Deepa Mehta at 15th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival (#R2RFIFF) / Looking back at Stuttgart’s #IFFSTR15

Deepa Mehta at the 7th Annual Canadian Filmmakers’ Party 2012 (Photo: Canadian Film Centre / Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)

Announced today: Indo-Canadian film director and screenwriter Deepa Mehta will be the guest of honour at this year’s River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in beautiful Florence/Italy (from December 5 to 11, 2015) – always my favourite movie fest of the year.

From Deepa Mehta’s Wikipedia entry :

[She is] most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005); among which Earth was sent by India as its official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Water was Canada’s official entry for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, making it only the second non-French-language Canadian film to put forth for consideration in that category (the first being Zacharias Kunuk’s 2001 Inuktitut-language feature, Atanarjuat), and the first to receive an Oscar nomination. She also co-founded Hamilton-Mehta Productions, with her husband, producer David Hamilton in 1996. She was awarded a Genie Award in 2003 for the screenplay of Bollywood/Hollywood. In May 2012, Mehta received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts.

Looking back at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival 2014 … and some Florence tips

This year, I was only able to enjoy River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival for five days. But it was my tenth time in a row – and I got to see a particularly fascinating special guest (Irrfan Khan – you can watch more videos of his Q&A sessions here).

Movie Talk with Irrfan Khan @River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival (Videos)

For the visitors of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival Irrfan Khan was the perfect guest: charming, funny and outspoken. I shot some clips during the Q&A sessions for the movies „Qissa“ (with director Anup Singh) and „Paan Sing Tomar“, hosted by festival director Selvaggia Velo.

Irrfan Khan at 14th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival / Looking back at last year’s #R2RFIFF

Irrfan Khan (Photo: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com / Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Just announced: Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan will be the guest of honour at this year’s River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in beautiful Florence/Italy – always my favourite festival of the year.

The festival will hold a special tribute to Khan who next appears in Colin Trevorrow’s „Jurassic World“. There will be screenings of his films „Qissa“, „The Namesake“ and „Paan Singh Tomar“, plus seven episodes of the third season of the HBO series „In Treatment“.

According to Wikipedia, Irrfan Khan has appeared in more than 30 Bollywood films (as of 2013). Khan’s English-language mainstream work includes character roles in movies like „New York“, „I Love You“, „A Mighty Heart“, „Slumdog Millionaire“, „The Amazing Spider-Man“, and „Life of Pi“.

13th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival: From Ganges to Arno … and Tiber! #R2RFIFF

Shabana Azmi (Photo: Bollywood Hungama / License: CC BY 3.0)

My final (and favourite!) film festival of the year always is the lovely River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in Florence/Italy (flickr photo album). This year (2013), its 13th edition will take place from Friday, November 22, until Thursday, November 28, at beautiful Cinema Odeon on Piazza Strozzi, followed by a weekend in Rome (November 29 to December 1) at Nuovo Cinema Aquila, via L’Aquila 68).

The programme has just been released today.

Following 2012’s special guest Amitabh Bachchan (video below), this year’s guest of honour will be Shabana Azmi (photo). Wikipedia: „(…) She made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of Parallel Cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and neo-realism. (…) Azmi has appeared in over 120 Hindi films in both mainstream and independent cinema, and since 1988 she has acted in several foreign projects.“

Shukriya, Amitabh Bachchan! (Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival)

Big B. certainly is getting around! At the Marrakech Film Festival, he was introduced by none other than Catherine Deneuve, one of my first cinema idols:

From Ganges to Arno: 11th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival

Since 2005, my final (and favourite) film festival of the year has been River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in beautiful Florence/Italy. It is the first international festival entirely devoted to films from and about India – a labour of love of director Selvaggia Velo who mainly selects non-Bollywood movies: independent films, shorts and documentaries. I’m looking forward to the 11th edition starting tomorrow (Friday, December 2, 2011).

Festival director Selvaggia Velo and
actor Rahul Bose in 2010

Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival

There was a nice Q&A session with director Aparna Sen and actor Rahul Bose after last night’s screening of „Mr. and Mrs. Iyer“ at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival. I asked him whether his boxing and playing rugby have been helpful to his movie career. His answer:

Qype: River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in Florenz

Florenz – Nachtleben – Kinos

Zum mittlerweile siebten Mal findet 2007 im italienischen Florenz eins meiner persönlichen Lieblings-Filmfestivals statt, das ich in diesem Jahr zum dritten Mal besuchen werde: das „River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival“ (von Freitag, 7. Dezember, bis Donnerstag, 13. Dezember 2007).

Es ist das erste Festival außerhalb Indiens, das sich auf Filme über und aus Indien konzentriert (plus Bangladesch, Nepal, Pakistan und Sri Lanka). Konventionelle Bollywood-Filme spielen dabei kaum eine Rolle, Festivalchefin Selvaggia Velo stellt lieber Independent-Filme, Kurzfilme und Dokumentationen aus allen Regionen Indiens in den Vordergrund. Die Filme laufen größtenteils in den Originalfassungen, mit englischen Untertiteln.

Austragungsort war bis 2006 das Kino „Spazio Uno“, das etwa fünf Minuten zu Fuß vom Hauptbahnhof und vom Fluss Arno entfernt ist. 2007 zog „River to River“ ins Cinema Gambrinus CineHall um (Piazza della Repubblica)

Da die Filme an den Werktagen normalerweise nicht vor 17 Uhr beginnen, hat man tagsüber genug Zeit, Florenz zu erkunden. Mit seinen ca. 200 Sitzen ist das Kino durchaus überschaubar, die Stammgäste können also recht schnell in Kontakt kommen.

Nach Florenz selbst gibt es von Deutschland aus keine Billigflüge, aber Umsteigeverbindungen per Lufthansa sind mit Glück ab ca. 200 Euro erhältlich. Preisgünstiger sind Direktflüge per RyanAir und easyJet von diversen deutschen Flughäfen (brutto ab ca. 60 Euro).

(4. 11. 2007)

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Aktualisierung am 12. August 2008:
„River-to-River“-Chefin Selvaggia Velo erzählte mir kürzlich beim Stuttgarter Festival „Bollywood and beyond“, dass ihre Veranstaltung auch in diesem Jahr wieder in einem größeren Kino laufe – und zwar vom 5. bis 11. Dezember 2008 im „Odeon CineHall“ (Piazza Strozzi 2), nicht unweit vom oben erwähnten Gambrinus. „River to River“ ist zum zweiten Mal Teil einer Reihe von hintereinander terminierten Filmfestivals, den „50 Giorni di Cinema Internazionale a Firenze“.

Ich habe meinen Flug schon gebucht, habe gerade aber noch mal nachgeschaut: Bei Ryanair gibt es derzeit Flüge nach Pisa (eine gute Stunde per Bus von Florenz entfernt) für 0 Euro netto (ab Frankfurt-Hahn) bzw. 9,99 Euro netto (ab Hamburg-Lübeck).

Mein Beitrag zu River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival – Ich bin PJebsen – auf Qype