Comments on: Catch the New Wave of Tamil Film

By: noushad

noushad — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:26:56 +0000

good

By: Pavani

Pavani — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:58:32 +0000

Thanks for the update!

By: Vivek

Vivek — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:07:39 +0000

Brooklyn confirmed!

April 14-17

By: Pavani

Pavani — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:33:08 +0000

tipu, thanks for letting us know more. I think I posted too late to include the info about a discussion that happened before the film series: "Leading up to the first screening at the PFA, Lalitha Gopalan and Anuj Vaidya will speak about the current renaissance in Tamil cinema, and provide a historical and aesthetic context for the films presented." (3rd I)

By: Vivek

Vivek — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 23:55:43 +0000

So is this actually coming to B[rooklyn]AM? I can’t find anything on their website…

By: tipu

tipu — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 23:11:32 +0000

So I managed to see 2 of the movies at PFA earlier this month – Subramainapuram & Naan Kadavul. Subramaniapuram was very very good. Unfortunately, the theater was mostly empty for the former, with about 3 desi faces other than the 3rd I folks. It was much better for the latter, though I am still bummed at the lack of desi support. It was the same way for the Ray movies that Stanford Theater showed a few years back in Palo Alto. In fact in December Stanford again did a double bill of Charulata & Mahanagar, two of the best Bengali movies ever made, & in the show I went to, there were barely any Indian faces. This is in sharp contrast to movies like the Taiwanese ‘A Brighter Summer Day’ by Edward Yang last month or a retrospective of Lino Brocka’s Philipino movies last year – both at PFA – which attracted a large ethnic (as in Taiwanese & Philipino) crowd. I go to PFA a lot & these weren’t the usual PFA junkies (like me ). The only theory I have is that Indian movies are much more readily available on home video & there are many Indian movie theaters in the Bay Area. But anyway, some desi support & turnout would be much appreciated for these rare screenings.

One more thing – I was a little disappointed at the 3rd I curators (Anuj & Lalitha) ability to explain the background of the films & place it in some kind of context with the rest of Indian cinema. Perhaps the Q&A format at the end of the movie wasn’t enough to go too deep into some of the questions that were being asked by audience members (I stayed for Naan Kadavul), but a lot of their responses were at the standard Wikipedia level. I was looking for some more insights. But anyway, a big thanks for 3rd I & PFA for organizing this series, I wish there were more (movies & people).

By: jyotsana

jyotsana — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 02:16:44 +0000

Paddy,

This isn't about Hollywood, which anyway is much more aware of cinema the world over, and definitely the cinema of India. Oliver Stone and Manoj Kumar exchanging notes? Sure, you didn't know that. I am talking of the "intellectual culture critics" who are clueless most of the time. Bala and Bharathiraja (16 Vayadhinile fame)are both from Theni. Bala began his career with Balu Mahendra, while Bharathiraja with the Kannada maestro Puttana Kanagal. All these guys have been big fans of K.Balachander, who for decades has been writing almost book length letters of appreciation to everyone of these new wave directors. So while the outsider sees sharp breaks and crises and a fork in the path, folks such as myself see a continuum and almost deliberate evolution. The Indian mainstream cinema was famous before Ray. Raj Kapoor's Awara was nominated for Grand Prize at Cannes in 1963, as was Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar in 1946.

As a friend of mine at Disney tells me, it is only the intellectuals who see a mainstream cinema here and an arthouse cinema or a domestic or an international cinema. For the insider, especially the technician, the spot boy, the clapper, the grip or the sound boom operator, it's all the same.

Vivek,

Naan orudhadavai sonna, nooru dhadavai sonna madhiri

By: Pavani

Pavani — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:33:23 +0000

The dates for the screenings at Freer and Sackler in DC: http://www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp?trumbaEmbed=view%3Dseries%26seriesid%3D617800

By: Yoga Fire

Yoga Fire — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:31:36 +0000

The Goethe-Institut in Chinatown hosts an Asian/Pacific-Islander film-fest each year. Usually there will be at least one or two movies by us swarthy types there. I've been there in the past and they're often not bad. One of my favorite ones a year or two ago was by an Indian woman, but I can't remember either her name or the film. It was a comedy about a guy who brings a girl home on a date but it turns out his appetite/sexuality is in a separate physical body from his actual self. It turns out funnier than it sounds, honest.

By: Neal

Neal — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:51:13 +0000

Do you have any more info on the Freer screenings? This looks awesome.

Bummed to see that it looks like their DC chapter is inactive. Does anyone have more information about it? "S. Asian independent film" are four words that set off all sorts of attention sirens in my head.