Dubai fest to mark Indian Cinema centenary

The 9^th DIFF, which runs from Dec 9-16, will include world premieres of Joy Mathew’s Shutter and Kaushik Ganguly’s Sound as part of the special programme of Indian films.

The programme will also include films from the festival circuit such as Ashim Ahluwalia’s  Miss Lovely, Rajan Khosa’s Gattu, Sourav Sarangi’s Char… The No-Man’s Island and Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus.

Nashen Moodley, DIFF’s director of Asia Africa Programmes, said: “To commemorate 100 years of Indian cinema, we have selected a collection of unique films that reflect the richness, flavor and essence of Indian filmmaking.”

On the 150^th anniversary of the birth of celebrated cultural icon Rabindranath Tagore, poet and film-maker Buddhadeb Dasgupta pays homage with 13 short films based on 13 of his poems.

Quartet 1 is a set of four of those 13 films: The Flutist, The Pond, The Dark Maiden and The Station.

Dasgupta chose to make films out of these poems because it was this collection which brought Tagore the Nobel Prize and because the poems open up a limitless horizon of images that take the viewer along to a secret second world.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, artistic director of DIFF, said: “DIFF’s Celebration of India Cinema programme gives our audience an opportunity to see the current developments in Indian cinema and pay tribute to a cinema that’s 100 years old.”

He added a tribute to Yash Chopra, who died last month. “This year the film industry lost one of the most incredible filmmakers of our time - Mr. Yash Chopra.

“Over the past five decades he touched the hearts and minds of millions around the world through the wonderful stories he brought to the screen and his work will continue to inspire filmmakers for years to come. For his body of work we remain forever grateful.”