India features big at the third Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival to be held from October 10 to 19, 2019. The “boutique” festival, held in the magnificent historical city of Pingyao, features world premiere of Tushar Hiranandani’s directorial debut Saand Ki Aankh ( Bull’s Eye ) that will screen as a special presentation on the opening Pingyao Night. Produced by Anurag Kashyap, Reliance Entertainment and Nidhi Parmar, the biographical sports film is based on the lives of sharpshooters Chandro and Prakashi Tomar, played by Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu respectively. Chandro and Prakashi, both in their ’80s, are from Johri village in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district and reportedly took to sharpshooting late, in their 50s. They are among the oldest female sharpshooters in the world. The film is set to release commercially on October 25, 2019.
Eeb Allay Ooo! by Prateek Vats will have its world premiere and compete in Crouching Tigers section that features international directorial debuts or second features. About a young migrant working as a contractual monkey repeller in Delhi, Eeb Allay Ooo! had won the Facebook award in NFDC Film Bazaar’s Work In Progress lab in November last year and is one of the ten films competing in the India Gold section of Jio Mami 21st Mumbai Film Festival with Star, that will take place from the October 17 to 24, 2019. Last year Ivan Ayr’s Soni had won the Roberto Rossellini award for best film in the same section.
Titled ‘Indian New Cinema 1957-1978’, it features restored classics like Ritwik Ghatak’s films, Ajantrik (The Pathetic Fallacy, 1957) and Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960), Mani Kaul’s Uski Roti (A Day’s Bread, 1969) and Duvidha (In Two Minds, 1973), John Abraham’s Agraharathil Kazhuthai (Donkey in a Brahmin Village, 1977), Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (Mr Shome, 1969), Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Swayamvaram (One’s Own Choice, 1972), Govindan Aravindan’s Thampu (The Circus Tent, 1978) and Uttarayanam (Throne of Capricorn , 1974), Kumar Shahani’s Maya Darpan (Mirror of Illusion, 1972）and Shyam Benegal’s Ankur (The Seedling, 1973) and Bhumika (The Role, 1976).
Founded by iconic Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke in 2017 with film historian Marco Mueller as its artistic director, PYIFF hosts retrospectives each year that zoom in on classics with special historical, cultural and aesthetic values; last year it showcased the Russian New Wave. Deepti D’Cunha is the India programmer for the festival and Kashyap is one of the creative advisors in the advisory board of the festival.
