|
|
Independent Movies
PRESS RELEASE
After a 49-week run in Paris, Jaya Ganga, a feature film by the Paris-based writer-filmmaker Vijay Singh, is now ready for its UK release. Jaya Ganga is a love story set against the beautiful backdrop of the river Ganges. Film magazine Variety described it as " a dreamy, beautifully lensed tale... (where) characters spring to life with almost painful intensity." Jaya Ganga, an Indo-French co-production based on Vijay Singh's own novel (Penguin 1990), premiered at the World Film Festival, Montreal, where it was shown in the "official competition" category. Helped by the audience and media response, the film has since been shown in twenty countries. Jaya Ganga opened in Paris at a renowned arthouse cinema Reflet Medecis and, thanks to the media response and word of mouth, it later spread to other Latin Quarter cinemas where it played for 12 consecutive months. Jaya Ganga was successfully released in India in 1998. The attached press excerpts might give an idea of how the film was received there. Please feel free to visit our Internet site for details on the film, the director and the artists (interviews, profiles etc...) The address of the site is: Jaya Ganga opens on 23rd
June at the ICA cinema, London, Cineworld Feltham and the UCI Trafford
Centre, Manchester.
Distribution:
SYNOPSIS: Nishant, a young Indian writer living in Paris, is journeying down the Ganges, from its source in the Himalayas to the sea. Haunted by the fantasy, or the memory, of a beautiful Parisian woman called Jaya, he plans to write a book around his voyage. On the banks of the turquoise Ganges, one morning, he chances upon Zehra, an irresistible poetess-dancing girl in the tradition of the great courtesans, who performs in a nearby brothel. Zehra resurrects the memory of Jaya. As love casts its spell once again on Nishant, he asks Zehra to join him on his journey, but her illusory freedom is shadowed by a formidable network of the brothel's spies. Nonetheless, Nishant manages to make Zehra flee from the brothel, and join him on his journey. Romance takes over. A new life begins for Zehra as Nishant would like her to accompany him back to Paris. Half way down the river, at the height of their romance, Nishant receives a telegram. Zehra soon realises how Nishant's fantasy of a half-real half-unreal woman could transform her life into a journey of ambiguous surprises...
DIRECTORS BIOGRAPHY: Vijay Singh is an Indian writer living in Paris. After studying History at St Stephen's College, Delhi, and Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he moved to Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, for his doctoral work. While he was still a student in the early eighties, he started contributing articles to the French press and has, since, written extensively for Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Liberation, Guardian and several other newspapers. Over the years, he began to devote more time and energy to literary work, his first love. He is the author of several books that have won wide critical acclaim: Jaya Ganga, In Search of the River Goddess, (Penguin, 1989), La Nuit Poignarde (Flammarion, 1987), Whirpool of Shadows (Jonathan Cape, 1992), The River Goddess (Gallimard Jeunesse/Moonlight, 1994). His books are translated into French and other European languages. Many years after he wrote and directed a play, Waiting for Beckett by Godot (1976), he made Man and Elephant (1989), a 30' film, which has been shown on nearly 100 television channels the world over. Jaya Ganga is his first feature film. He is now working on his next feature, One Dollar Curry. Vijay Singh was awarded the Prix Villa Medicis hors les murs for foreign literature in 1990 and the Bourse Leonardo de Vinci in 1994.
PRESS REVIEWS: What critics say about JAYA GANGA ... "An atmospheric and beautifully-sustained love story on the Ganges". Derek Malcolm of The Guardian "Dreamy, elegiac sensibility - matched by the cinematography and the soundtrack- which carry you along." Time Out, London "A dreamy, beautifully lensed tale...(where) characters spring to life with almost painful intensity." Deborah Young, Variety (Complete Article) "When the holiest of the holy rivers meets cinema, the result is sheer magic." Alain Corneau "Love and Ganges - a beautiful journey of cinema" Jean-Claude Carriere "A magnificent book of images." Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris "We are ushered into the depths of an unknown world which is also our own." Le Figaro, Paris "Breathtaking imagery, just as the stunning Zehra (the courtesan)..." L'Express "A portrait of India... Life, death, horror, beauty - in other words, sheer poetry. Figaroscope, Paris "Shunning cliches, mocking himself, Vijay Singh puts his name to a film where dream and reality mix harmoniously." La Vie, Paris "The long journey down the Ganges, with its colourful interludes and mysterious encounters, is an enchantment, a poetic dream." Les Echos "A fascinating travel film, dreamy and accessible." La Presse, Canada "Wonderfully acted... with a sense of humour." Globe and Mail, Canada "Poetic and magical." La Capital, Argentina "(Vijay Singh shows) a grip over the medium that's remarkable in a directorial debut." The Times of India (complete article) "Jaya Ganga is a film with a soul. A soul that holds a difficult subject together." The Outlook (complete article) "An ode to love and reincarnation" India Today "One of those rare films where nobody makes a bad move." The Pioneer "Vijay Singh excels as a
director in Jaya Ganga... a must see film that is a journey down the Indian
heritage." The Asian Age
PREVIEW Vishwaas is the latest offering
of Hindi film from Bollywood Downunder. Indian filmmaking started in Sydney
in
Circumstances have dictated
that all the present Indian movies produced in Sydney are in video format,
variously
Vishwaas is story of Raj
Sinha, a retired Indian heavyweight boxer living in Sydney, who is forced
out of
Vishwaas is shot in Sydney,
the scenes alternating between some spectacular urban and mountain scenes.
It
For more information please contact Satish Rai. Distributors wanted! | Cast and Crew for new projects also wanted!
|
 |
