Habitat Film Festival

Habitat Film Festival 2010, May 2 - 9 at Habitat World, IHC

Impressing film lovers across the city for over a decade, the Habitat Film Club brings to its Delhi audiences previous year's best and critically acclaimed pan-Indian films with the fifth annual Habitat Film Festival. Scheduled from May 2 - 9, 2010, it is the only festival which honours and pays tribute to the contribution of regional Indian directors to our cinematic culture. This year, we are delighted to hold retrospective of films edited by Award Winning Editor, Sreekar Prasad. The Habitat Film Festival has emerged in the short years since its inception as one of the foremost festivals of Indian Cinema. As Mr. Shyam Benegal noted appreciatively when he inaugurated the first Habitat Film Festival in 2006, this was a much needed niche, dedicated to Pan Indian cinema, in the melee of International, Asian, E.U. and Regional Film Festivals. Indeed the Habitat Film Festival, with its selection of the best, award winning and critically acclaimed films of the preceding year, is today arguably the foremost showcase of Indian cinema. 

This year, we are privileged to have renowned director Shaji M. Karun as the Guest of Honour inaugurating the festival. It will feature some of the best films by award winning editor, Sreekar Prasad including Mani Ratnam's Yuva, Shaji N. Karun's Kutty Srank, Santosh Sivan's Terrorist, Nandita Das's Firaaq and the much recent Antaheen by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury to name a few. The festival will also feature the AIDS JAAGO Series - short films by Mira Nair, Vishal Bharadwaj, Santosh Sivan & Farhan Akhtar. Another highlight of the festival is the daily 'Face-to-Face' with directors of the days' films, giving cinema lovers an opportunity of a focused interaction and Q&A. 

The festival begins with a musical performance by Gokul Bhaskar, Sreekumar & Khalid of Asima,

he iconoclastic male choir and percussion ensemble from Kerala, composed and directed by Devissaro. This is the first time that they will be performing in Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Vidyun Singh, Director - Programmes, Old World Hospitality says, "The Habitat Film Festival adds an enriching experience to the summer season. It has grown from strength to strength and is an eagerly awaited event, not just for audiences but the film fraternity as well. This year, the Festival does a Retrospective of films edited by Sreekar Prasad, for his continued contribution to regional films. His works have engaged and enthralled audiences for decades and this festival brings together a package of the finest."

Highlights of the Festival: 

May 2, 6:00pm: Inauguration by Shaji N. Karun, Award Winning Director Guest of Honour: Sreekar Prasad Performance by Gokul Bhaskar, Sreeku mar & Khalid of Asima ­­­­­­Daily
  

'Face-to-Face' with Directors Retrospective of Award Winning Editor Sreekar Prasad Habitat Festival 2010 Schedule 2nd May 11:00am: Pokkisham (Tamil/2009/140mins) Dir. Cheran
2:30pm: Documentary film | AIDS JAAGO Series - Migration (Hindi with English subtitles/18mins) Dir. Mira Nair

2:50pm: Raag Biraag (Assamese/1996) Dir. Bidyut Chakrabarty

6:00pm: Inauguration by Shaji N. Karun, Award Winning Director; Guest of Honour: Sreekar Prasad; Performance by Gokul Bhaskar, Sreekumar & Khalid of Asima
6:30pm: Kutty Srank (Malayalam/2009/127mins) Dir. Shaji N. Karun

8:30pm: Yuva (Hindi/2004/161mins) Dir. Mani Ratnam 

3rdMay 6:30pm: Sontha Vooru (Telugu/2009/120mins) Dir. P. Sunil Kumar Reddy
 

8:30pm: Terrorist (Tamil/1999/95mins) Dir. Santosh Sivan 4th May 

6:30pm: Documentary film Choti SI Asa (Hindi/30mins) Dir. Usha Albuquerque
 

7:00pm: Paltadcho Manis (Konkani/2009/96mins) Dir. Laxmikant Shetgaonkar
 

8:30pm: Ek Cup Chya (Marathi/2009/120mins) Dirs. Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukthankar5th May 6:30pm: Basundhara (Assamese/2009/117mins) Dir. Hiren Bora
 

8:30pm: Angshumaner Chobi (Bengali/2009/140mins) Dir. Atanu Ghosh 6th May 

6:30pm: Road To Sangam (Hindi/2010/120mins) Dir. Amit Railm_fe
 

8:30pm: Janma (Marathi/2009/115mins) Dir. Shirish Rane
 

7th May 6:30pm: Mukha Puta (Kannada/2009/112mins) Dir. Roopa Iyer

8:30pm: MadhyaVenal (Malayalam/2009/122mins) Dir. Madhu Kaithapram  

8th MayVimukti (Kannada/2008/110mins) Dir. P. Sheshadri
 

2:30pm: Documentary film AIDS JAAGO Series - Blood Brothers (Hindi with English subtitles/18mins) Dir.Vishal Bhardwaj
 

2:50pm: Haat: The Weekly Bazar (Rajasthani/2009/103mins) Dir. Seema Kapoor
 

6:30pm: Kadaksham (Malayalam/2010/120mins) Dir. Sashi Paravoor
 

8:30pm: Phir Kabhi (Hindi/2009/145mins)Dir. V. K. Prakash  

9th May 11:00am: Documentary film AIDS JAAGO Series - Positive (Hindi with English subtitles/18mins) Dir. Farhan Akhtar

11:20am: Patham
Nilayile Theevandi (Malayalam/2009/102mins) Dir. Joshy Mathew  11:00am:

2:30pm: Documentary film AIDS JAAGO Series - Prarambha (Tamil with English subtitles/13mins) Dir. Santosh Sivan
 

2:45pm: Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya (Tamil/2010/156mins) Dir. Gautham Vasudev Menon
 

6:30pm: Antaheen (Bengali/2009/120mins) Dir. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
 

8:30pm: Firaaq (Hindi/2009/100mins) Dir. Nandita Das Passes to the films are available at the Programme Desk at Habitat World, IHC from 10:00am - 7:00pm. Notes to EditorAbout 

Habitat Film Club The Habitat Film Club was started in March 2000. In a short span since inception, it is today one of the most dynamic Film Clubs in the country. The Habitat Film Club won the 6th Pritiman Sarkar Memorial Award for the Best Film Society in Northern India for the year 2002-2003. 

The Habitat Film Club partners numerous Embassies and High Commissions in order to bring a pick of the best of World Cinema to its members. Some of our recent international film collaborations have been with the Embassies of Spain, Israel, France, Italy and Germany. Celebrating the achievements and landmarks of Indian cinema has been a distinctive highlight of the Habitat Film Club. Members have enjoyed retrospectives and interactions with industry legends from Ritwick Ghatak, Gulzar, Shyam Benegal, Amitabh Bachchan, Mani Ratnam, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah to Rituparno Ghosh, Nagesh Kukunoor, Tanuja and Deepti Naval. A vibrant and stimulating Film Forum, the Habitat Film Club has an active Film Discussion Group and holds annual Film Appreciation Courses.Read more on IndiaPRwire.com