Sunday, September 7, 2014

Chaitanya Tamhane's 'Court' wins Best Film at the Orrizonti in Venice and the "Lion of The Future"

This is indeed fantastic news to all blind supporters of Anurag Kashyap kind of cinema. Move over… Here comes a genius who is a self taught film maker. And his debut film has won him accolades. Yes, we are talking of Chaitanya Tamhane and his film 'Court' that has won the Best Film at the Orrizonti in Venice and has also won the "Lion of The Future" (Luigi De Laurentiis) award for the best debut film. For those who do not know, this is possibly the most respected festival for world cinema.

With one of the most mature minds, Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut film “Court” was screened on September 4 in the Orizzonti section of the festival where it won the award for the best film of the section. A self taught film maker who learnt the art of filmmaking by downloading and watching the best of world cinema, Tamhane’s film is an exploration of the Indian judiciary. The film excels in each and every department especially Mrinal Desai's cinematography, and Satchit Puranik's impeccable casting which is one of the biggest strengths of the film. But the pleasant surprise package is his producer Vivek Gomber who is also a highly accomplished actor. Vivek’s faith in producing the film is a rarity in today’s film world and he deserves a huge pat on the back for believing in this talent. Having said that, it’s a team effort and every cast and crew needs to be congratulated for believing in the vision of this first time director.

Apart from the Best Film at the 71st Venice Film Festival, he also received the “Lion of the future” award for the best debut film of the festival. The award consists of 100,000 USD cash divided equally between the director and producer. A sure shot winner, he also received the Hubert Bals Fund for script and project development in fall 2012 and was part of NFDC Film Bazaar co-production market in 2012.

Tamhane had earlier made the short film, Six Strands that was screened at several film festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, Slamdance, Edinburgh and Rotterdam.

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