Replica (2012)

Sriparna Dey has started shooting her forthcoming film Replica (2012). The story revolves around a teenage photographer who stays with his father. The boy (played by Twish Mukherjee) is haunted by a painting he has never seen in his real life. He is not even sure whether it's a painting or not but the image keeps on appearing repeatedly like a vision. He feels that someone is trying to communicate with some message that he must receive. While searching the root of this uncommon phenomenon the untold history of his root gets unfolded to the teenager.

Fresh Good News

Today Season Two: No Budget Film (2011) released on Karagarga
The URL is here for KG members : Click Here

and Finally Five No Budget Films (2010) is released on Public tracker The Pirate Bay
Click Here to download

Mr. Director (2012) - Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Campaign started for Snigdhendu's forthcoming film Mr. Director (2012). The film would be released in the 3rd compilation of LFEBF.


 Khyapa Tui Na Jene by Indie FM Bangla 

A Formal Post

Our blog has long been inactive but that must not make you think that the forum has also been inactive like it. We  are steadily moving forward to the 3rd release. Sriparna Dey has started writing the screenplay for her 2nd film. Snigdhendu Bhattacharya is developing his own script. Abhishek Bhattacharya is still busy with concept development whereas Arupratan Ghosh has dropped 'Shilpanchal' and taken up a new project. Anamitra Roy is shooting Smriti...Mrito Janopaud aka Memories of a Dead Township and also started the campaign for the film.




Anamitra has also composed the theme music for the film. Click below to listen to it...

Memories of a Dead Township Theme (Flute) by Indie FM Bangla

That's all for today
From now on we'll try to update the blog at least once every month

Thanks for staying with us

Updates: Annual Meet, 2011

Lenin is jailed!

The spot where we used to meet every year is now ironically fenced with iron bars. It’s locked and no one can get in. It was a popular hang-out for many others. People who missed their buses, drunkards seeking solitude, lovers without enough money to rent a room, prostitutes looking for customers --- everyone waited here.

And now it’s locked! Not a restricted but a no-entry zone! These things happen in Kolkata, in the great silence of the city.

This year we had to find a place in front of the Ochterlony Monument (Shaheed Minar). Arupratan Ghosh, Anamitra Roy, Sriparna Dey, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Maitreyo Bhattacharya, Deborshi Banerjee, Debjit Bagchi, Anirban Paul & Chiranjit Dey Sharma attended the talk. Abhishek Bhattacharya, Twish Mukherjee, Sayak Shome & Ayan Datta could not come due to inevitable circumstances.

Amongst many other things we decided to explore newer forms like unconventional music video this year. We decided to arrange screenings in Kolkata and suburbs before opting out for other states and cities. Moreover, we planned to release the next compilation in December so that we can reach out to more and more venues like literary fairs held at small towns during the month. So the last date of film submission for the forthcoming project is 15th November, 2011.

Arupratan Ghosh has announced his next short film Shilpanchal aka The Industrial Zone. It would be completed by September.

Anamitra Roy is making Smriti...Mrito Janopaud aka Memories of a Dead Township (to be completed in August)

Abhishek Bhattacharya would come up with Portrait of an Actor  within proper date and time.

Sriparna Dey, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya and  Deborshi Banerjee also placed their thoughts to come up with new films for the project while others are still uncertain.

Talks and thought sharing would be there throughout the whole year.

So long!

Annual Meeting, 2011

This year's annual meeting will be held on the 25th of  March, 5:30 pm onwards at the said venue in Esplanade area. Any and every truthful independent filmmaker from Bengal is welcome.

If you are willing to participate, please come to Esplanade by 5 pm and call us.

Phone no: 91-9883103809, 91-9143251670, 91-9883504512, 91-9432860086

Thanks.

Seasonal Update

Talk less and work more, that's the new policy. Till date, most of the film-buffs in Kolkata have heard of us in a positive or negative way. We are getting recognition rapidly in other cities across the country too. For instance, now we have a number of friends in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. May be someday, we'd be able to screen our films in small coups in other states.
So, talking less is important because the more you'd talk the more your depression is likely to talk through your voice and that's how we turn our friends into enemies. It's like 'Awww! Look at their attitude!' So, keeping it quite is necessary.
But of course, if someone tries to create hindrances or gets in the way just slap'em! And slap'em hard! Or you might opt to spit on their faces; it's a matter of choice you see!

Starting from January 12, we could distribute 102 copies of our latest production Season Two: No Budget Films (2011) while the first one is still in demand. People are still asking for copies of Five No Budget Films (2010). After the torrent release of the same on Pass the Popcorn and Karagarga the updated distribution figure of the production stands at 299 (150 DVDs + 143 downloads on PTP + 6 Downloads on KG). That's quite good we assume.
Season Two compilation released on internet from Zinemaya.com on the 28th of January, 2011


Meanwhile, Anamitra Roy was featured on Film Courage with David Branin and Karen Worden.
Read the article here.


This year LFEBF attended it's first film festival (21st-25th Feb). We don't like such openings usually and that has been the reason of not attending a single one till date. But this fest was something else in spirit. Bring Your Own Film Festival (BYOFF, 2011) helped us in finding new like-minded friends and making new acquaintances. We met Mr. Surya Shankar Dash who runs a people's video magazine called 'Madhyantara' (Periodical [probably]) and they come up with new editions every six months. They are making films against the state-sponsored violence and oppression on the general people of Orissa. It's a magnificent effort everyone should be aware of.
It was good to know that Mr. Surya was keeping a track of our works for sometime. 


We could not screen Memories_Alternate Cut by Abhishek Bhattacharya at BYOFF as no one associated to the film was present there. Basontogatha (Ballad of The Spring) and Chhobi Somporke Du-ek ta Kotha (Two or Three Things about Visuals) received quite an applause while Jotugriho (Secret Footage) was a bit down. It was the closing film of BYOFF and everyone was in a party mood. So the film could not get sufficient peers.


There's a lot more to be done. The annual meeting is going to be held this month. For the new visitors, it's an informal gathering of the Little Fishes to talk about strategy, tactics and taking new resolutions. Anyone willing to participate in our initiatives can attend the discussion. For date, time and venue keep an eye on the blog.


Thanks.

Book Fair Updates on January 29th aka GUILD-CHANDALI

Friends,

from yesterday we are unable to distribute our copies openly in the Book Fair due to hindrances from the guild. The problem started on the 27th. During the evening some guild officials came to table no. 157 aka Guruchandali. They tried to gather information about the films and the forum etc and instructed not to sale DVDs in the little magazine pavilion. They said that the pavilion is strictly meant for little magazines only and DVDs or such things should be sold from the IT pavilion. Yesterday they came again and threatened that they would be bound to throw Guruchandali out of the corner if the magazine does not stop selling DVDs. "It was there in the conditions. Haven't you read them?"they added.

So, from today, we suppose, we won't be able to distribute our copies in the open. If you come looking for one please contact one of these numbers to collect your copy.

Anamitra: 9883103809 / 9143251670

Sriparna: 9883504512

Arupratan: 9432860086

Snigdhendu: 9330948167

Debarghya: 9007336434

If the conditions don't change our copies won't be available after the 1st day of February.

We believe we produce an annual little magazine of films every year. That's what we take our no-budget films for. They can't stop our distribution this way!

Season Two

DVDs would be available from today at table No. 157, Guruchandali in Little Magazine Pavilion of Kolkata Book Fair, 2011.

Thanks.

Subimal Misra: Shot @ Underground

Subimal Misra: Shot @ Underground was planned as a film focused on the maverick anti-establishment author and his works. It was the first audio-visual project we took up, me, Snigdhendu and Sriparna, even before the formation of Little Fish Eat Big Fish. Arupratan Ghosh was talked into playing a character which was later portrayed by Abhishek Bhattacharya (Codename: Mahesh Chowdhury). Another character was played by Sumit Dey. Souva Chattopadhyay contributed to the film financially. It was a 25 minutes' short film. The incomplete version that is available now misses two major sequences that were included in the original script. We planned a Subimal on Subimal sequence that needed chroma keying. But the author was never ready to get out of his house and if you've ever been there you know of course it is impossible to set even a baby light inside his room! So, we had to reject that idea. Not only that, we had to drop the whole film due to lack of cooperation from the authors' end.

It went on like this, at first, when we approached Mr. Misra for the film he was overwhelmed and said "Although I have total faith in you people and your works or enthusiasm for activism I'd like to be a part of it. Please consider to share your ideas with me from time to time." It was just after the publication of Byas Khasra Sankhya. He was totally mesmerized with the cut-up Subimal Misra Jumpcut aka Asole Eti Subimal Misrer Golpo Hoe Uthte Parto. Then as the time passed by we realized that he expects nothing more than a biographical documentary from us and we were never ready produce a crap like that. We had our ideas more developed with the time and then his supervision started. You see, everytime we had to send a copy of the rush and a copy of the thing we had edited out of that. He used to say "I must know whether I have or haven't said something that doesn't quite goes with my image on the camera." We didn't object. We wanted the film to materialize but it was frustrating. He started behaving like a producer, shouting on the phone "How the hell can you edit the raw footage without my permission". It was not all his fault. There were some guys from Bangladesh, South India and Gujrat who kept on poking him on these issues. Subimal spoke of them several times without mentioning their names. Then Mr. Dhiman Dasgupta entered the scene. All we wanted was a voiceover from him but he kept on insisting that we should show him first on the screen, establish his identity and then we can use the voiceover through out the film till the end. And at the end we must show him again during the last part of his piece. We told him that we are not planning a documentary. He replied "You are only a child. You don't have enough knowledge about films. That's how films are made, you can't go beyond that!" The author himself by this time wanted a 'total view' of the 'thing we are going to make'! I sent him a letter via post. It consisted the whole screenplay and my take on the same. After a week Subimal replied to Snigdhendu on the phone

"

I couldn't make a sense out of that!

"

There were no cards left for us to play! We sent the whole thing and he, in turn, refused to cooperate! We don't like to work under conditions, we had to stall the project right there. We were busy with other productions too. LFEBF, the forum, was more than a year older and it was the time for the first release Five No Budget Films (2010). After that, we tried to convince the author once or twice over the phone but showed no ultra-enthusiasm. Subimal was rigid at his point. He wanted us to put even his mother in the film!

He never understood, or understood but was never ready to grant that he was not important at all for the film. It was his works, statements that we wanted to play with.

Where he lived in childhood or what school he attended was not of our interest.

In the month of September, 2010 Mr. Nilotpal Roy called Snigdhendu and suggested that we should stop the campaign and announce if we are not going to complete the film. In response I made a post on the blog.

And that was the end.

This January, I came to know via Youtube feed that someone called Basab Mukherjee has made a three and a half hour long 'Biographical Documentary' on Subimal Misra. Moreover, Dhiman Dasgupta and Nilotpal Roy are also featured in it with considerably good screen time! We congratulate them and express our sincere thankfulness to the spirit of the good work. We never wanted to make an ad film for the anti-establishment author, that was 'our fault'. In fact, if we could complete the film we'd have considered this title too -- Asole Eti Subimal Misrer Bigyapon Hoe Uthte Parto. Not only Mr. Dasgupta and Mr. Roy, we'd like to thank Harper Collins Publishers India Ltd too for publishing Subimal's works. Now, we have no reasons left to repent or regret. Yes, Mr. Misra is the maverick anti-establishment author from Bengal and according to his theory Ananda Bazar Publication is an institution but Harper Collins Publishers India Ltd is diffrent and not the same!

So, friends we've learnt a lot from the author. He was not, but his works were important to us.

Long live the anti-establishment!

Long live Subimal Misra!

Harper Collins Zindabaad!

- Anamitra Roy

SEASON TWO: NO BUDGET FILMS

Time and again we have been told that film making is a costly

affair. You need good cameras, lights, large crews, extravagant sets

and what not. All of these cost a pretty hefty amount of money.

We are a self-somposed group of independent artists trying

to express ourselves creatively through the film-media

without seeking any help from producers or financiers.

This is the 2nd season we are opting for a direct to DVD

release again.

This year we are releasing four films together

1) Basontogatha (2010)

Ballad of the Spring

Bengali, 14:46 min

Dir: Arupratan Ghosh

Watch the Trailer

BasantoGatha (Duration 15 Mnts) was shot during March- April '10, using a Canon Digital Camera (Non SLR). The ephemeral senses of those evenings in Kolkata and suburb surely added gestures of its own kind into the images. The fake blood , dropping down from the heart of the city, slapped me in the last day of shooting.

Nevertheless , we used few lines from “Hawa” (The Wind), a collection of poems By Arup Ghosh, in the film.
The arrows are much straighter this time! Hope all of us will have a comprehensive viewing of the film.

2) Jotugriho (2011)

Secret Footage

Bengali, 61:24 min

Dir: Anamitra Roy & Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Watch the Trailer

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The Voyage: Souradeepta is a trendy teenager from a small township somewhere in Bengal. Being abducted by a mysterious guy he comes to know about a worldwide conspiracy against the cultural identity and versatility of human being. He was suggested to visit Kolkata in order to understand the all of it. Being both inspired and confused Souradeepta arrives at Kolkata where he conducts a survey amongst the youth, meets 'the guy who knows it all' and lights up a cigarette for 'the just murderer'.

The Encounter: Another mysterious guy who already had a screen appearance in the first segment abducts Avik and asks him about 'the mission'. Now-a-days, Avik has become a part of the corporeal city. He walks on the streets with thousands of distracting self-images around him. He is an award-winning filmmaker planning his next film on some novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. Say the doggy dog world, he is in for it.
At the end of the film, Avik is re-introduced to an old text to see if he could recognize it.

3) Memories_Alternate Cut (2011)

Bengali, 22:40 min

Dir: Abhishek Bhattacharya

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"I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die."
-Kevin Spacey (American Beauty)

4) Chhobi Somporke Du-ek ta Kotha (2011)

Two or Three Things about Visuals

Bengali, 26:36 min

Dir: Sriparna Dey

Watch the Trailer

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In a private library a lonesome painter finds an old painting without a signature and his life changes all of a sudden. The this line between reality and dream evaporates. He starts to feel that he is living a nightmare and would never be able to come out of it...

Total Runtime: 125 minutes approximately.

Participatory Contribution Rs.100/- or more

The release is scheduled in Little Magazine Fair at

Rabindrasan, Kolkata on the evening (5:30 pm)

of 12th January, 2011

Come, join us

Support the no-budget wave...

For us, film is not an industry, rather an activism.

It is not all about gloss.

Regards

Five No Budget Films - PTP Release.

Enjoy!

Five No Budget Films on Pass The Popcorn

A Big Loss!!

Abhishek da (Mr. Abhishek Dasgupta) passed away late night yesterday (02.01.11). He was a lively joyous young guy who contributed a lot during our previous production. All the staircase sequence in "...Athoba Bhoy-er Golpo" aka "Or,a Horror Film" by Souva Chattopadhyay was shot at his house in Baje Shibpur, Howrah. He worked as one of the production controllers for the film. Moreover, he covered the release of Five No Budget Films (2010) in last book fair on behalf of electronic media (R Plus).

Just received the sad news today. It's unbelievable. Doctors reported that he was suffering from Liver Cancer not recognized earlier.

We mourn this untimely occurrence.....lost a invaluable friend of ours.....

Five No Budget Films (2010) Torrent released on Karagarga

The title explains it all.
For KG users, check out: http://karagarga.net/details.php?id=112106
or click, Five No Budget Films on KG

Cheers!