FTII People

Sanju Surendran, an Indian film maker is a graduate of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. At the Institute he picked his lessons from the legendary film maker Mani Kaul. Sanju has done a brief stint as a teacher of Film Direction and Screenwriting at the KR Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts, Kottayam , Kerala. His documentary on Kutiyattam, ‘Kapila’ won the National award for the Best Documentary and Special Mention at Visions du Reel, Switzerland. Sanju’s first feature film, ‘Aedan- Garden of Desire’ won Rajathachakoram award for the Best Debut Director and  the FIPRESCI award for the best Malayalam film and four Kerala state film awards. His IMDB Profile is here.

As a child what were your early influences towards cinema? Art, literature, graphics, photography?

Childhood is a blossoming of curiosities. I was always interested in stories, colours and graphics. Bedside stories which my father would say or the dramatic narration of an incident by my mother. I used to draw and paint as a child and was quite impressed by the graphical film posters of filmmaker Bharathan et al. I was also a voracious reader. Maybe all this and more helped me in becoming a filmmaker.

CK Muraleedharan’s IMDB profile is here. He has shot movies like Johnny Gaddar, Agent Vinod, Munna Bhai MBBS etc.
This informal chat was shot and edited by Monet Kanti Saha.

ARRI announces the new ALEXA Mini, a versatile additional tool in the ARRI ALEXA camera range that combines a compact and lightweight form factor with the same unparalleled image quality that has made the ALEXA system a gold standard for the industry. Designed for specialized shot-making, the ALEXA Mini perfectly complements a full ALEXA shooting kit and allows crews to eliminate the complications of working with third-party cameras by keeping everything within a single system that is trusted all over the world.

Equipped with a 4:3 sensor, automatic de-squeeze mode for anamorphic productions and frame rates of 0.75-200 fps, the ALEXA Mini records ProRes or uncompressed ARRIRAW either in-camera to CFast 2.0 cards or to a specially-designed external Codex recorder that can record image streams from up to four ALEXA Minis simultaneously — a compelling option for multi-camera setups such as 360° plate shots. Images from the ALEXA Mini will perfectly match those from all other ALEXA cameras, making the final grade easier and quicker.

As a child what were your early influences towards cinema? Art, literature, graphics, music, photography?
Growing up, my father was my biggest influence towards music and cinema. We were the one of the first people in our society to get a vcr and that is when my love for films started! Every weekend was a trip to the video store to rent 2-3 films and watch them all in one sitting. I remember the first film we saw when we got the vcr was The Wall by Pink Floyd. Not many kids my age got to see that!

How did you first become interested in audiography? Most people don’t know about this field of cinema?
My love for music helped there. My father is a big audiophile and so are most of his friends. One of his friends had this huge Bose system with a CD player(in 1985!) and I would go to his house every evening to listen to music. Loved the sounds that came out of the system. Being exposed to good sound from a young age really helped me train my ears. You know what the result should be, even when you are starting out, and you try and work towards that goal.
I really became serious about audiography when I was doing my bachelors in electronics engineering. It just started with DJing for friends’ parties. Then I got hold of audio software and the tinkerer in me took over.
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All these years at the Institute and I never noticed. There are so many birds on campus. Here are a few that I managed to shoot one November morning at the Canteen. Details are from Wikipedia.

Ashy Prinia (Prinia socialis)

The Ashy Prinia or Ashy Wren-Warbler (Prinia socialis) is a small warbler. This prinia is a resident breeder in the Indian Subcontinent, ranging across most of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and western Myanmar. It is a common bird in urban gardens and farmland in many parts of India and its small size, distinctive colours and upright tail make it easy to identify. The northern populations have a rufous rump and back and have a distinct breeding and non-breeding plumage while other populations lack such variation.

Oriental Magpie-Robin  (Copsychus saularis) juvenile

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International Children’s Film Festival India (ICFFI) also popularly known as The Golden Elephant is a biennial festival that strives to bring the most delightful and imaginative national and international children’s cinema to young audiences in India since 1979. The outstanding features, shorts, live action and animation films are screened over seven days of festive celebrations which are attended by more than one hundred thousand children and hundreds of film professionals from across the world.

ICFFI is organized by Children’s Film Society India (CFSI) – a autonomous body under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India committed to nurture and promote a dynamic children’s film culture in the country. Since its inception in 1955, CFSI has been producing, exhibiting and distributing exclusive, entertaining and enriching content for children. CFSI is currently chaired by Nandita Das – renowned actor and director.

Every two years, the festival commences on Children’s Day i.e. 14th November, the birth date of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also fondly referred to as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru) known for his love for children. Pandit Nehru established CFSI in 1955 after India’s independence with the hope that indigenous and exclusive cinema for children who are the future citizens thereby stimulating their creativity, compassion and critical thinking. It is this vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that guides our ICFFI.

In today’s world that is cluttered with consumerist & often violent content especially for children, ICFFI is committed to promoting cinema that is humane and non-violent, and yet delightful and fun! Special care is taken to screen films in the festival that cultivates an understanding of other cultures, lives and experiences and thereby encouraging children to reflect on the world around them. Workshops and open forums at the festival aim towards stimulating critical appreciation and creative pursuit of cinematic arts amongst children and young people. The festival also supports the work of children’s filmmakers around the world by rewarding them for their dedication and talent. ICFFI gives an opportunity to children in India for interacting across the country during the festival.

ICFFI is one of the largest and most colourful children’s film festivals in the world. A unique feature of this festival is its audience more than a hundred thousand children travel from little villages and towns from across India to view high quality international children’s cinema that they would never be exposed to otherwise. Here they rub shoulders with other kids, eminent guests and directors from different parts of the world. ICFFI is dedicated to these little delegates and to those imaginative film-makers who attempt to make films for the toughest audience of all – children!

The 18th edition of ICFFI will take place from 14th to 20th November, 2013. The festival normally has Competition Sections like Competition International, Competition India, Competition Little Directors where international and national films compete for the prestigious Golden Elephant Trophies, accompanied by cash awards. The festival will also screen specially curated Non-Competition Sections including Children’s World that will showcase the most acclaimed films from the last decade and International Retros which will present the best of International Children’s films to young audiences in India.

Other attractions in the festival are workshops, open forums and unreleased latest films made by Children’s Film Society, India

details here

While both cameras are PL mount, shoot HD and record on Sony SXS Pro memory Cards, the F5 has a 2k and F55, a 4k sensor. These CineAlto 4k camcorders support recording in XAVC MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format, MPEG-4 SStP, and industry standard XDCAM 50mbps 4:2:2. Both camcorders can be used with the AXS-R5 RAW recorder, with the F5 recording up to 120fps and the F55 recording up to 240fps as 4k RAW data. More details soon.

More details on Sony’s pages.

Review by Vinoo
Language : English
Director : Stevan Riley

They brought the world to its knees, and a nation to its feet. I don’t know if they put it in the best possible words but yeah that pretty much sums it. A documentary on the West Indies cricket team of the 1970s through to the 80s, it tells the story of the golden era of the WI cricket team. It was more than just about cricket, about their fight for identity and the fight against racism and their victory over their colonial masters and of course their domination of world cricket for over a decade. Fifteen years without losing a single test-series surely was something. Tony Greig’s ‘I intend to make them grovel’ was enough to make the Windies, and Clive Lloyd’s men, give the English a response they will not forget.

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Part 1 of 2. Article by Kritika Shekhar

If you have an idea, you have a responsibility towards it – Raaghav Dhar

Like many cinema buff FTIIians, I was eagerly waiting for the release of ‘My Friend Pinto’. I managed to see the film in the 2nd week of its release but before that had already got varied reactions from friends who had already seen it. Now it’s unfortunate but true that listening to other people’s reaction we invariably form a certain opinion in our head even before watching the film. I saw the film with many such opinions in my head but by the end of it, quite liked it.
The film has generated extreme reactions. Some have been positive and very encouraging while others have been bitterly negative.

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