59 minutes of India in Paris' cité Griset

A screening of "VÂYU" [Air], a 1994 movie by Velu Viswanadhan, closes today the exhibition 
dedicated to the Indian painter at the Pascaline Mulliez gallery. 
(The film will be presented by Pierre Eugène - film critic and PhD in Film Studies at 'Jules Verne University', 
Picardy).


Filmography:

2010 - MG Road to Dandi, Crosswinds production
2009 - What happens in heavens, Croswinds production
Retour aux éléments, Méroé Films / ARTE / Centre Pompidou 
Pushed, Chorégraphie Padmini Chettur, Crosswinds production 
2006 - Inhabit, Chorégraphie Preethi Atreya, Crosswinds production 
2005 - Paper Doll, Choreographie Padmini Chettur, Crosswinds production 
2004 - Solo, Chorégraphie : Padmini Chettur, Crosswinds production 
Tsunami at Cholamandal, Fishermens’ Village, Crosswinds production 
2003 - Raja Rani, Crosswinds production  
2002 - Ether / Aakaash, Production Viswanadhan / Centre Pompidou 
2001 - Des Mains de Calcutta, Crosswinds production   
1994 - Air / Vayu,  Production Le Jour et la Nuit / ARTE / Centre Pompidou 
1988 - Agni / Feu, Production Viswanadhan / Centre Pompidou 
1985 - Eau / Ganga, Production Viswanadhan / Centre Pompidou  
1976-1982 - Sable, Production Viswanadhan / Centre Pompidou

[All PPG's posts about Viswa].
___

Bolly Be Good... in Toronto !

Toronto hosted last week, June 24-26, the International Indian Film Academy awards, the
Indian version of the Oscars - a three-day festival of dance, music, fashion and movies
culminating in a massive movie awards gala.

[Reuters]
Numerous cultural events, film workshops, and movie screenings have also taken place
across the GreaterTorontoArea in the past week, leading up to Saturday night's festivities.

[Chris Young]

For a street level view of these events, CBCNews.ca assembled a team of citizen bloggers.
They've been submitting photos of star sightings, sending updates, and writing about what
Indian cinema means to them.

LINKS:
* Bollywood film awards set for Toronto
* The India's gritty independent cinema
* The backstory, the dinasties, the Bollywood effect
* 10 essential movies from India
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Meeting Viswanadan at Centre Pompidou...

With 'Back to the elements' (2009), Viswanadhan returns
to the scene of his previous shootings to confront himself
to contemporary India.


This is the sixth and final part of the cycle devoted to the 5 elements
which, according to the Vedic principles, constitute the universe:
- Sable / Earth (1976) - Eau / Ganga (1985) - Feu / Agni (1988)
- Air / Vayu (1994) - Ether / Aakash (2002).

A curiosity: my first invit to see 'The 5 elements" was in 2004...

* * *
I hope you didn't miss the Art Chennai festival,
mid-March. Viswanadhan's was there!

The Great Journey of Ramesses II... is finished

I mean the movie, of course.
A 24 month-production is nothing compared to Ramesses'
waiting for 3200 years to accomplish his trip on the screen.


You can see the trailer, in ENGLISH and FRENCH versions and even download
the 2 parts of the film.

by Valérie Girié, director and scriptwriter
and Guillaume Hecht, architect, producer
and director.

Production : Les Films du Scribe, Egyptian
Media Production City, Koloss, CNRS Images.


Contributors : Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing,
Zahi Hawass, Christian Leblanc, Salima Ikram, Abd el-Rassoul family,
André Macke,Kevin Caine, Christian de Tassigny, Philippe Martinez.
___

Accountant Patò vanishes in 1890...

But now, in 2010, 120 years later, he is back
as... 'na stampa e 'na figura !

LA SCOMPARSA DI PATÒ [The Vanishing of Patò]
Challenging the allegations of L'Araldo di
Montelusa, edition of Monday 28 April 1890
- one of the precious documents 'unearthed'
by Andrea Camilleri and that constitute the
basis on which the Sicilian writer has been
able to build the imaginary and strange
adventure as well as the possible death of
Mr Pato - a recent survey, carried out in close collaboration between MM Camilleri, Mortelliti
and Nichetti, gives us back the same man, priciso 'ntifico, in good shape and ready for a new
adventure... the same adventure, in fact, brought by a movie.

Director of the Trinacria bank of Vigàta and notable of the town, Mr. Antonio Pato usually plays the role of Judas
in the 'Passion of Christ' for the traditional Venerdì Santo performance and each year, as he commits suicide,
Judas disappears from the scene through a trapdoor disguised under his feet.
But in the year 1890, the accountant disappears once and for all. Is Patò dead or is he hiding ?

Murì Patò o s’ammucciò ?
The investigation is set in motion in Vigàta, revealing the usual rivalry between the Reali Carabinieri and the
Pubblica Sicurezza, punctuated by the provincial and local newspaper articles and some anonymous and spicy
commentaries that bloom on the walls of the city.
Rumors and gossip explode, heralds of a scandal that the authorities will suffocate... at the expense of truth.


[Trailer found on iVid.it]

This is the first film adaptation of a historical novel by Camilleri, partly because his detective
series, animated by his Inspector Montalbano is far more popular, at least in Italy, and has
already inspired a television series, rather poor in my opinion and I'm afraid it would require
a bigger talent to bring to the screen a historical novel by Camilleri, without betraying the
essence of his creation.
We can always wait until the movie comes out, no hurry.
___
LA SCOMPARSA DI PATÒ, Italy, 2010
Director: Rocco Mortelliti
Screenplay: Andrea Camilleri, Rocco Mortelliti, Maurizio Nichetti
Cast: Nino Frassica, Maurizio Casagrande, Neri Marcorè [Patò], Alessandra Mortelliti
Production: 13 Dicembre S.r.l.
___

Andrea Camilleri [wiki]
- Best of Sicily [a previous PPG post]
- From Montelusa to Vigàta [Sicily tour]
- The Sage of Sicily,


In a recent interview, the writer points out, with his usual irony, the similarities between
the pressures exerted on the police in his novel, with those we still can find today in the late
Berlusconi's 'affairs'.
Citing Tomasi di Lampedusa in Il Gattopardo, Camilleri notes that even today, in Italy,
everything changes in such a way that nothing changes.
___

For My Shibari-addicts...

"Bondage" (発禁本「美人乱舞」より責める !) a 1977, 83' Noboru Tanaka's film,
on arte tonight.

"In the intimacy of the artist - adept of bondage (shibari> 縛り) - and of his models.
Freely based on the life of painter-photographer Seiu Ito."

His models: his two wives and a
prostitute whose resemblance to
his first wife dragged him into one
Sade-style spiral.










If the story takes all points of view, the photographer's and model's behaviour and
feelings prevail in such an extent that the stressful practice of bondage appears as
naturally admitted.



"I think Nikkatsu's position in the industry is unique. It's a large company,
but we worked on one single concept, sex, for 18 years, and made a very
large number of films. Having sex is an activity where we clearly show our
true natures. Examining the relationships between men and women is one
of the best ways to show the essence of human beings. So we thought that
by working with the theme of sex, we could explore ourselves more deeply
and express the very core of the world."
[Noboru Tanaka - 1937-2006]
___

[All PaPoGris posts tagged "SHIBARI"].

Last Viswanadhan's "Retour aux Eléments"...

... to be featured at Centre Pompidou [salle ciné 2]
on June 29/2010 - 7:30 pm - [90'].

sand, water, fire, air, ether...

A Méroe Films/Centre Pompidou co-production, in association with Arte-France
La Lucarne, with the support of CNC and Procirep.
____

[Below, a few snaps taken on arte-tv].




‎In 1976, the painter Velu Viswanadhan began a cycle of films on the five elements: sand,
water, fire, air and ether - wich, according to Vedic principles, constitute the universe.
They are the starting point of a journey across mythical, historical and everyday's India.
Over thirty years later, this new film is a flashback and a rediscovery of the premises, and a
statement of what India is nowadays. Viswanadhan filmed each element in itself : the eddies
of the Ganges, the lightning storm, the wind in the paddy fields... but also how humans use
these elements : fishermen casting their nets, blacksmiths clapping iron, tea merchants boiling
water... The sounds of nature and life are the sole film's soundtrack : the sound of the waves
dying on the shore and the crackling of a fire do replace speech. The repetition of images and
their slow pace let viewers immerse themselves in nature, in a sense of eternity.
[Translated from a text by Aamil/arte-video]

* [Viswanadhan filmography]

Thanks to all Viswa's fans,
yours faithful G@tto.


[produzionidik]
Viswanadhan interviewed at the 51st 'FESTIVAL DEI POPOLI' 2011
Firenze, Italy.
_____

June 25/2010 : Cité de la Musique > Bollywood Flashback !

French New Wave has lost another of its founders

Eric Rohmer, 89, film director and writer, passed away.






A classic from Rohmer's "marivaudages"
Le genou de Claire (Claire's Knee), 1970


(okchicago)

Did I say "marivaudages" ?
"(le mot)... décrit un certain type de dialogue amoureux (dont les comédies
de Marivaux offrent le modèle), il renvoie à une certaine façon de vivre
l'échange sur le mode de la galanterie et du badinage. C'est dans ce sens
large que le mot est de nos jours le plus couramment employé pour désigner
une atmosphère enjouée et spirituelle, des rapports amoureux fondés sur le
jeux de la séduction, tels qu'on les trouve dans les films d'Eric Rohmer,
par exemple".
Eric Négrel, 1999, on "Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hazard".
____

On January 14 Arte features Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune (Full Moon in Paris),
1984, with Pascale Ogier (that I met at a party in 1983).

More than Avatar's story, the 3D technology.

Eventually, a few days ago, I was dragged to see Avatar on a cold, very cold
evening. A Siberian wind was blowing on quai de Seine as we reached the MK2
movie theater, where we had to wait outdoor for twenty minutes prior to be
allowed inside.

It was so cold we even met a white bear, standing on a ridiculous but real
fragment of ice field, floating on the Villette channel and he was shaking too,
his fur messed up with the wind whirls.
My camera freezed in my hand, refusing to release the shutter, so no bear
picture, sorry.

As a result, when I wanted a picture of the 3D spectacles, I had a blurry
effect due to condensation, but I was there for special effects, after all.

Now, about Avatar... happily I was primarily attracted by the movie's 3D effects
which are fantastic and I can't wait this technology to be applied to interesting
issues by a less commercial film director than Cameron and not necessarily
exploring virtual worlds.

Nonetheless, I liked the idea of avatars as a way to enter a virtual environment
and was charmed by those little creatures jellyfish-like, dancing in the air and
almost touching the audience in their seats, but I disliked the antropomorphic
view of Pandora, where human feelings are copied and pasted on its inhabitants'
behaviour. In short, the story is nothing but a fairy tale following the old good/evil
dichotomy, with the final triumph of the good.

* Avatar massive launch through basic social media (Mashable).
* ... but hit by claims of racism (Telegraph)
* Have a scientific look at the film, with Copernicus' update.
* The year of 3D (boingboing).
* Latest 3D technology and LCD shutter glasses (engadget).
* 1935 anagliph 3D with red & cyan glasses was nice too...

(filmyfings)


Yours faithful,
G@tto

Suddenly, that summer...

... in 1959
Mankievicz-Hepburn-Taylor-Clift
from a Tennessee Williams' play
a great movie :

1/11


2/11


3/11


4/11


5/11


6/11


7/11


8/11


9/11


10/11


11/11

The Yes G@tto likes The Yes Men.

"The Yes Men Fix the World"
broadcasted tonight on arte...

(Unliked "people").


(fluxdepot)


(razorfoundation)


(TheSurvivaBall)- For more information, click here.


Fix the World Challenge
... a Yes Men game.

*

A yellow Beatle on Arte, yesteray night...

... I loved !


Arte broadcasted a 2008 Yishai Orian's
movie in which the author is facing the
painful selling of his 40 years old yellow
rusty Volkswagen Beatle...

When finally he has the better idea to have
it completely refurbished for cheap in
Jordan... well, that is the best part of the
movie.




Have a look at the trailer...

(thebeetlemovie)
_____

A new Viswanadhan's India movie...

What you can see below is a few images' preview by Nadine and Viswa
shootingt during their Nov. 08 - Feb. 09 trip to India, but they are flying back
to India tomorrow for another video/photo well-stocked hunting.

(Viswa filmography)
May/June 2010 updates for Viswa fans : [click>] "Retour aux Eléments"
will be aired on Arte-TV on May 23 at 11:30 pm and featured at Paris'
Centre Pompidou on June 29/2010, at 7:30 pm.


The Taj Mahal in the mist.


The Taj Mahal.


Bodh Gaya, state of Bihar - Pilgrims.


Bodh Gaya - Pilgrims at the temple.


Kappad - beach.


Machilipatnam, Krishna district - Baba.


1/ Cremations.


2/ Cremations.


3/ Cremations.


Varanasi or Benares. state of Uttar Pradesh.
On the Ganga river.


Varanasi - Bathing in the Ganga river.


Hanuman... ran aground on the beach...
He doesn't look to be able yet to lead an army of monkeys or wathever
else to fight the demon King Ravana.__________________________________________________
©2008/09 Nadine Tarbouriech & Velu Vishwanadhan.
____________________________________________

*** More PPG's posts on VISWANADHAN ***
_______________________________________

Do not forget : 

- the Ivry-sur-Seine Ateliers 2009 will open their doors to visitors in September 
as they did last year and there will be plenty of new things to see...


1. G@tto's 2008 photo
2. from the Mairie d'Ivry site, June 2009.

- the Müller footbridge (passerelle), recently restored, and reopened this year, 
on June 12.


The Müller footbridge connects Ivry's center to Ivry's harbour, spanning
the underlying railways from rue Jules Vanzuppe, just in front of Nadine's
studio and two steps away from Viswa's.

____