Indian film industry makes the maximum number of movies annually. However, at the other end of the spectrum, figures reflect a sad state of affairs - that they also get the least number of nominations at international film festivals.
“Raj Kapoor’s films are a hit in Russia while Rajinikanth is popular in Japan. We want to broaden our reach by organising an Indian film festival with a regional focus very soon,” says Udai Ken Sagar, Chairman, Indo-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Israel’s interest
At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Sagar said Israel was interested in Indian and Telugu movies, given the size and potential of the film industry. He said that while just about 35 to 50 films were made in Hebrew every year, Israeli technicians worked in nearly 70 per of the movies made in Hollywood.
Bh. S.S. Prakash Reddy, secretary of the Hyderabad Film Club, announced that six popular Israeli films would be screened at a four-day Israeli Film Festival starting with ‘Intimate Grammar (2010)’ on Thursday at the Prasad Film Labs Preview Theatre here. It will be inaugurated by Commissioner-Information & Public Relations and Managing Director, A.P. Film Development Corporation, M. Dana Kishore.
The itinerary
On Friday ‘the Flood (2011)’ will be screened, while on Saturday, film-lovers can watch ‘Lonely Planet (2010)’ and ‘The Human Resources Manager (2010)’. The festival will close with ‘Bena’ (2009)’ and ‘The Matchmaker (2010)’ on Sunday evening.
Joint initiative
The festival kicked off in New Delhi and after Hyderabad, it is being taken to Kolkata and Bangalore.
It is a joint initiative of the Hyderabad Film Club, Embassy of Israel, Indo-Israel Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Federation of Film Societies of India.
