Maldivian filmmaker has SRK on her wish-list

Maldivian filmmaker Fathimath Nahula, whose film Youssuf kick-starts the four-day South Asian Film Festival (SAFF) on Friday, has come to India with two things on her wish-list.

First, to see her film about the challenges of a deaf and dumb boy set the ball rolling. Second, to meet Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

"I really hope to meet him [Shah Rukh Khan]. Can someone arrange it for me?" Fathimath asked.

"While the other two Khans [Salman and Aamir] are popular in the Maldives, Shah Rukh is the biggest sensation," said Fathimath, whose most recent film Yousuf has been pegged as the highest revenue grosser in the Maldives.

Speaking about Yousuf, she said the 173-minute film underlined the steely determination of a deaf and dumb boy and his right to live in normalcy along with the rest.

"We received a terrific response in Maldives. But the film's theme is universal. We are sure it will strike a chord with the viewers here," Fathimath said.

She said films from both countries were similar on several counts.

"Most of our mainstream films are musicals, too, and a lot of our films have a romantic storyline, like the ones in India," Fathimath said.

Hassan Sinar, producer of Yousuf who accompanied Fathimath to Goa, said the film industry in Maldives was years behind India as far as the technical aspect of filmmaking was concerned.

"Technically we are not so qualified. But we are picking up now. It's a relatively new industry in Maldives. We are making an average of five to six films a year back home. Nothing compared to the film industry here," Sinar said.

Source: sify.com

1st South Asian Film Festival Maldives 2007

Film Trust India (FTI), a non-profit organization promoted by a group of filmmakers and critics to share the incredible richness of Indian and South Asian cinema with film lovers across the world, is proud of the successful execution of its collaborative effort with the National Center for Arts (Government of Maldives), the Maldives Film Association and the Bangladesh High Commission in Male to organize the first-ever international film festival in the island nation.

Going by the enthusiastic response to the festival – christened the “South Asian Film Festival Maldives 2007” – and its success in bringing together a number of interesting films from the South Asian region and disseminating knowledge about South Asian cinemas with filmmakers of the country who do not have much exposure to the rich variety of cinemas of the region (barring the ubiquitous Bollywood films and their Bangladeshi counterparts, apart from, of course, locally made digital films) it is likely to become an annual affair.

The Ministry of Information & Culture of the Maldives Government, under whose jurisdiction the National Centre for Arts fall, actively helped the organization of the festival.

The festival was held in Male, the capital of the Maldives, from May 8 to 12. The film shown at the festival were curated by FTI, whose representatives, filmmakers Anwar Jamal and Sehjo Singh and film critic Utpal Borpujari, also conducted a workshop (coordinated by Sehjo Singh) on the reflection of identities in the filmmaking experience in South Asia for local filmmakers and film enthusiasts.

The festival screened the following films: “Dweepa” (Kannada, by Girish Kasaravalli), “Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara” (Hindi, by Jahnu Barua), “Swaraaj” (Hindi/Rajasthani, by Anwar Jamal), “Kol Kathayen” (documentary, by Sehjo Singh) and “Dead End” (short film by music director Sandeep Chowta) from India, “Heylaa” (Dhivehi language, by Ali Shifau & Muuin Fuwad) and “Futtaru” (Dhivehi, by Aminath Najeeb) from the Maldives, “Osama” (by Siddiq Barmak) from Afghanistan, “Nirontor” (Bengali, by Abu Sayeed) from Bangladesh, “Numafung” (Limbu language, by Nabin Subba) from Nepal, “Shah Rukh Khan Ki Maut” (Urdu, by Ehteshamuddin) from Pakistan and “Ira Madiyama / August Sun” (Sinhalese, by Prasanna Vithanage) from Sri Lanka.

Several other films, including “Uttara” by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, “Cyanide” (Kananda) by A M R Ramesh, “Manasarovar” (English, by Anup Kurian), “Iqbal” by Nagesh Kukunoor, “Nishabd” (Bengali, by Jahar Kanungo) and “Amu” (English, by Shonali Bose) were shown in the film workshop that ran concurrently with the festival. Bangladesh’s High Commissioner in the Maldives, Mr Mijarul Quayes, who is also an academician and film historian, also shared his views with those attending the workshop.

The aim of the workshop was to familiarize the Maldivian filmmakers and viewers with the aesthetic experience of a film, the socio-genesis of its construct and its power to shape opinion. Beyond being a film appreciation course, it will also help prepare them to be more demanding of the medium. There would also be a more hands on workshop with potential and practicing filmmakers.

The Festival was inaugurated by the Foreign Minister of Maldives, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, who underscored the relevance of such events in promoting a people’s SAARC. “It is very important that this festival is being held just before the Maldives assumes the SAARC presidency,” he said inaugurating the festival. He appealed to filmmakers from the region to create a feeling of understanding and brotherhood by making films that focus on issues concerning the region and its peoples.

The focus of the festival was about the South Asian experience and how it is reflected in the narrative or story telling around the region. The theme covered diversity of experience; diversity of narrative; and diversity in the story line.

Leading filmmakers and actors of Maldives participated in the workshop to exchange ideas and views with the visiting FTI representatives. Among them were directors Aminath Najeeb (of “Futtaru”), Ali Shifau & Muuin Fuwad (of “Heylaa”), Ahmed Saeed, Mohamed Sayeed and Ahmed Shakyb, leading actress Nashidha “Naakko” Mohamed, storywriter Mariyam Moosa and producer Ahmed Shah.

FTI, which has filmmakers Anwar Jamal & Sehjo Singh, film critics Utpal Borpujari & Saibal Chatterjee, and film programmer Therese Hayes as its promoters, plans to host similar experiences of South Asian cinemas in Lahore in Pakistan by 2007-end and Dhaka in Bangladesh in early 2008, apart from other places in the Subcontinent with local collaborators. Meanwhile, it will work towards making the South Asian Film Film Festival in Maldives a bigger and better one after the exploratory nature of the festival this year.

Source: Glamsham

Indian movies part of Maldives' first film fest

Male, May 11 (PTI): A number of Indian films including Girish Kasaravalli's 'Dweepa' and Jahnu Barua's "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara" are being screened at Maldives' first international film festival here.

The South Asian Film Festival Maldives 2007 began on May 8 and several films including "Uttara" by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, "Cyanide" (Kananda) by A M R Ramesh and Nagesh Kukunoor's "Iqbal", are being shown in a film workshop being run concurrently with the event.

The film workshop is being conducted by filmmakers, Anwar Jamal, and Sehjo Singh, and critic Utpal Borpujari on behalf of Film Trust India, which is also curating the festival.

Inaugurating the festival, Maldives' Foreign Minister, Ahmed Shaheed, who underscored the relevance of such events in promoting a people's SAARC. "It is very important that this festival is being held just before the Maldives assumes the SAARC presidency," he said.

Shaheed appealed to filmmakers from the region to create a feeling of understanding and brotherhood by making movies that focus on issues concerning the region and its people.

The festival focusses on the South Asian experience and how it is reflected in narratives or story-telling around the region. The theme covers diversity of experience, narrative and story-line.

Among the other films being screened at the festival are "Swaraaj" (Hindi/Rajasthani) by Anwar Jamal, the documentary "Kol Kathayen" by Sehjo Singh, "Heylaa" and "Futtaru" from the Maldives, Siddiq Barmak's "Osama" from Afghanistan and "Nirontor" from Bangladesh.

Source: The Hindu News

South Asian Film Festival begins in Maldives

The South Asian Film Festival has been launched at Olympus theatre on Tuesday.

The festival is organized in collaboration with the National Center for the Arts (NCA), Dhivehi Film Association, Bangladesh High Commission and India’s Film Trust.

NCA has said that the festival will strengthen the bond between Maldives and its neighbors, and help expand the Maldivian Film Industry and open up more opportunities for local talents.

Twelve movies are scheduled to be shown at the festival including two Maldivian films, ‘Futtaru’ and ‘Heylaa’. The festival ends on Saturday.

NCA revealed that a three-day workshop will also be carried out from May 10th onwards along with the film festival. NCA added that foreign experts from the film industry will be giving Information to the public at the workshop. The first film that was shown at the festival was ‘Heylaa’.

Source: Haveeru

Canadian directors make documentary on the lives of Kandholhudhoo residents

Two Canadian directors have made a documentary about tragic state of affairs of Raa atoll Kandholhudhoo residents in the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster of December 2004.

“Refugees of the Blue Planet”, which was produced in 2006, is about the sad state of the Kandholhudhoo residents after they had been transferred to Raa atoll Ungoofaaru after they tsunami destroyed their home island. The documentary shows the state of affairs of the unfortunate Kandholhudhoo residents through the eyes of two individuals, Surayya and Ismail.

According to Haveeru reporters in Kandholhudhoo, the heat wave being currently being experienced on the island has made for unbearable living conditions in the island’s temporary shelters. Unlike the temporary shelters built in other atolls following the tsunami disaster, the shelters in Kandholhudhoo are built out of tin sheets, very low and without any method to regulate the air, making the shelters agonizingly hot when the sun climbs high.

The film has been screened to a wide range of audiences at a lot of film festivals and showcases not just Maldives, but environmental refugees from other countries such as Brazil also. According to latest reports by UN the sea level has been estimated to rise 2 feet every century during the next 200 years. Although the Maldives hardly contributes to global warming the people of the Maldives will be among the first casualties of such a phenomenon.

Source Haveeru

Maldives keen to boost cinema industry: Sanath

By: Daily Mirror

The Maldivian government is making every effort to encourage foreign productions to be shot in its locations thereby sharing their technical know-how with the local film clan.

Maldivian Minister of State for Arts Hussain Shihab who is in charge of the country’s film industry has been playing a key role in motivating young filmmakers in Maldives, award-winning film star Sanath Gunathilaka said.

Sanath participated as the Chief Judge at last week’s Maladivian Film Festival together with seasoned filmmaker Somartane Dissanayake.

“Maladivian filmmakers are influenced by popular cinema, almost addicted to Indian film styles. But I advised them in my capacity that though popular cnema is crucial for a movie industry, it should also strive to create an own identity and I believe they took me seriously,” he said adding that Maldives also planned to hold film festivals including those representing the SAARC countries soon.

“They have big plans for the future and their motives seem to be genuine. I hope they would emerge as a force to reckon with soon,” he said.

The Maldivian government is now taking steps to build new cinema halls and promote the industry by offering several concessions to those involved in the field.

Even foreign teams which choose Maldivian location to picturise their films are given free access in a bid to boost the industry.

Popular Sinhala films Sulanga and Sakman Maluwa have also been screened in Maldives recently.

Actor Iqbal honeymooned in Maldives to avoid embarrassment

I Honeymooned in Maldives -

Mumbai, Feb 19 (IANS) Television artist Iqbal Khan surprisingly chose not to honeymoon at any of those exotic spots that his new bride Sneha selected on the net because he was not sure he will get a visa.

"After the experience I went through some months ago who knows how the immigration authorities would've reacted to my name," Iqbal told IANS.

The actor, who was seen in series like "Kyun Hota Hai Pyarr" and "Karam Apna Apna", referred to his humiliating experience with the American consulate which rejected his visa plea some months ago arguing that his name suggested terrorist links.

"I'd rather not think about these things. There're enough holiday spots in our own country for my wife and me. We had a week of bliss in the Maldives. And our honeymoon is still on since I'm not working. [Read More]

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