The 'No Excuse' Filmmaking Workshop - One-day workshop for Beginners

Accessible Horizon Films
Presents

THE ‘NO EXCUSE’ FILMMAKING WORKSHOP
A one-day workshop for Beginners

Creative. Interactive. Collaborative.
No Excuses. Just make your Film.

10 participants only

Fee: Rs. 2000 (General)
Rs. 1800 (for Students)

March 25, 2018 (Sunday)
9 am to 5 pm

Location: Puducherry
Venue: To be Announced

Register
Email: access@accessiblehorizonfilms.com


ACCESSIBLE HORIZON FILMS – TEAM

Accessible Horizon Films is an Award-winning Collective of 4 filmmakers – Maverick Dass, Stanzin Raghu, Earthling Koushalya & Iyarkayaar Ramesh – who have been making films for about 14 years in the US and India. Their films have won awards and screened at various International Film festivals around the world(Los Angeles, New York, Germany) and broadcast on National TV in India.
Their first critically-acclaimed Tamil Feature film, ‘Ayynoorum Ayynthum’(500 & 5) was Officially Selected at the Stuttgart Film Festival, Germany and the International Film Festival of Kerala(IFFK) and was released in May 2016. It was produced Independently using the Do-It-Yourself style of filmmaking. They have also made 6 short films and 3 documentary films which have screened at international film festivals and are working on a new film.
Their experience involves teaching Visual Communications in the US and conducting & organizing classes and Filmmaking Workshops at the Loyola College, Chennai, Pondicherry University, Puducherry and Independent film clubs for students and aspiring filmmakers.

WORKSHOP APPROACH

Filmmaking cannot be taught in a day, nor can it be taught in a lifetime. It is one of the few disciplines that requires constant learning/unlearning and hands-on experience. So this workshop(for beginners) is a foundational point for those who have never made a film and/or who want to make a film.
Before the advent of low-cost digital technology, filmmaking always had a hype around it. There were so many obstacles or excuses to making a film. Now, one can make a film even with a smartphone and a basic editing tool. But that’s not just it. How do we tell a story, with the tools we have at our disposal? This workshop will address blending the artistic with the technical. So, at the end of the workshop, there will actually be No excuse for anyone who wants to make a film, to not make a film.
The workshop will take a holistic, conceptual and hands-on approach to making a film, which will include Pre-production, Production and Post-production stages. Importantly, by the end of the interactive and collaborative session, participants can take away a completed Micro Film/Scene that they have created as a team.

ANTHADHI (End-Beginning) - Award-winning Malayalam Short Film, Chinnu Kuruvilla, Sethu Parvathy

Two Souls in Love...balancing each other's nature...in a never ending vortex of ends and beginnings! 

Penned and Orchestrated by Earthling Koushalya 

Created by Accessible Horizon Film Collective Earthling Koushalya Maverick Dass Ramesh Mourthy Stanzin Raghu 

Cast - Chinnu Kuruvilla Sethu Parvathy 

Cinematography Maverick Dass 

Associate Cinematography Auro Venkatesh Jegan 

Music by Prashanth Mohanasundaram 

Violin Kiran Kashyap 

Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Sankararaman Krishnamoorthi 

Music Produced at Conch Music House 

Art Director Earthling Koushalya 

Sound Saravanan Ramachandran 

Still Photography Maverick Dass 

DI Colorist Stanzin Raghu Maverick Dass 

Title Consultant Frank Antony

Accessible Horizon Films 2017

Pombala Pombalayaa Irukanum - Short Film Poster

Hey there, Laydees and Jentilmen...presenting Accessible Horizon Films' next Short film in Tamil...'Pombala Pombalayaa Irukanum'(Women must behave like Women).

Synopsis: Title is self-explanatory, "Basically, women must behave!" don't you think?!! ;-)

Made with a tiny crew and cast, pretty much as usual :-)

Featuring Actor/Performing Artist/Author & State Award Winner Living Smile Vidya who is also our long-time collaborator(from 500 & 5 - Ayynoorum Ayynthum) and Stanzin Raghu. Concept by AccessibleHorizon FilmCollective. Orchestrated by Stanzin Raghu. Penned by Stanzin Raghu and Earthling K. Cinematography by Maverick Dass. Created by Earthling K, Ramesh Mourthy, Maverick Dass and Stanzin Raghu. Publicity Design by the awesome Mithran The-Maverick. Sound by Saravanan Ramachandran, Colour DI by Aurovenkatesh Auroville.


Here's the First look poster.

Aazh Kadal (Deep Sea) Tamil Short Film - Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, Harish Uthaman

Accessible Horizon Films
unveils
'Aazh Kadal' (Deep Sea), a film about an inexplicable connection between 2 people that seemingly unravels over an alluring night.

Credits
Penned & Orchestrated by Stanzin Raghu
Created by Maverick Dass, Earthling K, Ramesh Mourthy
Cast - Harish Uthaman, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli
Concept Consultant - Earthling K
Cinematography – Maverick Dass
Associate Cinematography – AuroVenketesh
Art Director – Earthling K
Music - Conch Music House, Prashanth Mohanasundaram, Sankararaman Krishnamoorthi
Song Writer – Keerthana KM
Sung by Roshni & Prashanth Mohanasundaram
Publicity Design – Deepak Bhojraj, Rising Apple
Sound – Saravanan Ramachandran
Production Design – Dharmesh Jadeja, Rishi Pathak & Gaurav Agarwal
Still Photography – Prakash DP Views
Costume Consultant – Dakshana Rajaram
Colour Correction – Edward Jeffrey
Production Associates – Sonu Bharath, Silambu
Production Support - Athvika Media Works
Music Liaison – Roy Dipankar
Craft Services – Dass Meri Hotel
CopyStraight 2016
#AazhKadal #AccessibleHorizonFilms

AAZH KADAL film featuring Harish Uthaman and Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli

Heyyyy beautiful people…

Time for our next from Accessible Horizon Films :-)

Here’s the First Look poster for ‘AAZH KADAL’ (Deep Sea). Made with love and fun, with the Awesomest team(Crew and Cast) we could ever muster. Created with a bunch of interesting, talented and super-creative people! Thanks to everyone who made this happen!


Synopsis: ‘Aazh Kadal’(Deep Sea) is about an inexplicable connection between 2 people that seemingly unravels over an alluring night.


Penned & Orchestrated by Stanzin Raghu

Created by Maverick Dass, Earthling K, Ramesh Mourthy

Cast - Harish Uthaman, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli

Concept Consultant - Earthling K

Cinematography – Maverick Dass

Associate Cinematography – AuroVenketesh

Art Director – Earthling K

Music - Conch Music House, Prashanth Mohanasundaram, Sankararaman Krishnamoorthi

Song Writer – Keerthana KM

Sung by Roshni & Prashanth Mohanasundaram

Publicity Design – Deepak Bhojraj, Rising Apple

Sound – Saravanan Ramachandran

Production Design – Dharmesh Jadeja, Rishi Pathak & Gaurav Agarwal

Still Photography – Prakash DP Views

Costume Consultant – Dakshana Rajaram

Colour Correction – Edward Jeffrey

Production Associates – Sonu Bharath, Silambu

Music Liaison – Roy Dipankar

Craft Services – Dass Meri Hotel

CopyStraight 2016

#AazhKadal #AccessibleHorizonFilms

"Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500&5)" - Independent Tamil Feature Film - Official Full HD Movie

1. ABOUT THE FILM - SYNOPSIS

“Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500&5)” is a Critically-Acclaimed, Independent Tamil feature film about the bizarre journey of a 500-Rupee note that travels through 5 different characters and how they perceive it in their own ways.

Sudalai(A Goon's stooge, superstitious Sudalai wants to become a Don. Will he realize his dream or will his misplaced sense of self get in the way of it?), Adi(Successful film-director Adi, who's separated from his wife thanks to his philandering ways, is desperate to redeem himself and get her back. Will he be able to?), Sundari(Spunky Sundari is in love and works at a phone recharge shop. All she wants is to safeguard the souvenir her boyfriend gives her. Will she hold on to it?), Jenny(Volatile, troubled Jenny lives in a world where she walks a fine line between psychedelic reality and nightmarish fantasy. Will she rise above it or get sucked into a self destructive vortex of darkness?) and the Nameless revolutionary(The Nameless, avant-garde revolutionary ignites an unprecedented rebellion with which he threatens to raze down the hyper-capitalistic juggernaut).

2. Official Non-Traditional Release of “Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500&5)”

“Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500&5)”, a Tamil feature film made for the BIG Screen in Cinema theaters has now been released unconventionally on the Internet on the Youtube Channel of ACCESSIBLE HORIZON FILMS on SUNDAY, MAY 1st, 2016. It's directly available on Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones from May 1st, 2016.

Before the release, we had one Special Public Screening at the Alliance Francaise, Madras on Friday, April 29th, 2016 at 7.00 p.m.

3. Why are we giving our film away for Free Online?

For the last 3 years, we have been trying to release our film conventionally in theaters in Tamil Nadu, searching for distributors and trying to find people who might take our film and release it in theaters. The difficulty of releasing a film conventionally without financial backing or influence is just unimaginable especially when the film doesn’t conform to the norms or the ‘formula’. We thought of going conventionally only to reach a wide audience, because the film is about money, which everyone can relate to. But we have been facing enormous obstacles while doing so.
The ‘System’ constantly keeps telling us that the Audience/society will not accept new formats. But needless to say, the audience is smart and has always been ready for new forms of artistic and cinematic engagement. They want change. But our ‘system’ does not want to give it to them. 10 people decide what 100 crore people want to see. Because if we want our films to become more progressive, we should be able to try unconventional things. And we want ‘people’ to watch it and give their verdict. What is given to the people widely in the name of cinema is being misunderstood as people’s taste. It is not so. Filmmakers should not have to compromise on the quality of the film that they want to bring to their audience. So we figured it was time.
And finally, at one point, we asked ourselves a question. Do we value Money or our Film? We could wait forever for our film to make money, hopefully reach the theaters and (still maybe) get a return on our investment OR we could just make our film available to the people, which is the basic reason we made the film. So, more than making money, our goal is to reach a wide audience, because that is the primary reason we made this film, not to gather dust in a dark room. Just like how there is no one way to make a film, there is no one way to reach the people. There have been so many films shelved every year. So this is OUR alternative way of reaching the maximum number of people because our making was alternative too.

That’s why we are giving our film away for free.

4. International film festivals

“Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500&5)” was part of the Official Selection at the Stuttgart Film Festival, Germany and part of the Top Angle Indian Cinema Section of the International Film Festival of Kerala, Trivandrum.

5. About Accessible Horizon Films, Cast and Crew

CAST

Cast – Deepak Sundarrajan, Sivashankar Srinivasan, Living Smile Vidya, Chinnu Kuruvilla and TM Karthik Srinivasan, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, Vishwanth Natarajan.

CREW

Penned & Orchestrated by – Stanzin Raghu

Created by – Accessible Horizon Films (Maverick Dass, Earthling Koushalya, StanzinRaghu and Ramesh Mourthy)

Cinematography – Maverick Dass, Gerard

Art Director – Earthling Koushalya

Editor – Ramesh Mourthy

Narrative Score – Sivapragasam. S

Song lyrics and Composition – S. Ramanujam, S. Balaji

Co-Creators – Toot Machi aka Rangarajan, Elango B, Manikandan Kavitha, Vishnuvardhan, Raghavan S, Jeganathan, Packyanath Deepa, Ashwin & Rashmi, Hari & Sumithra

Kalaivu(The Rejection) - Tamil Short Film, Lakshmipriyaa, Harish Uthaman

Flying Low - Our New Short Film

New short film by Accessible Horizon Films
We all harbor a deep hidden desire to fly. Somewhere tucked in our dreams and fantasies, is an urge to rise up and feel free, even if it's just for a fleeting moment. And when waves rise up and crash back into the ocean, they seem to momentarily fly - a brief suspension from their larger reality.
Shot and edited in a few hours.
Concept & Execution - Stanzin Raghu
Music Courtesy - Luke Richards
http://youtu.be/3uDQwmb-dmE

Tamil Short Film 'Full Stop' - Lessons from Production

These are a few lessons we learned after we finished shooting our latest Tamil short film, 'Full Stop'. You can watch it HERE. The idea for this film came about a year ago, when we repeatedly saw unconscious alcoholics in the middle of the road, completely oblivious to the reality around them. So we thought what would happen if we did something about it. So there...we made this film for fun, to tickle our production bug. A few things we thought might be worth sharing, especially if you want to know more about the filmmaking process. Anyways...

1. Always be in touch with filmmaking, especially production. Makes you grounded to the reality of the chaotic beast that is. The last shoot we had was about 5 months ago and shooting after that gap was like a wake-up call, a reality check. We scrambled a bit to a delayed start and then got on track. So keep scripting and shooting.
2. While working with new actors, always block-rehearse(Characters’ movement and positioning in relation to each other with dialogues) before getting them in front of the camera. If your actors are new, this is very important. Otherwise, you are likely to spend more time on this during the shoot.
3. Create Storyboards…highly recommended. Unless you are extremely confident and trained in conceiving and executing shots, create storyboards.
4. Create a Shot List. That is, what shots you need in a particular scene. Say if the Lead Character touches something, you write that down and say whether it's a Close-up shot or a medium shot or a long shot. And if you can match it with the Storyboards, great, do it.
5. Stick to your Shot List. If you must improvise with extra shots, do so minimally and don’t go overboard just because you are shooting digital and have resources at your disposal. If you want extra safety shots, include that in your Shot List.
6. Find and work with people who are passionate, sincere and with a collaborative mindset. Especially those who believe in the vision of the project. While most obvious, this is something you should always be aware of.

New Tamil Short Film - 'Full' Stop

Here's our new Tamil Short film 'Full' Stop...ENjoy!
http://youtu.be/bxoy-1CBD28

Men of Burden - Acclaimed Documentary Film on Cycle Rickshaws in Pondicherry, India

Folks
Back in 2005/2006, we made our first ever feature-length documentary film ‘Men of Burden – Pedaling Towards a Horizon’, about Cycle Rickshaw drivers in Pondicherry. It was during our rudimentary years as filmmakers...when we didn’t know a thing, of course, we still don't, but then it was more like, not even knowing the general aesthetics and techniques of filmmaking. We went by raw instinct, a deep socially bent instinct that certain things should be captured and made a story out of, because those stories(with certain issues) haven’t been told before. Our ‘style’ was more influenced by a gut-feeling arising out of society’s many foibles – issues that were conspicuously stark naked, yet completely invisible to all of us. So we thought filmmaking was a tool to bring those naked truths out, a power to change things in the world and thoughts like that. Well, a lot has changed since then. But ‘Men of Burden’ was and is, a film close to our hearts, because we didn’t set out to ‘make’ the film, it just organically happened. We took out our cameras and just started shooting the raw, roadside lives of the Cycle rickshaw men who lived in abject poverty, following them for weeks, before we could ascertain what exactly we were doing. In fact, it took us 9 months from start to finish, before it was ready.
‘Men of Burden’ was officially selected and had its World Premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles at Arclight Hollywood theater, then at the Stuttgart Film Festival in Germany and the New York Indian Film Festival and some more. It was a film that opened our eyes to the many realities of our world. So, here’s one of our first works as filmmakers. Of course, we had done a couple of short films before but…here you go. Some of you may have seen it(on Internet Archive) but we just uploaded it on Youtube. Do watch/share it and let us know what you think about a little part of our work.
Directed by Raghu Jeganathan
Co-directed by Earthling Koushalya
Produced by Ramesh Mourthy, Accessible Horizon Films
Cinematography by Mohandass
Music by Steve Gorn
Link here also...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Fjf_nNfyM

Our New Short Film 'Full Stop'

Wooohooo folks…a bit of an announcement… we just wrapped up our new short film called ‘Full Stop’ which we shot last month. This time, Accessible Horizon Films in association with Yatra Multimedia will be launching the co-production in a public event in Pondicherry/Auroville. Not only that, our new film will be part of a larger Open-Air Film presentation(including the screening of 2 other short films) slash cultural(dance) event organized by Yatra Arts Foundation. More details on that later. But for now, here’s the first look Poster of ‘Full Stop’.
Context of the film: In Tamil Slang, a ‘Full’(Oru Fullu) means ‘a Full bottle of liquor’.
Having said that, Full Stop is sort of a comic caper quickie (or whatever) set in the exclusive world of Alcoholics in Tamil Nadu. So what happens when a ‘Full’, an unidentified Alcoholic and 4 mysterious women come together? Damn it Yo! You connect the dots!!!
Or just come to the show directly and bring your film-lover friends too. It’s a free event. And folks in and around Pondicherry, do get down there. The film is also a PSA made in the larger public interest of…well, you watch it.

Penned & Orchestrated by Raghu
Players – Yatra Srinivassan, Lakshmipriya Chandramouli, Earthling, Nandhini, Stella and Oshiva
Story by Earthling, Created by Ramesh Mourthy
Cinematography by Mohandass, Assistant Camera by Rajaram and Prakash Dhanagopalan
Art by Mithran and Bharath
Production Support by Yatra Team.

Venue: Yatra Arts Foundation, Near NuCreation Sports Ground/Swimming pool, Kuilapaalayam, Auroville. Call us for directions.
Date: Sunday, June 29th, 2014
Time: 7:00 p.m.

24 Reasons Why Animal Rights Activists are like Super-heroes!

Having watched/read a considerable number of Super-hero movies/comic books and having spent considerable time with Animal Rights Activists, I couldn’t help notice some strong similarities between the two. And finally compiled this list(of course, not exhaustive) after a bit of deliberation. So, the big question is, ‘Are you a Super-Hero?...Are you Punk?’!

1. They have dual or multiple lives. By day, a human, by night a masked super-human. In this case, unmasked and at any time of the day.

2. They can spot a Sick or Needy animal miles away.

3. They can identify the sound of a distressed Animal among the thousands of Traffic horns, city noises and people’s chatter.

4. They can sense trouble even before it happens and are highly proactive. They are extremely sensitive to and aware of their surroundings.

5. They can communicate with Animals(or those in despair) and sense their slightest pain.

6. They are truly fearless and are not afraid to fight for the Voiceless/Powerless/Animals under any circumstances.

7. They are looked at in awe by the common people, for the wrong reasons.

8. They get criticized by and are under-appreciated by the public for not doing all they can. Not that Activists give a damn about being appreciated, they just fucking don’t care about what people think. Because they think being sensitive to animals should be a BASIC human trait.

9. People will never ‘get’ them and their sensibilities. In fact, people will think they are crazy or weird.

10. Sometimes, they don’t want their Super-sensitized, super-human powers anymore and just want to be a normal person(ignorant of the world around them) but when trouble strikes, they are the first to rush forward – no matter what! They know they are doomed to bear the burden, but also know that without them, the sufferers have no way out.

11. They sometimes crave a normal life but know that they don’t have a choice. It’s either them or the voiceless Animals can never be saved.

12. They know and understand that they are out there in this cruel world for a reason, a larger purpose.

13. They know they perpetually have to swim against the tide and are only one among tens of thousands and they have to take on the world at large single-handedly when the need arises.

14. They are as fearless as they are vulnerable. Because many a times, they carry a sense of guilt for not being able to save them all.

15. This one’s for the ‘hard-cores’. They will even put their lives at stake for the seemingly smallest and insignificant beings around them.

16. They cannot sleep peacefully when there’s so much suffering around them.

17. Their minds become preoccupied especially when they sense or see some animal in despair on their way to their normal work. That is, even during urgent situations in their normal life, they can’t concentrate when they’ve seen an animal in pain.

18. They realize that what they have is both a Gift and a Curse.

19. They know their work doesn’t stop with just 1 rescue.

20. They know that even with their super powers, they cannot rescue every single one of them. But they would, if they could.

21. Once people realize they have this gift, people expect them to come for their help for every small thing, as if they have a magic wand.

22. If push comes to shove, they(again, for the hard-cores) will choose their super-sensitive, super-human Avatar over their love, passion or anything in their life.

23. They have all lost something precious in their lives.

24. Even though they have this great ability, they are constantly in pain burdened with the suffering of all animals. They realize the true meaning of ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’.

New Promo for New Year for 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum(500 & 5) Tamil Indie Film

Dear folks
This is the 500th Post in our blog and this is also an occasion to share something about 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500 & 5)' our Independent Tamil feature film in the dawn of a new year.
A very Happy New Year from all of us at Accessible Horizon Films!
While 2013 has been very eventful, 2014 looks even more promising and we hope it's the same for you.
Also, we are writing to share with you a crazy, exciting new Promo Video for our 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500 & 5)'. It's sort of an excuse to reveal the biggest challenge for Independent filmmakers in India 'How do we take our film to the audience?'.
Which incidentally is our LIFE during most of 2013!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCfCpjXjlA
So do watch it, enjoy and share!
Thanks a lot

Stones of Understanding...

i spin around my stones of understanding every single time...
words words and nothing but words in this reality...
make or break my faith in the rest...
of which i am an integral part...
am i supposed to just undo my understanding every single time..
whenever it surfaces and...resurfaces..and yet again..surfaces??
it takes a huge toll on my existence for all it is worth..
this reality makes it more difficult to deal with..
a fragile being caught in the rapture of the so-called life..
instantly..i create an alternate dimension to move to..
to sustain...to cope...and rebuild the faith..and continue..
in this vague yet intimidating reality...
how am i to keep the stones within..
when getting rid of them makes more sense..day by day! --some earthling

Ardh Satya - Be angry, be very angry!

Exactly 30 years back there was a landmark of a film that stormed the then status quo. It’s called ‘Ardh Satya’(Half Truth) directed by the awesome Govind Nihalani and written by noted playwright Vijay Tendulkar(I'd met him briefly in New York in 2003, without really knowing who he was, to interview him for a TV segment I was producing for a network). I had seen this film in bits and pieces before but today I watched it, as in really watched it, with a more analytical mind. I was and am dumbfounded. 2 reasons. One, the film has a raw gravity that tugs at you while unveiling the nature of human frailties. And two, the film can be seen today and yet seem every bit relevant to today’s society. The ‘system’ we live in right now in bloody 2013. Seriously, what the fuck is going on?! We are still grappling with the same issues(corruption, degradation of women, the disgusting political fabric, shady law enforcement, futile activism) that were being dealt with in the 1970s and 1980s. What does this really say about us? About our system? About our evolution as humans or a civilization? Something is seriously, freaking seriously wrong about the way we are moving forward. Because if we don’t have a paradigm shift soon, you can bet that in the next 30 years, we are still going to be the same situation or maybe even worse. The grey area of morality seems to become bigger and bigger every day with the concept of right or wrong seriously in jeopardy. Personally, we have met corrupt and rowdy MLAs, politically subservient police and many desperately misguided souls trying to wield power over the majority at any cost. It’s time we used our brains because we have the choice to take the baton and lead the next-in-line in whatever little way we can towards a more progressive future. And don't you fucking say that films shouldn't have a message. If you want to understand the context of what I mean, just go watch this. It really makes me angry!

Acchor Team Interview in Brew Magazine

We (and of course, Accessible Horizon Films) have been featured in the 3rd Anniversary of the Chennai-based BREW Magazine. Dharmesh, our good friend and columnist for the magazine interviewed us recently. A nice little run through. :-)
Click here to read it in its entirety. Page 28, 29, 30.
http://issuu.com/thebrewmagazine/docs/brew_october__13_-_3rd_anniversary_?e=1700121%2F5277987

Towards progressive Independent Tamil Cinema?

Yesterday, attended a significant event on 'Independent Filmmaking' in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It was a seminar organized by the Cinema Club of Coimbatore initiated by our friend and director Kamala Kannan ('Madhubaanakadai' - Liquor Shop). The key focus of the event was on the Alternative way or the Independent way of making, producing and distributing films in India, more specifically, revolving around Tamil Cinema. Naveen, the director of the recently released 'Moodar Koodam' shared his experiences and challenges of his film's Independent mode of production. When he talked about his film, it was as if he was talking about our film “500 & 5 - Ayynoorum Ayynthum's” production, same struggles, same goof-ups, same everything, it was kind of surreal. And Nalan Kumarasamy, the director of the Tamil hit film 'Soodhu Kavvum' spoke about his experiences of writing(mainly) and directing his films. And finally, the thing that we at Accessible Horizon Films could relate to the most, was Kamala Kannan's ideas on the challenges and resolution(hopefully) of alternatively distributing an Independent film. What we can basically take away from this event are some very interesting alternative thoughts on the future of Tamil and Indian Independent Cinema, which I will write about shortly. And the most startling thing about this was, there were more 200 filmmakers with different levels of experience who attended the event. For a while now, we, at Accessible Horizon Film Collective, have been discussing similar issues with some radically creative people (both filmmakers and various artists) on the future of Indie(Independent) Filmmaking in India. So, hopefully, this is all a step in the right direction. The very fact that there are things like these happening is a sign of more progressive cinema coming up AND reaching the audience. (Above is a production still from 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum)

'Metroxical New York' wins Cinema Paradiso Award

Helloooo hellooo Peeps, exciting news! Our documentary film 'Metroxical New York' has won the 'CINEMA PARADISO AWARD' for great Cinematography, interesting Concept and being a truly International film at the Auroville Film Festival 2013. It has won in the category 'Films made by Aurovilians, residents of Bio-region and Guests of Auroville' and has been chosen among 53 other films in the category. More than the award itself, we had a lot of people in the audience say some really nice things about it. The reason we feel high is that it connected with people at some level, the same way we connected with the project when we created it. Thanks universe, we owe you more exciting work!

Creativity - Mother of Pain

Extraordinary creativity and Pain have almost always gone hand in hand. You know, the issue of Passion vs Practicality...because creative people almost always cannot follow the rules, or the norms or the ‘system’ – because if you are part of the system, then you are not a rebel, and if you’re not a rebel, then you are not creative, because being creative means you have to be a rebel of sorts. It doesn't mean you have to rebel (for the sake of it) to become creative. It’s something innate. Because rebels don’t know they are rebels. So obviously, when you don’t follow what you’re supposed to follow, you can’t sustain yourself easily in this world, traditionally-speaking. It’s a risk that true artists have to take, even at the cost of their future or maybe even their next work of art. But to think of it, it’s the starvation, the risk, the uncertainty, that insecurity, the pain – that artists feel and experience – are fodder for creativity and if I may dare say, genius. It’s like creativity and despair bounce off and feed off each other in this never-ending cycle. And it's really not a fault to be sucked in that cycle. Because as they say, it is by being who you are in a world that's constantly trying to fit you in its mold, is the most liberating. (Art work: Earthling)