The Habitat Film Festival is back with a refreshing sweep of Best of Indian Cinema 2016-2017. A coming together of cutting edge talent and productions in the field, the festival spread across ten days (from 19 May to 28 May), captures the churning felt across industries with reference to stories, receptive engagement with technology, inventive production choices, breaking away from celebrity-centric moulds, among notable other features. The 12th edition of the Habitat Film Festival brings films from this exciting new phase of Indian cinema.
Never before has the festival had so many debutants including Konkona Sen Sharma (A Death in The Gunj); Avinash Das (Anaarkali of Aarah); Subhashish Bhutiani (Mukti Bhawan); Rima Das (Antardrishti– Man with the Binoculars); Ananya Kasaravalli (Harikatha Prassanga / Chronicles of Hari), K.P Vyasan (Ayaal Jeevichirupund) to name a few. And never before has the festival had so many films that have already been lauded at film festivals, National and International. The ten-day celebration of the best of Pan Indian cinema promises to be a composite mix of the return of the stalwarts and veterans, and the transformative work of the fresh new voices, who tell compelling stories and take on important social issues with satire and wry humour.
The retrospective segment this year is a tribute to Om Puri. Speaking about him and introducing the retrospective on the opening day is Govind Nihalani, the director who has drawn out some of Om Puri’s most telling performances.
Highlights of Habitat Film Festival 2017:
Om Puri Tribute Retrospective showcasing from among his best films like
Tamas (Hindi/1988/298 mins) ; Dev (2004/Hindi/176 mins); East Is East(English/1999/96 mins); Sadgati (Hindi/1981/52 mins) to name a few. For more details, visit: http://habitatfilmclub.com/om-puri-tribute-retrospective.php
Opening Film: A Death in The Gunj (English/Hindi/Bengali/2017/105mins) Dir. Konkona Sensharma
Regional Highlights: Tope/The Bait (Bengali/2016/88mins) Dir. Buddhadeb Dasgupta; Kaasav/Turtle (Marathi/ 2016/105mins) Dir. Sumittra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar; Angamaly Diaries (Malayalam/2017/133mins) Dir.Lijo Jose Pellissery; Sairat (Marathi/2016/174mins) Dir.Nagraj Manjule; Haanduk- The Hidden Corner (Assamese/Moran/2016/90mins) Dir. Jaicheng Jai Dohutia; Harikatha Prasanga / Chronicles of Hari (Kannada/2016/120mins) Dir. Ananya Kasaravalli; Sila Samayangalil (Tamil/2016/103mins) Dir.Priyadarshan; Madipu (Tulu/2016/115mins) Dir. Chatan Mundadi; Antardrishti /Man With Binoculars (Assamese/2016/97mins) Dir. Rima Das; Manhole (Malayalam/2016/86mins)Dir. Vidhu Vincent; Chitrokar (Bengali/2016/97mins) Dir.Saibal Mitra; Loktak Lairembee/Lady of the Lake (Manipuri/2016/71mins) Dir. Haobam Paban Kumar; Joker (Tamil/177mins/2016) Dir. Raju Murugan; Lathe Joshi (Marathi/103mins/2016)
Veteran Filmmakers attending the Festival, among others: Malayalam director Adoor Gopalakrishnan with his film Pinneyum/Once Again; Bengali Director Kaushik Ganguly with his two features, Bastushaap and Bisorjon; Bengali director Buddhadeb Dasgupta with his film Tope/The Bait
Premieres: Katrikka Vendakka (2017/124mins/Tamil ) Dir. Sudheesh Sankar
Documentaries/ Short Films: Cinema Veeran (Docu/2016/50 mins) Dir. Aishwarya Dhanush; Soz: A Ballad of Maladies (Docu/Hindi/English/Kashmiri/2016/85mins); Dir. Tushar Madhav & Sarvnik Kaur; Kaagaz Ki Kashti (Docu/Hindi/2016/127mins) Dir.Brahmanand Singh Merku Thodarchi Malai / Western Ghats (Docu/Tamil/2015/108mins) Dir. Lenin Bharati; I’m Jeeja (English/2016/28mins) Dir. Swati Chakraborty; Gudh/Nest (Short Film/2015/28mins) Dir. Saurav Roy
National Award Winning Films: Sera Sera (Konkani/2016/135 mins) Dir.Rajiv Shinde ; Bisorjon (Bengali/2016/138 mins)Dir.Kaushik Ganguly; Mukti Bhawan/Hotel Salvation (Hindi/2017/103 mins)Dir.Shubhashish Bhutiani; Ishti (Sanskrit/2016/108 mins) Dir. Dr. G. Prabha; Joker (Tamil/177mins/2016) Dir. Raju Murugan, Madipu (Tulu/2016/115mins) Dir. Chatan Mundadi
Panel Discussions: Film making Past & Present: Challenges of The Future
Panelists: Govind Nihalani, Buddhadeb Dasgupta , Ananya Kasaravalli, Avinash Das Moderated by Film critic, Shubhra Gupta
Special Exhibition of selected writings and film posters of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: The exhibition will include film posters and stills of Abbas’s films such as Saat Hindustani, Shehar Aur Sapna, Dharti Ke Lal, Naya Sansar, Anhoni, Pardesi, Char Dil Char Rahein, Naxalites, Do Boond Pani and Char Shehar Ek Kahani etc. This segment is in collaboration with the Khwaja Ahmad Memorial Trust. A curated package of his films are also screened titled KA Abbas: The City as a Metaphor.
For the first time, passes can also be booked and reserved online at www.habitatfilmclub.com on a first come first basis.
