he meets Dunya, a down-on-her-luck 

divorcee who works as a “singer” in a sleazy nightclub. Before he knows it, Nazim 

takes Dunya and her daughter in to protect them from Dunya’s stalker ex-husband 

Halil. 

Born in 1946 in Istanbul, Yavuz Turgul graduated from the Institute of Journalism 

in Istanbul University. After working for six years as a journalist for six years, he 

began writing scripts, many of which have won accolades. He directed his first 

film in 1984. He directed The Bandit (Eskiya) in 1996 which was a great 

commercial success in Turkey. Turgul returns after a nine-year absence with 

Lovelorn. His other films include Golge Oyunu (1992), Ask Filmlerinin Unutulmaz 

Yonetmeni (1990), Muhsin Bey (1987) and Fahriye Abla (1984).


Eflatun is a master miniature artist who is living in 17th century Istanbul. One 

day, he is taken to the vizier’s mansion by force. There he learns that Danyal, one 

of the Ottoman princes who has ignited an insurrection, has been arrested in a 

far-off state and is to be executed soon. Eflatun is ordered to make a portrait of 

the rebel prince who has been condemned to death in a Western manner to help 

the authorities be certain on the identity of him. Acting upon the order, Eflatun 

sets off for an arduous journey to Anatolia. He picks up a girl named Leyla en 

route. Together, they find themselves in a great adventure fraught with dangers. 

Derviº Zaim was born in 1964 in Famagusta, Cyprus. He graduated from Warwick 

University in England. He attended a course in independent film production in 

London, organised by the Hollywood Film Institute. In 1995, his first novel won 

the prestigious Yunus Nadi literary prize in Turkey. Released in 1996, Tabutta 

Rövaºata (Somersault in a Coffin) was his debut film as director and screenwriter. 

93 

Turkey 

Waiting for Heaven / Cenneti Beklerken 

2006, 35 mm. Colour, 107 mins, Turkish 

Director 

Derviº Zaim 

Screenplay 

Derviº Zaim 


Mustafa Kuºçu 

Editor 

Ulaº Cihan ªimºek 

Music 

Rahman Altýn 

Cast 

Serhat Tutumluer (Eflatun), Melisa Sözen (Leila), Mesut 

Akusta, Nihat Ýleri, Mehmet Ali Nuroðlu 

Art 

Elif Tasçioglu, Serdar Yilmaz 

Sound 

Sándor Balla, Murat Celikkol 

Costume 

Nadide Argun 

Production 

Hermes Film, Maraton Filmcilik 


Anatalya


UK 

Full Circle 

2007, 35mm, Colour, 115 mins, English 

Direction 

Michael Jaffer 

Screenplay 

Michael Jaffer and Tim Mills 


Franz Pagot 

Editor 

Raimondo Aiello 

Music 

Roberto Martinelli 

Cast 

David Mazzeo (Paul Scott), Michael Howe (Philip 

Brockenhurst), Irene Scaturro (Anna), Patrick Kelly (Max) 

Sound 

Jean-Raphael Dedieu 


Simon Kay 

Producer 

c/o Sugarfree Films Ltd 

Churchill House, 137 Brent Street 

London NW4 4DJ, UK 

Tel:+44-20-8349-1083 

Fax:+44-20-8343-2185 

www.sugarfreefilms.com 

94 

IFFI-2007 

1978. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships. An unknown American qualifier 

has the world at his feet as he serves at match point to beat the defending champion 

for a place in the semi-finals. He goes on to win the match and the tournament. 

The champion, Paul Scott, is now 48 and lives alone. He owes money to Mafioso 

bookmaker and with payment due and not a cent to his name. Only a miracle can 

save him. A knock at the door brings a visit from a private investigator with 

some unexpected news: unbeknown to PAUL, 25 years ago whilst in Italy, he 

may have fathered the child of an old flame; the recently-deceased Monica Sersale. 

Monica has left him half a million dollars in her will. He travels first class to 

Rome to meet with her lawyer. The lawyer introduces Paul to Philip Brockenhurst, 

an English aristocrat and explains that as Monica was having affairs with both of 

them at the same time her daughter was conceived and had no way of establishing 

exactly who the real father was, she included them both in the will. Two men 

return to Italy after a 25-year-absence to search for the daughter one of them 

may have fathered. What starts as two lonely, bitter, middle-aged men’s race 

against time in quest of selfish desire, becomes a journey of self-discovery and 

enlightenment when they are forced to confront their past. 

British filmmaker Michael Jaffer made his first film, Part Time Lover, in 1993, 

primarily as an exercise in film making. He relocated himself to Paris in 1994, to 

make his second film, L’Autre Femme (The Other Woman). Jaffer remained in 

Paris for his next film, Une Journée Tranquille (A Quiet Day). Between 2000 

and 2003, he directed a number of international television commercials.


Mickey Ronson is released from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for 

armed robbery. On his release he finds that his life has been blown apart. His 

wife Gemma and his little girl Lucy have gone missing. They have been kidnapped 

by his elder brother Bobby. The untimely death of Lenny, his grandfather, brings 

the family back together. This gives Mickey an opportunity to take revenge against 

his brother Bobby, who is shot dead. Mickey finds himself back behind bars once 

again because it was Gemma who actually shoots Bobby but Mickey protects her 

and takes the rap. 

As a BBC trained director, Danny Hiller directed the BBC feature-length television 

drama Trip Trap, a story of domestic and sexual violence in the context of a 

respectable middle-class household. Attracting an audience of 10 million viewers, 

this programme received a BAFTA nomination for best film. In 2000, Hiller 

directed the psychological drama Pretending to be Judith, a feature-length film 

screened on ITV. He later worked as a development producer for the BBC, 

commissioning, writing and producing for BBC Drama. 

95 


UK 

Love Me Still 

Director 

Danny Hiller 

Screenplay 

Paul Munns 


Shane Daley 

Editor 

Dei Reynolds 

Music 

Stewart Copeland 

Cast 

Andrew Howard (Mickey), Alex Reid (Gemma), Jeffery Bell 

(Bobby), Camille Coduri (Maggie) 

Art 

Nick Somerville 


Defiant Films 

Danny Hiller 

Tel: 07747 610 770 

email: dannythehill@hotmail.com 


Shanghai


USA 

American East 


Director 

Hesham Issawi 

Screenplay 

Hesham Issaw, Sayed Badreya, Brian Cox 


Michael G Wojciechowski 

Editor 

Chris Wright 

Music 

Tony Humecke 

Cast 

Sayed Badreya (Mustafa Marzoke), Sarah Shahi (Salwah 

Marzoke), Tony Shalhoub (Sam), Anthony Azizi (Murad), 

Kais Nashif (Omar) 

Art 

Frank Bolllinger 

Costumes 

Swinda Reichelt 

Production 

Anant Singh, Brian Cox, Ahmad Zahra 

96 

IFFI-2007 

It is a poignant drama about Arab-Americans living in post-9/11 Los Angeles. The story 

examines long-held misunderstandings about Arabic and Islamic culture, and puts a human 

face on a segment of the US population whom most Americans know nothing about, but who 

today are of particular interest to them, either from curiosity or suspicion. The story highlights 

the pressures under which many Arab-Americans now live by focusing on the points-of-view 

of three main characters. Mustafa is a widowed Egyptian immigrant and the owner of Habibe’s 

Café, a popular hang-out for people in Los Angeles with Middle-Eastern backgrounds. He is 

devoted to providing his children with a moral upbringing despite the pressures of 

contemporary American urban life. He also finds himself cast in the role of protector to his 

unwed sister Salweh, for whom, by family and tribal custom, he is responsible for finding a 

traditional suitor. But his respect for tradition comes up against his own aspirations to adapt 

to the American Dream when he decides to open a new restaurant with a Jewish partner – his 

friend Sam. This “unholy alliance” is unpopular amongst the habitués of his café and the 

insular Arab community in which Mustafa resides. It is one of several personal points of 

tension that gradually build against the backdrop of larger, national events affecting the Arab- 

American community and lead to the explosive denouement of the story. It is also the story of 

Mustafa’s friend Omar (Kais Nashif) is a struggling actor and Habibi’s Cafe regular, a young 

Egyptian man who supports his dream of becoming a movie star by working as a part-time 

cab driver for Mustafa’s ragged, one-car taxi company. Because of his Middle Eastern looks 

and accent, however, he is constantly cast in the role of a terrorist in American TV shows that 

portray only a shallow understanding of Arabs and their culture. When an opportunity for a 

non-racially designated role arrives, Omar feels his chance for success - to be seen as an actor 

first and not a Muslim - has finally arrived. It is the break he has been waiting for on many 

levels: a chance at the financial freedom necessary to marry and support his pregnant American 

girlfriend Kate, and a chance for him, and his future child, to be embraced as an American, in 

the same way that he has embraced America. But misunderstandings and prejudices related 

to his Arabic background conspire against him and his opportunity is lost, pushing Omar to 

make a drastic, unreasoned decision that sets off a chain of events leading to a violent 

conclusion that affects the lives of all the other characters. Will their American Dreams be 

shattered by a climate of distrust and suspicion, or will their hopes and aspirations be embraced 

by their fellow Americans? 

Hesham Issawi was born in Egypt where he grew up with an insatiable appetite for American 

movies. He moved to the US in 1990 to study anthropology, but after taking classes in 

photography he changed his major in order to study filmmaking. He attended film school at 

Columbia College, Chicago, where he graduated from in 1996, and began his career working 

at a local TV station. His initial forays into independent filmmaking were in the documentary 

world where he eventually directed a few short subjects of his own. In 1997, he co-produced 

the documentary, Saving the Sphinx, for the Learning Channel. Hesham Issawi’s love of film 

noir was the inspiration for his first short fictional film, The Interrogation, which he wrote 

and directed in 2002. It won Best Creative Short Film at New York Film Festival. In 2003, he 

co-wrote and directed the short film, T For Terrorist, which was the winner of the Best Short 

Film awards at both the Boston and San Francisco film festivals. This is his feature debut.


The greatest travel adventure movie of all time! Seriously! Cliff and Charlie live 

boring lives in LA. In an effort to spice up their existence, Charlie suggests they 

go to the famous Full Moon Party in Thailand. Cliff agrees with the condition 

that in order to go they purchase around the world tickets and see the globe first. 

Short on cash, the only way they can afford to pull of the trip is by posing as 

travel writers for Frommers books so they can get free food and hotel rooms. 

Together they embark on a trip of a lifetime as they travel to the Caribbean, South 

America, Europe and Asia. Shot in over 20 countries, Cliff and Charlie have 

unbelievable adventures in every location and their lives are changed for ever. 

Filmed at locations all over the world and using a cast of real people in not so 

real-life situations, 

Neil Mandt began his career as a journalist winning the National College Emmy 

during his junior year at the University of Detroit. After that he went on to be a 

reporter for Nickelodeon and ESPN and later focused on Producing and Directing. 

Eventually Neil decided filmmaking was what he wanted to do so in September 

of 1995 he wrote, produced and directed the critically-acclaimed indie flick 

Hijacking Hollywood (1997). Neil has continued directing feature films and short 

films for the cinema and television. Over the years Neil has won a variety of 

awards including the Audience Award for Best Picture at the 1997 Austin Film 

Festival and an Emmy award for his Producing efforts with NBC at the 2000 

summer Olympics in Australia. 

97 


USA 

Last Stop For Paul 

Director 

Neil Mandt 

Screenplay 

Neil Mandt 


Marc Carter 

Editor 

Nick Scown, Eric Wing 

Music 

Douglas Spicka 

Cast 

Neil Mandt (Charlie), Marc Carter (Cliff), Gregory Poppen 

(Will), Eric Wing (Craig), Heather Petrone (Amy), Ron 

Carlson (Art) 

Production 

Neil Mandt 


Rome, Monaco, Edmonton


USA 

Quarter Life Crisis 


Dir Director Dir ector 

Kiran Merchant 

Scr Screenpla Scr eenpla eenplay eenpla 

Rehana Mirza, Kiran Merchant 

Cinema Cinemato Cinema to tograph to ph phy ph 

Kiran Deohans, Matthew Wachsman 

Editor 

Editor 

Keith Croket 

Music 

Music 

Tim Bright 

Cast 

Cast 

Maulik Pancholy (Neil), Lisa Ray (Angel), Russell Peters, 

Manu Narayan (Jonathan) 

Art 

Art 

Steven Hall, Arati Nath 

Sound Sound 

Sound 

Andrew Halasz 

Costume 

Costume 

Nikia Nelson 

Pr Production 

Pr oduction 

Signs of Love Productions 

Festi esti esti estivals esti als & & Awar ar ards ar ds 

Atlanta Indo-American Film Festival, 

Dominican International Film Festival 

98 

IFFI-2007 

Dumped on his 27th birthday by his college sweetheart Angel for being indecisive, 

Neil makes a silly bet that takes him on a wild ride through New York’s singles 

scene, accompanied by four testosterone-packed imbecile buddies and one crazy 

scheming New York taxi driver. On these madcap adventures Neil journeys from 

life choice paralysis to real life manhood 

Kiran Merchant, an architect in New Jersey, raised half a million dollars for this 

first film of his, from several investors who are professionals like him. Merchant 

has made an appearance in this film as an actor, as well as in films like Trust the 

Man (2005), Fillum Star: The Peter Patel Story (2004) and 200 Cigarettes (1999). 

He has also acted on TV.


As five women and one enigmatic man meet to discuss the works of Jane Austen, 

they find their love lives playing out in a 21st century version of her novels. 

Sylvia is shocked when her husband Daniel, leaves her after 20 plus years and 

three children. Jocelyn, her unmarried best friend, distracts herself from her 

unacknowledged loneliness by breeding dogs. Prudie is a young French teacher, 

in possession of a worthy husband yet distracted by persistent fantasies about sex 

with another man. The many times married Bernadette develops a yearning for 

one more chance at happiness. Beautiful, risk-taking Allegra, Sylvia and Daniel’s 

lesbian daughter, has quit talking to her lover. And Grigg, a young science fiction 

fan and computer whiz, seems horribly both out of place and obliviously at ease 

as the only man to be invited into the book circle. 

Robin Swicord was born in South Carolina and raised in rural Florida and Georgia. 

She studied at Florida State University. She has written for both stage and screen 

and is known for her screenplay adaptations of Little Women, Matilda, Practical 

Magic and Memoirs of a Geisha among others. She directed her first short, The 

Red Coat, in 1993. The Jane Austen Book Club, which she also wrote, is her first 

feature film as director. 

99 

USA 

The Jane Austen Book Club 


Director 

Robin Swicord 

Screenplay 

Robin Swicord, based on the novel by Karen Joy Fowler 


John Toon 

Editor 

Maryann Brandon 

Music 

Aaron Zigman 

Cast 

Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Marc Blucas, Emily Blunt, Amy 

Brenneman, Hugh Dancy 

Art 

Rusty Smith 

Sound 

Michael J. Benavente 

Production 

A John Calley/Robin Swicord Production & Mockingbird 

Pictures 

Festivals and Awards 

Toronto


USA 

The Memory Thief 


Director 

Gil Kofman 

Screenplay 

Gil Kofman 


Richard Rutkowski 

Editor 

Curtiss Clayton 

Music 

Ted Reichman 

Cast 

Mark Webber, Rachel Miner, Jerry Adler, Patrick Bauchau, 

Kevin Breznahan 

Art 

Francesco Luparello 

Costumes 

Kiki Van Adelsburg 

Production 

Stark Raving Films and Jane Doe Films 

11922 Saltair Terrace 

Los Angeles, Ca 90049 (USA) 

Tel: +3109680277 

email: gilkofman@yahoo.com 


Philadelphia, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Seattle, Calgary , Sydney 

Underground Film Festival, Edmonton, Tallgrass , St. Louis 

Int’l Film Festival (upcoming), Denver, Atlanta 

100 

IFFI-2007 

It is the story of Lukas - an aimless, young man in contemporary L.A. who buries 

thoughts of his own past in the humdrum routine of a tollbooth clerk. A chance 

encounter with a Holocaust survivor suddenly brings into focus a world and an 

identity he embraces with frightening intensity - the victimised Jews of World 

War II. As he begins to enthusiastically act out his newfound obsession, Lukas 

discovers that survivor’s guilt isn’t just for the Jews anymore. 

This is the first feature film by Gil Kofman. His connection with the Holocaust 

was through his father-in-law, himself a survivor. In writing the script, he strove 

to honour those who did and did not survive the Holocaust by actively avoiding 

sentimentality and emotional manipulation of the audience.

Film India Worldwide

FILM INDIA WORLDWIDE 

AIDS JAAGO 

A 

Mirabai Films production 

In Association with AVAHAN 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 

102 

IFFI-2007 

Executive Producer: Mira Nair 

Under the auspices of Mirabai Films and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the AIDS ‘JaaGO’ Project presents four short dramatic films by cutting-edge Indian 

directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar that aim to dismantle myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. Each film uses wellknown 

Indian movie stars to maximize the exposure of the films to audiences throughout India. Actors like Prabhu Deva, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Shiney Ahuja, 

Ayesha Takia, Boman Irani, Raima Sen, Siddarth and Sameera Reddy have joined a host of other known actors in the collective cast of the film. 

This project was the brainchild of Mira Nair and is produced by her company, Mirabai Films. The four AIDS JAAGO films come from different parts of India - each 

in its own genre, and each with a different point about HIV/AIDS. AIDS JaaGo literally means “AIDS Awake”. Though this is not the first time that a film has been 

made in India with HIV/AIDS as the backdrop, this project is unique because it brings together four highly-talented storytellers on the big screen together, to tell a 

story that depicts the impact of HIV/AIDS on the common India, in their own, inimitable way. While Nair herself has directed Migration, she enlisted ace 

cinematographer-director Santosh Sivan who has come up with Prarambha, director-music composer Vishal Bharadwaj who has contributed to the project with 

Blood Brothers and young Indian cinema’s mascot Farhan Akhtar who has taken a Positive look at the subject. 

In Migration, Shiney Ahuja plays a rural labourer who leaves his wife (Raima Sen) for work in Mumbai, where he enters into a forbidden game with a frustrated 

woman, played by Sameera Reddy, and her closeted husband, played by Irfan Khan. In Prarambha, ace choreographer Prabhu Deva, who is also an actor and director, 

plays a a truck driver who helps a boy on a journey to find his HIV-positive mother. Blood Brothers, on the other hand, is a thriller about a man played by Siddharth 

reacting to his HIV diagnosis, even as Positive deals with the tale of a young boy and his parents, played by Arjun Mathur, Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi coping 

with the impact of AIDS. 

Each of these four short films are planned to be screened before the main movie starts in cinema theatres in India, while all of them would be packaged together for 

broadcast on national television. 

About the directors: 

© Antonio Martinelli Mira Nair: Director/Writer/Producer Mira Nair virtually needs no introduction, as 

© Antonio Martinelli 

her highly-acclaimed body of work itself is her identity. Born in Bhubaneswar in 

1957 and educated at Delhi University and Harvard University, Nair began her artistic 

career as an actor before turning her attention to film. She found early success as a 

documentary filmmaker, winning awards for So Far From India and India Cabaret. 

In 1988, Nair’s debut feature, Salaam Bombay!, was nominated for an Academy 

Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also 

won the Camera D’Or (for best first feature) and the Prix du Publique (for most 

popular entry) at the Cannes Film Festival as well as 25 other international awards. 

Each of her subsequent films - Mississippi Masala, The Perez Family, Kama Sutra: 

A Tale of Love, The Laughing Club of India, Monsoon Wedding, Hysterical Blindness, 

Vanity Fair and The Namesake, have been landmark films in more ways than one. 

Nair also joined a group of 11 renowned filmmakers, each commissioned to direct a film that was 11 minutes, 

9 seconds and one frame long, following the infamous 9/11 attacks on the US. Nair’s film is a retelling of 

real events in the life of the Hamdani family in Queens, whose eldest son was missing after September 11, 

and was then accused by the media of being a terrorist. Nair has been a mentor in film of the prestigious 

Rolex Protégé Arts Initiative, to help guide young artists in critical stages of their development. Now preparing 

for her next film Shantaram with Warner Brothers, starring Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan, Nair has 

also established an annual filmmaker’s laboratory, Maisha, dedicated to the support of visionary screenwriters 

and directors in East Africa and South Asia. 

Santosh Sivan: Santosh Sivan is from Kerala and is a renowned cinematographer, 

having shot a large number of acclaimed films – about 45 features and 41 

documentaries. A five times National Award winner for cinematography and a couple 

more for direction, his The Terrorist was internationally acclaimed. His latest film, 

Before the Rains, had its world premiere at the 2007 Toronto International Film 

Festival. He has directed films like Halo, Asoka, Malli, Navarasa and 

Anandabhadram. 

Vishal Bhardwaj: Bhardwaj, a cricketer who took up music as his profession, turned 

a director with Makdee, a children’s film. He received critical and commercial success 

from, Omkara, adapted from Shakespeare’s Othello. Arguably one of India’s most 

recognized young directors, he has earlier adapted Macbeth to make Maqbool, and 

has also made Blue Umbrella, based on a Ruskin Bond story. 

Farhan Akhtar: The son of lyricist Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar burst onto the 

Indian cinema scene with Dil Chahta Hai, a film that almost became the emblem 

for the urban India youth. He made a not-so-successful war movie Lakshya before 

recently giving a remake twist to Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don with Shah Rukh 

Khan in the lead role.

IFFI-2007 FILM INDIA WORLDWIDE 

Richie Mehta’s debut film is an emotionally-evocative story about an 

auto-rickshaw driver, Amal, living in New Delhi , who is content with 

his small, but vital role in life. His regular client, the lovely Pooja, has 

her bag stolen by a little street girl, who gets hit by a car. Amal takes 

her to hospital determined to care for her. He drives an eccentric 

billionaire, G K Jayaram, disguised as a vagabond. The despairing and 

irascible old man is in search of a person who displays a true humanity 

to whom he can bequeath his wealth. His own progeny though are 

chasing his money. Amal unknowingly gets involved in this family 

intrigue. Filmed on location in New Delhi, this modern day fable asks 

the important question of what success means to each individual and 

ultimately reveals to audiences that the poorest of men are sometimes 

the richest. 

Richie Mehta was born in Toronto and has studied painting, sculpting 

and directing. He has directed several short films that have screened 

internationally, including System of Units (2004) and Amal (2004). 

He has adapted the latter into his first feature film of the same name. 

The concept of Amal was the winner of the Telefilm ‘Pitch This” 

Competition at the Toronto 2005 film festival. 

103 

2007, 35 mm, Colour, 71 mins, Hindi/Kannada 

Canada-India 

Amal 

Director 

Richie Mehta 

Screenplay 

Richie Mehta, Shaun Mehta 


Mitch Ness 

Editor 

Stuart Mcintyre 

Music 

Dr. Shiva 

Sound 

Sanjay Mehta 

Cast 

Rupinder Nagra (Amal), Koel Purie (Pooja), Naseeruddin Shah (G K 

Jayaram), Seema Biswas (Sapna Agarawal), Vik Sahay (Vivek Jayaram), 

Roshan Seth (Suresh) 

Production 

Poor Man’s Productions Ltd 

1376 Daniel Creek Road 

Mississauga ON L5V 

1V3 Canada 

www.poormansproductions.com 

World Sales 

Harish Vanjani 

P.O.Box 2442 

Springfield, Virginia 22152 

Tel: 001 703-569-6967 

Fax: 001 703-569-7775 

Mobile: 001 703-395-6444(cell) 

email: hvanjani@aol.com 


Toronto

FILM INDIA WORLDWIDE 

USA 

The Pool 

ASIA PREMIERE 

2007, HD-Cam, Colour, 95 mins, Hindi 

Director 

Chris Smith 

Screenplay 

Chris Smith, Randy Russell 


Chris Smith 

Editor 

Barry Poltermann 

Music 

Didier Leplae, Joe Wong 

Cast 

Jahangir Badshah (Jahangir), Venkatesh Chavan (Venkatesh), Ayesha 

Mohan (Ayesha), Nana Patekar 

Sound 

Didier Leplae 

World Sales 

The Pool Film, LLC 

220 East Buffalo St #400 

Milwaukee WI 53202, USA 

email: Chris2@bluemarkfilms.com 

Festivals & and Awards 

Sundance (Special Jury Award), Vienna 

104 

IFFI-2007 

This American film has been shot entirely in Panaji, Goa by 36year-old 

Chris Smith, and is made in Hindi, a language the director 

does not know. Its story follows Venkatesh, who works as a hotel houseboy 

alongside his staunch buddy, Jahangir. The two make extra money 

selling plastic bags to pedestrians. Venkatesh is mesmerized by the 

aquamarine glow of a backyard swimming pool, which he gazes from 

a mango tree. He gets to know the owners, a wealthy man (Nana 

Patekar) originally from Mumbai and his edgy daughter Ayesha, who 

take to him in their separate ways. This encounter changes the lives of 

the two boys, aspiring to better themselves without the benefit of any 

education or skills. The film’s leisured pace and seemingly effortless 

telling captures the essential spirit of Goan living, from its mansions, 

its music, its street life and its work-force. Director Smith is known 

for his searching, introspective documentaries and their natural setting 

and universality of theme – attributes that he brings with gentle 

understanding to his film, The Pool. 

Chris Smith, based in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, is an accomplished 

filmmaker whose previous films include his debut feature American 

Job (1996), and his documentaries American Movie (1999, Grand Jury 

Prize-Sundance Film Festival), Home Movie (2001) and The Yes Men 

(2004). The Pool is his second feature film.

Retrospectives 

Ingmar Bergman 

Living Together / Vivre Ensemble! 

Flander’s Image 

Award Winning Films From PFF 

Volker Schlondorff

INGMAR BERGMAN 

One of the greatest artists on celluloid since the invention of motion 

picture, Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala, to Erik Bergman and 

Karin on July 14, 1918. His father was a conservative parish minister 

and a strict father who used to lock up the young Bergman in dark 

closets for hours for infractions such as wetting the bed. Those 

childhood impressions remained with Bergman for life and influenced 

his films. In school Bergman traded a set of tin soldiers for a battered 

magic lantern, a possession that altered his life. By playing with this 

toy he had created a private world of shadows and images in which he 

felt completely at home. As a teenager, he was also influenced by Adolf 

Hitler for many years. He wrote in his biography Laterna Magica that 

“for many years, I was on Hitler’s side, delighted by his success and 

saddened by his defeats”. In 1937, Bergman entered Stockholm 

University College to study art and literature, but spent his time in 

student theatre and movie halls. Although he did not graduate, he wrote 

a number of plays, as well as an opera and became an assistant director 

at a theatre. Working in films began in 1941 through script rewriting. 

The first breakthrough came in 1944 when he wrote the screenplay for 

Torment and assisted the director. The film’s success led to Bergman’s 

first opportunity to direct next year. The first major success came with 

Smiles of a Summer Night in 1955. This was followed two years later 

with two of Bergman’s most well known films, The Seventh Seal and 

Wild Strawberries. In the next 20 years, he created many classics 

including Cries and Whispers and Persona. In the early 1960s, he 

directed a trilogy – Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The 

106 

IFFI-2007 

Silence – that explored the theme of faith and doubt in God. Other 

notable films of the period include The Virgin Spring, Hour of the Wolf, 

Shame and A Passion/The Passion of Anna. Known for his emotionallycharged 

films, Bergman probed the darker territories of the human soul. 

His films portrayed explicit pain and suffering, and examined the 

fragility of both life and faith. Berman films are memorable for posing 

existential questions on mortality, loneliness, and faith. After his muchpublicised 

arrest in 1976 for tax evasion, Bergman swore he would 

never again make films in his native country. He shut down his film 

studio on the island of Faro and went into exile. His next film, The 

Serpent’s Egg, was his first and only English language film. It was 

followed a year later with another of his finest works, Autumn Sonata. 

Another film he directed was From the Life of the Marionettes. In 1982, 

he temporarily returned to his homeland to direct Fanny and Alexander, 

a film that was aimed at a broader audience but was also criticised for 

its commercial nature. In the last part of his life he was more involved 

with TV and theatre. The celebrated director passed away on July 30, 

2007 at the age of 89. His repertoire of over 50 films in many ways set 

the standard for future filmmakers.

IFFI-2007 INGMAR BERGMAN 

Autumn Sonata tells the story of a famous pianist who is confronted by her neglected 

daughter. Eva, a timid and reserved wife of a countryman, invites her mother, 

Charlotte, to stay with her after a seven-year separation. Charlotte is a concert pianist, 

whose career has dictated prolonged separations from her family. Having recently 

experienced the death of her husband, Charlotte is eager to rekindle her relationship 

with her daughter. However, their congenial reunion is short-lived, as Eva begins to 

confront her mother’s alienated affection. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Katinka Faragó, Writer: Ingmar Bergman, Cast: 

Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk, Music: Excerpts from Chopin’s 

Preludium no. 2 in A minor, played by Käbi Laretei; Bach’s Suite no. 4 in E flat major, 

performed by Claude Genetay; and Handel’s Sonata in F major, Opus 1, performed by F. 

Bruggen, G. Leonhardt, Anne Bylsmå, Cinematography: Sven Nykvist, Editor: Sylvia 

Ingemarsson 

107 

Autumn Sonata / Höstsonaten 


Fanny and Alexander / Fanny och Alexander 


The story is set in the early 20 th century in Sweden and deals with a young boy 

named Alexander, his sister Fanny, and their well-to-do family the Ekdahls. Fanny 

and Alexander’s parents are involved in theatre and are happily married until the 

father’s sudden death. Shortly thereafter, the mother, Emilie, finds a new suitor in 

the local bishop, a handsome widower, and accepts his proposal of marriage, moving 

into his ascetic home and putting the children under his stern and unforgiving rule. 

He is particularly hard on Alexander, trying to break his will by every means. The 

children and their mother live as virtual prisoners in the bishop’s house until finally 

the Ekdahl family intervenes. With help from an old friend, a Jewish antiques dealer, 

as well as some magic, the children are smuggled out of the house, but the Ekdahls’ 

attempts to bribe or threaten the bishop into divorce fail. Emilie, by now pregnant, 

slips her husband a sedative and flees as he sleeps, after which a fire breaks out and 

the bishop is burnt to death. In the meantime, Alexander has met the Jewish 

merchant’s mysterious son and fantasized about his stepfather’s death – it is as if 

Alexander’s fantasy comes true as he dreams it. The story ends on a mainly happy, 

life-affirming note, with the christening of Emilie’s and the late bishop’s daughter 

and the illegitimate daughter of one of the Ekdahl men, but Alexander encounters 

the bishop’s ghost, signalling that he will never be completely free of him. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Jörn Donner, Writer: Ingmar Bergman, Music: 

Daniel Bell, Cinematography: Sven Nykvist, Cast: Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Börje 

Ahlstedt, Editing: Sylvia Ingemarsson


The Seventh Seal / Det sjunde inseglet 

1957, 35mm, B&W, 96 mins; Swedish 

Antonius Block, a knight, returns with his squire Jöns from the Crusades and finds 

that his home country is ravaged by the plague. To his dismay, he discovers that 

Death has come for him too. In order to buy time he challenges Death to a chess 

match, which allows him to reach his home and be reunited with his wife after ten 

years away. Around him religion is becoming fanatical and society is collapsing. A 

witch is burned, but not before he questions her. He takes under his protection his 

squire, a troupe of travelling players and a deaf and dumb girl. Death takes his toll 

one by one, but Block manages to stall him long enough that a young family of 

players that reflects the Holy Family may get to safety. Then Death leads his prisoners 

away doing their dance of death. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Allan Ekelund, Writer: Ingmar Bergman, 

Cast: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, 

Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer, Editing: Lennart Wallén 

The Virgin Spring / Jungfrukällan 

1960, 35 mm, B&W, 89 mins, Swedish 

Set in medieval Sweden, the Virgin Spring tells the story of a prosperous Christian 

whose daughter, Karin (the “light” child) is appointed to bring candles to the church. 

She is accompanied by her foster sister, Ingeri (the dark child), who secretly worships 

the ancient Norse deity Odin. Along the way the two part ways and Karin sets out 

on her own. She meets three herdsmen, and invites them to eat her snack with her. 

Two older herdsmen (but not the younger one) rape and murder Karin and leave 

with her cloths. The herders then, unknowingly, seek shelter at the home of the 

murdered girl. Her parents, discover that it was the goatherds who killed their 

daughter when they try to sell the mother some of her daughter’s clothes. Locking 

them in their chamber, the father then kills the two murderers, along with the innocent 

younger brother. The next day, the parents set out to find their daughter’s body. Her 

father vows that, although he cannot understand God, he will build a church at the 

site of his daughter’s death. As her parents lift her head from the ground, a spring 

begins to flow from where she was lying. Ingeri now wishes to wash herself with 

the water. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Ingmar Bergman, Allan Ekelund, Writer: Ulla 

Isaksson, Cast: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson, 

Music: Erik Nordgren, Cinematography: Sven Nykvist, Editing: Oscar Rosander 

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IFFI-2007 INGMAR BERGMAN 

109 

Through a Glass Darkly / Såsom i en spegel 

1961, 35mm, B&W, 89 mins, Swedish 

Four family members are vacationing on a remote island, shortly after one of them, 

Karin, was released from an asylum. Karin’s brother, an adolescent playwright named 

Minus, exhibits faint symptoms of the disease as well and their father David, a writer, 

appears to take a perverse pleasure in observing the decline of his daughter, who, it 

is hinted, may provide the material for David’s upcoming magnum opus. Although 

sane, David is shown as severely alienated from his own family; the final scene 

shows Minus shedding tears of joy because his father spoke to him briefly. Karin’s 

illness leads her to have visions, which she believes will culminate in her seeing 

God, but she is terrified when “God” turns out to be a giant spider. The title derives 

from a Biblical passage in which seeing through a glass darkly refers to human 

understanding of God when alive; the view clears only after death. The film is often 

considered the first part of a trilogy focused on spiritual issues together with Winter 

Light and The Silence. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Allan Ekelund, Writer: Ingmar Bergman, Cast: 

Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, Lars Passgård, Music: Erik 

Nordgren. Johann Sebastian Bach, Cinematography: Sven Nykvist, Editing: Ulla Ryghe 

Shame / Skammen 

1968, 35 mm, B&W, 103 mins, Swedish 

The film is about follows two musicians, who, as a result of civil war, have moved 

away from society to a farm on a rural island. They are apolitical and indifferent to 

the war. A neighbour sometimes gives them a fish but wine is a luxury. They love 

each other, but there are problems. The war upsets the sensitive Jan who cries 

frequently. Eva wants children, he does not. The war suddenly arrives and the rebels 

attack. The neighbours die. Jan and Eva are arrested as collaborators. After 

frightening and roughing them up, the local colonel releases them. But the army 

man tries to become cosy with Eva. Jan becomes violent and murderous and they 

flee. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Lars-Owe Carlberg, Writer: Ingmar Bergman, 

Cast: Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ulf Johansson, 

Editing: Ulla Ryghe, Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ingmar Bergman, 

Cinematography: Sven Nykvist


Wild Strawberries / Smultronstället 

1957, 35mm, B&W, 91 mins, Swedish 

Isak Borg is a medical doctor and professor who drives with his daughter-in-law 

Marianne from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary degree from Lund 

University. On the 400-mile car journey the old man remembers his past - the girl he 

loved who married his brother instead, and his own bitterly unsuccessful marriage. 

Despite his benevolent exterior, to which everyone pays tribute, he recognises in 

himself something arid and distant. During this trip, he is forced by nightmares, 

daydreams, his old age, and his impending death to re-evaluate his life. He meets a 

variety of people on the road, from Sara, a female hitcher travelling with her fiance 

and escort, to a quarrelling married couple who remind Isak of his own life and 

marriage. 

Direction: Ingmar Bergman, Producer: Allan Ekelund, Writer: Ingmar Bergman, 

Cast: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Music: Erik 

Nordgren,Göte Lovén, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wilhelm Harteveld, Carl Axel Lundvall, 

Alwin Müller, Herman Palm, Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer, Editing: Oscar Rosander 

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IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

111 

LIVING TOGETHER / VIVRE ENSEMBLE! 

Looking For Cheyenne / Oublier Cheyenne 


Sonia, a dedicated high school science teacher still hurting from a bad break-up, 

spends the occasional night with other companions but is always scanning the horizon 

for Cheyenne. She hooks up with Pierre, a cute young anarchist who declares his 

love and Beatrice, a cool dyke with bad intentions whom she meets in a lesbian bar. 

But Cheyenne is ever-present in her thoughts. A year after being laid off her job as 

a journalist and with unemployment at an all-time high, Cheyenne still hasn’t found 

a job. Unable to pay her heat or electric bill, she becomes disillusioned with “the 

system” and decides to live independent from “the machine.” She packs all her 

possessions into bags, secures them on her bike and starts peddling towards the 

country, sleeping alongside the road on the way. It is a story of love and longing and 

the difficulty of compromise, even in order to hold on to love. But it is also a clever 

critique of the runaway unemployment situation in France and the resulting 

disillusionment and despair of the French unemployed. 

Director: Valerie Minetto, Screenplay: Valérie Minetto, Cécile Vargaftig, 

Cinematography: Stephan Massis, Editing: Tina Baz, Music: Christophe Chevalier, Cast: 

Aurelia Petit (Sonia), Mila Dekker (Cheyenne), Malik Zidi (Pierre), Guilaine Londez 

(Beatrice), Art: Irène Galitzine, Michel Modaï, Costumes: Caroline Tavernier 

Born in 1965 in Forcalquier, Alpes de Haute Provence, Valerie Minetto is a graduate 

of the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs de Nice (Villa Arson) and the Fémis. She has 

produced two documentaries on contemporary young dancers in Moscow, Beau Geste 

in Moscow (1997) and Moscow between Heaven and Earth (2003), a short film, 

Head Angel (1994), and a film, Teens (1998) 

Quand Tu Descendras Du Ciel 


Jerome and his mother struggle to keep their dairy farm running. One morning, he 

heads for the town to look for work for a couple of months. Jerome strikes up a 

friendship with La Chignole, a boisterous tramp, and gets hired by the local mayor 

to assist another worker, Lucien, to decorate the town’s Christmas trees. But it is not 

long before an unexpected and less pleasant aspect of his job is revealed when the 

City Hall applies anti-begging laws to ‘clean out’ the town centre of its homeless 

people and tramps during the Christmas period. Lucien puts pressure and Jerome, 

fighting his conscience, reluctantly carries out his job. That is until the day he 

discovers that La Chignole is one of the homeless. 

Director: Eric Guirado, Cast: Benoit Giros, Serge Riaboukine, Jean-Francois Gallotte, 

Anne Coesens 

Eric Guirado is an actor, dialogue writer, director, scriptwriter. He has made films 

like Le Fils de l’épicier (2006), From Heaven (2002), Un petit air de fête (1999), 

Joyeux anniversaire mamie (1999), and Les Beaux Jours (1997).


Samia 


Fifteen-year-old Samia lives in Marseille’s periphery. Sixth in a family of eight 

children of Algerian descent, she suffocates in the moralistic atmosphere made 

oppressive by beliefs and rules she respects but no longer shares… Yacine, her 

unemployed older brother, justifies himself by upholding family and religious 

traditions. Older sister Amel has excluded herself from family life by her involvement 

with a boy from a different cultural background. Samia’s other sisters are completely 

focused on academic achievement. And Samia, a series of school failures in her 

wake, forced to take up technical studies that do not suit her, obliged to keep her 

first romance secret, becomes aware that it is absolutely necessary that she alone 

decides just what to do with her life. Based on the novel Ils disent que je suis une 

beurette by Soraya Nini. 

Director: Philippe Faucon, Cast: Lynda Benahouda, Mohamed Chaouch, Kheira Oualhaci, 

Nadia Koutel El 

Philippe Faucon was born in Morocco. He sat his masters in arts at Aix-en-Provence 

university. He started out in film in the production department. In 1989 he directed 

several episodes of the Portraits de Français series, co-produced by TV FNAC. In 

1992, he made Sabine for Arte, and then Muriel Parents Have Had It Up to Here, 

which was selected for the Cinéastes du Présents section at the 1995 Locarno Film 

Festival. He went on to make All Is Not Black as part of a series about the prevention 

of AIDS in 1996. 

Voisins Voisines 


In the suburbs of Paris, the residents of the Mozart Estate, a privatised former public 

housing estate, get a new caretaker, Paco, and a new neighbour, a rap musician. The 

rapper, lacking inspiration, only has three days to write his lyrics. Otherwise, he can 

say goodbye to the advance he received from the record company. Ideas? Lyrics? 

Music? But what if his inspiration were right there on the doorstep? The rap musician 

observes, composes, writes and sings. The Mozart Estate becomes the stage for a 

hip hop fable as the rapper turns into the good genie of his neighbours’ destiny. 

Director: Malik Chibane, Cast: Anemone, Jackie Berroyer, Frederic Diefenthal, Mohamed 

Fellag 

Malik Chibane is a dialogue writer, director and scriptwriter who has made films 

like Le bagagiste de Roissy (2008), Nés quelque part (1997), Douce France (1995) 

and Tale of the Suburbs (1993). 

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IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

113 


Wesh Wesh - qu’est ce qui se passe? 

2002, 35mm, Colour, 83 mins, French-Arabic 

Cite Des Bosquets, a council estate in the Parisian suburbs. The life of a group of 

young adults confronted with the social decomposition of their neighbourhood, seen 

through the eyes of Kamel, a young man back in the estate after having been expelled. 

Halfway between documentary and fiction, ‘Wesh wesh’ is a take on the everyday 

life of an immigrant family which is struggling to integrate into France or, rather 

into the ‘Cite des Bosquets’. Moving and touching, this movie does not try to be an 

impressive fictional tale about the ghettos, but gives an exact testimony of the lives 

of society’s left behind who survive through solidarity. 

Director: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, Cast: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, Ahmed Hammoudi, 

Brahim Ameur-Zaimeche, Farida Mouffok, Ali Mouffok 

Rabah Ameur-Zaïmèche is an actor, director and scriptwriter who has made films 

like Bled Number One (2006). 

Zim And Co 


After a banal motorbike accident, 20-year-old Zim must find a proper job if he wants 

to avoid prison. Zim is not a lazy guy and he scans newspaper ads looking for a job. 

But the only one he finds, starting in ten days and that he must absolutely get, requires 

a car – and a driver’s licence. Of course, he does not have either. Fortunately, Zim is 

good at inventing schemes, even better, he has got a gang of great buddies – Cheb, 

Arthur and Safia – who are ready to do anything, or almost, to keep him out of jail. 

Director: Pierre Jolivet, Cast: Adrien Jolivet, Mhamed Arezki, Yannick Nasso, Naidra Ayadi 

Pierre Jolivet started out in cabaret with his brother Marc. For ten years, they worked 

the vaudeville, movie, radio and TV circuits together as a team. Pierre split off in 

1983 to co-produce, co-write and perform in Luc Besson’s The Final Combat, which 

won the Jury’s Special Prize at the Avoriaz Festival. In 1984, he wrote, directed and 

produced Strictly Personal with Pierre Arditi (nominated for the Cesar for Best First 

Film) and teamed up again with Luc Besson to co-write Subway. Thereafter, he wrote 

and directed Le Complexe du kangourou in 1986, Uncontrollable Circumstances in 

1987, Simple mortel in 1991, When the Jungle Cats Go to Drink in 1992 (together 

again with Marc), and Fred, with Vincent Lindon and Clotilde Courau in 1996, which 

was widely acclaimed by the critics. In All Innocence followed in 1998. My Little 

Business, Jolivet’s eighth feature, has been a popular hit and François Berléand won 

a Cesar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in it.

FLANDER’S IMAGE 

Belgium 

Gilles / Buitenspe 

2005, 35mm, Colour, 91 mins, Dutch 

Director 

Jan Verheyen 

Screenplay 

Ed Vanderweyden 


Danny Elsen 

Editor 

Philippe Ravoet 

Music 

Jan Leyers 

Cast 

Ilya Van Malderghem, Filip Peeters, Joke Devynck, 

Peter Bulckaen, Kris Piekaerts 

Sound 

Pedro Van der Eecken 

Production 

Flanders Image 

Handelskaai 18/3 

1000 Brussel 

Tel: +3222260630 

Fax: +3222191936 

email: flandersimage@vaf.be 

www.flandersimage.com 

World Sales 

Sola Media GmbH 

Osumstr. 17 

70599 Stuttgart 

Germany 

Tel: + 497114793666 

Fax: + 497114792658 

email: solveiglangeland@aol.com 

www.sola-media.net 


International film festival for children and young audience 

“Schlingel” in 2006, Netherlands Film Festival 

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IFFI-2007 

An offside ruling in soccer can be complicated and subjective, and for 12-yearold 

Gilles it’s more than a game penalty. Gilles is a talented soccer player whose 

father Bert’s passionate support and coaching feed their dream that Gilles will 

make the Red Devils pro team. When Bert’s enthusiasm causes a heart attack, a 

grieving Gilles finds a way to bring his father back to life so that he (but no one 

else) sees his dad everywhere, especially when playing soccer. But there’s a 

downside to Bert’s continuing presence: When Gilles learns that soccer might 

jeopardize his future, Bert still pushes Gilles to keep playing. Is this Gilles’ desire 

too, or only his father’s? While his mother urges him to quit and his friends offer 

encouragement, in the end Gilles must rule a buitenspel (“offside” in Dutch), 

either as his penalty or his father’s trap. 

Jan Verheyen started his career as a festival organizer, film critic and distributor. 

He made his feature film debut with Boys (1991). In 1995, he directed the erotic 

thriller The Little Death in the US. Back in Belgium, he directed Everything Must 

Go (Alles moet weg), Team Spirit, the thriller Alias and Team Spirit II. Gilles 

(Buitenspel) is his seventh feature.

IFFI-2007 FLANDER’S IMAGE 

The rise and fall of a young boxing champ, who, in the fag end of the World War 

II, boxes his way to become the European champion. Will his shoulders be strong 

enough to bear the weight of success? 

Guido Henderickx was born in Antwerp in 1942. 

115 

Belgium 

King of the World / Koning Van De Wereld 

2006, 16 mm, Colour, Dutch 

Director 

Guido Henderickx 

Screenplay 

Marc Didden, Frank Van Passel, Guido Henderickx 


Jan Vancaillie 

Editor 

Karin Vaerenberg 

Music 

Hans Helewaut 

Cast 

Kevin Janssens, Koen de Bouw, Jan Decleir, Josse De Pauw, 

Katelijne Damen 

Sound 

Griet Van Reeth 

Production 

Caviar 

Arielle Sleutel 

Havenlaan 75 

B-1000 Brussel 

Belgium 

Tel: +3224232101 

email: arielle@caviar.be 

World Sales 

High Point & Television 

Elizabeth Mews 25 

NW3 4UH London 

United Kingdom 

Tel: +442075863686 

Fax: +442075863117 

email: info@highpointfilms.co.uk 

highpointfilms.co.uk

FLANDER’S IMAGE 

Belgium 

Love Belongs to Everyone / 

Dennis Van Rita 

2006, 16 mm, Colour, 80 mins, Dutch 

Director 

Hilde Van Mieghem 

Screenplay 

Hugo Van Laere 


Jan Vancaille 

Editor 

Philippe Ravoet 

Music 

Helmut Lotti, Bert Joris 

Cast 

Els Dottermans, Matthias Schoenaerts, 

Veerle Baetens, Damiaan De Schrijver 

Sound 

Gert Janssen 

Production 

Caviar 

Arielle Sleutel 

Havenlaan 75 

B-1000 Brussel 

Belgium 

Tel: +3224232101 

email: arielle@caviar.be 


Cairo, Emden, Montreal, Shanghai 

(Best Director, Best Actress) 

116 

IFFI-2007 

Rita is filled with joy when news breaks that her 26-year-old son Dennis will be 

released. Having learning difficulties, Dennis has been serving a prison sentence 

for the alleged rape of a minor girl. The neighbourhood, however, is all but happy 

with Dennis’ homecoming. Barbara, the victim’s sister and mother of an eightyear-old 

girl, is her most combative opponent. But Rita fights like a lioness for 

her son’s rehabilitation. Finally she will succeed in countering the community’s 

fury into a united struggle for a humane future of her beloved son. 

Hilde Van Mieghem was born in Antwerp in 1959. She is an accomplished Flemish 

actress-producer-writer.

IFFI-2007 FLANDER’S IMAGE 

Tom Vansant, a 40-year-old doctor in Brussels, is desperately searching for traces 

of his daughter Louise who disappeared 18 months ago. During his search, he 

comes across another 16-year-old runaway who left her hometown in the Ardennes 

at about the same time as Louise disappeared. Although the girl refuses to talk 

about her past, Tom is convinced that she knows more about his daughter. He 

follows the girl to the Ardennes and lands in an unknown and dangerous 

environment where things are not what they seem and where hostile villagers 

don’t really care for strangers. 

This is the cinematic debut of TV director Frank van Mechelen. 

117 

2004, 35 mm, Colour, 110 mins, Dutch 

Belgium 

The Intruder / De Indringer 

Director 

Frank Van Mechelen 

Screenplay 

Ward Hulselmans 


Lou Bergmans 

Editor 

Joris Brouwers 

Music 

Steve Willaert 

Cast 

Koen De Bouw, Filip Peeters, Els Dottermans, 

Axel Daeseleire, Maaike Neuville 

Sound 

Geert Engels 


Skyline Entertainment 

De Limburg Stirumlaan 243 1 

B-1780 Wemmel 

Belgium 

Tel: +32 2 240 77 77 

Fax: +32 2 242 26 68 

email: info@tvskyline.com 

www.tvskyline.com 


Netherlands, Hamburg, Montreal, Bangkok

AWARD WINNING FILMS FROM PFF 

A Stranger of Mine / Unmei janai hito 


Director 

Kenji Uchida 

Screenplay 

Kenji Uchida 


Keiichiro Inoue 

Editor 

Shinichi Fushima 

Music 

Mitsuharu Ishibashi 

Cast 

Yasuhi Nakamura, Reika Kirishima, 

Sô Yamanaka, Yuka Itaya 

Production 

Mayumi Amano, Masaya Nakamura 

PIA CORPORATION 

PFF Headquarters 

5-19, Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku 

Tokyo, Japan 102-0075 

Tel: 81-3-3265-1425 

Fax: 81-3-3265-5659 

email: international@pff.jp 

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IFFI-2007 

It all started one Friday night when broken hearted and lacklustre businessman Miyata 

returned home after losing the love of his life, only to be called out again by his 

private investigator friend. The two meet at a restaurant, where Miyata runs into a 

woman and falls in love, but in the shadows something unbelievable awaits them 

all... Three episodes as seen from the viewpoints of five people - a devastated Miyata, 

a detective who is tired of his job, a yakuza boss having trouble running his 

organization, a woman thrown into despair by a two-timing fiance, and a con woman 

who twists men around her finger - are sandwiched between a short prologue and 

epilogue. The relationships between seemingly simple and isolated episodes begin to 

surface one after the other as the story progresses, bringing friendships to light and 

exposing the complicated nature of human beings. While Miyata remains oblivious to 

the events happening around him, surely his kindness and bravery will encourage 

broken hearted guys everywhere to keep trying. 

Born in 1972 and an aspiring director since his high school years, Kenji Uchida enrolled 

in the undergraduate program in cinema at San Francisco State University in 

1992, affording him the opportunity to learn script writing and film production techniques 

in everything from 8mm to 35mm. After graduating in 1998, Uchida returned 

to Japan and completed his independent film Weekend Blues - recipient of both the 

TBS “Planning Award” and the Nikkatsu “Brilliant Award”at the 24th annual Pia 

Film Festival. Uchida then went on to receive the 14th PFF Scholarship in 2004 to 

create his first feature A Stranger of Mine.

IFFI-2007 

Kurosawa Daigo, an unmotivated taxi driver on the job, runs over Matsuda 

Shuji, who comes speeding by on his bicycle. Although the accident is not 

serious, Shuji insists on heading north to Hokkaido with a shadowed look 

about him. Daigo becomes worried and decides to go along. Miyaji Daizuke, 

in his mid-40s, still leads a life of a good-for-nothing punk. Because of the 

betrayal of his follower, he ends up being pursued by a yakuza (gangster) 

leader. What crosses his mind when he realises that he has no future is his 

daughter that he deserted when she was in junior high. For Aikawa Misa, a 

house of her own is the symbol of a happy family. But her son is being beaten 

up at school, her husband has been laid off, and the family ties no longer 

exist. To protect the image of her family that is now only illusion, Misa’s life 

begins to fall out of gear. Uehara Haruka, who has many friends, appears to 

be ordinary high school girl. But she lives alone in an apartment and has a 

secret that she never shares her friends. People who have wounds in their 

relationship which their families meet for a fleeting moment, show sings of 

making contacts, but then part away. The story of each character repeats the 

pain of separation and becomes entangled with each other, and eventually 

discovers something in the end. 

Born in 1974, Lee Sang-Il studied at a Korean high school in Yokohama. Blue 

chong, his graduation project for Japanese Academy of Moving Images, won 

four prizes, including the Grand prize, at PFF Award 2000, from among 730 

entrants. The film was subsequently shown at a commercial film theatre, where 

it became a long-running hit. 

119 



Border Line 

Director 

Lee Sang-Il 

Screenplay 

Lee Sang-Il & Matsuura Hajime 


Hayasaka Shin 

Editor 

Aoyama Masafumi 

Music 

Ayuo 

Cast 

Sawaki Tetsu, Maeda Ayaka, Asou Yumi, Mitsuishi Ken, 

Murakami Jun, Fukaura Kanako, Morishita Yoshiyuki, Tanaka 

Yohji, Chiba Tetsuya, Sugiyama Tokuko, Miyako Harumi 

Art 

Kikuchi Akio 

Sound 

Kubota Yukio 

Costume 

Miyamoto Masae 

Production 

PFF Partners 

PIA, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Rentrak Japan, 

Tokyo FM Broadcasting, Nikkatsu, Imagica


Hole in the Sky / Sora No Ana 


Director 

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri 

Cast 

Susumu Terajima, Yuriko Kikuchi, Bunmei Tobayama, 

Shunsuke Sawada, Shunsuke Gondo 

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IFFI-2007 

Set in Hokkaido, this is the story of Tae, out on a road trip with her boyfriend. 

They stop at an isolated roadside restaurant for a bathroom break, but when Tae 

re-emerges, she finds in a none-too-subtle manner that she has been dumped; her 

boyfriend has taken off, leaving only her luggage behind. Stranded in this desolate 

landscape with no money, she goes into the restaurant and runs off without paying 

for her meal. But with nowhere to go, she has no option but to spend the night in 

the restaurant’s shed. The next night, trying to light a fire to keep herself warm, 

she sets the whole shed ablaze. Ichio, who runs the restaurant with his temporarily 

absent father, takes pity on her and allows her to stay in his house, on the condition 

that she will work in the restaurant to settle the bill for the meal she never paid. 

Having a woman around the house is new to Ichio, who has only ever lived with 

his father and late mother. With Tae in emotional shambles, something develops 

between them which slowly starts to resemble a relationship. 

The low budget but ultra violent Kichiku (Kichiku Dai Enkai) introduced filmmaker 

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri to an unsuspecting world in 1997. It was unflinchingly 

graphic and offended as many souls as it mesmerized on its extended run around 

the international festival circuit. Four years later, Kumakiri finally gives us his 

second film with Hole in the Sky (Sora No Ana). And it’s a different exercise 

indeed.

IFFI-2007 

Timeless Melody 


Director 

Okuhara Hiroshi 

Screenplay 

Okuhara Hiroshi, Cinematography: Fukumoto Jun 

Editor 

Okuhara Hiroshi, Sento Takenori 

Music 

Aoyagi Takuji 

Cast 

Aoyagi Takuji, Ichikawa Mikako, Kondo Taro, Kimiko Yo, 

Wakamatsu Takeshi 

Sound 

Nishioka Masami, Fukuda Shin 

World Sales 

PIA Film Festival 

121 


Improvised music is a metaphor for variety in the uncertain existence of several 

regular visitors to a pool hall and rehearsal space. Meditative and visual portrait 

of their lives focusing on the moments when nothing apparently happens. It is a 

film that could only have been made at this time. Filled with puzzles and 

uncertainties, the film makes elegant use of improvised music as a metaphor for 

the way in which story and characters can introduce their own variation in rhythm. 

The film is in the opulent tradition of the meditative, visual cinema that has fed 

Japanese film, from Ozu to Kore-Eda. The young Kawamoto spends most of his 

time in a pool hall and rehearsal space where people play pool and music. It has 

become his home, at night he sleeps on one of the pool tables. Other regulars are 

a girl who doesn’t go to school any more and predicts the future with cards, and 

a man who lives on a boat. The girl works as waitress; she only has superficial 

contact with her mother who lives in Los Angeles. The man turns out not to exist 

officially any more; years ago he was lost at sea and assumed dead. In the street, 

the underworld keeps an eye on him. It’s as if none of the characters in this film 

has a real life: they are left to their fate, without a home. 

Okuhara Hiroshi, born in 1968 in Japan, studied at the International Christian 

University in Tokyo and first wanted to become a musician. His first short, Picnic, 

won the audience award at the Japanese Pia Film Festival in 1993. His feature 

début Timeless Melody was selected in 2000 for the Tiger Awards Competition. 

His second feature Nami/Wave won the Netpac Award in Rotterdam in 2002. He 

has made films like Picnic (1993, short), Kazhakh (1994, short), Nami/Wave 

(2001), Aoi Kuruma/A Blue Automobile (2004)


Yoshino’s Barber Shop 


Director 

Naoko Ogigami 

Cast 

Masako Motaii, Ryo Yoneda, Kazuyuki Asano, Senri Sakurai 

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IFFI-2007 

In a small town on the countryside, where everyone knows everyone, all the 

children pay their respect to the middle-aged woman who runs “Barber Yoshino”. 

An old tradition is rooted in this town. Every young boy is forced to have the 

same ridiculous hairstyle to have their bangs cut straight, known as the “Yoshinogari” 

hairstyle. Of course they all get their hair done at the only barbershop in 

town, “Barber Yoshino”. Then one day, a drastic change occurs when a transfer 

student with bleached hair comes from Tokyo... 

Born 1972 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Ogigami Naoko Graduated from Chiba 

University’s Image Science programme. After graduation, she went to the United 

States in 1994 to study film at the University of Southern California. During this 

period, she worked as an assistant for TV commercials, promotional videos, and 

films, and also created short films of her own. She returned to Japan in January, 

2000. This is her feature length film debut.

IFFI-2007 VOLKER SCHLONDORFF 

Volker Schlöndorff, born in Wiesbaden, 

Germany on March 31, 1939, is a Berlin-based 

filmmaker. He won an Oscar as well as the Palme 

d’or at the Cannes Film Festival for The Tin Drum 

(1979), the classic film version of the novel by 

Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass. 

Schlöndorff has adapted many literary works for 

his movies, including some 

critically well-received US 

productions, but he is also 

engaged in post-war German 

politics. He served as the chief 

executive for the UFA studio in 

Babelsberg, and also teaches 

film and literature at the 

European Graduate School in 

Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he 

conducts an Intensive Summer 

Seminar. Born the son of a 

doctor in Wiesbaden, 

Schlöndorff left home in 1956 to 

study in a Jesuit boarding school 

in Brittany. After graduation, he 

went to study political science 

in Paris where, in 1959, he 

formed a close relationship with the filmmakers 

of the French nouvelle vague such as Louis Malle, 

Alain Resnais and Jean-Pierre Melville. During 

this time he was writing the screenplay to his first 

feature, Der junge Toerless which became the first 

international success of the New German Cinema 

and won the International Film Critics Prize in 

123 

Cannes in 1996. With The Lost Honor Of 

Katharina Blum (1975) based on the novel by 

Heinrich Boell (co-directed with his wife at the 

time, Margarethe von Tratta) Schlondorff made his 

breakthrough into the German box office. Because 

of this film and because of his political engagement 

in general, he was attacked as a Communist 

sympathizer. In 1983, he made 

the French/German coproduction, 

Swann In Love 

based on the novel by Marcel 

Proust. In 1984, he went to New 

York to make the film version of 

Arthur Miller’s play Death of a 

Salesman with Dustin Hoffman 

and John Malkovich. 

Schlondorff remained in the US 

for some years after this where 

he made the TV movie Murder 

on the Bayou (1985) with Holly 

Hunter and The Handmaid’s 

Tale (1990) from the Harold 

Pinter play. The fall of the 

Berlin Wall brought Schlondorff 

back to Germany where he made 

Voyager in 1991. The Ogre (1996), based on the 

Michael Tournier novel, was Schlondorff’s first 

film since 1991 and brought him back together with 

John Malkovich. The film caused a controversy 

in Germany, but received enthusiastic reviews in 

America, where Schlondorff returned to make the 

1998 crime drama, Palmetto.

VOLKER SCHLONDORFF 

Circle of Deceit / Die Faelschung 

1981, 35 mm, Colour, 109 mins 

Screenplay 

Nicolas Born, Jean-Claude Carrière Kai Hermann, 

Volker Schlöndorff, Margarethe von Trotta 


Igor Luther, Michael Zens 

Cast 

Bruno Ganz, Hanna Schygulla, Jean Carmet, Jerzy 

Skolimowsi, Gila von Weitershausen, Peter Martin 

Awards 

Nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar (1982) 

Legends of Rita / Stille nach dem Schuß, Die 

1999, 35 mm, Colour, 101 mins 

Screenplay 

Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Volker Schlöndorff 


Andreas Höfer 

Editor 

Peter Przygodda 

Cast 

Bibiana Beglau, Martin Wuttke, Nadja Uhl, Harald Schrott, 

Alexander Beyer, Jenny Schily, Mario Irrek 

Production 

Babelsberg FilmCo-Production, Mitteldeutsches Filmkontor, 

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk 


Berlin (2000, Blue Angel Award for direction, Silver Bear for 

Best Actress), Brothers Manaki (Golden Camera 300 Award 

cinematographer Andreas Höfer), Emden 

124 

IFFI-2007 

Bruno Ganz portrays a German journalist on assignment in Beirut, dealing with a 

disintegrating marriage and the disintegrating reality around him. An affair with 

a German woman (Hanna Schygulla) who is immersed in Arab life, and 

observations of his world-weary photographer companion only confound his 

comprehension of such sights as children playing on a beach with human sculls. 

Shot on location with fighting going on nearby, the film provides provocative 

authenticity. 

The time is marked by a spirit of anarchy and rebellion. Rita Vogt is seduced into 

the terrorist movement through her sense of justice and her love for Andi. A few 

years later, realising that the movement is falling apart, she goes underground, 

hiding out in East Germany. With the help of the Stasi Secret Service Agent, 

Erwin Hull, she assumes a new identity amidst the everyday world of the working 

class where she is befriended by a young co-worker, Tatjana. As much as Rita 

wants to fit into her surroundings, Tatjana yearns to get out, to escape to the 

West. Nonetheless, they form a deep friendship, which is brought to an abrupt 

end when a report on West German television blows Rita´s cover. Rita must 

disappear again, but this time a new name and a new city bring her luck. While 

on vacation, Rita meets Jochen, a university student working as a lifeguard. When 

he is posted to Moscow, he asks her to come with him, to be his wife and raise a 

family. But in the end Rita´s past catches up with her - 1989 brings the fall of the 

Berlin Wall. East Germany is gone, and with it, her new life.

IFFI-2007 VOLKER SCHLONDORFF 

Set in the 1950s, Voyager is about the travels of American construction engineer 

who is wandering throughout Europe, recounting his life story through a series of 

flashbacks while meeting a variety of new characters. At first, he meets a man 

whom he knew during his time as a student in Europe in the days before World 

War 11. Shortly afterwards, he meets a beautiful young German woman whom he 

accompanies on a journey to her home in Athens, Greece. The Voyager was adapted 

from the 1957 novel Homo Faber by Max Frisch. 

125 

1991, 35 mm, Colour, English 

The Voyager / Homo Faber 

Cast 

Sam Shepard (Walter Faber), Julie Delpy (Sabeth), 

Barbara Sukowa (Hannah), Dieter Kirchlechner 

(Herbert Hencke), Traci Lind (Charlene), 

Deborra-Lee Furness (Ivy)

Country Focus-Hungary

COUNTRY FOCUS-HUNGARY 

Black Brush / Fekete kefe 

2005, 35mm, B&W, 80 mins 

Director 

Roland Vranik 

Screenplay 

Gergely Pohárnok, Roland Vranik 


Gergely Pohárnok 

Editor 

Wanda Kiss 

Music 

Realistic Crew 

Cast 

Gergely Bánki, Károly Hajduk, Csaba Hernádi, 

András Réthelyi 

Art 

Péter Mátyási 

Sound 

Tamás Zányi 

Costume 

Juristovszky Sosa 

Production 

Filmpartners, Filmteam, Inforg Stúdió 

World Sales 

Magyar Filmunió 

1068 Budapest 

Városligeti fasor 38, Hungary 

Tel: +36 (1)351-7760, 351-7761 

Fax: +36 (1)352-6734 

email: filmunio@filmunio.hu 


2005: Budapest, Chicago, Thessaloniki, Vancouver 

2006: Annonay, Antwerp, Brussels, Buenos Aires, 

Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Montevideo, Nashville, Palic, 

Perth, Roma, Rotterdam, Taipei “Golden Horse” Film Festival 

128 

IFFI-2007 

Four men posing as chimneysweepers are looking for the answer in a goat’s 

stomach after a disastrous afternoon… And they find it! 

Roland Vranik makes his directorial debut with this feature film.

IFFI-2007 

”When the night is in its darkest hour, it’s then that dawn is the closest.” Only for 

adult audiences with strong nerves, it is the story of a day in a drug dealer’s life. 

The main character moves around in different social milieus, but this film is 

primarily not about the drugs and society, rather it is about a personal tragedy, 

through which it examines ancient questions of fate. How much can we influence 

our fate? When do we make our bad decisions, which can sometimes be fatal? 

Benedek Fliegauf, born in 1974 in Budapest, started off as a set designer in the 

“Hét Tükör” Studio Theatre. Since 1998, he has worked as assistant director with 

Miklós Jancsó and Árpád Sopsits. In 2003, after the success of his short films, he 

made his first feature Forest, which won Wolfgang Staudte Prize at the Forum of 

the Berlinale. His films have been screened at several prestigious festivals all 

over the world. 

129 


2004, 35mm, Colour, 135 mins 

Dealer 

Director 

Benedek Fliegauf 

Screenplay 

Benedek Fliegauf 


Péter Szatmári 

Editor 

Károly Szalai 

Music 

Raptors’ Kollektíva 

Cast 

Felícián Keresztes, Anikó Szigeti, Lajos Szakács, 

Edina Balogh, Barbara Thurzó 

Art 


Sound 

Tamás Zányi 

Costume 


Production 

Inforg Stúdió, Filmteam 


2004: Athens, Auckland, Barcelona, Berlin, Bratislava, 

Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Copenhagen, Geneva, Haifa, 

Helsinki, Karlovy Vary, Linz, London, Mar del Plata, 

Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Stuttgart 

2005: IFFI-Goa, Hong Kong, Montevideo, Prague, Pula, 

Rome, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Taipei, Trieste 

2006: Rotterdam


Eastern Sugar / Szezon 

2004, 35mm, Colour, 92 min 

Director 

Ferenc Török 

Screenplay 

Szilárd Podmaniczky, Ferenc Török 


Dániel Garas 

Editor 

Béla Barsi 

Music 

Zagar 

Cast 

Zsolt Nagy, Judit Rezes, Cast: Zsolt Nagy, Judit Rezes, 

Ervin Nagy, Péter Kokics, Ági Szirtes, Imre Csuja, 

Erzsébet Kútvölgyi, Zoltán Géczi, Gabriella Hámori, 

László Sinkó, Éva Kerekes, Géza Hegedûs D., Péter Takátsy 

Sound 

Tamás Zányi 

Costume 

Juristovszky Sosa, Fruzsina Nagy 

Production 

Új Budapest Filmstúdió 


2004: Bratislava, Budapest, Cottbus, Locarno, Sevilla 

2005: Antwerp, Belgrage, Bradford, Moscow, Palic, Pusan, 

Rome, Rotterdam, Singapore, Taipei, Valencia 

2006: Barcelona 

130 

IFFI-2007 

2003. Hungary. The boys from the Plains region, who have just graduated from 

the vocational school for catering, set out to discover the country. The only 

important thing for them is that something should finally happen. However, they 

have not the faintest idea what that ”something” should actually be. They set off 

to Lake Balaton in the hope of finding what they are looking for… 

The 1971-born Ferenc Török studied film history at the University of Esztergom 

during 1991-1995. he graduated from the Hungarian Academy of Drama and Film 

as a film director in 2000. His diploma film Moscow Square won the Best First 

Film Prize and Audience Prize at the 32nd Hungarian Film Week. This is his 

second feature film. In 2007, he made his latest film Overnight.

IFFI-2007 

An old man sitting on a bench has the hiccups, a drunken youth snores on a carriage, 

a kind old lady picks lilies of the valley, women sew in the dressmaker’s shop, 

men are bowling in a pub, the bees make honey, a machine harvests the wheat 

that in the mill will be made into flour, and then into dumplings in Grandma’s 

kitchen – and throughout it all a policeman investigates a murder... A film with 

the deceptive appearance of a documentary, where each scene contains clues to a 

detective story. This popular festival film has accumulated a number of trophies 

along the way, starting in its home country at the Hungarian Film Week where it 

picked up the Critics Award and Best Debut Film. Since then, the film took home 

four prizes at Cottbus including the Special Prize, Audience Award and the 

FIPRESCI Critics Prize, a Special Mention at San Sebastian and the European 

Film Awards European Discovery of the Year nod. 

This is György Pálfi’s first feature film. 

131 



Hukkle 

Director 

György Pálfi 

Screenplay 

György Pálfi 


Gergely Pohárnok 

Editor 

Gábor Marinkás 

Music 

Balázs Barna, Samu Gryllus 

Cast 

Ferenc Bandi, József Farkas, Attila Kaszás, Ági Margitai, 

Ferenc Nagy, Jánosné Nagy, Eszter Ónodi, Józsefné Rácz 

Sound 

Tamás Zányi 

Production 

Mokep 


2002: Ankara, Belfort, Budapest, Chicago, Cottbus, Kiev, 

London, Mahhheim, Paris, Pusan, San Sebastian, Santa Fe, 

Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Thessaloniki, Torino, Toronto, 

Vancouver, Warsaw 

2003: Adelaide, Barcelona, Belgrade, Bogota, Brasilia, 

Bratislava, Brisbane, Brussels, Calgary, Copenhagen, 

Edmonton, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Leeds, Los 

Angeles, Mar del Plata, Melbourne, IFFI-New Delhi, 

Philadelphia, Rome, Rotterdam, San Francisco, San Jose, 

Santa Barbara, Sarajevo, Seattle, Sydney 

2004: Riga, Singapore 

2005: Jakarta 

2006: Barcelona, Bergen 

2007: Skopje


Temptations / Kísértések 


Director 


Screenplay 



Gábor Medvigy 

Editor 

Zsuzsa Pósán 

Music 


Cast 

Juli Básti, Kati Budai, János Derzsi, Julianna Kovács, 

Marcell Miklós, Zoltán Seress 

Art 

György Árvai 

Sound 

István Sipos 

Costume 

János Breckl 

Production 

Nextreme Film 


2002: Ankara, Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Denver, Haifa, 

Karlovy Vary. Kiev, Manchester, Minneapolis, Montreal, 

Moscow, Pyongyang, Seattle, Shanghai 

2003: Cleveland, Palm Springs, Prague 

132 

IFFI-2007 

Anna brings up her son Marci on her own. Everyone predicts a great future for 

him, but he isn't interested in his career. He is desperate to find his unknown 

father and his place in the world. What sort of life should he lead? Should he 

relax in Anna's loving devotion? Should he give in to the lure of Elvira, who 

shows him the sensual side of life? Should he be a criminal, breaking codes at 

banks? Should he follow the example of his father Tibor? Should he be an 

alcoholic, a wasted talent who has preserved his sense of freedom, but has never 

achieved anything? Or should he find himself in the love of the ten -year-old 

gypsy girl with mysterious talent, Juli? Will the unselfish, deep and pure feelings 

of this girl resolve his life? Juli accepts with unquestionable devotion and humility 

that she belongs to Marci - however, he is incapable of identifying with this archaic 

role and this proves to be fatal... 

Zoltán Kamondi was born in 1960 in Budapest. After finishing his studies at the 

Faculty of Art, he went on to get a degree in film directing at the Academy of 

Theatre and Film Art Budapest, where he graduated in 1988. His examination 

film Kiki and the Males won the Best Direction Award at the West-Berlin Short 

Film Festival in 1985. In 1990, he made his first feature film Path of Death and 

Angels which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. In 1992, 

he started to work in theatre and became a highly acclaimed theatre director in 

Hungary. In 1997, he began shooting The Hungarian Speckled Variety, a 

documentary series, considered by critics as one of the most important documents 

of the years after the political changes in Hungary. In 1996, his video film The 

Golden Deck Chair won the Best Direction Award at the 27th Hungarian Film 

Week. In 1999, his second feature film The Alchemist and the Virgin won the 

Best Independent Feature Award at the Manchester International Film Festival. 

His latest film Dolina is being shown in the Cinema of the World section of this 

festival.

IFFI-2007 

There was once the Farm. Somewhere in Hungary.More precisely: in Europe. 

Even more precisely: on planet Earth. Farm folk, who are amiable and simple yet 

cunning lived here on this Farm. From time to time strangers come to the Farm. 

And it is then that all hell always breaks loose.Because the strangers have also 

brought death with them. And destruction. And hate. And jealousy. And vanity. 

And shame. And lies. 

On this Farm strangers always just cause trouble…Based on Ervin Lázár’s 

Csillagmajor Péter Gárdos, who has made a number of documentaries and shorts, 

made his first feature film, The Philadelphia Attraction, in 1984. With his later 

films he won several awards in film festivals from Montreal to Cairo. His theatrical 

directions are also popular in Hungary. 

133 


The Porcelain Doll / A porcelánbaba 


Director 

Péter Gárdos 

Screenplay 

Péter Gárdos 


Tibor Máthé 

Editor 

Marianna Miklós 

Music 

Agens 

Cast 

Lajos Bertók, Sándor Csányi, Judit Németh 

Art 

Balázs Hujber 

Sound 

Ferenc Császár 

Costume 

János Breckl 

Production 

Duna Television, Tivoli Filmproduction 


2005: Ankara, Bratislava, Budapest, Kolkata, Istanbul, 

Jerusalem, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, Pusan, 

Reykjavik, Toronto, Vancouver 

2006: Brussels, Hong Kong, Maine, Minneapolis, 

Philadelphia, Seattle, Tampa


Vagabond 


Director 

György Szomjas 

Screenplay 

György Szomjas 


Ferenc Grunwalsky 

Editor 

Anna Kornis 

Music 

Ferenc Kiss, folk music 

Cast 

Judit Ábrahám, Gráci Benke, Kata Horváth, Róbert Kerényi, 

Enikõ Kocsis, Csaba Simon, Péter Simon, Réti Attila 

Sound 

György Kovács 

Costume 

Zsuzsa Stenger 

Production 

RF produkció 


2003: Amiens, Berlin, Bratislava, Karlovy Vary, Maine, 

Moscow, Sarajevo, Seattle 

2004: Mexico, Sofia, Trieste 

134 

IFFI-2007 

Karesz’s childhood was spent in an orphanage. At the beginning, he is a member 

of a gang of street urchins who wash car windscreens at traffic lights in the hope 

of a tip. Besides this, they are involved in a host of evils offered by the capital: 

in-fighting, burglary, drunkenness and drugs. In pursuit of a girl, Zsófi, Karesz 

unintentionally finds himself in the dance house where young people practice 

folk music and dance, and is smitten by its unique atmosphere. He becomes 

friendly with Gráci, an immigrant, moonlighting worker who only ceases to feel 

out of place in the big city when he can play the music of his home village at the 

dance house. The trio is made up by Szerb, a Hungarian lad from Yugoslavia who 

has come to Budapest to escape the Southern Slavonic wars. As Karesz tries to 

bring himself to Zsófi’s attention, he learns the dances and even experiments 

with some drumming. In this way, Karesz becomes acquainted with Zsófi, with 

the group, the dances and the various percussion instruments which are used in 

Hungarian, Southern Slavonic and Gypsy music. Meanwhile, his old cronies turn 

up and hustle him into participating in a burglary. Later, they all get drunk and 

the inebriated Karesz is knocked down by a car. He ends up in hospital, where he 

is visited by Zsófi. Once back to health, he is received back into the dance house 

circle as a member. He even lives with them. He is beginning to be a talented 

percussionist and it is looking as though he will succeed in breaking away from 

his old friends of the underworld when… 

György Szomjas studied architecture at the Budapest Technical University between 

1960 and 1964, and then graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in 1968. 

He was on the board of The Béla Balázs Studio between 1969 and 1974 and was 

initiator of the sociological film programme. After his ironic documentaries made 

in the early 1970s, he directed his first feature film, The Wind is Whistling under 

Their Feet. He has been manager and organizer of Kõbánya Amateur Film Studio 

since 1973. He has been chief secretary of the Association of Hungarian Filmand 

Television Artists since 1995. In the past five years, he has made portrait 

films and documentaries about folk music and musicians as well as television 

magazines about folk music.

IFFI-2007 

135 


IFFI Goa Film Treasures

IFFI GOA FILM TREASURES 

The 38th International Film Festival of India, Goa 

introduces 

IFFI Goa Film Treasures 

1st edition - November 27th to December 1st 2007 

A new section dedicated to international film heritage 

directed by 

Thomson Foundation for Film and TV Heritage, 

National Film Archive of India and Cinémathèque Française, 

with the support of Film and TV Institute of India 

*** 

136 

IFFI-2007 

"IFFI Goa Film Treasures" is a creation of a " classics " section entirely dedicated to film heritage, representing a key part of culture and history as well 

as a strong basis for the cinema of tomorrow. 

Programming of this first edition "IFFI Goa Film Treasures" 2007, has been designed on a common theme: "Freedom". 

• Special Screenings. Treasures from the cinema world : 

- Nov. 27th : The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, France) 

- Nov. 28th: Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, USA) 

- Nov. 29th: The Hole (Jacques Becker, France) 

- Nov. 30th: To be or not to be (Ernst Lubitsch, USA) 

- Dec. 1st: The Legend of Bailiff Sansho (Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan) 

Venue: INOX Multiplex 

• Interactive workshops / masterclasses with cinema personalities (filmmakers, actors, archivists...) 

- Nov 28th - 1.00-2.30 pm "Creating from scratch": With or without film heritage knowledge, what are the differences in creating a film…? 

- Nov 29th: 1.30-3.00 pm: "Catching the visible, tracking the invisible": How cinema is reflecting and modeling society 

- Nov 30th 1.30-3.00 pm: "There is no such thing as an old film!": Why films continue to change overtime to turn into new creations 

Venue: INOX Multiplex 

"IFFI Goa Film Treasures" partners 

Thomson Foundation for Film & TV Heritage: 

Thomson Foundation is a non-profit entity, acting worldwide in the field of preservation and promotion of film and TV heritage. Created in 2006 by its 

founder Thomson (technologies, services and systems for media and entertainment industry), the Thomson foundation for Film and TV Heritage operates 

with archive institutions or film collection entities, public or private, through annual programs run in priority on site, directly and pragmatically. Today, the 

Foundation runs programs in more than 6 countries in Asia, Europe and America. 

National Film Archive of India (NFAI) 

The mission of the National Film Archive of India is to safeguard the heritage of Indian Cinema for posterity and act as a centre for dissemination of a 

healthy film culture in the country. Promotion of film scholarship and research on various aspects of cinema also form part of its Charter. Familiarizing 

foreign audiences with Indian Cinema and to make it more visible across the globe is another declared objective of the Archive. 

La Cinémathèque française, Paris, France 

Created in September 1936, the Cinemathèque française is a private organisation, financed by the state for a large part (Secretary of culture and communication 

through the Cinematographic National Center), the "Cinémathèque française" is a non-profit association. Since 1981 the "Cinémathèque française" preserves 

a part of its collections on security record, at the Saint Cyr Fort (40,000 titles). This collection reflects Henri Langlois' sharp tastes: the basis is international, 

with a strong presence of German and American silent films, and 1920's avant-garde movies.

IFFI-2007 

137 


Film and Television Film Institute of India (FTII) 

Established in the year 1960 on the erstwhile Prabhat studio premises at Pune and thereby inheriting a rich legacy in quality Cinema , the Film and 

Television Institute of India (FTII) has truly lived up to its avowed objective in the field of imparting training in film making and television programme 

production. Today the FTII is considered as a Center of Excellence not only in India but also in Asia and Europe. The FTII is an autonomous body under 

the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India.


Day 1: Opening day: The Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (France) 

"IFFI Goa Film Treasures" 

MOVIE PROGRAMMING 

138 

IFFI-2007 

"If a French farmer found himself dining with a French financier, those two Frenchman would have nothing to say to each other. But if a French farmer 

meets a Chinese farmer they will find any amount to talk about". 

Jean Renoir. 

DR: Crédit Photo Studio Canal 

Plot: 

A film about war without a single scene of combat, Jean Renoir's masterpiece suggests that the true divisions of that conflict were of class rather than 

nationality. The point is embodied in the friendship between two aristocratic officers, a German (Erich von Stroheim), and a Frenchman (Pierre Fresnay), 

both of whom ultimately become sacrificial victims after a nouveau riche Jewish officer (Marcel Dalio) and a French mechanic (Jean Gabin) manage to 

escape from Stroheim's fortress to freedom. The relationship between the mechanic and a German widow, who barely speak each other's language, is no 

less moving. 

By Jonathan Rosenbaum, the Chicago Reader. 

Cast: 

Erich Von Stroheim, Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Marcel Dalio, Dita Parlo, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Jean Dasté, Jacques Becker. 

Director's biography Jean Renoir 

Born in Paris on September 15 1894, Jean Renoir was the son of the Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir. Renoir produced his first movie, Une Vie Sans 

Joie in 1924, to star his wife, his father's former model, Catherine Hessling. He directed his first film, La Fille d'Eau, in the same year. In 1975 Jean Renoir 

has received an honorary Academy Award for his lifetime contribution to film. He is considered one of the first great "auteurs," a cinematic master whose 

distinctive style always contained a concern for human issues and a reverence for natural beauty. Jean Renoir died in California in 1979. 

France, 35mm print with English subtitles, 113 min, B&W 

Released in 1937, 1946, new editing in 1958, restored version in 1997. 

Screening in INOX Movie Theater, on Thursday 27th, at 11:00am

IFFI-2007 

Day 2 : The Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin (USA) 



139 


"Modern Times marked the last screen appearance of the Little Tramp, the character which had brought Charles Chaplin world fame, and who still 

remains the most universally recognized fictional image of a human being in the history of art." 

David Robinson, Director of Pordenone Silent Film Festival 

DR: Crédit photo Roy Export Company DR: Crédit photo Roy Export Company 

Plot: 

Playing a tramp struggling to survive in a modern industrial society, Charlie Chaplin created with Modern Times, one of the most elaborate cinematic 

critiques of the effects of mass production on 20th century life. With his usual charm and bad luck, Charlie Chaplin's most famous character The Tramp, 

executes some of his most famous slapstick routines around massive/glorified machines, accidentally ends up in the middle of a communist rally, and falls 

in love with a street waif played by Chaplin's then real-life partner Paulette Goddard. 

Cast: 

Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Stanley J. ('Tiny') Sandford, Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, Louis Natheaux, Stanley Blystone, Allan 

Garcia 

Director's biography Charlie Chaplin: 

The first great screen comedian, Chaplin was the most important filmmaker of the silent film era, in addition to being a formidable talent as a writer and 

composer. The son of music hall performers from England, he began working on the stage at age five. In 1919, he formed United Artists along with Douglas 

Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith. In 1929, at the first Academy Awards, he was given the special award "for versatility and genius in writing, 

acting, directing and producing" for The Circus (1928). Charlie Chaplin said: "A day without laughter is a day wasted." 

USA, 35mm, 87 min, B&W. 

Released in 1936. 

Screening in INOX Movie Theater, on Wednesday 28th, at 11:00am


Day 3: Le Trou - Jacques Becker (France) 



140 

IFFI-2007 

"Becker was interested in what the cinema could do just as he was interested in what men and women do. Never searching for the extraordinary, he 

would go to endless lengths to bring out not some abstract rhythm in the lives of people did but the true style and rhythm of their sensibilities." 

Dudley Andrew (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 1991) 

DR: Crédit Photo Studio Canal DR: Crédit Photo Studio Canal 

Plot: 

Marc Michel, the protagonist, plays an imprisoned man awaiting trial for the attempted murder of his wife. He is transferred to another cell, where his 

fellow prisoners are planning a jailbreak. He decides to go along with the elaborate plan, and the cellmates attempt to tunnel their way to freedom. 

The film is based on the true story of a prison escape plan in which the author, José Giovanni, took part. Becker wrote the script with Giovanni and cast the 

film with nonprofessionals, one of whom, Jean Keraudy (Roland), played the same role in real life that he plays in the film. Le Trou represents the last film 

of director Jacques Becker, who died shortly after its completion. 

Cast: 

Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, Philippe Leroy, Raymond Meunier, Marc Michel, Andre Bervil, J. Paul Coquelin, Eddy Rasimi 

Director's biography Jacques Becker: 

Jacques Becker was born in 1906. He began his film career in the early 1930s by working as an assistant to film director Jean Renoir on Boudu, sauvé des 

eaux (in which Becker appeared as a young poet) and La Marseillaise. Over the next two decades he directed and co-scripted a dozen more films, most 

notably the classic Casque D'Or, as well the crime film Touchez Pas Au Grisbi. 

France, 35mm print with English subtitles, 132 min, B&W. 


Screening in INOX Movie Theater, on Tuesday 29th, at 11:00am

IFFI-2007 

Day 4 : To be or not to be - Ernst Lubitsch (USA) 



"I let the audience use their imaginations. Can I help it if they misconstrue my suggestions?" 

Ernst Lubitsch 

141 


Plot: 

In Warsaw at the beginning of WWII, Maria Tura and husband Joseph perform anti-Nazi plays with their theatre troupe until they are forced to switch to 

Shakespeare's Hamlet. Lt. Stanislav Sobinski falls for Maria and meets up with her during Joseph's famous "To Be or Not to Be" speech as Hamlet. When 

Stanislav is eventually dispatched for war, he implicates Maria with Professor Siletsky, who has a secret plan to destroy the Warsaw resistance. The Polish 

theatre troupe is then forced to use their theatrical skills to ensure their survival. 

By Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide 

Cast: 

Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman 

Director's biography Ernst Lubitsch: 

Lubitsch had turned his back on his father's business to enter the theater, and by 1911 he was a member of Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater. His first film 

work came in 1912 as an actor. Gradually, he abandoned acting to concentrate on directing and in 1918 he made his mark as a serious director with The 

Eyes of the Mummy starring Pola Negri. Lubitsch left Germany for Hollywood in 1922, invited by Mary Pickford. With the beginning of the sound era, he 

created witty and sarcastic dialogue, and malicious and bizarre comedic situations. In 1939, Lubitsch moved to MGM, and directed Greta Garbo in 

Ninotchka. In March of 1947 he has received a special Academy Award for his 25-year contribution to motion pictures. 

USA, 35mm, 99 min, B&W. 


Screening in INOX Movie Theater, on Friday 30th, at 11:00am


Day 5: The Legend of Bailiff Sansho - Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan) 



"Mizoguchi is cinema's Shakespeare, its Bach or Beethoven, its Rembrant, Titian or Picasso." 

James Quandt, Mizoguchi the Master (Introduction) 

142 

IFFI-2007 

Plot: 

Sansho the Bailiff is based on an ancient legend and set in the harsh feudal world of eleventh-century Japan. The father of young Zushiô and Anju, is a wellregarded 

Governor, loved by the masses. Unfortunately, he has opposed the latest Government conscription demand, recognising that if he complies his 

people may starve. Inevitably, he is struck from his post and dispatched into exile; all his wife Tamaki can do is wrap their children in the charity of 

relatives. Several years later the trio is forced to embark on a difficult journey, to the distant province where the ex-Governor now lives. In a sequence of 

heart-rending tragedy, Tamaki becomes separated from Zushiô and Anju. While she is sold into prostitution and they become the slaves of Sanshô dayû. A 

decade later, Zushiô and Anju have become inured to their fate… 

Cast: 

Yashiaki Hanayagi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Kyoko Kagawa, Eitaro Shindo, Akitaka Kohno, Ichiro Sugai, Ken Mitsuda, Masahiko Kato, Keiko Enami 

Director's biography Kenji Mizoguchi: 

Kenji Mizoguchi was born in 1898, the middle child of a Tokyo family. The abrupt ending of the 1904-5 Russo-Japanese war, dashing his father's attempts 

to sell raincoats to the army, precipitated a desperate financial crisis which forced Mizoguchi's older sister Suzu to be given up for adoption then sold to a 

geisha house. Though she was fortunately "rescued" and later married by a wealthy patron, the event, along with the death when he was 17 of the mother 

he idolised, had a huge impact on Mizoguchi's life and future career as a director- a principal theme of his films being the oppression and suffering of 

women. 

Japan, 35mm, 120 min, B&W. 


Screening in INOX Movie Theater, on Saturday 1st, at 11:00am

IFFI-2007 

143 


Indian Retrospectives 

Tapan Sinha 

Vijay Anand 

Navya Movement 

India @ 60

TAPAN SINHA 

Lest We Forget – Tapan Sinha 

Tapan Sinha, born in Kolkata on October two, 1924, is considered by some as one of the most uncompromising 

filmmakers of India. His awe-inspiring body of work can perhaps be matched by only a Mrinal Sen or a 

Satyajit Ray. Sinha’s works have won 19 National Film Awards in various categories apart from laurels in 

international film festivals like those in Berlin, Venice, London, Moscow, San Francisco and Locarno. A science 

graduate from University of Calcutta – his and actress-wife Arundhati Devi’s son Anindya Sinha is a noted 

scientist - Sinha began his film career as a sound engineer in Kolkata’s New Theatre in 1946. In 1950, he got 

the opportunity of working at Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years. On returning to India, he 

turned his attention to film directing, making films in Bengali, Hindi and also Oriya. Influenced by American 

and British styles of filmmaking and also by Rabindranath Tagore’s work, he made three films based on the 

Nobel Laureate’s: Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan and Atithi. His first Ankush was based on Narayan 

Gangopadhyay’s story Sainik. A storyteller par excellence, his films are well-crafted in terms of structure and 

technique. Sinha mentions in his memoirs Mone Pore that as a child in Bhagalpur, he had seen A Tale of Two 

Cities – a Hollywood film starring Ronald Coleman – and it perhaps was “sub-consciously responsible for him 

becoming a filmmaker”. In 1961, Sinha was to pay homage to Coleman in Jhinder Bandi – a lavish historical 

melodrama about palace intrigue based on one of Coleman’s major hits, The Prisoner of Zenda. His other films 

include Upahar (1955), Tonsil (1956), Louhakapat (1957), Kalomati (1957), Hansuli Banker Upakatha (1962), 

Nirjan Saikate (1963), Jotugriha (1964), Aarohi (1965), Galpo Holeo Satyi (1966), Hatey Bazaare (1967), 

Apanjan (1968), Sagina Mahato (1970), Ekhoni (1971), Zindagi Zindagi (1972), Aadhar Periye (1973) , Raja 

(1975) Ek Je Chilo Desh (1977), Safed Hathi (1977), Sabuj Dwiper Raja (1979), Banchharamer Bagan (1980), 

Adalat O Ekti Meye (1982), Atanka (1986), Aaj Ka Robinhood (1987), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991), Wheelchair 

(1994), Aajab Gnayer Aajab Katha (1998), Anokha Moti (2000), Shatabdir Kanya (2001), exhibiting his 

virtuosity and capability to handle all kinds of subjects with equal élan and sensitivity. 

144 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

Based on a Tagore story of the same name, the film is a touching tale of Rahmat 

Sheikh, a Pathan who came from Afghanistan to Kolkata to make a living. However, 

he is homesick and seeks the company of children, particularly little girls as they 

remind him of his own daughter back home. One day he meets Mini, a five-year-old 

daughter of a writer, and they become great friends. The beautiful friendship that 

develops is suddenly interrupted by Rahmat’s being sent to prison for assaulting his 

landlord. Years pass, and when Rahmat is released, he goes back to see Mini. Still 

expecting to meet the charming little girl he had left behind, he is stunned to realise 

that he has reached on Mini’s wedding day and that she no longer recognises him. He 

also realises that his own daughter must also be of a similar age and tears well up in 

his eyes. Mini’s father presents him the money kept for the decoration of the house 

during the wedding and urges him to return as soon as possible to his house in 

Afghanistan. Sinha’s version of a Tagore story remains one of the most acclaimed 

version of the film, which was remade in other languages, including Hindi. 

This movie was remade as a Hindi movie titled Sagina in 1974. The hero is a natural 

leader who emerges during a period of industrial struggle when some poor and illiterate 

workers at a Bengal factory in British-dominated India try to form a trade union. 

145 

TAPAN SINHA 

1956, 35mm Colour, 116 mins, Bengali 

Director 

Tapan Sinha 


Subodh Ray 

Music 

Ravi Shanker 

Cast 

Kali Bannerjee, Chhabi Biswas, 

Tinku Thakur, Radhamohan Bhattacharya 

1970, 35mm, B&W, 148 mins, Bengali 

Director 

Tapan Sinha 


Subodh Ray 

Music 

Ravi Shanker 

Cast 

Kali Bannerjee, Chhabi Biswas, Tinku Thakur, 

Radhamohan Bhattacharya 

Kabuliwala 

Sagina Mahato

TAPAN SINHA 

Adalat O Ekti Meye 

Aadmi Aur Aurat 

1982, 35mm Colour, Bengali 

Director 

Tapan Sinha 

Music 

Tapan Sinha 

Cast 

Vishwa Guha Takurta, Nirmal Kumar, Manoj Mitra, 

Devika Mukherjee, Tanuja 

1984, 35mm Colour, 56 mins, Bengali 

Director 

Tapan Sinha 


Kamal Nayak 

Music 

Ashish Khan 

Cast 

Amol Palekar, Mahua Roychodhury 

146 

IFFI-2007 

A hard-hitting film, it sought to expose the insensitive way rape cases are dealt 

with in courts, even as it took the viewer through the trauma of a mental torture 

that is perhaps even worse than the physical crime itself. 

A young village girl waits on the highway for a bus into town. She looks tired 

and ill, and carries a shapeless bundle in her arms. There are others waiting with 

her, but she seems to know none of her companions. After a long futile wait for 

the bus the men walk away in the group, the girl slowly rises helplessly, goes 

after them. Bansi, a poacher, follows the group. He turns back curiously to look 

at the girl struggling slowly up the hilly path, and decides to approach her. When 

he comes close to her, he realizes that she is pregnant, and learns that her 

destination is the hospital at Vakilganj. He decides to help her get there. It is 

drizzling and in the process of conversation Bansi learns that her first child had 

miscarried and she was ill for very long afterwards, her husband had taken a loan 

to get her to the hospital. The rain has increased and tired girl is half-conscious. 

Determined to save her, Bansi drags her and reaches to the hospital. Next morning, 

Bansi goes to the hospital and is told that the woman has given birth to a baby 

boy, and goes inside to have a look at the baby. He asks the woman the name of 

her husband. Anwar Hossain, says the girl. Bansi frowns. It is muslim girl whose 

life he saved, and he is good Hindu. He smiles again. The girlsmiles back gratefully 

and raises her frail arms. I shall always pray to Allah for you, she says.

IFFI-2007 

Vijay Anand (left) with his brothers Dev Anand and Chetan Anand 

Vijay Anand (January 22, 1934 - February 23, 2004), was one of India’s, 

particularly the Hindi film industry’s, most-acclaimed producer, director, writer, 

editor and actor. Born in Gurdaspur, Punjab, he was the youngest of the Anand 

siblings, with his elder brother Chetan and Dev etching out their own legendary 

status within the film industry. Anand, who served a short but controversial stint 

as the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification, before resigning in 

2002 after ideological differences with the government over introduction of ratings 

for adult movies, wrote the script for Taxi Driver (1954) when he was barely 20. 

In 1957, he made his directorial debut with Nau Do Gyarah. Some of his successful 

movies as director were Johny Mera Naam (1970), Jewel Thief (1967), Teesri 

Manzil (1966), Kala Bazar (1960), Tere Ghar Ke Saamne (1963), Tere Mere Sapne 

(1971) and Guide (1965), the last being his most critically-acclaimed movie. His 

most memorable acting roles were in Kora Kagaz (1974) and Main Tulsi Tere 

Aangan Ki (1978), although he acted in several other films like Agra Road (1957), 

Haqeeqat (1964) and Chhupa Rustom (1973). To the generation of the 1990s, he 

is also known for playing detective Sam in the television series Tehkikaat. Anand’s 

films shone with technical virtuosity and marvelous sense of storytelling, and 

talent as a filmmaker came through even more forcefully in his picturisation of 

songs. His use of creating unusual situations and sets, using long complicated 

takes involving both character and camera movement (the entire Tere Mere Sapne 

Ab Ek Rang Hai song from Guide comprise just three shots), incredible use of 

foreground and background of the frame, dynamic camera work and making the 

most of tightly-enclosed spaces created magic for the moviegoer. His other films 

include Blackmail (1973), Chhupa Rustom (1973), Ram Balram (1980), Rajput 

(1982), Hum Rahe Na Hum (1984) and Main Tere Liye (1988). Anand died in 

Mumbai on February 23, 2004 due to a heart attack. His last film Jaana Na Dil Se 

Door, which he completed just before his demise and stars his brother Dev Anand 

and a fresh couple as the romantic lead, is awaiting commercial release. 

147 

VIJAY ANAND 

AN ETERNAL ROMANTIC 

VIJAY ANAND

Guide 

VIJAY ANAND 

Tere Ghar Ke Samne 

1965, 35mm, Colour, Hindi 


Fali Mistry 

Music 

S D Burman 

Cast 

Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Leela Chitnis, Kishore Sahu 



V Ratra 

Music 

S D Burman 

Cast 

Dev Anand, Nutan, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, 

Om Prakash, Rajendranath 

148 

IFFI-2007 

Raju, once a successful tourist guide, hesitates to return to his hometown of 

Udaipur after his is released from jail and decides to search for his fortunes 

elsewhere. He ends up in a remote village temple wearing over his threadbare 

clothes a saffron scarf which had once belonged to some passing mendicant, and 

finds himself suddenly elevated to the position of a holy man. Six months pass; 

Raju’s mother and Rosie, a dancer and Raju’s lover, arrive at the jail to take him 

home but are told he was let off six months earlier. Rosie takes Raju’s mother 

home and relates her own side of the story. Raju now has got accustomed to being 

a holy man, but in that role he has actually helped the village to acquire its own 

school, hospital and postal service. One day, he tells the villagers a story his 

mother had told him about another holy man long ago who had kept a fast for 12 

days to bring rain to a parched land. Unfortunately, before the story is forgotten, 

drought hits the village. And then .......... 

Two feuding millionaires Lala Jagannath and Seth Karamchand are always finding 

ways to be one up on the other. They buy adjacent plots to each other and each 

wants to make a better house them the other. Unknowingly they hire the same 

architect, Rakesh and insist on the same design! Rakesh is Jaganath’s son whom 

he had thrown out and to compound things further, he falls in love with 

Karamchand’s daughter, Sulekha…

IFFI-2007 

The whole country is rocked by a series of daring jewellery heists leaving the cops at 

their wits’ end. The Police Commissioner of Bombay swears that he would solve the 

case by 26th January. Meanwhile, his son Vinay gains employment with well-known 

city jeweller Seth Bishwambar Das as an efficient ‘johari’ after gaining his trust. He 

also wins the heart of his daughter Anjali. But soon, he is mistaken as a certain Amar 

by a host of unknown people, including Shalini who has come down to Bombay from 

Gangtok with her brother. She claims that Vinay is actually Amar, her fiancé. It appears 

that there is actually somebody called Amar resembling Vinay who could be the real 

jewel thief. Vinay gets involved in the plot to unearth the mystery by assuming the 

identity of Amar and in the course of his investigation meets Amar’s companions, 

who believe his is Amar, aka Prince. The hunt takes him to Sikkim where Amar/ 

Prince has his hideout. A big surprise awaits for him there. 

It is a combination of the urban thrillers that Bollywood was churning out in the 

1950s with the road film, and was a promising debut for the young director. It 

remains one of the most enjoyable and likeable Hindi films of the 1950s that gave 

early evidence of Vijay Anand’s craft. 

149 


VIJAY ANAND 

Music 

S D Burman 

Cast 

Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Vyjayantimala, 

Tanuja, Helen, Master Sachin 

1957, 35mm, B&W, 170 mins Hindi 

Jewel Thief 

Nau Do Gyarah 

Music 

S D Burman 

Cast 

Dev Anand, Kalpana Kartick, Shashikala, Madan Puri, Jeevan

Samskara 

NAVYA MOVEMENT 

1970, 35mm, B&W, 113 mins, Kannanda 

Director 

Pattabhi Rama Reddy 

Written by 

U R Ananthamurthy 


Tom Cowan 

Music 

S D Burman 

Cast 

Girish Karnad, Snehlata Reddy, P Lankesh, P R Jayarama 

Based on a 1931 novel by Shivaram Karanth, it deals with the 

life of the untouchables and the problems they face. It is about 

Choma, a low caste untouchable from a village in Karnataka in 

South India. Unlike other sub-castes, the Maris are not allowed 

to own land but Choma dreams about becoming a land owning 

farmer. To achieve this, he must break with past traditions and 

either become a Christian or lease land from the government - 

which he will not do. The film traces the eventual tragic 

disintegration of his family and highlights the inhuman nature 

of the caste system when Choma’s younger son Nila drowns 

because a Brahmin youth is prevented by others from saving 

the ‘untouchable’ boy. Set during the time of the British rule in 

India, it moves towards the finale as Choma takes refuge with 

his dudi (a small drum) which he beats furiously even as he 

loses his three sons, one by one. 

1975, 35mm, B&W, 141 mins, Kannada 

Director 

B V Karanth 

Written by 

Shivaram Karanth 


S Ramachandra 

Music 

B V Karanth 

Cast 

M V Vasudeva Rao, Padma Kumta, Jayarajan, 

Sunder Rajan, Nagraja 

150 

IFFI-2007 

Set in a small South Karnataka village about half a century ago, the film revolves 

around a group of Brahmins. A young, scrupulous priest, Praneshcharya leads them 

in conducting their lives strictly by tradition. But Narayanappa is a rebel, leading 

a dissolute life and regularly breaking their tenets. When he suddenly dies, his 

mistress, Chandri, asks the Brahmins to conduct his funeral rites. The village elders 

discuss the issue but evade performing the last rites. Praneshcharya is approached 

for guidance, seeking which he in turn consults the holy texts. His task is further 

complicated as he has surrendered himself to Chandri’s charms, passionately and 

helplessly. Filled with remorse, he sets out to seek guidance. Wandering about, he 

meets a low caste man, Putta, with whom he strikes a rapport and the two travel 

together. At a fair, Putta urges Praneshcharya to eat at a nearby temple where a 

free meal is being offered to Brahmins. While eating at a place he has no right to 

be, Praneshcharya realises that having succumbed to his own weaknesses, he had 

no right to judge others. He returns to perform the funeral rites. Adapted from U R 

Ananthamurthy’s remarkable story and helped along by excellent scripting by Girish 

Karnad, this landmark film launched the Navya Movement in Kannada cinema. 

Chomana Dudi / Choma’s Drum

IFFI-2007 

The story of a child widow seen through the eyes of a young boy, this film is set 

in the 1920s rural Karnataka steeped in orthodoxy. Yamunakka as a widow, lives 

with her father Udupa, who runs a traditional scripture school for young Brahmins. 

She has to live within a lot of restrictions and cannot lead a normal life, and a 

little boy is her only friend. However, she protects Nani, a young student who is 

bullied by classmates and is later witness to Yamnua’s desperate attempts to end 

an undesirable pregnancy, which the village elders discover leading to swift 

retribution. Her father performs the ‘ghatashradha’, or death rites performed for 

a living person, to mark her excommunication from the Brahminical society. Head 

shaven, clad in a white sari, the little boy taken away, she is banished from the 

village and tries to kill herself in the forests that surround the village. Meanwhile, 

her father prepares to remarry a 16-year-old girl, young enough to be his daughter. 

Based on a U R Ananthamurthy story, this was Girish Kasaravalli’s debut feature, 

and one that was responsible for strengthening the Navya Movement in Kannada 

cinema in a major way. The film has some wonderfully shot and enacted sequences, 

especially when Yamuna, chased by the villagers, takes refuge among in the dark 

forest, which seems far kinder than the village she has been thrown out of. 

151 

NAVYA MOVEMENT 

1977, 35mm, B&W, 144 mins, Kannada 

Direction & Screenplay 

Girish Kasravalli 


S Ramachandra 

Music 

B V Karanth 

Cast 

Ajith Kumar, Meena Kuttappa, Narayana Bhatt, 

Ramakrishna, Shanta Ramaswamy Iyengar 

Ghatashradha

Biyalis 

INDIA @ 60 

Nam Iruvar 

1949, 35 mm, B&W, 156 mins, Bengali 

Direction & Story 

Hemen Gupta 


G K Mehta 

Music 

Hemanta Mukherjee 

Lyrics 

Tarit Kumar Ghosh 

Cast 

Bikash Roy, Manju Dey, Sombhu Mitra, Suruchi 

Sengupta, Pradeep Kumar 

Production 

Film Trust of India. 

1947, 35 mm, B&W, 153 mins, Tamil 

Director 

A V Meiyappan 


T Muthusamy 

Music 

R Sundarshanam 

Cast 

T A Jayalakshmi (Kannamma), Kamala Kumari 

(Kannamma’s Sister), T R Mahalingam (Sukumar), 

B Ramakrishnaiah Panthulu (Jayakumar) 

Production 

AVM Film Company 

152 

IFFI-2007 

The film addresses the violent agitations against the colonial police in the Midnapore 

district of Bengal in late 1942. Set against the Quit India agitation, it sees an aged 

women activist explain that Mahatma Gandhi advocated non-violence but asked every 

woman to carry a knife as well, just in case. Ajoy, his wife Bina and aged Grandmother 

are fixed with the 'Karenge Ya Marenge' (Do or Die) zeal. Violence erupts when the 

village blacksmith's daughter is killed. The blacksmith is tortured and killed by the 

evil army officer Major Trivedi, providing one of Bengali Cinema's most enduring 

images of untrammeled Villany. Bina, who becomes a courier for the terrorists, is 

gang- raped by the army and goes insane, whereupon the entire village rises in anger. 

The grandmother is shot while leading an unarmed procession. Ajoy is shot too. The 

soldiers finally refuse to obey further orders to fire and eventually tramples over the 

major to join the marchers in raising the Indian Tricolour. 

The first production of AVM Film Company, it is based on Sahasranamam’s stage 

hit of the same name. It is a political and patriotic melodrama, replete with 

nationalist symbols. The film begins with a Subramanya Bharati anniversary and 

ends with Mahatma Gandhi’s 77th birthday celebrations. Even today, some of the 

songs of in this film are standard fare on television and radio during occasions of 

national importance. The film comes down heavily on the evils of black 

marketeering and lust for money. The producer-director of the film, Meyyappan, 

brought the rights to the patriotic poems of the great poet Subramanya Bharathi 

and set them to tune in the film. Kamala Kumari was off to a great start with this 

film, dancing to the tune of Bharathiyar.

IFFI-2007 

This is a hugely-successful film version of revolutionary Bhagat Singh's life story. 

Starring Manoj Kumar in the title role, the film shows how Bhagat Singh grew up 

in a revolutionary household, went to the National College, and wrote essays in 

revolutionary newspapers and pamphlets, before joining Chandra Shekhar Azad 

and the Hindustan Republican Association. In October 1928 came the Simon 

Commission, protests against which turned sour when Bhagat Singh's mentor Lala 

Lajpat Rau died after being beaten up boy the police. Angry and seeing the 

government do nothing after Lajpat Rai's death, a group of revolutionaries, 

including Bhagat, decided they would kill the police chief, Scott, who had ordered 

the attack. They waited for him in ambush, but the Assistant Superintendent of 

Police, J P Saunders, emerged instead and was shot. Bhagat Singh later threw a 

bomb into the National Assembly, especially designed not to be too powerful so 

that it wouldn't kill anybody, to protest the passing of a Public Safety Bill. He 

along with Rajbir and Sukhdev threw the bomb, then flyers describing their 

position, then waited in the visitor's gallery to be arrested. They caught, tried, 

and condemned to death, not for the bombing but for the murder of Saunders. 

Bhagat Singh used his court appearances to continue delivering his revolutionary 

message to the masses, who would read about the trial and so hear what he had to 

say. Before long, he had a huge following. He staged a hunger strike while in 

prison to improve conditions there, before being hanged on March 23, 1923. 

153 

1965, 35 mm, B&W, 163 mins, Hindi 

INDIA @ 60 

Shaheed 

Director 

S Ram Sharma 

Story 

B K Dutt 

Screenplay 

Din Dayal Sharma 


Ranjodh Thakur 

Editor 

B S Glaad, Vishnu Kumar Singh 

Music 

Prem Dhawan 

Cast 

Manoj Kumar, Prem Chopra, Kamini Kaushal, Nirupa Roy, Pran, 

Anand Kumar, Manmohan, Sailesh Kumar, Madan Puri, Asit 

Sen, Kamal Kapoor, Ifthekar, Anwar Hussain 

Production 

Kewal P Kashyap

INDIA @ 60 

Kala Pani – A Pilgrimage 

Gandhi An Emerging Reality 

India Wins Freedom 

1985, 20 mins, English 

Director 

N S Thapa 

Producer 

Prem Vaidya 


Director 

D Gautaman 

Producer 

Kuldeep Sinha 


Director 

N S Thapa 

Producer 

Bhanumurthy Alur 

154 

IFFI-2007 

The Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal are over 1,200 km south 

of Kolkata and 1,200 km east of Chennai. During India’s First War of 

Independence in 1857, the British chose to send freedom fighters to these islands, 

to the Cellular Jail in the Andamans. To be sent to the Andamans was considered 

to be a living death and hence it came to be known as Kala Pani. This film 

provides historical background to the islands. 

Emerging from the midst of people, Mahatma Gandhi came as a whirlwind to 

Indian Politics. This film shows how he influenced the thinking of the people the 

world over. 

This part 16 of the India’s Struggle for Freedom series deals with the arrival of 

the new Governor General Lord Mountbatten and the series of events that took 

place for the transfer of power from the King’s Government to the people of 

India on August 15, 1947.

IFFI-2007 

Tribute 

155 

INDIA @ 60

TRIBUTE 

And miles to go… Aribam Syam Sharma 

Ishanou 

1991, Colour, 35 mm, 95 mins, Manipuri 

Director 


Screenplay 

M K Binodini Devi 


Girish Padhiar 

Editor 

Ujjal Nandi 

Music 


Cast 

Anoubam Kiranmala, Kangabam Tomba, Monbi 

Sound 

A Shantimo Sharma, Durgadas Mitra 

Costumes 

M K Binodini Devi 

Production 

Guwahati Doordarshan 


Cannes, Festival du 3 Continents (Nantes), IFFI, London, 

Seattle, Singapore, Toroto, Vancouver, Fribourg, Hawaii. 

156 

IFFI-2007 

It is indeed rare to find an individual who expresses his artistic vision through different 

media. One such consummate artiste from North-East India is Aribam Syam Sharma. Better 

known for his landmark films like Imagi Ningthem and Ishanou, the artistic personality in 

Sharma is more than his films. It would be impossible to fathom and understand his films 

before knowing him in relation to his first love: music. Within his home state Manipur, he 

is as much as synonymous with the modern music movement of Manipur as he is with his 

films, if not more. The lyricism, rhythm and the earthiness of his films are a legacy of his 

music. Though rooted in the socio-cultural milieu of Manipur, the universal appeal of the 

subjects of his films has found favour globally, including in Cannes where Ishanou, which 

created a stir when screened in the highly-respected Un Certain Regard section in 1991. 

His films have represented India at the biggest of international films festivals, such as 

Locarno, Montreal and London, and many other festivals. An 11-time winner of the National 

Award, Sharma, trained as a musician in Shantiniketan, made his directorial debut with 

Lamja Parshuram in 1974, which was followed by films like Saaphabee (1976), 

Olangthagee Wangmadasoo (1979), Imagi Ningthem (1983) and Paokhum Ama (1983). 

Sharma, who has authored an autobiographical book, Living Shadows, has always made 

films with serious topics, but some of his films have been big Box Office hits in Manipur 

while garnering honours all over the world. Sharma had the unique honour at the 37 th IFFI 

when the Indian Panorama (Non-Feature section) screened a film by him and another on 

him. In this 38 th edition of IFFI too, his latest film in part of the same section. 

A happy young couple is preparing for the ear-piercing ceremony for their first 

child, a daughter. This is an important custom in Manipur, signifying the beginning 

of a responsible stage in life. Things go awry when the wife begins talking to 

flowers, singing odd songs, and having fits. In fact, the fits get so violent that she 

has to be physically restrained and tied down to prevent her from hurting herself. 

It eventually emerges that she has been chosen by a spirit which is special to a 

particular religious cult, the Meibis. Things proceed swiftly with her new, 

unsought, allegiance as she makes contact with the cult and its leader and prepares 

to leave her husband and child behind.

IFFI-2007 

Homage 

157 

TRIBUTE

HOMAGE: K K MAHAJAN 

K K Mahajan 

Select Filmography 

Features 

Directed by Mrinal Sen 

Bhuvan Shome, 1969 (Hindi), Icchapuran (The Wish Fulfilment), 

1970 (Bengali), Interview, 1970 (Bengali), Ek Adhuri Kahani, 

1971 (Hindi), Calcutta 71, 1972 (Bengali), Padatik, 1973 

(Bengali), Chorus, 1974 (Bengali), Mrigaya (The Royal Hunt), 

1976 (Hindi), Oka Oorie Katha, 1977 (Hindi/Telugu), Ek Din 

Pratidin, 1979 (Bengali), Akaler Sandhaney, 1980 (Bengali), 

Chalchitra, 1981 (Bengali), Kharij, 1982 (Bengali), Khandhar, 

1984 (Bengali), Ek Din Achana, 1988 (Hindi) 

Directed By Basu Chatterji (All In Hindi) 

Sara Akash (1969), Piya Ka Ghar (1971), Rajnigandha (19730, Us 

Paar (1974), Chhoti Si Baat (1975), Chit Chor (1976), Swami 

(1977), Safed Jhooth (1977), Priyatama (1977), Dillagi (1978), 

Tumhare Liye (1978), Chakravyuha (1979), Do Ladke Dono 

Kadke (1979), Manzil (1979), Apne Paraye (1980), Man 

Pasand (1980), Jeena Yahaan (1981), Sara Jahan (1982), 

Sheesha (1986), Directed by Kumar Shahani 

Maya Darpan (1972), Tarang (1984), Khayal Gatha (1988), Kasba 

(1990), Char Adhyay (1996) 

Directed By Mani Kaul 

Uski Roti (1970), Ashad Ka Ek Din (1971) 

Directed By Mohan Kumar 

Avtaar (1983), All Rounder (1984), Amrit (1986), Amba (1990) 

Directed By Ramesh Sippy 

Bhrashtachaar (1989), Akayla (1991), Zamana Deewana (1995) 

Directed By Raj Tilak 

Mukti (1977), Chehre Pe Chehra (1980), Jeevan Saathi (1988) 

Directed By Mukul Dutt 

Chhalia (1973), Aaj Ki Radha (1979) 

Directed By Ravi Tandon 

Waqt Ki Deewar, Jawab; Nadaniyan (1984) 

Dir. Ved Rahi), Ek Pal (1986, Dir. Kalpana Lajmi) 

Short Films & Documentaries 

Directed By Kumar Shahani 

The Glass Pane (1966), A Certain Childhood (1967), Rails For 

The World (1970), Object (1971, Made For A Psychoanalyst’s 

Thesis), Bamboo Flute (2001); Directed By Shyam Benegal 

Child Of The Streets (1967), Indian Youth: An Exploration (1968) 

Directed By B D Garga 

Amrita Sher-gill (1968, Best Documentary Film, National Awards, 

1969), Mahabalipuram (1968), Iron Ore Exports (1969) 

Tanmay Agarwal 

158 

IFFI-2007 

In this Subhash Nandy photograph, KK is seen taking a risky shot for the film Chorus as director 

Mrinal Sen holds him from behind 

K K Mahajan (1944-2007) is considered one of India’s best-ever cinematographers with a 

body of work comprising over 80 feature films, about 100 commercials, over 20 significant 

documentaries and several television serials. A four-time National Award winner, his 

cinematographic contribution to both mainstream and art cinema has remained unparalleled. 

His prolific virtuosity has rightly been considered a major factor in the Indian New Wave 

which saw the emergence of path-breaking feature films like Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome 

(1969), Basu Chatterji’s Sara Akash (1969), Mani Kaul’s Uski Roti (1970) and Kumar 

Shahani’s Maya Darpan (1972). The one common factor to all these classics was brilliant 

cinematography by ‘KK‘, as he was fondly known. Born on 2 nd October 1944, at Gurdaspur, 

Punjab, India, Mahajan was a graduate in Physics from Punjab University (1963). He attended 

the prestigious Film Institute of India, Pune (later known as the FTII) for a three-year 

course in Motion Picture Photography and was a Gold Medalist in the class of 1966. As one 

of the early graduates of the FTII, he began his career at a time when the film industry was 

unwilling to believe that training in cinema could be imparted, since apprenticeship had 

been the traditional entry route, right from the silent era. Trained and qualified technicians 

from the FTII had a difficult time and felt constantly pressurised to prove themselves. In 

more ways than one, Mahajan was a trailblazer. He began working as an independent 

cinematographer in Mumbai in 1966, at first with advertising films and then with 

documentaries and short films, with renowned directors. Fittingly, his first break into feature 

films came as a result of the impact that his work at the FTII, with Kumar Shahani (their 

avant garde graduation film The Glass Pane), had on Mrinal Sen. That led to Bhuvan 

Shome , and the beginning of a long journey. Over the next three decades and more, KK’s 

cinematographic oeuvre was quite impressive not only quantitatively but also in terms of its 

qualitative variations. More than any other cinematographer, even as he worked with many 

“off-beat” filmmakers, photographing acclaimed albeit low-budget films, he proved that he 

had no problems in adjusting to the so-called gap between art and commercial films, with 

his work in mainstream Hindi cinema. His ouvre included films by directors like Subhash 

Ghai, Ravi Tandon, Mohan Kumar Ramesh Sippy and Basu Chatterji, to name a few. His 

craft is said to “…evoke memories of impressionist painting, setting new standards in motion 

picture photography, which even today remains a source of inspiration for all aspiring 

cinematographers.” (From the citation, MAMI Award, 2000). Mahajan received his four 

National Awards for Best Cinematography quite early in his career, for his work on films by 

directors Basu Chatterji (Sara Akash 1969, which got him the first of his four National 

Awards) ,Mani Kaul (Uski Roti 1970), Kumar Shahani (Maya Darpan 1972) and Mrinal 

Sen (Chorus 1974). A record that he particularly valued, considering the near-feudal 

conditions in which he started his own career, is that about 25 of those who assisted him 

over the years went on to become cinematographers in their own independent capacity. Over 

the years, along with his professional commitments, K K Mahajan continued his association 

with the FTII, with the workshops he held for students. He was a member of the Governing 

Council and of the Society of the FTII for two terms. He also conducted workshops at the 

Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata. He was also on jury panels of 

several major film awards and on the script advisory committee of the NFDC. In May 

1999, he got together with a small group of concerned cinematographers in Mumbai, to 

form Cinematographers’ Combine, a forum for cinematographers and those associated with 

cinematography. Among the honours he received were the Mumbai Academy of the Moving 

Image (MAMI)’s 1 st Kodak Technical Excellence Award for his “Innovative Contribution to 

Cinematography and Enrichment of Indian Cinema” (2000), Honorary Membership of the 

Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC) for his “Outstanding Contribution to Indian 

Cinematography and Excellence in Professional Work” (2003), Honorary Life Membership 

of the Western India Cinematographers’ Association (WICA) for his “Outstanding 

Contribution in the field of Cinematic Art” (2005), and the Ezra Mir Award for Lifetime 

Achievement by the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) for a “Lifetime of 

Excellence and Inspiration” (2006). He also received the International Indian Film Academy 

(IIFA) Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema” in 2006. In June 2007, he 

was conferred the 1 st Katha Centre for Film Studies Lifetime Achievement Award given in 

recognition of “Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema.” As KK had said once, “I am 

lucky to be in this profession. This is a beautiful profession. I meet and work with a lot of 

people. You travel a lot. And the best thing about this profession is that I am learning every 

day. There is no end to learning … Nobody is the master of his craft. It changes every day 

and you have to learn...”

IFFI-2007 

An authentic view of a lower middle class Indian family set in the 1950s. It is 

about a young, immature man’s turmoil when forced into an arranged marriage. 

The generation gap between young and old, the jealousies of women in the family, 

the difference between the domesticated and the rebellious are well depicted in 

this film. On the one hand, it is a satire on how unprepared young minds forced 

into marriage are, and on the other it is about how two strangers locked into 

matrimony slowly discover each other. Based on a novel by Rajendra Yadav, the 

pioneer of the ‘Nai Kahani’ movement in Hindi literature. 

159 

HOMAGE: K K MAHAJAN 

Sara Akash / The Whole Sky 

1969, 35 mm, B&W, 100 mins, Hindi 


Basu Chatterji 


K K Mahajan 

Editor 

G G Mayekar 

Music 

Salil Chowdhury 

Cast 

Rakesh Pandey, Madhu Chanda, A K Hangal, Dina Pathak, 

Mani Kaul, Tarla Mehta, Naditta Thakur, Jalal Agha 

Production 

Cineye Films

HOMAGE: O P NAYYAR 

Omkar Prasad Nayyar was born on January 16, 

1926 in Lahore. He started his career in film 

music with the background score for the film 

Kaneez (1949), followed by Aasman (1952). 

Guru Dutt’s Aar Paar (1954) was his first 

success, and it led to a successful partnership 

between the two in films like Mr. & Mrs. 55 

and C.I.D. which was a runaway musical hit 

1956. This was followed up by Tumsa Nahin 

Dekha in 1958. With the practised ease of a 

maestro, Nayyar went on to notch even bigger 

success in Phir wohi dil laya hoon (“Banda 

parwar, thamlo jigar...”) and Mere Sanam 

(“Jaayiye aap kahan jaayenge” and “Pukarata 

chala hoon main”). Around the 

same time, his music helped 

Kashmir Ki Kali become a super 

hit. At the height of his reign as a 

composer, he is reported to have 

commanded the highest fee in the 

industry. He was the first music 

director to command the figure of 

Rs 100,000, a very substantial 

figure in the early 1950s. In 

addition to this, he had a 

reputation for stubborn 

individuality all along. Many 

remember him as being aloof and 

imperious, but always generous 

with struggling newcomers and 

those marginalised in the industry. 

The Press frequently referred to him as a rebel 

composer, and many columnists labeled him a 

maverick. During the 1950s, the statecontrolled 

All India Radio had put in place a 

ban on most of his very famous tunes from 

being broadcast, apparently for being too 

trendy! The Sri Lanka Broadcasting 

Corporation, then Radio Ceylon, however, 

played his new hits. Nayyar worked extensively 

with Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle and Mohammed 

Rafi and was instrumental in building their 

careers. But he never worked with Lata 

Mangeshkar, the melody queen of India. After 

O P Nayyar 

160 

a break up with Mohammed Rafi, he switched 

to Mahendra Kapoor, then a newcomer, and also 

engaged Mukesh in Sambandh much to the 

surprise of the industry but delivering the 

superhit “chal akela, chal akela, chal akela....”. 

Nayyar had also recognised the talented 

Kishore Kumar long before he became a 

popular. The film Baap re Baap is full of 

Kishore hits in the inimitable Nayyar style. But 

the relationship did not endure. In the black and 

white era. A parting of ways with Asha Bhonsle 

in 1974 was to haunt Nayyar for the rest of his 

life. Many in the industry felt the break up was 

the start of Nayyar’s downslide. It was perhaps 

a tradition started by Nayyar to 

give a full length song to the 

comedians in the films which 

became more famous than any of 

the songs sung. Remember Johnny 

Walker in C.I.D with that famous 

“Yeh dil hai muskil jeena yahan” 

,and “Mein Bambai ka baboo, nam 

mera anjana” in Naya Daur? O P 

Nayyar was referred to as Opee by 

the film industry in Mumbai and 

his specialty was rhythm. His “Yeh 

desh hai veer jawonon ka” , 

featuring Dilip Kumar and Ajit 

from Naya Daur (1957) is an alltime 

hit among people of all ages, 

50 years after he composed it. 

Nayyar also composed music for a few South 

Indian movies. Nayyar passed away on January 

28, 2007, due to cardiac arrest. Among the major 

films he composed music for are Aar Paar, Naya 

Daur, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Kashmir Ki Kali, 

Mere Sanam, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, Phir Wohi 

Dil Laya Hoon, C.I.D., Sawan Ki Ghata, Raagini 

, Kismat, Phagun, Howrah Bridge, 12O’Clock, 

Baap Re Baap, Humsaaya, Kalpana, Pran Jaye 

Par Vachan Na Jayae, Baharen Phir Bhi 

Aayaegi, Sambandh, Ek Bar Muskurado, Sone 

ki Chidiya , Kahin Din Kahin Rat and Yeh Raat 

Phir na Aayegi. 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

It is the story of a taxi-driver in Mumbai who has two women falling for him. 

The Taxi driver, however, wants to first establish himself and then consider 

marriage. Father of one the girls is an outlaw. He offers the protagonist a job, 

with a motive to exploit his talents and physical capabilities. The protagonist 

has however different ideas. The film had several memorable songs, such as 

“Kabhi aar kabhi paar”, “Hoon Abhi Main Jawan”, “Babu Ji Dheere Chalna”, 

“Ja Ja Ja Bewafa Mohabbat Kar Lo”, “Na Na Na Tauba Tauba”, “Sun Sun 

Sun Zalima” and “Yeh Lo Main Haari” 

161 

1954, 35 mm, B&W, Hindi 

HOMAGE: O P NAYYAR 

Director 

Guru Dutt 

Screenplay 

Aar Paar 


V K Murthy 

Music 

O P Nayyar 

Editing 

Y G Chawhan 

Lyrics 

Majrooh Sultanpuri 

Cast 

Shakila, Johnny Walker, Shyama, Jagdeep 

Production 

Guru Dutt 

Aar Paar

HOMAGE: VANMALA DEVI 

Born as Susheeladevi Pawar in 1915 in Ujjain, this feisty 

lady adopted the screen name Vanmala Devi and acted in 

several Marathi and Hindi movies from the 1930s. Best 

known for her title role in Marathi film Shyamchi Aai, 

that fetched her the Best Actress award in 1953 when 

India's first-ever National Awards were given away, she 

began her film career when she was 21, a graduate and a 

teacher. Her dreamy eyes won her the role of the 

legendary Rukhsana in Minerva Movietone's blockbuster 

Sikander in which she starred along with Sohrab Modi 

and Prithviraj Kapoor. Vanmala acted in several films 

produced and directed by Acharya Pralhad Keshav Atre, 

including Payachi Dasi, Shyamchi Aai and Moruchi 

Mavshi. The supposedly demure Vanmala was a staunch 

nationalist and deeply involved in the freedom movement 

along with stalwarts like Aruna Asaf Ali and Achyut 

Patwardhan. Even at the age of 92, when she passed away, 

she was running a school called The Haridas Kala 

Sansthan to train children in traditional Indian arts and 

culture. She was also a member of the Chhatrapati Shivaji 

National Memorial Committee. Vanmala's filmography 

includes films like Gharjavai (1941), Brahma Ghotala 

(1949), Payachi Dasi / Charno Ki Daasi (1941), Sharbati 

Ankhen (1945), Vasantasena (1942), Dil ki Baat (1944), 

Hatim Tai (1947), Beete Din (1947) and Shree Ram 

Bharat Milap (1965). She spent her final years involved 

in social service in Gwalior, where she passed away on 

May 30, 2007. 

162 

IFFI-2007 

Vanmala Devi 

Shyamchi Aai 

1953, 35 mm, B&W, 153 mins, Marathi 

Regarded as a cult classic today, this film is based on one of the most 

influential Marathi novels of the 20th century, a fictionalised account of the 

childhood years of Sane Guruji (1899-1950), a nationalist influenced by 

Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi. As the title suggests the central character 

is Shyam's mother and the kind of enormous influence she has on Shyam's 

upbringing. It involves sticking to one's ideals even though one is neck deep 

in abject poverty. Like life, the book starts with Shyam's mother getting 

married into a wealthy family and its slow progression into debt-ridden 

poverty and ends with illness and tragic death of his mother. 

Director & Producer: Acharya P K Atre; Screenplay: Acharya Atre, 

Cinematography: R M Rele; Editor: Narayan Rao, Music: Vasant Desai; 

Cast: Vanmala, Madhav Vaze, Shankar Kulkarni, Baburao Pendharkar, Sumati 

Gupte, Saraswati Bodas.

BIRTH CENTENARIES: DEVIKA RANI 

Devika Rani 

Born in Vishakhapatnam (then Waltair), 

Devika Rani came from a distinguished 

background: she was the great-grand-niece 

of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore 

and her father, Col M N Chaudhuri, was 

the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras. 

Her mother’ was Leela Chaudhuri. After 

completing her early schooling in the early 

1920s, she studied drama at the Royal 

Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the 

Royal Academy of Music in London with 

scholarships. She also studied architecture, 

textile and decor design, and apprenticed 

under Elizabeth Arden. Here, through her 

Brahmo Samaj connections, she met scriptwriter Niranjan Pal who would eventually 

write many of her most successful screen roles. Devika Rani married producer-actor 

Himanshu Rai in 1929. Together they starred in Karma. They soon founded the 

Bombay Talkies film studio, along with retainers Niranjan Pal and Franz Osten whose 

films challenged the caste system. Devika Rani’s most notable film was Achhut Kanya 

(1936), costarring Ashok Kumar. Widowed in 1940, she fought for control of Bombay 

Talkies. After Sashadhar Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar and a lot of Bombay Talkies 

veterans left and formed a new studio – Filmistan – in 1943, the studio started to 

fade and she married Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich in 1945, left films and joined 

her husband in Bangalore. In 1970, she became the first recipient of India’s highest 

film prize, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Achhut Kanya was among the early superhits 

in the Mumbai film industry, and is 

considered a reformist period-piece. It 

reflected the most representative features of the 

Indian social film of the first decade of sound 

and was made at a time when law and precedent 

obstructed the inter-caste marriage and firmly 

supported the ostracism of the untouchable. 

Gandhi, Nehru and other leaders of Indian 

National Congress had called for an end to this 

with the argument that Independence in itself 

would not be enough, that Hindu society must 

also reform itself from within. Even today, this 

film is surprisingly honest, evocative and 

sensitive. 

164 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

BIRTH CENTENARIES: KHEMCHAND PRAKASH 

Khemchand Prakash 

If anyone remembers Mahal (1949), the Ashok Kumar-Madhubala starring classic, perhaps 

it is for the film’s immortal music. That musical magic was created by Khemchand Prakash, 

a pioneer in the field of classical music and Rajasthani folk music. Prakash had a complete 

grasp of folk songs from Marwar, thumris and ghazals. He was among the major music 

directors in the Hindi film industry of the 1940s along with Ghulam Haider, C Ramchandra, 

Anil Biswas and Naushad, with Naushad considering him as his guru. The brilliant Aaegaa 

Aanewaalaa sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Mahal, which was used as the leitmotif for the 

ghost, set the trend for a suspense and ghost film to always have a song that works as a 

signing call of the ‘ghost’, be it in Madhumati (1958), Woh Kaun Thi (1964) or Mera 

Saaya (1966). Prakash’s brilliance in orchestrisation comes through in this story about 

recording of this song - it is said that the recording began with the mike placed in the 

centre of a large hall with Mangeshkar in the corner of the room. As the prelude began, she 

inched her way to the mike singing Khamosh Hai Zamana. Without any doubt, Mahal 

represents the finest work of Prakash at his peak, and it is not known whether it is true or 

an apocryphal tale, but the story goes that during the production of of the film, someone 

carelessly remarked to the studio authorities that if the film did not prove to be a hit it 

would be because of the music. Once the film was released, Prakash received innumerable 

letters from all over India for his music, and despite being ill, he took a cab to the man’s 

house and forced him to read all those letters. Besides turning around Lata Mangeshkar’s 

career, Prakash was the composer who gave the brilliant Kishore Kumar his initial break 

with Marne ki Duayen Kyon Mangoon in Ziddi in 1948 and gave him one of his earlier 

assignments in Rhim Jhim (1948). Unfortunately, Prakash could not live for long to enjoy 

Mahal’s stupendous success as he passed away the following year when still in his early 

40s. But it was not before giving another scintillating musical score in the Raj Kapoor- 

Nargis starrer Jan Pehchan (1950). Lata Mangeshkar has been quoted as saying in one of 

her interviews that at the time when Mahal was made, it was the practice not to put the 

name of the singer on the record, and only that of the character on whom the song was 

filmed used to be named. When Aayega Aanewala’ was first played on All India Radio, 

there was such a flood of calls asking for the name of the singer that AIR was forced to 

find out from the record company and announce it on air! Prakash, in his short but brilliant 

career, composed music for films like Tamasha (1952), Jai Shanker (1951), Shri Ganesh 

Janma (1951), Bijli (1950), Muqaddar (1950), Sati Narmada (1950), Sawan Aya Re (1949), 

Asha (1948), Chalte Chalte (1947), Gaon (1947), Mera Sohag (1947), Mulaqat (1947), 

Samaj Ko Badal Dalo (1947), Dhanna Bhagat (1945), Bhanvara (1944), Bhartruhari 

(1944), Mumtaz Mahal (1944), Shahenshah Babar (1944), Chirag (1943), Gauri (1943), 

Kurbani (1943), Ladai Ke Baad (1943), Tansen (1943), Vish Kanya (1943), Chandni (1942), 

Dukh Sukh (1942), Fariyad (1942), Khilauna (1942), Maheman (1942), Holiday In Bombay 

(1941), Pardesi (1941), Pyas (1941), Ummeed (1941), Aaj Ka Hindustan (1940), Diwali 

(1940), Holi (1940), Pagal (1940), Gazi Salauddin (1939), and Meri Ankhen (1939). 

165

BIRTH CENTENARIES: T R SUNDARAM 

T R Sundaram 

Born in Tiruchengodu in Tamil Nadu, T R Sundaram was one of the earlier pioneers of the 

Tamil film industry. He produced 98 films, including works by Duncan, C V Raman and T 

R Raghunath, and approached filmmaking with a business-like attitude, importing foreign 

technicians for his debut Sati Ahalya, of which he made two versions - one for Modern 

Theatres Studio and the other for Chandra Bharathi Cineton. He also produced the first 

Malayalam sound film, Balan (1938) as well as the first colour film in Tamil, Alibabavum 

Narpathu Thirudargalum (1955), and in Malayalam, Kandam Bacha Coat (1961). 

Sundaram worked at Angel Films, before taking it over and starting the Modern Theatres 

Studio (1937) in Salem. He worked in several genres, most notably the swashbuckling 

adventure movies of P V Chinnappa (Uthama Puthran, an adaptation of Alexander Duma’s 

The Man in the Iron Mask), that later developed into filmic and political signature of 

superstar M G Ramachandran. He also made the war movie, Burma Rani (1944). Going 

with the story that Cleopatra used to took bath in donkey’s milk, he, in order to create a 

similar scene in a Tamil movie, brought 1000 donkeys, milked them and took bath. 

Sundaram’s film oeuvre includes 1000 Thalaivengia Apporva Cinthamani (1947), 

Mayavathi (1949), Manthiri Kumari (1950), Baghdad Thirudan (1960). Born on July 16, 

1907, he passed away on August 30, 1963 in Chennai. 

166 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 

Master Class 

167 

BIRTH CENTENARIES: T R SUNDARAM

MASTER CLASS 

Vidheyan 

1993, 35 mm, Colour, 112 mins, Malayalam 


Adoor Gopalakrishnan 


Mankada Ravi Varma 

Editing 

M Mani 

Music 

Vijaya Bhaskar 

Cast 

Mammootty, M R Gopakumar, Tanvi Azmi, Sabitha Anand 

Production 



National Film Award for best actor to Mammootty (1993); 

Netpac Award at the Rotterdam International Film festival, 

Interfilm Award - Honorable Mention - at the Mannheim- 

Heidelberg International Film Festival. 

168 

IFFI-2007 


An unwavering flag bearer of the meaningful cinema movement in India, Adoor Moutatthu 

Gopalakrishnan Unnithan is regarded internationally as a real master of cinema. Consistently 

making films in his mother tongue Malayalam, Gopalakrishnan has been a recipient of India’s 

highest cinematic honour, the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, in 2004. Born on June 3, 1941, 

Gopalakrishnan is considered a master in his craft, as he keeps on focusing his directorial 

vision on issues related to humanity and the society through stories set in the backdrop of his 

home state Kerala in southern India. A staunch backer of the film society movement and an 

author – his book Cinimayude Lokam (The World of Cinema) got him the National Award for 

the Best Book on Cinema in 1983 – he was born into a family of patrons of the classical dance 

form Kathakali, in a village called Adoor. He made his debut in theatre when he was just eight 

years old, and since then he has been actively involved in stagecraft. After graduating from 

Gandhigram Rural Institute, Madurai, with a degree in Political Science, he went to the Film 

and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune from where he graduated in 1965. Immediately 

thereafter, he founded the Chitralekha Film Cooperative along with other FTII graduates to 

help in production and distribution of serious films. Influenced by the works of Satyajit Ray, 

Gopalakrishnan’s work, like the Bengali maestro’s, also emphasize on the psychology of the 

characters. His first feature film, Swayamvaram (One’s Own Choice, 1974), won the President’s 

Gold Medal for the best film, best director, best cameraman and best actress. Through a story of two young rebels – one of them a woman - 

fighting the despair and realities of small town life, it tackled a sensitive topic with the title being an allusion to the ancient practice of Royal 

women selecting husbands of their own choosing. His Kodiyettam (Ascent, 1977) came as a breath of fresh air with its simple and sincere 

approach to the crumbling Nair community who were once the lords of Kerala. He returned to the theme of feudalism with his critically 

acclaimed Elipathayam (The Mouse Trap) in 1981, and then Communism and its conflict with the feudal system in Mukhamukham (“ace to 

Face) in 1987. Gopalakrishnan, who has made a number of documentaries, has made other features Mathilukkal (Walls, 1989), Anantharam 

(Monologue, 1987), Vidheyan (The Docile, 1993), Kathapurushan (The Protagonist, 1995), Nizhalkkuthu (Shadow Kill, 2003) and Naalu 

Pennungal (2007), the last mentioned being part of the Indian Panorama section in this festival. Gopalakrishnan has been the recipient of Indian 

government’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushana, and the French government’s Legion of Honour award. 

Bhaskara Patelar is a feudal relic, an autocrat in a south Indian village, ruling not 

by traditional right but by virtue of his ability to create terror. Into this village 

come the simple Thommi, a Christian migrant labourer from Kerala, and his wife. 

And soon, the former is drawn into Patelar’s machinations as the autocrat decides 

to do away with his wife. The plan goes awry; the perpetrator, Thommi, is injured. 

Thommi and Patelar are forced to abscond - deep in the wilderness that is their 

refuge, Thommi arrives at his own solution to problems not of his making. A 

cinematic adaptation of the novel Bhaskara Pattelarum Ente Jeevithavum by Paul 

Zacharia, it explores the master-slave dialectic in a South Karnataka setting.

IFFI-2007 

Special Screening 

169 

MASTER CLASS

SPECIAL SCREENING 

India 

The Last Lear 

2007, 35mm, Colour, English 

Director 

Rituparno Ghosh 

Screenplay 

Rituparno Ghosh 


Abhik Mukhopadhyay 

Editor 

Arghya Kamal Mitra 

Music 

Raja Narayan Deb, Sanjoy Das 

Cast 

Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Shefali Shah, 

Divya Dutta, Jisshu Sengupta, Prosenjit Chatterjee 

Art 

Indranil Ghosh 

Sound 

Bishwadeep Chatterjee 

Costume 

Varsha-Shilpa 

Producetion & Sales 

Arindam Chaudhuri 

Planman Motion Pictures production 

170 

IFFI-2007 

Harry - 65. Recluse, Eccentric. Passionate. Besides being a Shakespearean stage actor 

and an ardent fan of The Master, his life seems like a play after he meets Siddharth. A 

play replete with action, drama, love, emotions, tension - and an expected friendship. 

Siddharth is a new-age film director - his cool clothes and casual persona well disguise 

his eccentricities. He is a visionary, a visionary who would stop at nothing to get what 

he wants. As opposites attract, may be like-minded people get along well too. How else 

would one explain the fast blossoming friendship between these two eccentrically 

creative minds? When the cinema-ignorant Harry is offered a magnificent role in 

Siddharths' next film, he is apprehensive at first, reluctant later and finally acceptable 

to the idea. As the shoot takes them to the sprawling mountainous landscapes of India, 

new relationships bloom. Upcoming actor Shabnam, who is struggling hard to cope 

with her messy personal life, finds an unexpected mentor in Harry. He teaches her more 

than merely the nuances of acting. From being a complete outsider to the world of 

commercial cinema, Harry soon becomes one of them - open to learning new methods 

of working, chatting with the unit members and sipping tea from a fancy thermos he 

never knew was invented, he is enjoying! Little does he know that as the film rolls and 

he gets into the skin of the character of the Joker that he is playing, he may be taking his 

role a bit too seriously. Is he that good an actor, or is fate really making him out to be a 

Joker on the set? As the intense moments unfold, which are even more engaging that 

the film itself, masks would be taken off a few faces. Towards the sunset of his life, 

long after the last shot is taken, as his memory fades, all that Harry can remember are 

his Masters words. 

Born in Kolkata in India on August 31, 1961, Rituparno Ghosh has been consistently 

making award-winning contemporary Indian cinema. After completing his schooling, 

he went on to pursue his studies in Economics from the Jadhavpur University in Kolkata. 

In a short while, he realised that his calling lay elsewhere. He thus joined Anandalok 

magazine and went on to become its editor. He then worked with response, a leading 

creative agency, for a few years. It was in the early 1990's that he first took up direction. 

Critical acclaim and astounding viewer response welcomed his maiden venture. The 

rest, as they say, is history. He has to his credit 14 films, most of which have won 

national level awards in India. Five of these have been National Awards, which is the 

highest level of film awards in India. His cinema is cause-driven, modern, witty and 

more often, an astute commentary of the times we live in, at the same time. His films 

include Hirer Angti (The Diamond Ring, 1992), Unishe April (19th April, 1994), Dahan 

(Crossfire, 1997), Bariwali (The Lady of the House, 1999), Asukh (Malaise, 1999), 

Utsab (The Festival, 2000), Titli (The First Monsoon Day, 2002), Shubho Mahurat 

(2003), Chokher Bali: A Passion Play (2003), Raincoat (2004), Antar Mahal (Views of 

the Inner Chamber, 2005), Dosar (The Companion, 2006), The Last Lear (2007), 

Sunglass (In Post Production).

IFFI-2007 

Closing Film 

171 

SPECIAL SCREENING

CLOSING FILM 

172 

IFFI-2007

IFFI-2007 CLOSING FILM 

Fados is the new masterpiece from Spanish legend Carlos Saura and the latest 

installment in his musical cycle initiated more than 15 years ago through Sevillanas 

(1992), Flamenco (1995), Tango (1998 - Oscar Nominee for best foreign film), 

Salome (2002) and Iberia (2005). It opens a new chapter and sets new challenges 

for the famous director – now 75 - as it attempts to capture the elusive nature of 

the Portuguese “saudade” and to depict a faithful portrait of the Portuguese soul 

through its most emblematic musical genre. Using Lisbon as its iconic backdrop, 

the movie explores the intricate relationship between the music and the city, and 

Fado´s evolution over the years from its African and Brazilian origins up to the 

new wave of modern Fadistas. Under the musical supervision of Carlos do Carmo, 

the movie features one of the finest “World Music” soundtracks to date, gathering 

the best of new Portuguese talent like Mariza or Camané, together with foreign 

legends Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque or up-and-coming stars Lila Downs 

and Lura. It is a film that hides much more than what one sees at first sight. It’s a 

musical film, but it’s also full of internal codes that only those who know the 

world of the Fado will recognize. The research for the film took four years. 

A legendary Spanish director-writer who has also acted in and produced a couple 

of films, Carlos Saura was born in 1932 at, Huesca, Aragón, Spain. His interest 

on cinema started when he was very young. His mother, who was a pianist, instilled 

in him the liking for music, and his brother, Antonio, who was a painter, the 

passion for art. When he was a teenager he started to practice photography, and 

in 1950 he made his first illustrated feature film with a 16 mm camera. Carlos 

Saura is an excellent photographer, an activity that he shares in a sporadic way 

with the making of films. He moved to Madrid to continue his Industrial 

Engineering career, but his vocation for photography, cinema and journalism made 

him leave his studies and matriculate at the Instituto de Investigaciones y Estudios 

Cinematográficos (Cinematographic Study and Research Institute). Sporadically, 

he combined his cinematographic studies with the courses at the Escuela de 

Periodismo (Journalism School). In 1957 he finished studying and got the director 

diploma. At the same time, he finished his end-of-career short film Tarde del 

domingo, La (1957). He continued as a professor until 1963. In that year he was 

removed from the school for strictly political reasons (Franco’s censorship). In 

his first stage as director he tried to take a position in favour of outcast people, 

and he got to make a both lyric and documentary-style cinema. Saura is a well 

accepted director both nationally and internationally, and in proof of it he won 

many awards, among which there are the Silver Bear in the Berlin Festival for 

Caza, La (1966), in 1965, and for Peppermint Frappé (1967), in 1967, and Special 

Jury Awards in Cannes for Prima Angélica, La in 1973, and for Cría cuervos in 

1975. His feature films include Weeping for a Bandit (1964), The Garden of 

Delights (1970), Cousin Angelica (1974), Cría Cuervos (1976), Faster, Faster 

(1981), Carmen (1983), El Dorado (1988), The Dark Night (1989), Flamenco 

(1995), Tango (1998), Goya in Bordeaux (2000) and Salomé (2002). 

173 


CLOSING FILM 

Portugal-Spain 

Fados 

Director 

Carlos Saura 

Screenplay 

Carlos Saura, Ivan Dias 


Jose Luis Lopez-Linares, Eduardo Serra 

Editor 

Julia Juaniz 

Cast 

Mariza Camane, Carlos Do Carmo, Cuca Roseta, Catarina 

Moura, Argentina Santos, 

Maria De Nazare, Vicente Da Camara, Carmo Rebelo De 

Andrade, Ana Sofia Varela 

Art 

Carlos Saura 

Choreography 

Patrick De Bana, Pedro Gomes 

Sound 

Daniel Beckerman 

Production 

Fado Filmes, Duvideo, Zebra Producciones, Ventas 

Internacionales 

Latido Films 

C/ Veneras 9, 6º - 28013 Madrid - Spain 

Tel: +34 91 548 88 77 

Fax: +34 91 548 88 78 

www.fados-saura.com 

World Sales 

Latido Films 

C/ Veneras 9, 6º - 28013 Madrid - Spain 

Tel: +34 91 548 88 77 

Fax: +34 91 548 88 78 

email: massimo_saidel@latidofilms.com 


Toronto, New York, Rio de Janeiro, 

San Sebastián, Pusan, Stockholm

CLOSING FILM 

Indian Panorama – Feature Films 

Opening Film – Ore Kadal (Malayalam) 

174 

IFFI-2007 

S.No. FILM TITLE DIRECTOR LANGUAGE 

1 Naalu Pennungal Adoor Gopalakrishnan Malayalam 

2 Ore Kadal Shyama Prasad Malayalam 

3 Ratri Mazha Lenin Rajendran Malayalam 

4 Ekti Nadir Galpo Samir Chanda Bengali 

5 Dharm Bhavna Talwar Hindi 

6 Kayyoppu Renjith Malayalam 

7 Jaatingaa Ityaadi Sanjib Sabhapandit Assamese 

8 Tingya Mangesh Hadawale Marathi 

9 Periyar Gnana Rajasekaran Tamil 

10 Jaara Brishtite Bhijechilo Anjan Das Bengali 

11 Kada Beladingalu B.S. Lingadevaru Kannada 

12 Thaniye Babu Thiruvalla Malayalam 

13 Mai Baap Gajendra Ahire Marathi 

14 Moggina Jade P.R. Ramdas Naidu Kannada 

15 Daatu K. Shivarudraiah Kannada 

16 Gafla Sameer Hanchate Hindi 

17 Ammuvagiya Naan Padma Magan Tamil 

18 Aevdhe Se Aabhaal Bipin Nadkarni Marathi 

19 Yenning Amadi Likia Makhonmani Mongsaba Manipuri 

20 Ami, Iyasin Ar Amar Madhubala Buddhadeb Dasgupta Bengali 

21 Kaalchakra Vishal Bhandari Marathi

IFFI-2007 

Indian Panorama – Non-Feature Films 

Opening Film – Bagher Bachcha (Bengali) 

175 

CLOSING FILM 

S.No. FILM TITLE DIRECTOR LANGUAGE 

1 Rajashree Bhagya Chandra of Aribam Syam Sharma English 

Manipur 

2 Naushad Ali – The Melody Continues Buddhadeb Dasgupta Hindi 

3 Pandit Ramnarayan V. Packriswamy Hindi 

4 Bagher Bachcha Bisnu Deb Halder Bengali 

5 Hope Dies Last In War Supriyo Sen English 

6 Whose Land Is It Anyway? Ladly Mukhopadhyay Hindi 

7 Masti Bhara Hai Sama Ashok Rane Hindi 

8 M-Tyude Kumaraneloorke Kulangal M.A. Rehman Malayalam 

9 Poomaram Vipin Vijay Malayalam 

10 Joy Ride Manisha Issrani Misra Bengali 

11 The Dance Of The Enchantress Adoor Gopalakrishnan Hindi 

12 Harvilele Indradhansh Dhiraj Meshram Malayalam 

13 Ngaihak Lambida Haobam Paban Kumar Manipuri 

14 Nokpokliba Meren Imchen English 

15 Mubarak Begum Bipin Choubal Hindi

Birth Centenaries - Directorate of Film Festivals

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