Women directors sweep top awards at MAMI film fest

Agencies
October 19, 2017

Oct 19: Women ruled the roost at the 19th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Rima Das's 'Village Rockstars' won the Golden Gateway award in the India Gold Category and Carla Simon's 'Summer 1993' won the honour in the International category.

The seven-day event, which concluded on Wednesday night in Mumbai, screened over 220 films from 51 countries including features, documentaries and short films.

Das is ecstatic as her movie has also won the Oxfam Best Film -- Gender Equality Award and the Young Critics Choice Award at the festival.

The director-cinematographer-editor-producer said: "I am grateful to the MAMI jury and especially my children. Most of the people thought I was mad. But the children and my family believed in me."

"When I started making movies, the movies were earlier selected in festival but my mother used to ask whether I will win. So this is to my mom."

Simon, who was on her first visit to India, said it was an "incredible experience".

Rina Soni, Director of Oxfam India, said: "Globally, women seldom get fair credit and recognition for their work. There's no shortage of talented female filmmakers out there, they just need a platform to shine."

"The Award is to support and encourage filmmakers to make films that break gender norms or challenge the conventional portrayal of women and girls."

"'Village Rockstars' deserves the award as it brings on screen the story of hope and aspirations of a young girl fighting inequality and disasters. We are delighted that another path-breaking film 'The Hungry' received a special mention in this category."

Actors Radhika Apte and Sayani Gupta were the presenters for the ceremony, after which a closing night party saw the attendance of names like Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Rajkumar Hirani, Kabir Khan, Anurag Kashyap, Rajkummar Rao, Ashutosh Gowariker, Konkona Sen Sharma and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Anupama Chopra, the festival director, said: "This has been a week long celebration of movies. I want to thank our enthusiastic audience and our generous partners for helping us make this edition of MAMI a roaring success."

Hansal Mehta's film 'Omerta', starring Rajkummar Rao, was the closing film of the festival.

Rajkummar gave away the Audience Choice Award to the Hungarian drama 'On Body and Soul' by Ildiko Enyedi.

In the India Gold Section, the Jury gave a special mention to 'Sexy Durga' by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, and to 'Up, Down and Sideways' by Anushka Meenakshi and Ishwar Srikumar.

The Silver Gateway Award went to 'Machines' by Rahul Jain.

The gala ended with the announcement of the dates for the 20th Edition of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star -- October 25 to November 1.

MAMI will resume its year round programme next week with the first screening in India of Disney's 'Thor: Ragnarok'.

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News Network
May 12,2020

Mumbai, May 12: Superstar Salman Khan on Tuesday released his latest romantic single "Tere Bina" featuring Jacqueline Fernandez while in quarantine at his Panvel farm house.

The actor, along with close family and friends from the industry, including Iulia Vantur, Waluscha De Sousa, is living in the farm house. This is the second song Salman has released amid the coronavirus pandemic, after "Pyaar Karona."

"About seven weeks ago, when we came to the farm, we didn't know we will be here under a lockdown. So we wanted to do things to keep ourselves busy. That's when we decided to do these songs. We launched 'Pyaar Karona' and now, we are launching 'Tere Bina'," Salman said in a statement.

The song, sung and directed by Salman, is composed by his friend Ajay Bhatia and written by Shab bir Ahmed.

The actor said he had the song "Tere Bina" with him for quite a while but because it wasn't fitting into any of his film, he decided to release it now.

Jacqueline said she didn't think they would be able to shoot the song, which they finished in four days of evening shoots, with such limitations.

"We are used to shooting songs on a large stage with grand production costs. There are costumes, hair, make up. All of a sudden, we find ourselves with a team of three people. For the first time, I was checking lighting and moving props around. It was a great experience and it taught us how to make the most of what we have," she said.

Salman recently sent out food packets and ration from his farm house to those affected by the lockdown.

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News Network
February 2,2020

Feb 2: After creating a buzz with her recent low-key marriage, actor and model Pamela Anderson recently broke off her marriage with famous movie mogul Jon Peters, after just 12 days the wedding, reported Fox News.

The couple got married on January 20 in Malibu, California in a private marriage ceremony.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the couple's split on Saturday stating that the pair has decided to "uncouple."

"I have been moved by the warm reception to Jon and my union. We would be very grateful for your support as we take some time apart to reevaluate what we want from life and from one another," Fox News quoted Anderson saying.

"Life is a journey and love is a process. With that universal truth in mind, we have mutually decided to put off the formalization of our marriage certificate and put our faith in the process, "she added.

Fox News further quoted a source close to Anderson as saying, "She's known Jon forever, but she never lived with him, contrary to some reports. And until you live with someone... Well, let's just say Pamela asked for a break. She is heading back to her compound in Ladysmith, Canada, to be with her family."

According to Fox News, the couple did not have any official marriage license.

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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: In an attempt to constructively use leisure time during the lockdown, actor Bhumi Pednekar has started learning Kathak from her mother, Sumitra Pednekar, who is a trained dancer of this discipline.

Elaborating on her keenness to enhance her knowledge on the dance form, the actor explained about her routine followed for the dance practice and how much she is enjoying it.

"I wanted to learn kathak for a long time as my mother is a trained Kathak dancer! So, for about an hour in the evening this what I and my mom do. She is quite enjoying it and I'm loving learning it from her!" the 30-year-old actor said.

The growing fear of coronavirus has halted many entertainment shootings and productions. The 'Pati Patni Aur Who' actor referring to the current situation opened about the uncertainties of going back to shootings.

"It has put a big question mark on when will we get back to work and how things are going to be. There's a lot of uncertainty. Of course, our dates and schedules have gone haywire and we can't plan anything," she added.

However, the 'Bala' actor is finding a silver lining among the gloom as she says that the time has given her an opportunity to get back to what she used to love as a child - the habit of reading.

"I was a voracious reader but since entering Bollywood I haven't got a chance to read something at a stretch," she said.

"But now, I have got all the time and I'm making full use of the time at hand. I have been watching TED talks and have been reading a lot about climate change because that is something, I am severely passionate about. This time has been very educational for me," she added.

On the professional front, Pednekar will be soon seen as a leading lady in the Akshay Kumar's 'Durgavati' and award-winning director Alankrita Srivastava's 'Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare'.

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