My name is Michael T. Vollmann; I am the director of the Sundance short The 414s: The Original Teenage Hackers and this is my first trip to Sundance — I have absolutely no idea what to expect! I hear there are mountains involved, mega enormous celebrity sightings and maybe even a grab bag. My filmmaking partner Chris James Thompson (producer on The 414s) has been to Sundance once before, working on a film called The Pool — a 2007 Sundance award winner directed by Chris Smith and edited by Barry Poltermann. Chris and Barry have been important mentors for us, […]...
- 1/24/2015
- by Michael Vollman
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
My name is Michael T. Vollmann; I am the director of the Sundance short The 414s: The Original Teenage Hackers and this is my first trip to Sundance — I have absolutely no idea what to expect! I hear there are mountains involved, mega enormous celebrity sightings and maybe even a grab bag. My filmmaking partner Chris James Thompson (producer on The 414s) has been to Sundance once before, working on a film called The Pool — a 2007 Sundance award winner directed by Chris Smith and edited by Barry Poltermann. Chris and Barry have been important mentors for us, […]...
- 1/24/2015
- by Michael Vollman
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Iconic actor Nana Patekar, known for his brilliant performances in The Pool, Parinda and Ab Tak Chappan, as well as displaying his lighter side in Bollywood blockbusters like Welcome, is all set to take London by storm when he visits the city for the World Premiere of director Samruddhi Porey’s Hemalkasa, the Closing Night Film of the 5th London Indian Film Festival (Liff, July 10-17). The film details the inspirational lives of Magsasay Award winning couple Dr Prakash Baba Amte and Mandakini Amte who dedicated their lives towards improving the lot of the tribal people in Western India.
Nana Patekar said: “I appreciate the Liff selection committee because by selecting Hemalkasa they have shown that only an expert jeweller has an eye for a real diamond. I believe here Liff is the real expert jeweller. This is not merely a film but an inspirational message for the world and...
Nana Patekar said: “I appreciate the Liff selection committee because by selecting Hemalkasa they have shown that only an expert jeweller has an eye for a real diamond. I believe here Liff is the real expert jeweller. This is not merely a film but an inspirational message for the world and...
- 7/16/2014
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
There were broken fingers and broken hearts as Desiree’s men dodged balls and lassoed hay bales for her love, while Kasey and Des enjoyed some not sexy pool time. Plus, one contestant got an unexpected visitor, and things really got dramatic.
So much drama went down on this week’s episode of The Bachelorette! The June 10 episode begins and Desiree Hartsock is knee deep in balls. Dodge balls that is! Another week, another ridiculous group challenge, and I can safely say this was the most dramatic episode of all time.
The Boys Play Dodgeball For Desiree’s Love
Is there better way to find your potential husband then by making them compete for love through a ridiculous sports challenge? No!
The boys begin by practicing with National Dodgeball team and its a bit of a bloodbath. Chris Harrison arrives, and you know things are serious when he is wearing plaid.
So much drama went down on this week’s episode of The Bachelorette! The June 10 episode begins and Desiree Hartsock is knee deep in balls. Dodge balls that is! Another week, another ridiculous group challenge, and I can safely say this was the most dramatic episode of all time.
The Boys Play Dodgeball For Desiree’s Love
Is there better way to find your potential husband then by making them compete for love through a ridiculous sports challenge? No!
The boys begin by practicing with National Dodgeball team and its a bit of a bloodbath. Chris Harrison arrives, and you know things are serious when he is wearing plaid.
- 6/11/2013
- by Christopher Rogers
- HollywoodLife
During a girls’ night out at Greenhouse in NYC on April 24, Rihanna had a run-in with ex-boyfriend Jr Smith, an eyewitness tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively! Should Chris Brown be worried? Keep reading for all the details!
While Rihanna was out having fun with her girlfriends at Greenhouse in NYC on April 24, she ran into her ex-boyfriend, New York Knicks point guard, Jr Smith. RiRi was loving all of the attention she was getting as she danced in front of her ex-boyfriend and had fun with her girlfriends!
Jr Smith & Rihanna Party Together
An eyewitness tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively, “Rihanna arrived with her girlfriends at Greenhouse around 1 am. Rihanna had security escort her down to the DJ booth table where Iman Shumpert and ex-boyfriend and bad boy Jr Smith were sitting. The Knicks players had just beat the Celtics and they were out celebrating. It was really clear to everyone that...
While Rihanna was out having fun with her girlfriends at Greenhouse in NYC on April 24, she ran into her ex-boyfriend, New York Knicks point guard, Jr Smith. RiRi was loving all of the attention she was getting as she danced in front of her ex-boyfriend and had fun with her girlfriends!
Jr Smith & Rihanna Party Together
An eyewitness tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively, “Rihanna arrived with her girlfriends at Greenhouse around 1 am. Rihanna had security escort her down to the DJ booth table where Iman Shumpert and ex-boyfriend and bad boy Jr Smith were sitting. The Knicks players had just beat the Celtics and they were out celebrating. It was really clear to everyone that...
- 4/24/2013
- by Christopher Rogers
- HollywoodLife
Amour | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 | Mental | Up There | Hit So Hard | Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet | Happy Happy | The Pool | Son Of Sardar
Amour (12A)
(Michael Haneke, 2012, Aus/Fra/Ger) Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, 127 mins
Most romantic stories are beginnings; this is the endgame – the "till death us do part", as experienced by a cultured, elderly French couple after the wife's stroke. Call it a last slow dance in Paris. Watching body, mind and possibly love slowly diminish in their claustrophobic apartment, Haneke's gaze is stately and unflinching. However, there's also a slight remove, making this less emotional than you'd expect but rich in deeper themes.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (12A)
(Bill Condon, 2012, Us) Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner. 115 mins
The love/hate teenage supernatural saga comes to a spectacular/preposterous climax, for better or worse. Bella's enjoyment of her newfound vampire skills is dented...
Amour (12A)
(Michael Haneke, 2012, Aus/Fra/Ger) Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, 127 mins
Most romantic stories are beginnings; this is the endgame – the "till death us do part", as experienced by a cultured, elderly French couple after the wife's stroke. Call it a last slow dance in Paris. Watching body, mind and possibly love slowly diminish in their claustrophobic apartment, Haneke's gaze is stately and unflinching. However, there's also a slight remove, making this less emotional than you'd expect but rich in deeper themes.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (12A)
(Bill Condon, 2012, Us) Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner. 115 mins
The love/hate teenage supernatural saga comes to a spectacular/preposterous climax, for better or worse. Bella's enjoyment of her newfound vampire skills is dented...
- 11/17/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
By now I imagine we are all a little bored of hearing how brilliantly Skyfall is doing at the box office, so I’ll keep it brief this week and simply say, still making big bucks, 5th highest gross of all time so far, Avatar in its sights. I think that just about covers it.
Last week’s two big releases were Ben Affleck’s Argo and the Kevin James vehicle Here Comes the Boom. Despite a strong showing in the Us and hugely positive reviews over this side of the pond too, the studio may be a little disappointed with Argo’s opening week takings of just £1.2million which wasn’t enough to see it unseat Madagascar 3 which retains its second spot. That being said, with Skyfall still reigning supreme and the subject matter perhaps not being that enticing to UK audiences, it’s still a strong opening for the political thriller.
Last week’s two big releases were Ben Affleck’s Argo and the Kevin James vehicle Here Comes the Boom. Despite a strong showing in the Us and hugely positive reviews over this side of the pond too, the studio may be a little disappointed with Argo’s opening week takings of just £1.2million which wasn’t enough to see it unseat Madagascar 3 which retains its second spot. That being said, with Skyfall still reigning supreme and the subject matter perhaps not being that enticing to UK audiences, it’s still a strong opening for the political thriller.
- 11/16/2012
- by Rob Keeling
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) works cleaning rooms at a small hotel in Goa and tries to make a little extra on the side with his friend Jhangir (Jhangir Badshah) by selling cheap plastic bags to street traders. One day, Venkatesh sees a swimming pool within a walled and gated property and sets out to ingratiate himself with the owner, Nana (Nana Patekar). Venkatesh is nothing if not aspirational, but the pool which encapsulates those aspirations for him also represents tragedy and heartache for Nana and his seemingly sullen and enigmatic daughter Ayesha (Ayesha Mohan).
*****
Director and co-writer Chris Smith has a background in American independent cinema, making his latest effort, shot in India and with its dialogue almost entirely in Hindi, all the more beguiling. Whether he simply relishes a challenge, or found something poignant in telling this rich and profound story from an outsider’s perspective, we do not know.
*****
Director and co-writer Chris Smith has a background in American independent cinema, making his latest effort, shot in India and with its dialogue almost entirely in Hindi, all the more beguiling. Whether he simply relishes a challenge, or found something poignant in telling this rich and profound story from an outsider’s perspective, we do not know.
- 11/16/2012
- by Dave Roper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
It took a while to get a UK release, but Chris Smith's film about Goan youth has a winning fluency
Chris Smith is the Us documentary film-maker who recorded the adventures of anti-corporate pranksters, The Yes Men. Here is something very different, a fiction feature he made five years ago in southern India: gentle, well acted, tremendously shot: a movie with enormous charm.
The Pool is set in Panjim in Goa, where two boys, Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) and Jhangir (Jhangir Badshah) are living hand-to-mouth. Venkatesh conceives an envious fascination with the fancy swimming pool in beautiful grounds he can see by perching on a high tree branch – and then becomes obsessed with the demure girl called Ayesha (Ayesha Mohan) who is always reading by the pool.
Smith's film is natural and unforced, with a winning fluency and calm observational style. It might well be inspired by Satyajit Ray, but the influence is lightly worn.
Chris Smith is the Us documentary film-maker who recorded the adventures of anti-corporate pranksters, The Yes Men. Here is something very different, a fiction feature he made five years ago in southern India: gentle, well acted, tremendously shot: a movie with enormous charm.
The Pool is set in Panjim in Goa, where two boys, Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) and Jhangir (Jhangir Badshah) are living hand-to-mouth. Venkatesh conceives an envious fascination with the fancy swimming pool in beautiful grounds he can see by perching on a high tree branch – and then becomes obsessed with the demure girl called Ayesha (Ayesha Mohan) who is always reading by the pool.
Smith's film is natural and unforced, with a winning fluency and calm observational style. It might well be inspired by Satyajit Ray, but the influence is lightly worn.
- 11/16/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Chris Smith is a celebrated and award-winning American documentary filmmaker (best known for 1999's American Movie and 2003's The Yes Men), whose 2007 feature The Pool finally sees the theatrical light of day over here this week. The story of a young Indian boy who finds sanctity and a paradise in the palatial garden of a wealthy homeowner, The Pool is a gentle, leisurely-told tale which strenuously avoids anything resembling even the slightest trace of melodrama, and it manages to find moving moments through subtle observation. CineVue were recently lucky enough to have the opportunity to chat with Smith about the conception of the film and the rather unique means of finding his young leads.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 11/15/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★★☆ American documentary filmmaker Chris Smith's The Pool has been sitting on the shelf for over five years now, having won a Special Jury Prize way back at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Thankfully, it now finally receives a limited released in the UK this Friday, and has definitely been worth the wait. An uneducated 18-year-old named Venkatesh works in Panjim, the capital of the Indian state of Goa, making a meagre living as a hotel cleaner. Sending back his scant earning to his mother and siblings in the country, and living a world away from the bustling metropolis that is Delhi, there isn't much in the way of a future for him.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 11/15/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
UK based independent distributor Mara Pictures has picked up rights for Anurag Kashyap’sGangs of Wasseypur I and II and Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Gangs of Wasseypur will be released in winter 2012-2013 while The Reluctant Fundamentalist is slated for a summer 2013 release.
The catalogue of Mara Pictures include Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl in Yellow Boots, Mehreen Jabbar’s Ramchand Pakistani, Chris Smith’s The Pool and Hammad Khan’s Slackistanamong others.
Kashyap’s sequels and Nair’s adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s acclaimed novel by the same name have garnered critical acclaim across festivals. Gangs of Wasseypur was screened at the 2012 Cannes Director’s Fortnight, while The Reluctant Fundamentalist opened the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
Gangs of Wasseypur will be released in winter 2012-2013 while The Reluctant Fundamentalist is slated for a summer 2013 release.
The catalogue of Mara Pictures include Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl in Yellow Boots, Mehreen Jabbar’s Ramchand Pakistani, Chris Smith’s The Pool and Hammad Khan’s Slackistanamong others.
Kashyap’s sequels and Nair’s adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s acclaimed novel by the same name have garnered critical acclaim across festivals. Gangs of Wasseypur was screened at the 2012 Cannes Director’s Fortnight, while The Reluctant Fundamentalist opened the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
- 10/15/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
(The Forgiveness of Blood is being distributed by Sundance Selects and comes to theaters on February 24, 2012. It world premiered at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival. Note: This review was first posted at Hammer to Nail in conjunction with its screening at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.)
The future of American independent filmmaking may not lie in America at all. In recent years, a number of filmmakers have turned their eyes away from the complexities of 21st century American life and toward the world beyond our national borders. The decision to engage another culture through filmmaking, to do the work to create a compelling and accurate (if fictional) representation of the lives of others, has come at a time when American culture seems to have deepened its inward gaze; with every push by artists seeking to give voice to the complexity of, say, Arab or Persian life (vital stories in the...
The future of American independent filmmaking may not lie in America at all. In recent years, a number of filmmakers have turned their eyes away from the complexities of 21st century American life and toward the world beyond our national borders. The decision to engage another culture through filmmaking, to do the work to create a compelling and accurate (if fictional) representation of the lives of others, has come at a time when American culture seems to have deepened its inward gaze; with every push by artists seeking to give voice to the complexity of, say, Arab or Persian life (vital stories in the...
- 2/21/2012
- by Tom Hall
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
I realized the other night that I had, one year earlier, posted my first review at Pajiba. Looking to celebrate the occasion in a unique way, I looked upon my DVD collection for a film to review. I had promised friends over the past couple months that I would review three films that I had somehow overlooked in my eight years as a Cinema and Media Studies student, specifically Rocky (1976), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), and the original Karate Kid (also 1984). However, to review those films didn't feel quite right for the anniversary. No, given the occasion, a review of one of my favorite films was in order and few get as great and, in this case, personal as Chris Smith's documentary American Movie (1999).
American Movie chronicles the life of a Milwaukee independent filmmaker by the name of Mark Borchardt. If you're familiar with his lanky figure,...
American Movie chronicles the life of a Milwaukee independent filmmaker by the name of Mark Borchardt. If you're familiar with his lanky figure,...
- 7/9/2010
- by Drew Morton
These intros to the news tidbits are always a bit dull, so let's cut to the chase and find out what's going on with Austin film news:
Over at Cinematical, Eric Snider profiled Sundance 2010 film Skateland. What he didn't mention -- and we found out from austin360movies -- is that Skateland director/co-writer Anthony Burns lives in Austin. Parts of the film were shot in Marshall, Texas.We're excited to hear (again through austin360movies, a new Twitter feed you might want to start following) that local writer Alison Macor's book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids will become available in March. If you didn't guess from the title, the book is a history of Austin filmmaking.The Austin Chronicle has an interview with local musician Ryan Bingham about his big-screen debut in the film Crazy Heart (Debbie's review).Just a reminder that Chris Smith's film Collapse is...
Over at Cinematical, Eric Snider profiled Sundance 2010 film Skateland. What he didn't mention -- and we found out from austin360movies -- is that Skateland director/co-writer Anthony Burns lives in Austin. Parts of the film were shot in Marshall, Texas.We're excited to hear (again through austin360movies, a new Twitter feed you might want to start following) that local writer Alison Macor's book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids will become available in March. If you didn't guess from the title, the book is a history of Austin filmmaking.The Austin Chronicle has an interview with local musician Ryan Bingham about his big-screen debut in the film Crazy Heart (Debbie's review).Just a reminder that Chris Smith's film Collapse is...
- 1/11/2010
- by Contributors
- Slackerwood
"Collapse," the title of Chris Smith's new documentary, is a loaded word that applies to the film in a variety of ways. Its obvious implication concerns its main subject Michael Ruppert, a former police officer who turned in his gun and badge for a library card and a newsletter-turned-web site called From The Wilderness, which prizes itself on intensely researched investigative work about government corruption, corporate malfeasance and suspicious activity in every corner of the globe. When presented with the idea that he's a conspiracy theorist, he quickly replies, "I deal in conspiracy fact." And the facts he presents in "Collapse" are both overwhelming and chilling, as he lays out the ways the world is headed towards economic and environmental Armageddon.
"Collapse" could also refer to how Smith has wasted no time in releasing the documentary -- it's been only eight months since he first met Ruppert for a...
"Collapse" could also refer to how Smith has wasted no time in releasing the documentary -- it's been only eight months since he first met Ruppert for a...
- 11/4/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Ex-lapd Detective, investigative journalist, 9/11 truther, foreteller of the coming apocalypse --- these are just some of the roles Michael C. Ruppert has inhabited in his fascinating life, one that versatile filmmaker Chris Smith (American Movie, The Yes Men) has chosen to examine in his newest film Collapse. It is a return to documentary films for Smith, who has oscillated between disparate narrative and documentary work with a rare deftness. His most recent film The Pool (2007), a naturalistic narrative which Smith photographed himself, tracks a rural teenager working in a Panjim hotel to support his family who becomes obsessed with a swimming pool in the opulent Goan hills and the mysterious family who owns it. His newest picture...
- 11/4/2009
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Ex-lapd Detective, investigative journalist, 9/11 truther, foreteller of the coming apocalypse — these are just some of the roles Michael C. Ruppert has inhabited in his fascinating life, one that versatile filmmaker Chris Smith (American Movie, The Yes Men) has chosen to examine in his newest film Collapse. It is a return to documentary films for Smith, who has oscillated between disparate narrative and documentary work with a rare deftness. His most recent film The Pool (2007), a naturalistic narrative which Smith photographed himself, tracks a rural teenager working in a Panjim hotel to support his family who becomes obsessed with a swimming pool in the opulent Goan hills and the mysterious family who owns it. His newest picture...
- 11/4/2009
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
I said in my first post from Toronto that you could feel the anxiety of the economic crisis in any number of the films here. Yet even as I wrote that, I could never have guessed I'd end up seeing a movie that would tap into those anxieties with the power and terror of Collapse. It's one of the few true buzz films of the festival (by the time I got to it, I'd heard a dozen people talking it up), yet the movie, which is 82 minutes long, consists of nothing more than an on-camera interview with Michael Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer who became a rogue investigative reporter and author. A bluntly unassuming and rather plain-looking man in his late fifties, Ruppert sits in what looks like a brick bunker and talks about where he thinks the United States is now headed. It is not a pretty picture,...
- 9/16/2009
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW.com - The Movie Critics
The Pool Directed by: Chris Smith Written by: Chris Smith and Randy Russell Starring: Venkatesh Chavan, Ayesha Mohan, Nana Patekar, Jhangir Badshah When I heard that director Chris Smith's latest movie was due to hit theatres soon, I was looking forward to another strange but true documentary along the lines of American Movie, Home Movie and The Yes Men, all of which I enjoyed a great deal. To my surprise, however, his next film turned out to be something completely different. Not only does The Pool mark Smith's first foray into the world of dramatic fictional filmmaking, it was also shot on location in India -- in a language that Smith does not speak. The Pool first played at Sundance back in 2007, and it has taken over two years to reach Canadian theatres. Considering the fact that the film made a number of critics' lists for Best Movies of...
- 4/6/2009
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal is being swathed in wah-wahs and the unknown leading lady Ayesha Mohan who plays what's arguably the most complex role ever for a debutante, is suddenly being asked about. But the truth is Ayesha, a Delhiite with no experience in acting, got the prized part by default. Not only that, when Anurag got to know Ayesha played the guitar and sang, he made the character Kiran sing and play the guitar. "That's true. The character plays the guitar and sings because I do," laughs Ayesha. "I go everywhere with my guitar. So when Anurag heard me he said, 'What's that song you keep singing and playing?' I said it's 'I'm a Big Big Girl'. Anurag immediately incorporated the song and guitar into the character." Initially about six years ago when Anurag first started making Gulaal, Antara Mali was supposed to do the role. She...
- 3/19/2009
- by Subhash K. Jha
- BollywoodHungama
Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal is being swathed in wah-wahs and the unknown leading lady Ayesha Mohan who plays what's arguably the most complex role ever for a debutante, is suddenly being asked about. But the truth is Ayesha, a Delhiite with no experience in acting, got the prized part by default. Not only that, when Anurag got to know Ayesha played the guitar and sang, he made the character Kiran sing and play the guitar. "That's true. The character plays the guitar and sings because I do," laughs Ayesha. "I go everywhere with my guitar. So when Anurag heard me he said, 'What's that song you keep singing and playing?' I said it's 'I'm a Big Big Girl'. Anurag immediately incorporated the song and guitar into the character." Initially about six years ago when Anurag first started making Gulaal, Antara Mali was supposed to do the role. She...
- 3/19/2009
- by Subhash K. Jha
- BollywoodHungama
A Shot at Drama and Hitting the Bulls-Eye: Filmmaker Chris Smith triumphs with 'The Pool' Far away from Chris Smith's Wisconsin home, in the bustling port city of Panjim, India, the veteran documentary filmmaker opens an exciting new chapter in his artistic life. "The Pool," the first drama from the 38-year-old director, is a quiet, beautiful, coming-of-age tale featuring a mostly non-professional cast. It's an impressive achievement, not just for its bold departure from Smith's previous films, the humorous true stories of "American Job," "American Movie," and "The Yes Men;" but for its stand-alone qualities as humanist filmmaking of the highest order. 18-year-old Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan in an extraordinary performance) works at a modest hotel in Panjim performing every conceivable task - making the beds, cleaning the toilets and delivering room service. Yet, he still needs to sell plastic bags on the street with his young friend...
- 11/13/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
New York -- Organizers of the fourth South Asian International Film Festival, held in New York from Oct. 22-28, on Monday announced the event's lineup of 50 films, shorts and documentaries along with the jurists who will judge them.
Apart from the already announced opening and closing films -- "Firaaq" and "Ramchand Pakistani," respectively -- the HBO-sponsored festival will screen Christopher Mitchell's "Super 30," Chris Smith's "The Pool" and Amyn Kaderali's comedy "Kissing Cousins," among other films from and about India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Programming director Simon Taufique will head a jury that will determine prizes including best narrative feature, best documentary feature and the winner of the HBO Short Film Competition, which carries an award of $2,500 in cash.
The jury will include Maulik Pancholy ("Weeds"), Waris Ahluwalia ("Inside Man"), Mridu Chandra ("Brother Outsider" the Life of Bayard Rustin") and Aasif Mandvi ("The Daily Show"), among others.
Apart from the already announced opening and closing films -- "Firaaq" and "Ramchand Pakistani," respectively -- the HBO-sponsored festival will screen Christopher Mitchell's "Super 30," Chris Smith's "The Pool" and Amyn Kaderali's comedy "Kissing Cousins," among other films from and about India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Programming director Simon Taufique will head a jury that will determine prizes including best narrative feature, best documentary feature and the winner of the HBO Short Film Competition, which carries an award of $2,500 in cash.
The jury will include Maulik Pancholy ("Weeds"), Waris Ahluwalia ("Inside Man"), Mridu Chandra ("Brother Outsider" the Life of Bayard Rustin") and Aasif Mandvi ("The Daily Show"), among others.
- 10/6/2008
- by By Jonathan Landreth
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Outwardly confident yet quietly insecure, 18-year-old Venkatesh Chavan climbs into a tree and stares at a pristine pool. He's a domestic worker at a nearby hotel in the Indian coastal city of Panjim, Goa, and he's ambitious enough to know that he wants something more, even if he doesn't know what, exactly. He performs his duties, meets his considerably younger friend Jhangir Badshah to sell plastic bags to earn extra money, studies the untouched pool and the surrounding, uninhabitated house and garden grounds, and retires for the night.
Boiled down to its essence, The Pool, which opened in New York earlier this week and will expand across the country in the coming weeks, is an apparently obvious tale that unexpectedly yet inexorably immerses the viewer in the lives of four characters that, like the pool itself, are deeper than they appear from the surface.
Venkatesh, for example, gives the appearance of an industrious young man,...
Boiled down to its essence, The Pool, which opened in New York earlier this week and will expand across the country in the coming weeks, is an apparently obvious tale that unexpectedly yet inexorably immerses the viewer in the lives of four characters that, like the pool itself, are deeper than they appear from the surface.
Venkatesh, for example, gives the appearance of an industrious young man,...
- 9/6/2008
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
The sparkling swimming pool that gives "The Pool" its name sits in the back yard of a well-to-do gentleman's home in Goa, India - unused.
Eighteen-year-old Venkatesh, on the other hand, is dying to jump into the pool, even though he knows his chances are slim because he makes his living cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors and selling plastic bags on the street.
But Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) is a go-getter. He starts working part-time for the pool owner, Nana (Bollywood biggie Nana Patekar).
They bond, and Nana becomes a surrogate father for the pleasant lad,...
Eighteen-year-old Venkatesh, on the other hand, is dying to jump into the pool, even though he knows his chances are slim because he makes his living cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors and selling plastic bags on the street.
But Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) is a go-getter. He starts working part-time for the pool owner, Nana (Bollywood biggie Nana Patekar).
They bond, and Nana becomes a surrogate father for the pleasant lad,...
- 9/5/2008
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
At first blush—and okay, at a second, too—The Pool seems like a radical departure for Chris Smith, the Milwaukee-based filmmaker known for offbeat documentaries like American Movie, Home Movie, and The Yes Men. For one, The Pool is a narrative film, his first since his no-budget debut American Job, which nonetheless had the feel of documentary verisimilitude. He also went halfway around the world to shoot in the West Indian state of Goa and in the Hindi language, and had the further audacity to cast non-professional actors in three of the four leading roles. And yet The Pool is still fundamentally a Chris Smith story, an expansion on his career-long interest in dreamers and outsiders who dwell on the fringes of society, but possess a certain audacity. A poor, illiterate teenager from rural Goa, Venkatesh Chavan scrapes together an exceedingly meager income out of odd jobs, including working.
- 9/4/2008
- by Scott Tobias
- avclub.com
By Aaron Hillis
Wisconsin-born filmmaker Chris Smith's 1996 debut feature, "American Job," got his foot in the door at Sundance, but it was 1999's "American Movie," about a luckless amateur filmmaker in production on a low-budget horror flick, that earned him the Grand Jury Prize in Park City, putting his star on the indie-film map. Two more funny and moving docs, "Home Movie" and "The Yes Men," followed, and then Smith threw a game-changer into his oeuvre: a a Hindi-language narrative. Nominated for a Spirit Award and winner of yet another Sundance trophy (the Special Jury Prize this time around), "The Pool" is a neo-realist chronicle of entrepreneurial young Venkatesh (non-pro Venkatesh Chavan), a hotel "room boy" in Panjim, Goa who ingratiates himself to a wealthy family in hopes of swimming in their luxurious pool. Adapted from a short story by his long-time collaborator Randy Russell and exquisitely shot by Smith himself,...
Wisconsin-born filmmaker Chris Smith's 1996 debut feature, "American Job," got his foot in the door at Sundance, but it was 1999's "American Movie," about a luckless amateur filmmaker in production on a low-budget horror flick, that earned him the Grand Jury Prize in Park City, putting his star on the indie-film map. Two more funny and moving docs, "Home Movie" and "The Yes Men," followed, and then Smith threw a game-changer into his oeuvre: a a Hindi-language narrative. Nominated for a Spirit Award and winner of yet another Sundance trophy (the Special Jury Prize this time around), "The Pool" is a neo-realist chronicle of entrepreneurial young Venkatesh (non-pro Venkatesh Chavan), a hotel "room boy" in Panjim, Goa who ingratiates himself to a wealthy family in hopes of swimming in their luxurious pool. Adapted from a short story by his long-time collaborator Randy Russell and exquisitely shot by Smith himself,...
- 9/3/2008
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
Take one renegade Japanese director, set him to work on a Spaghetti Western, add a cameo by a talkative American filmmaker, and what do you get? First place in the indie four-day weekend box office race. Sukiyaki Western Django, directed by the prolific and extremely versatile Takashi Miike and featuring Quentin Tarantino in a small role, tore it up at the single Manhattan theatre where it opened, grossing $13,100, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. The version released in the Us does not represent Miike's original vision, however. Distributor First Look edited 20 or so minutes for the bastardized edition currently playing, so this is a muted triumph. *
The light-hearted I Served the King of England had the right stuff to average $8,487 per screen at eight locations. Directed by Jirí Menzel, the film stars Ivan Barnev, Oldrich Kaiser, and the always wonderful Julia Jentsch. Naked Penélope Cruz outdrew mostly-clothed Penélope Cruz,...
The light-hearted I Served the King of England had the right stuff to average $8,487 per screen at eight locations. Directed by Jirí Menzel, the film stars Ivan Barnev, Oldrich Kaiser, and the always wonderful Julia Jentsch. Naked Penélope Cruz outdrew mostly-clothed Penélope Cruz,...
- 9/2/2008
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
By Neil Pedley
This week's trip to the multiplex offers a jaunt around the globe where, amongst other things, there's a case of mistaken ethnicity in Boston, Nic Cage gets another wig fitted in Thailand, there's whimsy and surrealism in Scotland and Matthew McConaughey is right at home in Malibu, where he might finally have found something he does well, maybe.
"August Evening"
Strained emotional bonds and the transitory nature of the life of an illegal immigrant provide the backdrop for Chris Eska's quietly affecting family drama that stars Pedro Castaneda as an aging farmhand who loses his job at a chicken farm in a sleepy Texas town, forcing he and his devoted daughter-in-law (Veronica Loren) to relocate to San Antonio to stay with his older children and the grandchildren he never knew he had. As Alison Willmore pointed out in last week's Lunchbox, Castaneda is a first-time actor...
This week's trip to the multiplex offers a jaunt around the globe where, amongst other things, there's a case of mistaken ethnicity in Boston, Nic Cage gets another wig fitted in Thailand, there's whimsy and surrealism in Scotland and Matthew McConaughey is right at home in Malibu, where he might finally have found something he does well, maybe.
"August Evening"
Strained emotional bonds and the transitory nature of the life of an illegal immigrant provide the backdrop for Chris Eska's quietly affecting family drama that stars Pedro Castaneda as an aging farmhand who loses his job at a chicken farm in a sleepy Texas town, forcing he and his devoted daughter-in-law (Veronica Loren) to relocate to San Antonio to stay with his older children and the grandchildren he never knew he had. As Alison Willmore pointed out in last week's Lunchbox, Castaneda is a first-time actor...
- 9/1/2008
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
- The toast of the town is Diablo Cody and the gift she gave to Jason Reitman. Juno picks up a trio of awards and trailing with two awards each is another Fox Searchlight flick The Savages and the Cannes Julian Schnabel and his cinematographer were well rewarded for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's aesthetic brilliance. Here is the complete list of noms and winners below. Best Feature: Juno Best Director: Julian Schnabel Best First Feature: The Lookout Best Documentary: Crazy Love Best Foreign Film: Once Best Female Lead: Ellen Page Best Male Lead: Philip Seymour Hoffman Best Supporting Female: Cate Blanchett Best Supporting Male: Chiwetel Ejiofor Best Screenplay: The Savages Best First Screenplay: Juno Best Cinematography: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly John Cassavetes Award: August Evening August Evening Writer/Director: Chris Eska Producers: Connie Hill, Jason Wehling Owl and the Sparrow Writer/Director: Stephane Gauger Producers: Nguyen Van Quan,
- 2/23/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Along with China, India is now an enterprising free market economy bringing in tons of foreign interest - some of that interest is coming from U.S indie filmmakers. A couple of months back, Wes Anderson unleashed his dramatic rom com with the backdrop of India, and at last year's Sundance the creator behind American Movie (1999) and Yes Men (2004) unveiled his class-system drama. Today we have the first look at the festival poster one sheet for Chris Smith's The Pool.Up for the John Cassavetes award at the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards (see the other noms for the award here), written by Smith and Randy Russell this is about a boy working in a hotel who becomes obsessed with a swimming pool in the opulent hills of Panjim, Goa in India. His life gets turned upside down when he attempts to meet the mysterious family that arrives at the house.
- 12/17/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- Underrated, overlooked, and mostly unknown, I’ve decided to highlight my four favorite award sections separately from today’s lengthy list of Indie Spirit noms. Why? because a). I haven’t heard of half these films and want to further research them, b). I want to add the missing titles to the Ioncinema.com database and c). I think it’s in the best interests of indie film lovers to familiarize themselves with the budding/future talent. Commencing with the John Cassavetes award noms (the name of this section says it all) which is given to the best feature made for under $500,000; and followed by the noms for my favorite category the Someone to Watch Award and the listings for the Truer Than Fiction Award the Producers Award.August Evening is a two-time nominee thanks to the votes going to actor Pedro Castaneda. Owl and the Sparrow was actually
- 11/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- The 2007 Sundance Film Festival Award-Winners are: The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary:Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) - Jason Kohn The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic:Padre Nuestro - Christopher ZallaThe World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary Enemies Of Happiness (Vores Lykkesfjender) - Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem. The World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic:sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) Dror Shaul The Audience Award: Documentary: Hear And Now Irene Taylor BrodskyThe Audience Award: Dramatic:Grace Is Gone James C. StrouseThe World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary In The Shadow Of The Moon David SingtonThe World Cinema Audience Award: DramaticJohn Carney ONCEThe Directing Award: Documentary - Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine War/Dance The Directing Award: Dramatic Jeffrey Blitz - Rocket ScienceThe Excellence in Cinematography Awards – Dramatic: Benoit Debie for JoshuaThe Excellence in Cinematography Awards – Documentary: Heloisa Passos for Manda Bala (Send A Bullet)Documentary Editing Award: Hibah Sherif Frisina, Charlton McMillian, and Michael Schweitzer
- 1/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- Quick Links Complete Film Listing: Premiere's section lineup: Dramatic Competition: Documentary Competition: World Dramatic Competition: World Documentary Competition: Spectrum: Park City at Midnight: Frontier (New Directions in Filmmaking): Short Film Programs January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); At least a good half of the films represented in the U.S Dramatic comp this year are by first time filmmakers. Headed by veteran filmmaker (and yet relatively new) David Gordon Green and his Stewart O'Nan novel adaptation of Snow Angels but perhaps the most loudest (in term of controversy and spotlight shall go to) the rough Deborah Kampmeier portrait Hounddog - starring a Dakota Fanning in what shall become a transition role for her from Hollywood to Indie, but from child actor to adult-material. And an indie festival wouldnâ.t be a festival without the presence of the Posey name. Zoe Cassavetes will introduce our friend Parker in
- 1/18/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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