Resolutions : Taken on 18th March

The annual meeting that was announced earlier on this blog has taken place on the scheduled date and time. Members present at the meeting are Arupratan, Anamitra, Sriparna, Sumit, Snigdhendu and Pratik. Others who couldn't come due to certainly arouse conditions but kept in touch with us are Souva, Abhishek, Mainak and Dhriti. On the basis of all its members' consent, the LBEBF has taken the following resolutions in the meeting.

Resolutions:
1. The members have decided to submit a minimum subscription of Rs.50/- per month to keep the LFEBF running. The fund raised by this monthly subscription is to be spent on keeping all the promotional activities alive throughout the year.

2. The yet unsold 30 copies are the last copies of the '5 No Budget Films, 2010'- packaged edition. After these, the packaged edition will no longer be available. Only the pouch edition will be there to buy.

3. Our next project is to release 8-10 no-budget short films (duration 10 minutes each) in one DVD on the 1st day (Which shall be the 11th January) of Kolkata Little Magazine Fair, 2011. All the members are hereby informed that the last date for submission of rush is 15th December, 2010. Some of the directors have alredy announced their date of completion -------

Arupratan Ghosh - Spring Tale - 31st May
Sriparna Dey - Two or Three Things .... About Visuals - 30th June
Anamitra Roy - Secret Footage - 31st August
Snigdhendu Bhattacharya - (Not Announced Yet) - 30th September
Souva Chattopadhyay - (Not Announced Yet) - 15th December
Pratik Mondal - (Not Announced Yet) - 15th December

But before all these a long awaited film is going to release in the month of July. The film that brought Anamitra, Sriparna, Snigdhendu, Pratik together with Sumit and Abhishek.

Subimal Misra is Dead

(aka) Subimal Misra: Shot @ Underground

(aka) Asole Eti Subimal Misrer Biggyapon Hoe Uthte Parto

A short film on the maverick and audacious experimentalist anti-establishment Bengali author Subimal Misra. An LFEBF presentation in association with Byas (Bengali Little Magazine), Abosardanga (Bengali Little Magazine), www.kalojournal.com and of course Open Secret.

We guess a little surprise is waiting for the readers in the next post of this blog. Keep visiting. Good bye. Best regards from the house of LFEBF

The Annual Meeting on 18th March

The annual meeting of LFEBF is being held on March 18, 2010 in front of the statue of Lenin at Esplanade. Individuals willing to participate please post comments here or contact Sriparna (9903998708), Anamitra (9883103809), Arupratan (9432860086) or Mainak (9836833606).

Be there within 5:30 in the evening.

We repeat, no one is going to be informed personally. Just follow the blog to stay in touch.

Stay for the cause....

A Refreshing Start: Our Next Project

Arupratan Ghosh has started shooting his forthcoming film today. This is going to be his fourth film. It's a ten minutes short being shot in a digital camera. LFEBF is planning to announce the next venture, an anthology of ten minutes short no-budget films. The project will be finalized in the next LFEBF meeting. Anamitra, Sriparna, Snigdhendu, Abhishek and Pratik have already started developing and putting their concepts into shape.

Yes,

the child has cried and it is healthier than we ever expected.

[To All The Members of LFEBF:

Please follow the blog regularly. The date of the next meeting is going to be posted here in the next two or three days. No one is going to be informed personally. Remember, may be we are friends or enemies or comrades or whatever, may be we have a drink or a fight when we meet but right now the warfare has begun and everyone shall stick together. As your participations were voluntary in the last project i.e '5 No-Budget Films, 2010' we expect you again to be there this time. But frankly, we don't know anything about your personal state of mind. How much is left within you after all these. If you are here for the cause, stay for the cause.... and if you are here because your friends are making films and you think you should be making one too, just leave. We don't want anymore problems to be caused due to misconceptions ( if you have one, you know what is being said). Everyone is very much important but no individual is really important that much.... you know it.

Follow the blog...post your responses as comments. That's all. You will be informed timely before any and every event.]

Anyone interested to participate and help is cordially invited to the Meeting.

Tell Iran to Free Jafar Panahi Immediately : Sign the Petition

S.O.S

IT'S AN EMERGENCY...

On March 2nd it was reported that the director of THE WHITE BALLOON had been imprisoned by the Government of Iran. He is still being detained. We've just been informed by the 'Hope For Film' network through an e-mail that a petition, to be sent to the authorities in Iran, is calling for signatures. The petition states ---

"To: The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

We call on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the immediate release of internationally respected Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Pahani, (winner of the Camera d' Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival ) and his family and dependents.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned"

On the 1st of March, Panahi was arrested from his home along with his wife Tahere Saidi, daughter Solmaz Panahi and 14 of his friends by plainclothes officers and taken to theEvin Prison.^[8] Most were released 48 hours later, but Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof remain in ward 209, and Mehdi Pourmoussa in another ward inside Evin Prison.^[9] Worst of all is that Panahi's arrest has been confirmed by the government, but charges have not been specified yet. Probably, they have arrested him again for his "anti-islamic" activities.

Abbas Kiarostami published an open letter in a Tehran newspaper to protest the incident. --------

"I don’t quite know to whom I am addressing this letter, but I do know why I’m writing it and I believe that under the circumstances it is both critical and inevitable because two Iranian filmmakers, both of whom are vital to the Iranian wave of independent cinema, have been incarcerated.

As a filmmaker of the same independent cinema, it has been years since I lost hope of ever screening my films in my country. By making my own low-budget and personal films, it has also been years since I lost all hope of receiving any kind of aid or assistance from the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic culture, the custodian of Iranian cinema.

In order to make a living, I have turned to photography and use that income to make short and low-budget films. I don’t even object to their illegal reproduction and distribution because that is my only means of communicating with my own people. For years now I have not even objected to this lack of attention from the ministry and cinema tic authorities .

Even if we choose to disregard the fact that for years now, the cinematic administrators of the country, who constitute the main cultural body of the government, have differentiated between their own filmmakers (insiders) and independent filmmakers (outsiders), I am still of the opinion that they are oblivious of Iranian independent cinema. Filmmaking is not a crime. It is our sole means of making a living and thus not a choice, but a vital necessity.

I have found my own solutions to the problem. Independent of the conventional and customary support granted to the cinematic community at large, I make my own short and independent films with hopes of gaining some credit for the people I love and a name for the country I come from. Sometimes the necessity to work calls for the making of films beyond the borders of my country, which is ultimately not out of personal choice or taste.

However, others, like Jafar Panahi, have for years tried to summon official government support, exploring the same frustrating path, only to be confronted with the same closed doors. He too has for years held hopes of obtaining public screenings for his films and receiving official aid and assistance from the relevant governmental bodies. He still believes that based on the merits of his films and the acclaim they have brought the country, he can seek legal solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Guidance and Islamic culture is directly responsible for what is happening to Jafar Panahi and his like. Any wrongdoing on his part, if there is any at all, is a direct result of the mismanagement of officials at the cinematic department of the Ministry of Guidance and it’s inadequate policies which in no way leave any choice for the filmmaker other than to resort to means that jeopardize his situation as a filmmaker. He too makes a living through cinema.

For him too, filmmaking is a vital necessity. He needs to make himself heard and has the right to expect cinematic officials to facilitate the process, rather than become the major obstacles themselves. Perhaps the officials at the ministry can not at present be of help in solving Jafar Panahi’s dilemma, but they need to know that they are and have been responsible all these years, for the dreadful consequences and unpleasant and anti-cultural reflections of such policies in the world media.

I may not be an advocate of Jafar Panahi’s radical and sensational methods but I do know that the cause for his plight is not a result of choice but an inevitable [compulsion].

He is paying for the conduct of officials who have for years closed all doors on him, leaving open small passages and dead end paths.

Jafar Panahi’s problem will eventually be solved but there are numerous young people who have chosen the art of cinema as their means of expression and careers.

This is where the duty of the government and the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture, as the government’s main cultural body, becomes even more critical, for they face a large group of Iranian youth who aim to work independently and away from complicated official procedures and existing prejudices.

Jafar Panahi and Mahmoud Rasoulof are two filmmakers of the Iranian independent cinema, a cinema that for the past quarter of a century has served as an essential cultural element in expanding the name of this country across the globe. They belong to an expanded world culture, and are a part of international cinematic culture. I wish for their immediate release from prison knowing that the impossible is possible. My heartfelt wish is that artists no longer be imprisoned in this country because of their art and that the independent and young Iranian cinema no longer faces obstacles, lack of support, attention and prejudice.

This is your responsibility and the ultimate definition of your existence."

Abbas Kiarostami / 1388.12.18 [March 9, 2010] / Tehran

According to The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a source close to Panahi said: “Over the past years, Ministry of Intelligence authorities have summoned Jafar Panahi to different investigation offices of the Ministry in different locations and have questioned him. In one of these meetings he was told, ‘Just because you are a famous filmmaker, you mustn’t think that we are unable to arrest you. We can arrest you whenever we decide."

We protest this nasty politics of the Iranian government. If you are with Panahi please sign this petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/FJP2310/petition.html

Make your voice heard. It can make a difference.

Five No Budget Films: 2nd Edition: DVD Release on 13th March,2010

We are glad to announce that 2nd edition of the DVD containing all the five no budget films will be released on 13th March,2010, at Kolkata Maidan.

The price of the DVD package is Rs. 100/-

On this occasion a Pouch Edition of the DVD is also being released. The price of the this edition of the DVD is Rs. 50/-

Copies will not be available anywhere except the screening venues (informations will be posted shortly on this blog). You can get your copy from LFEBF members too.

Call for your copy:

[For Kolkata, Howrah, 24 PGS, Hooghly & Nadia]

Arup (9432860086), Anamitra (9883103809), Sriparna (9903998708), Pratik (9804202863), Snigdhendu (9330948167), Ananda (9831396945), Sumit (9051226823), Abhishek (9874294708)

[For Delhi]

Souva (+91-9811839083)

Or Write Us:

littlefisheatbigfish@gmail.com

Raise your hands in support of the non-industrial mode of film-making ....