Winds From The East

Indian Auteur- Issue No-2 IRANIAN CINE EXPERIENCE Reading, Robert Bresson’s Notes on Cinematographer is like re-tracing a path to start from zero. Unlearning in the process of learning. Every sentence in the book looks back at the words that form its existence. These words create a rhythm that feels like a thought is in action. One that is economic, clear and precise. On the exterior it may seem as a concrete intent of the author. But the sentence that contains the thought is not concrete, because it determines its existence through a rigorous process of introspection that materializes in the sentence. The process of such manifestation is always evolving. It's like an act one does in front of a mirror, promising s(he) of the objectives and goals in life and trying to lay a path of confidently following it. This introspection is not the end but the foundation(belie...

The Iranian Cine Experience is the fruit of the hardwok poured in by our Cine Darbaar President Supriya. The cine exp will travel across India. It will start in Delhi and travel to Orissa and than we will do a small mini- cine experience for kids in an Orphanage in Hyderabad. That will be hosted by our man Shubhank. The second and the concluding leg of the Cine Experience will happen in May which will be followed by the Taiwan Cine Experience. So good times ahead for lot of learning and film discovery. Cinephile Meeting- Movie of April- Under the Moonlight- Reza Mirkarmi. supported Iran cultural House/Kaneh Cinema. Schedule. Cine Darbaar and Indian Auteur with the support of Iranian cultural centre and Khane cinema brings you a week long experience of the best films in 30 years of Iranian cinema after the Islamic revolution. Each screening will be followed by an interactive discussion along with the Iranian Tea. The first series includes the following film:- FRIDAY 3rd April, 2009...

Our second issue is dedicated to Ritwik Ghatak who was not just a visionary, but a poet. One, which world cinema lost too early, he was an original filmmaker whose only wish was to reach the masses through the medium of films- A dream that is yet to be fulfilled. I feel angry, frustrated and sad that the films of our cinematic forefathers are in a sad state of affairs. The legacy of Satyajit Ray is preserved because the Academy of Motion Pictures have helped in restoring many of his works. But, masters like Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen are not in such favor. The Cannes Film Festival 2009 planned to organize a retrospective of Mrinal Sen’s Calcutta Trilogy in the classic section. But the condition of the negatives is so poor that they are not fit for screening. This shows the sheer neglect on part of the government funding bodies, various producers and organizations that have not bothered in restoring our own legacy. The state of Ritwik Ghatak’s films is in a poor condition too. In s...

Our Forum Today we have a meet in three of our main destination of growing trends in cinephilia. Here is the link to a leading daily writeup on our cinephile meet group in Jaipur. The Article Topic- Discovering film Criticism, and an intro on Andre Bazin Delhi- 4m Venue- CCD, Khan Market Film Screening- None. Hydrebad- 3pm-7pm Venue- Mahadpur, Kavri Hills. More details- Facebook. Screening- The Bicycle Thief Jaipur- 5:30pm-8:30pm Venue-B-14, Bhawani Singh Lane, Near MGF Metropolitan Mall, C-Scheme, Jaipur - 01 Screening- Citizen Kane More Details- Facebook. . We lucky that along with an intro of Bazin two movies that he championed are being screened in few of the mettings. Thanks to everyone who are taking an active role to champion these meeting and those who attending. This interaction is definitely a great learning experience and blessing for most of us. Not just for the joy of watching films with people who enjoy the experience but also to learn new set of values and opnion on c...

The primary goal of Indian Auteur is to initiate a discussion among people who love cinema and everything else that is part of the medium. Discussion is an important reason for us taking different initiative across India. From our journal, Cinephile Meeting, Film Experiences and the Online Forum. The Forum is a place where one should engage in a discussion to understand and discover cinema. The Forum is a place to learn and interact. So please abide by the rules and guidelines to keep a healthy, passionate and engaging discussion among cinephile brewing across the world. THE INDIAN AUTEUR FORUM Update:- Cinephile Meeting 20th - Mumbai Representative- Suraj Chandrakar. More info Pic- Album art, Garham Samuels Peter, Bjorn&Young folk- one of my favorite bands in the last couple of years.

Our website Pandit Ravi Shankar is a Bengali Indian sitar player and composer. He is a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan, the founder of the Maihar gharana of Hindustani classical music. Ravi Shankar is a leading Indian instrumentalist of the modern era. He has been a longtime musical collaborator of tabla-players Ustad Allah Rakha, Kishan Maharaj and intermittently also of sarod-player Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. His collaborations with violinist Yehudi Menuhin, film maker Satyajit Ray, and The Beatles (in particular, George Harrison) added to his international reputation. He has received many awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and an Academy Award nomination. In 1999, Ravi Shankar was awarded the Bharat Ratna award, India's highest civilian honor - wikipedia Pt. Ravi Shankar is one of the living saints of music in India. His musical accomplishment and range are far and wide. But for a cinephile like me, it was through Ray’s Apu Trilogy that I was introduced to h...

Mr B Anruag Kashyap's Gulaal review is in.. .check it out . When you watch Gulaal, you are never looking for brave camera movements, forced perspectives, depth of images, innovative angles, startling shot divisions or diegetic wizardry. Nor is his art-design the most unique, usually punctured with neon-signs, corners in shade, a throwback or two to the counter-culture era of the late 60s or early 70s, usually manifested in the form of tributes to icons as diverse as: Hendrix, Fosse, Floyd, The Doors, The Beatles. Regardless of their relevance in the current scenario, but present, nonetheless, for the automatic richness they would add to any texture. Read More Updates : - Satyajit Ray on Cinema. - Jia Zghanke is one my favorite filmmaker, and its a matter of celebration to see the release of three of his movies in India by Excel Entertainment. Expect more on him and his cinema soon on Indian Auteur NDTV L...

Our Wesbite It's hard to ignore this type of news, because it shows the lack of education on the part of fundamentalists who stopped a film crew/artists from shooting and installing a statue of Chaplin in Udupi Karnataka... Simply because: ""Chaplin is a Christian and his contribution to India is nil." A couple of weeks back women in pubs and birthday party were a target now the insanity has gone further to Chaplin. It's high time, we the youth of India, awake and use our power to vote the right people in the right places in the upcoming general election. The folks at Churmuri have started a petition: “Let's save chaplin “Today we have a shocking news in Times of India and Kannada prabha (of Indian express group). both the papers has reported that the fundamental organization activists has stopped film crew and artists who were working on 67 foot statue of charlie chaplin in Udupi, Karnataka. reason: chaplin is a christian. Why we...

Cinema as an activist tool will only survive when the artist stands behind his work with conviction, and continues to struggle for his cause. Activism for a cause does not provide instant results; instead it is a constant struggle between competing truths, whose boundaries are so thin that one can easily slip through them. Art is all around us – we have numerous painters, singers, and filmmakers – but true artists who are concerned with the truth and using art as a medium of activism are becoming harder to find each day Read More --------- UPDATES- - Indian Auteur- Cinephile Meeting 2nd: Please visit for details on listing. - There is a slight delay for the second issue due to technical reasons. Please do check our the the contents of our first issue and other features on the site. - ISSUE NO-1 - Contest, Cine Experience to be annoucned soon.

OUR WEBSITE “CINEPHILE MEETING- MARCH 2009” ( Dedicated to Andre Bazin) " The meetings are open to all, and are conducted purely for the love of cinema" Topic : Discovering Film Criticism . Idea : To talk about the state of film criticism in India. - Do you read film reviews? - Is film criticism important? This and much more to be talked and discussed. + The report which were not published earlier will be published along with the second event. + A history of film criticism in India essay will be distributed along with an introduction to Andre Bazin and his essay. All participation meeting will be published in the journal and further interaction will proceed on the site/forum. For participation and details on venue and timing in any of the following city or if you want to organize on in your city. Please email: niteshrohit[a]indianauteur[.]com supria[a]indianauteur[.]com anuj[a]indianauteur[.]com Schedule : March 12th - Patna, Bihar Venue :- TBA Time : TBA Representative - Su...

( Band of Outsiders) Our website. Chidambaram is a municipality and taluk (tehsil) headquarters in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. It is 11 km from the coast and 240 km south of Chennai by rail. Chidambaram is a major pilgrimage site for Shaivites as the temple there houses the Akasha Lingam of Shiva. The Cinephile Meeting was an interesting endeavor for everyone present in the meeting. We never had a thing like this in India and we did not come across such initiative. So, first, we are glad that the idea is being taken and great that Indian Auteur and Cine Darbaar are doing this. And we hope we can grow from here in the first meeting. We started with an introduction of the people who were present for the discussion. Currently most of them were from the college and the places nearby the college. We were total of about twelve people had assembled for this discussion. And we people are not film students or any where related to cinema. But as an audience we are interested in learn...

Our website First of apologies to all our readers, the article is not on the site due to some technical reason. But the discussion should continue without any problem. Cinephile Report: Mumbai Shubhank I'll start with Mumbai since it was chronologically the first. The Mumbai Cinephile meeting was postponed by a day since the original schedule was on the same day as the closing day of the Kala Ghoda festival . A couple of fellows, who seemed interested in attending the meet, sent me e-mails. They, however, could not turn up for the event. Hopefully they will be able to make it to the next, whenever it happens. The day brought with itself a slew of dramatic events. My favourite one - when I lost my cellphone in the train. Well, we did meet ... an hour after the actual schedule, at Prithvi Cafe, Juhu. There were 3 attendees; really. 1. Udita 2. Abhay 3. Shubhank To be honest, I was never concerned with the participat...

We're overwhelmed when one of our favourite auteur Buddhadeb Dasgupta left us a note on the article written by Supriya Suri on his three films: " To read the wonderful articles you've written on three of my films! For a filmmaker,they greatest gift is to have an audience who understands, feels,identifies with his/her expression, rather the various aspects of his expressions!I must say your articles are very inspiring. Go ahead . I had a silent suffering that serious writing on cinema have probably faded away from our country! When we started, there were writers who actually studied cinema and understood its nuances as wellas technicalities, most importantly loved cinema!These days its been more commercialised and shallow!Thank you for loving cinema and exploring it the way you did ." One of the core focuses of the website is to inform readers about different cinematic style, history of cinema and on the theory and application of film criticism. This is the sole reaso...

Our website Sita Sings the Blues is a 2008 animated feature film written, directed, produced and animated entirely by American artist Nina Paley (with the exception of some fight animation by Jake Friedman in the "Battle of Lanka" scene primarily using 2D computer graphics. It intersperses events from an episode of the Ramayana, illustrated conversation between Indian shadow puppets, musical interludes voiced with tracks by Annette Hanshaw and scenes from the artist's own life. The ancient mythological and modern biographical plot are parallel tales, sharing numerous themes. (wikipedia) I hereby give Sita Sings the Blues to you. Like all culture, it belongs to you already, but I am making it explicit with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License . Please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show Sita Sings the Blues . From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it ...