'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!

Metroxical New York at Auroville Film Festival 2013

Folks, our recent Documentary Film 'Metroxical New York' - A poetic narrative about the underground subway music in New York City and how it forms the basis for a futuristic collective society - directed by Koushalya and created by Accessible Horizon Films is now screening at the Auroville Film Festival. Everyone's welcome and friends in Pondicherry, do make it! It screens on September 19th, 2013 at 7:30 p.m at the Outdoor Venue to be announced by the Auroville Film Festival. Please see their website for details - http://aurovillefilmfestival.org/

Gettin' Leh'ed!

SECMOL - Short Documentary Film - Ladakh, India
In 2012, during our 33-day backpacking trip in the Himalayas, Ladakh(of course) was an eye-opening, mind-altering drug-stop. I say mind-altering because it really was one hell of a trip to yonder-land, or should I say, a different planet altogether. And vacation is a bad word to use here, because if you are taking a trip to the Himalayas, especially Ladakh, it is an adventure that will rattle your bones(literally and figuratively) and your core. It will change the way you look at things, people and what-the-hell - life itself.
And during the stop-over there, we called up our then-new friend, Sonam Wangchuk, the revolutionary extraordinaire and a simple man with a singular vision. We didn't know much about him then, as we were wondering where really we were heading when we took the taxi to Phey, about 18 kms from Leh city. We only knew that he was the founder of SECMOL(Student's Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) which was founded in 1988 by him and a group of young Ladakhis with the aim to reform the educational system of Ladakh.
It is rumored that Sonam Wangchuk is the real-life Phunsuk Wangdu, the character played by Aamir Khan in the Hindi film, 3 Idiots. But anyways, during our stay there and our interactions with him, his team and the students, we realized that there's a lot than meets the eye. We observed that students identify themselves with their Ladakhi culture, as Ladakhis, and rarely do they associate themselves with the Pan-Indian identity. Like hell that's necessary. But well, let's get to this.

This short profile documentary film was shot in 2012 as a way of bringing to light the result of the efforts of Sonam, who has created waves in educational and cultural reform. We filmed this during our 1 week stay at SECMOL, volunteering for them, teaching Ladakhi students and culturally exchanging ideas and basically having a great time with them.
A couple of changes to the above film:
1. Rebecca should have been labelled Volunteer Advisor/Instructor instead of Co-founder as labelled above.
2. The volunteers for ice-skating are from various countries in the world as opposed to just US or Canada, as mentioned above.
Camera provided by Subheer from Always Outbound.
Created and presented by us, yours truly, the Accessible Horizon Films team.

'Metroxical New York' Schedule at IDSFFK

Trailer for Metroxical New York

Metroxical New York Documentary Film at IFFK 2012

Ok here's a bit of an exciting news for y'all! 'Metroxical New York' is having its World Premiere at the 5th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, between 8th-12th June 2012, at Trivandrum. It's part of the official selection under the Long Documentary Competitive section. Directed & Narrated by Kousalya, Co-directed by Dass, Co-created by Raghu & Ramesh Mourthy as part of the production of AccessibleHorizon FilmCollective, Accessible Horizon Films. Here's a poster.
For those who are wondering what, about a year and half ago, we shot our now, latest documentary film called 'Metroxical New York' in underground New York City(some of you know about it). Due to 500 & 5's production, it had taken kind of a backseat w.r.t editing and post-production. But now it's all done and ready. For more info, visit www.AccessibleHorizonFilms.com.

THE FILMMAKING PROCESS!! JIGSAW PIECE No:12

Nature does not go on giving challenges..it also gives you the luxury to balance it all..to sit back and feel good about how you handled the issues of crisis.. woo-hoo..

THE FILMMAKING PROCESS!! JIGSAW PIECE No:9

The social consciousness called Internet..and the many souls who help with the DO-IT-YOURSELF informations...who teach the world what they know..share resources...and the souls who believe that change is possible..and who encourage new ideas..with all due respect..with gratitude..

Trailer New Doc - Metroxical New York

Here's the trailer for our new documentary film, Metroxical New York.

Metroxical New York - New Documentary Film

Music. Metro. New York city. Future of society. A poetic narrative about underground subway music in New York city and how it forms the basis for a futuristic collective society. Metroxical New York is our latest production in the roster of Accessible Horizon Films' documentary genre. The doc. is about music, the musicians and the New York city subway. Well, it's actually much more than that. 
It really started out with our exploratory subway commutes over time interacting with musicians from almost every part of the world, eventually leading upto this moment where we just burned DVDs for submissions to various international film festivals. Audio post-production was really tedious but we made it through. Still tons of things to learn. Anyways, will add more stuff about it soon. Trailer's on the way.

Sax Player in New York City Subway

This was shot during our documentary film shoot about the Subway Music in New York City Times Square Stattion. Something about his pathos inducing note made us wanna obscure his identity. Think his name's Ahmed or something, couldn't quite catch it coz his voice was broken. He himself seemed a broken man and his music was haunting enough to prove it.

The Zeitgeist Moving Forward

Time to move forward from an illusion called money to love..
from one human living the moneyless life...
Suelo says in his blog...
I've been totally without cents since Autumn of 2000 (except for a couple months in 2001). I don't use or accept money or conscious barter - don't take food stamps or other government dole. My philosophy is to use only what is freely given or discarded & what is already present & already running (whether or not I existed). I don't see money as evil or good: how can illusion be evil or good? But I don't see heroin or meth as evil or good, either. Which is more addictive & debilitating, money or meth? Attachment to illusion makes you illusion, makes you not real. Attachment to illusion is called idolatry, called addiction. I simply got tired of acknowledging as real this most common world-wide belief called money! I simply got tired of being unreal. Money is one of those intriguing things that seems real & functional because 2 or more people believe it is real & functional!

Living Without Money - Documentary of a life

A vision i see of a world...a planet breathing peace...a moneyless world..where every being will exist for the sake of love and the other..in a united purpose to realize the infinite within!

Must-see Documentary - Man on Wire...

...should actually be phrased 'Man on Fire' - the fire of determination that is; and the indomitable will to do what you want no matter what. The documentary film directed by James Marsh 'chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title Man on Wire'.(source Wiki)
In the film Philip says "It was impossible...that's why I had to do it". There are 2 profound aspects in the film. One, the triumphant will of Philip, and two, his post-walking "success-story" as a human being and the impact on his friendships/love(though not depicted much). This is something to watch out for because the current knowledge about the WTC changes the way you see the film.

Bereft Beauties 2 - Aravanis/Thirunangais

More...These pictures can be used freely only if portrayed in a positive manner. Pls do not misuse them.

Bereft Beauties 1 - Aravanis/Thirunangais

During the Aadi Festival in August, our team went to Salem(Tamil Nadu) to shoot some footage of various Tamil folk artists and performers who were part of the festivities. It is an ongoing documentary film project which we hope to produce through a possible collaboration. While we did get a lot of amazing street performances, most of it was commercial(I use this word because instead of performing for actual folk music and songs, many were performing for popular movie songs, even 'item' numbers).
Amidst it all, we met some Aravanis/Thirunangais (Transgendered women) who were really in their elements, singing, dancing and having a whale of a time, at the same time, enthralling their mostly male audiences. It was surprising to learn that the Aravani/Thirunangai community in Salem is actually respected and not shunned, abused, raped and ridiculed as is usually the case in almost every other part of India. Even their Chennai sisters do not get the treatment they get. We befriended the beautiful Nakshatra(extreme left among the group of 3) and her gang and there was a whole slew of fanboy-males who were swarming around them.

Wings of Evolution at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai

Hey folks, in Chennai there are 2 hot things happening. One of course, Chennai itself, with its scorching heat and the Other is our Exclusive Screening of 'Wings of Evolution' on May 18th, 2008, at 9:45 a.m at the Seasons Theater of Sathyam Cinemas, one of the biggest multiplexes in South India. Currently, preparations are being made with ticketing, posters etc. We'll have a post-screening panel discussion , the details of which have not been finalized. Will post an update soon. Folks in Chennai, rsvp to attend. Till then, keep beating the heat.

Wings Of Evolution Screening at Scarsdale Public library, New York

We had a screening of Wings of Evolution yesterday at the Scarsdale Public Library,New York, at 1pm. The screening was arranged by Susan Grosz, a friend we made from the South Asian International Film Festival in October 2007. We did not have to do anything except show up for the screening at the library because Susan had taken care of everything that was needed; right from the publicity to the arrangement of the venue including all the formalities involved. Jeff took care of the technical part of things and arranged for a projector for the screenings. We have wonderful people to help us in this journey and they volunteer their time and effort for this cause.
Susan introduced us to the audience and said that amidst all the chaos in the world and news every single day, Wings Of Evolution was there to give hope. What an introduction!
We were inspired by just those words!
A group of around 40 people showed up for the screening even with the weather being so cold outside. The after-session of the screening was very interesting with people asking us questions about a lot of things.
Firstly, the overall response was amazing and the audience said that indeed they agreed to Susan's introductory comment that there was hope in the film. There were around 6-7 school teachers who were very interested to know about the details of the syllabus at the School. They were interested in the fact that the children at the Siragu School were allowed to take any classes they preferred whether it was the reading corner or writing or math or science or anything they chose to attend. Some of them voiced out their concern about the public schools in India and how the attendance worked there. They were impressed at the kids' openness to the learning process in spite of being first generation learners and also appreciated the kids for teaching their parents English when they went home.
Some of them voiced out their concern for the exam patterns in schools in the world and how competitive children have forced to become.
Well, they were also keen on the World Wide Postcard Sharing project and said they would ask their kids to participate in it.
So, the overall response was very positive yesterday.
We also introduced our non-profit organization POSITIVE PEOPLE TODAY to the audience and requested them to take a look at the cause. We are trying to raise funds for the Siragu School through Positive People Today. Please go to the following link to take a look at the fund raising page of Siragu School.
We reminded the people that remaining positive about things changing for the better in the world was very important and PPT was one such attempt to spread Positivity!

Evano Oruvan - A Tamil Indie film's Commercial viability

First of all, this is not a movie review although I'll write a little about the film itself as part of the film watching experience. Surprising and intriguing - are the words that best describe what I felt. Being an indie film fanatic myself, I couldn't bear some reactions to 'Evano Oruvan'. Context: Matinee show of the film in Pondicherry, 3rd day from release. Tons of people arrived at the almost 1000-seated theater, say about 95% of the seats had butts in them. Multiple reasons for the crowd - Sunday afternoon, Madhavan starrer, etc.
Personally, I went because the director Nishikant Kamat is a friend of mine whom I had met at Los Angeles at IFFLA when our film 'Men of Burden - Pedaling Towards a Horizon' had its world premiere in April 2006. And also because I had seen the Marathi version of the film(Dombivli Fast) which had garnered several international awards and wanted to see how the Tamil version had shaped up.
The film was pretty much the same in terms of its delivery like its Marathi version but I felt it a little lacking in the narrative and the dialogue was a little less audible with the other dominating sounds. (btw, Sangeetha's hot as hell) One of the thoughts that struck me was the reaction of the regular Tamil-movie-going population that made me think as the movie went along. For the fact that it was a break from the regular song-and-dance movie, I wanted the people to love the film because I personally believe in the power of the indie film to make one think as opposed to the factory churned movies by the Tamil/Hindi film industry. I wanted the indie filmmaker to succeed commercially, so bad. Every scene I wanted people to sit back quietly and listen to the dialogue and think, and look at the lighting and enjoy the subtleties of the scene and the composition. Those things never happened.
But most of my expectations were shattered when many in the audience were jeering at the 'monotony' of the film. People were talking on cell phones, letting their phones ring, not paying attention to the meaning of the film, some even chatting and shouting that they were gonna get out, because there were no songs and fights and 'slow-mo' intros of the hero. For a few moments, I was irritated at their indifference to such a film but what could I do, the minority that I am, in the world where people go to the movies to fulfill their escapist fantasies. So I'm still wondering what is the world that I am living in, that is, with my sensibilities as an indie filmmaker and supporter with international cinema as my study guide...I'm left thinking where is that balance between art and commercial cinema. Ahh, the cliched question.
And this, especially at a stage where I'm leaning towards commercial viability but still can't tear away from the indie scene. It's a tough road to be on.

Wings of Evolution - Post-Film Screening

Wow, this has gotta be the longest break in our blog. Surprising none of us had the time and energy or even the slightest inclination of writing something.
But hey, here it is finally, after our screening at the South Asian International Film Festival 2007.
"Wings of Evolution" screened on October 6th, 2006 at 2:30p.m at the Rubin Museum of Art, NYC. Before the screening we had a filmmakers lunch at Rialto's, NYC - just a networking event I'd say. Nothing extraordinary but we met a few of the directors/producers who were mostly from other states. We also met filmmakers from the Pune film institute.
Anyway, as for the screening itself, we were standing outside the theater and till about 2:20p.m or so, we hardly had people coming in. Just 1 or 2. But by 2:30, the theater had about 35-40 people were sitting in. Not a bad number I'd say but not the best either.
Many of our friends, that is, some of you readers - didn't or couldn't turn up because of excuses, excuses - and we are supposed to understand. Hmmphh!
Ok anyways, we got some good response/feedback from the audience. Also, some suggestions as to what could be done to improve. We have someone who's interested in showing the film to a school audience in NY. So we are working on it. Hopefully sometime early next year.
The above is a pic of the post-screening discussion moderated by Richa from the SAIFF staff.
Alright then, will get back on the other sundry news soon. Watch out!