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

Official Facebook Page for Season 2 DVD

Please Join. Show your support...

Cast & Crew Details - Secret Footage aka Jotugriho

1) The Voyage :

The Teenager : Souradeepta Chowdhury
The Mysterious Guy : Kamal Kumar Roy
The Just Murderer : Anamitra Roy
The Man Who Knows it all : Maitreyo Bhattacharya

& Abhishek Bhattacharya, Yovik, Dhritisundar Roychowdhury, Ayan Kumar Datta among others....

Camera : Sriparna Dey, Dhritisundar Roychowdhury
Production Control : Ritam Bhowmick, Atanu Dutta

Script, Concept, Direction : Anamitra Roy

2) The Encounter :

The Director : Yovik
The Man with the Gun : Abhishek Bhattacharya
The Girl : Srinka Mukherjee

Camera : Anamitra Roy, Dhritisundar Roychowdhury
Make - up : Sriparna Dey
Production Control : Ananda Das

Script, Concept, Direction : Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Secret Footage - Synopsis updated

As we announced earlier, Anamitra and Snigdhendu had taken up a joint venture, a film in two segments. The latest update about the project says that it would be released under the old name i.e Secret Footage (2011)
We already have gained the valuable support of 75 people on facebook and would love to have you there.
So Friends, here goes the full synopsis...

1)

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'.

2)
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.

Wait till January, 2011 to watch. The narrative is never the all of a film...

Project Subimal Misra Postponed for Undefined Period

The short film which was to be released this July based on maverick anti-establishment author Subimal Misra has been postponed for an undefined period. Without the author's cooperation we can't move forward with the project.

& Dear Sir,

one more thing to be noted. We don't work under conditions and that is the main reason we do not work with producers. Everyone associated to any of our projects must remember that.

Latest News

Anamitra Roy and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya are working together on a film for the Season 2 DVD. Of course Secret Footage would be a part of the venture. Update follows in a couple of weeks.

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

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 ....

Five No Budget Films 3: ... Athoba Bhoy-er Golpo (aka ... Or, A Horror Film)

...Athoba Bhoy-er Golpo (aka ...Or, A Horror Film) is inspired from a short story by Daniil Kharms, a little known Russian poet and short story writer. The film is about the paranoia inherent in the urban mindscape that prohibits oneself from fulfilling his/her desire.

One day, the nameless protagonist of the story comes across a stranger, and that triggers off a series of bizarre incidents in his otherwise event-less existence. He finds a dead body in his flat, he meets a girl who tries to seduce him, he desperately tries to get rid of the dead body... but, at the end, he becomes more confused than ever!

The film examines how power intervenes in our lives, almost imperceptibly, and then starts re-engineering our activities and desires.

...Athoba Bhoy-er Golpo (aka ...Or, A Horror Film)

Bengali, 2010, 19 min

Cast: Sankha Subhra Ganguly, Doelpakhi Dashgupta, Kanchan Sengupta

Cinematography: Arupratan Ghosh, Rajshekhar Das

Sound and Editing: Anamitra Roy

Costume: Pritha Chattopadhyay

Make Up: Sriparna Dey

Producion Control: Avishek Dashgupta, Pritha Chattopadhyay

Screenplay and Direction: Souva Chattopadhyay

...Athoba Bhoy-er Golpo--- Trailer

Production Stills

(Click on the images to view full size)

Five No Budget Films 2 : Jean-Luc Godard Had No Script

A Mimetic Approach Towards Cinema

The film is not a film at all, but merely a theatrical dress rehearsal captured on a miniDV. The title of the film is exploitative. This is not a spoof on Godard, even characters from Glauber Rocha invades the scene.

The basic concept of the film is to stage the way the colonized mind mimics the aesthetical value of European Art Cinema. The concept of 'Cinema' is being killed in the film where the director himself plays the character of Godard ( with lots of quotations from JLG's interviews) wearing a heavy make-up on his face while his hands reveal the original colour of his native skin.

He speaks to a critic on the very film being shot and introduces his five characters one by one. The dubbed soundtrack specifies the hierarchical altitude of the two of them.

The film unfolds by picking up threads and glimpses from various planes of reality and arranging them around a table.

Let the rest remain untold for the viewing. . . .

Jean-Luc Godard Had No Script

Bangla, 2010, 23 min

Cast : Anamitra Roy, Sumit Dey, Kamal Kumar Roy, Abhishek Bhattacharya, Sangbit Samaddar, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Arupratan Ghosh, Yovik

Concept Development, Camera, Godard's make-up : Sriparna

Assistant Director : Sumit Dey

Make-up : Kamal Kumar Roy

Production Control and Management : Kamal Kumar Roy, Pratik Mondal, Mithun Chakraborty, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Written, Directed & Edited by : Anamitra Roy

Jean-Luc Godard Had No Script - Trailer

Production Stills

(Click on the images to view full size)

Five No Budget Films 1: The Sand Book

The Sandbook (AKA Boita: Jibito o Hotyakari) is improvised from a short story by Jorge Luis Borges. The story moves with the landing of an amazing book in the hand of a scholer, who tries to understand "the internal ties in events occuring" in and around the book in order to go through it.

From Borges' story, however, only the concept of the book was borrowed. Then the film takes its own course, as ideas from Franz Kafka, Stiphen Hawking, the Upanishads and Mao also enter the scene. Reference from another Borges story also comes in.

What is the Sandbook after all? What are its charectaristics? Watch out to get get the answers.

The Sandbook (AKA Boi-Ta: Jeebito O Hatyakaree)

Bangla, 2010, 20 min

Cast: Kamal Kumar Roy, Abhishek Bhattacharyya, Arupratan Ghosh, Sumit De.

Director of Arts: Sripanra

Sound, Camera and Editing: Anamitra Roy

Production managers: Pratik Mondal and Ananda Dass

Screenplay and direction: Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Trailer of The Sand Book

Production Stills


(Click on the images to view full size)

Five No Budget Films (To be Released in 2010)

The Beginning

It all began with “Mrito Kanchan-er Lobh-e”. Just before that film was shot, Arupratan Ghosh, Anamitra Roy and Sriparna Dey (the latter two were already working on a no budget short at that point of time) had come in touch with each other, quite coincidentally, and it had been found that all of them shared a mutual love and affection for experimental film and literature. Names like Jonas Mekas, Chris Marker and Mani Kaul surfaced and acted as catalysts to make the bond stronger and more cohesive.

“Mrito Kanchan-er Lobh-e” was a cumulative effort and that triggered the idea of forming an independent group which would go on making no budget films at regular intervals.

Later, Souva Chattopadhyay, Sankha Subhra Ganguly, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Sumit De, Avishek Bhatacharyya and Yovik joined the initiative and the group started to take a definitive shape.

Emergence of a Self-Sustaining Group

In July 2009, the inception of the group, under the banner of “Little Fish Eat Big Fish”, was formally announced. It was also decided that the next venture of “Little Fish Eat Big Fish” would be a compilation of five no budget films, where five members of the group would make his/her own film.

It took us nearly six months to complete this project. All the five films were shot with a minimal budget and mostly using amateur casts and crews.

The most important aspect of this project was the emergence of "Little Fish Eat Big Fish" as a self-sustaining group of independent artists. Each member of the group took part in the film-making process in every possible ways.

For example, Arupratan Ghosh, apart from directing his own film, acted in two other films in this project and was the cinematographer in another one. Similarly, Anamitra Roy was the editor for all the five films and besides that, acted in his own film as well.

Forming a self-sustaining group is, we believe, a crucial part in pursuing the no budget track, as it ensures that the involvement of artists from professional domain, be it in acting, cinematography or editing, remains minimal. It also helps in keeping the cost within a specified limit which, for no budget films, is really minuscule.

Five No Budget Films: The Third Venture

'Five No Budget Films', the third venture of Little Fish Eat Big Fish, consists of the following short films (click on the titles to view in details)--

1. The Sand Book (aka Boi-Ta: Jeebito O Hatyakaree)
   

Bengali, 2010, 20 min

Directed by: Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

2. Jean Luc Godard Had No Script

Bengali, 2010, 23 min

Directed by: Anamitra Roy

3. …Athobaa Bhoy-er Golpo (aka … Or, A Horror Film)

Bengali, 2010, 19 min

Directed by: Souva Chattopadhyay

4. Antoraal (aka A Hiding)

Bengali, 2010, 15 min

Directed by: Arupratan Ghosh

5. Proti Biplob Deerghojibi Hok (aka Long Live (all) The Revolution)

Bengali, 2010, 20 min

Directed by: Sankha Subhra Ganguly

In the next few posts, we will elaborate on each of these five short films, with the trailers and production stills. Till then…

Crime and Punishment: The Second Venture

"Crime and Punishment" was the second film released under the banner of "Little Fish Eat Big Fish". It was written and directed by Sankha Subhra Ganguly, a student of mass communication and an incurable movie-buff.

"Crime and Punishment" was supported by Institute of Mass Communication Film & Television Studies. The film was sent to IBDA'A Awards 2009 in Film/TV Feature category.

Crime and Punishment

2009, Bengali/English, 20:33 min

Cast: Yovik, Kamal Kumar Roy

Cinematography: Debashish Adak

Make Up: Sriparna

Sound and Editing: Anamitra Roy

Written and Directed by: Sankha Subhra Ganguly

In Search of Dead Golds (Mrito Kanchan-er Lobh-e), 2009, Bengali, 12 mins

In Search of Dead Golds was the first no budget short film made under the banner of "Little Fish Eat Big Fish". It was written and directed by Arupratana Ghosh, a poet and writer.

Mrito Kanchaner Lov- e was shot in last winter (Dec'08), i.e., exactly one year ago. The December was not so soothing. In fact it was the hottest winter of the decade.

Digitally it appeared that urban memories, which are very discrete in nature, were giving an oblique structure to the film. We could merely stop them and hence touched the geographical end lines of our city marked by the age old river and the newly constructed super masculine highways , to talk a bit personally.

The things we deserve & those we hate, the awe some River & the splashing markets, our kisses to our girls & our desire for a story line – everything remained in a blue !

And The Hunters of the Blue – can I put the name of Mr. Brueghel , the fifth man who was with us in the car..

We chose a faded colour for the film.

Cut to Whites !

Cheers!!

Mrito Kanchan-er Lobh-e (In Search of Dead Golds)

Bengali, 2009, 12 minutes

Casting: Manab Sharma, Sriparna Dey, Anamitra Roy, Arkapratim

Camera: Arupratan Ghosh

Graphics: Sriparna

Production Control: Tata Mukhopadhyay

Sound and Editing: Anamitra Roy

Music: Dipyaman Ganguly

Written and Directed by: Arupratan Ghosh