Tenth Osian's Cinefan Festival coming soon in July

TENTH OSIAN’S CINEFAN FESTIVAL OF ASIAN AND ARAB CINEMA ALL SET TO CREATE NEW TRENDS

Over 150 feature and non-feature films from around 40 countries are to be screened at this year’s Osian's-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, which has gradually emerged as the largest festival of its kind in the world and is marking a proud ten years of its inception.
In addition to the annual award for writing, the Festival will this year bestow an additional award: the Osian's Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Cinema, which is being given this year to renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen. The writer’s award, renamed the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Cinema will be conferred on Jose "Pete" F. Lacaba..
The awards will be presented during the Festival being held in New Delhi from 10 to 20 July 2008. This year Osian's-Cinefan has announced over Rs. One Crore (approximately $ 250, 000) in Prize Money for its Competition Sections and Lifetime Achievement Awards. The winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented Rs. 800,000 (approx. $ 20,000) each.
The original ‘yahoo’ star of India, Shammi Kapoor, was felicitated in grand style with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the finale to the two-day curtain raiser to the Delhi Festival held in Mumbai on 13 and 14 June at the National Centre for Performing Arts. In one of his rare appearance at public functions, actor Aamir Khan paid laudable tributes to Shammi Kapoor, whom he had admired from childhood. A major highlight of the event was the unveiling of the scale model of the Osianama, Osian’s flagship cultural complex. The seven-section Osianama – which will open in Mumbai in mid-2009, will also house two screens apart from a large Debating House for meaningful discussion on cinema. In addition, it will have Osian’s Film House, Archives, and offices for its other activities.
In fact, the festival this year will have several new features. Over the past nine years, it has made remarkable efforts to not only bring excellent films to Indian viewers. But while films are the ultimate stress busters and the most reliable source of entertainment, film festivals provide the platform to argue, agree, learn, challenge and ignite one’s imagination. In 2005, Osian's launched IBM2 – a series of seminars, conferences, exhibitions, auctions and panel discussions to draw attention to the entire cycle of a film's life.
The 5th edition of Talent Campus India organized in collaboration with Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin International Film Festival and Max Mueller Bhavan, is presently inviting applications from young aspiring filmmakers from India, neighbouring South Asian countries and Iran. 30 young aspiring filmmakers will be invited to New Delhi for a workshop from 13–18 July, 2008 to interact with renowned filmmakers and film professionals from India and abroad.
Paul Schrader, one of the world’s most famous screenplay writers, will deliver a Masterclass on Screenwriting at the Festival where two films written by him, ‘Mishima’ and Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ will screened at the festival.
The Best Films in the Asian-Arab and Indian Competition sections will be awarded Rs two million each ($ 50,000) and the Best Director in each section will win Rs 800,000 ($ 20,000). The Special Jury Award and the Best Actor and Actress will each take away Rs 200,000 ($ 5000). The Best First Feature will receive Rs 200,000 (approx $ 5000) in addition to a guaranteed support of Rs 800,000 (approx $ 20,000) from fFOOD: The Film Fund - Osian 's Originating Development, created by Osian's, for the next feature film.
A new competition section that deals with themes of In-Tolerance has been created this year. It will include feature and documentary films that respond to or deal with the intolerance of our times. The Best Film in this category will take home a cash award of Rs 800,000 (approx. $ 20,000). An Audience Award is also being set up for a film in competition and will win Rs 200,000 (approx $ 5000). In addition to these awards given away by Osian's, the International Film Critics Federation (FIPRESCI) & the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) will give away their own awards.
In the past ten years Osian's has grown into one of India's leading art and cultural institutions dedicated to the infrastructure-building for the arts thereby fostering a new cultural ethos for the Indian and global arts. It has also nurtured a uniquely integrated cinematic infrastructure by building and supporting the film festival, the film archive, the forthcoming arts and film complex - the Osianama – in Mumbai, and by establishing fFOOD: The Film Fund - Osian's Originating Development, a step towards supporting young filmmakers in their efforts towards making bold cinema.
One of India's most acclaimed filmmakers and a pioneer of the alternative cinema movement, Mrinal Sen in a prolific career spanning almost five decades has directed feature films, short films and documentaries of varying content and cine-aesthetics, his works being permeated by his engagement with social issues and his acute political awareness, always exhibiting a deep analytical mind and humanist ideology. Recipient of the Padma Bhushan, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest distinction given to an Indian filmmaker by the Indian Government, Sen has also been honoured with awards at numerous international film festivals in India and abroad.
Jose F. Lacaba (a.k.a. Pete), poet, journalist, editor, translator, and screenwriter, is a bilingual writer who writes in both English and Filipino. He is the author of six poetry collections in Filipino and a collection of journalistic reportage in English, Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage. He is also the editor of a number of books, including The Films of ASEAN and Emmanuel Lacaba's Salvaged Poems and Salvaged Prose. He has written the screenplays of award-winning feature films that have been shown at various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice and Toronto. His screenplay credits include Jaguar, Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, Orapronobis, Sister Stella L., Eskapo, Segurista and Rizal sa Dapitan. Pete Lacaba is also the recipient of the Centennial Honors for the Arts for his significant contributions to culture and the arts in the twentieth century.
Latika Padgaonkar, Joint Festival Director, Osian's Cinefan says, "We are delighted to honour two eminent personalities from the world of cinema. Both have contributed in a seminal way to the seventh art and both have placed on their works an individual and creative stamp".
Osian's-Cinefan is organized by Osian's Connoisseurs of Art in association with the Government of the Delhi. Committed to bringing the finest films from India, Asia and Arab countries it aims to break down artistic hierarchies of the popular and the highbrow to reinvent a thoughtful and creative film culture. Cinefan began in 1999 as a small festival of Asian Cinema with just 27 films, but grew after it was acquired by and merged into Osian's Connoisseurs of Art in 2004 and became Osian's-Cinefan.
Exhibitions from the Osian’s Arts & Film Archive Collection will also be showcased during the Festival. The special focus for this year’s festival is the relationship between Writing and Cinema and this will be further explored through the Antiquarian ‘The Shakespeare Gallery’ Engravings from the Boydell Gallery and the Original Artworks for Vintage Hindi Novel Covers (1950-70s). The third exhibition is a tribute to Mr. Shammi Kapoor. Entry is Free for all Exhibitions.

Tenth Osian's Cinefan Festival coming soon in July

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