3rd DSAFF is here! Nov 5th through the 8th!

People - the 3rd Dallas South Asian Film Festival is here!! It runs from Nov 5th through Nov 8th primarily at the Everest Theaters in Irving with a special closing night film - Ray's Jalsa Ghar - at the Dallas Museum of Art. We've got a really exciting line up with some really unique and very special films. Over the next few entries I will highlight my favorite and ones that you shouldn't miss. But first let me give you an opportunity to check out our program at http://dsaff.org.

3rd Annual DSAFF will be held Nov 5-8th 2004

We had to move up this year's festival since there are a bunch of big Hindi movies coming out starting with Veer Zarra on Nov 12th and more through the end of the year. We have a great line up of films and I will highlight each one that we will be showcasing over the next few days. We are currently working on finalizing our program - more on that by the end of this week.

BTW - run to the theater to watch the following two films: "What the Bleep do you Know?" and "The Motorcycle Diaries" ... Awesome ... awesome! Two of the best films of this year so far ...
Less than a month to go for the 3rd DSAFF ...

Shekhar Kapur in Big D

For all those who keep complaining ... "there's no culture in Dallas" ... "Dallas is so boring, yaar" ... "Dallas has such an uninspiring arts scene" ... and other such useless rants ... I have some news for you.

1) Come to the Angelika Film Center in Plano (Yes I said Plano) and meet Shekhar Kapur on Aug 26th. Yes I said Shekhar Kapur - the director of such films as Masoom, Mr. India, Bandit Queen (huge winner on the Festival Circuit) and of course the Oscar nominated Elizabeth. He will be in town for JUST ONE NIGHT - so come on by and meet him - interact with him - watch his last film (The Four Feathers) WITH him and ask him any question you'd like ...

2) In september we are working with the ASHA folks to screen two very special films ... Bariwali and Kandukondain Kandukondain.

3) And the 3rd Annual Dallas South Asian Film Festival shows up from Nov 19-21 - and we've got some really good content this year. Some very timely films which you can not miss - including Amol Palekar's latest directorial venture which is called "Anahaat".

So stop ranting about the bogus arts scene in Dallas and show up to these events. Ranting and complaining don't do jack.

See ya next thursday night ...

Worked all day

Worked all day today - on some key upcoming presentations for work. Not really the ideal way to spend a Sunday. But the typical workday is usually so disruptive you almost have to come home in order to find undistrubed quality work time. And you can be so much more productive! There must be a way to make yourself more efficient at work - but w/o resorting to not answering calls and completely shutting down email, it's not likely you're gonna be productive.

On friday night I went to watch the premiere of "Deadroom" - the new film by four directors Yen Tan, James Johnston, David Lowery and Nick Prendergast. You may remember Yen and James worked with me on Wedded Bliss - so I was nervous and excited for them. They pulled in a solid crowd and the film was great! What an achievement in such a short time. Definitely worth a watch - keep your eye out for this one. I am looking forward to watching it again. Congrats guys! You should be proud of yourselves! My fav part tho was James' intro to the film - his whacky sense of humor always gets me.

James (addressing the audience): "Is anyone in here a doctor?"Everybody in the audience is shaking their head ... "No".James: "Well then, there's no reason for anyone to have their cellphone on."

Loved that brother! Okay got to go - wifey is waiting on me to do the dishes. Honestly! :)

Aye!

Our screening at the Angelika is all set for June 21st. Word's out. We'll see you all there. Come early and hang out at the bar at the Mi Cocina or the new Cru Wine Bar at the wonderful Shops at Legacy and walk over to the spankin' new Angelika a little before 8pm to get your soda and popcorn and settle in for a free screening of the hilarious East is East.

Watched Shrek II and The Day After Tomorrow. Didn't like Shrek II - too much like the first one. The novelty is gone. Left my brain at the door for Day after Tomorrow - and I still got a headache - this time trying to ignore the obvious logic overlooks in the film. And it makes me sad that there are people out there who are leveraging the "science" in this film to make an environmental statement. Ppppllllllleeeeeaaaaazzzzzeeeeeee! You're better off driving a hybrid car and making a much stronger statement.

Also watched my man - Mani Rathnam's Yuva. Liked it. Although I felt like he was playing with the screenplay structure kinda like in Amorres Perres and 21 Grams - and even something similar to what he did w/ Alai Puthey. I didn't get into the Ajay Devagan story at all ... maybe it would have been better to stick to the Abhishek and Vivek threads. For some strange reason I was really drawn into the Kareena Vivek conversation ... I liked Kareena's no-makeup look. It was refreshing. Good to see her doing different things rather than the same old. And is this FINALLY the Abhishek breathrough movie! It is ... but if the box office doesn't pick up - not many people will remember him in it. And he continues to look for the one.

Current script has moved by one page - have been really busy with work and will continue to be busy through at least the middle of June. So don't expect to make any big strides over the next few weeks. But after that - I'm gonna speed through to finish the first draft. This one is real good. I am pretty excited about it. More on it some other day.

Oh ... tomorrow is my birthday. Happy Birthday dude! Gotta work some in the day but the night calls my name. And I will answer. :)

DSAFF is back!

Just opened up the Call for Entries for the 3rd Annual Dallas South Asian Film Festival which will be help in November 2004. We have already started talking to a few reputable filmmakers - and we are excited about some of the films we will be bringing this year!

We are also working up a free screening in June at the brand new Angelika theater in Plano! WOW! We are working to finalize the film right now - hopefully confirmed by tomorrow - so we can start publicizing.

Script is stuck on page 60. As I may have mentioned the one I am currently working is called "Nandini's Dilemna". I almost had a co-writer but lost him to another project but the quest continues. Target is to complete script this summer so that we can focus on putting the team together in Fall 2004 and lead us into the production in 2005.

Other scripts are in development stage. All I need is time ... and the world is mine!

All I need is time.

I wish there were ...

more seconds in a minute.

more minutes in an hour.

more hours in a day.

more days in a month.

more months in a year.

more years in a decade.

more decades in a century.

more centuries in a millenium.

All I need is time ...

... and the world is mine.

It's just a matter of ... ... time.

Keep an eye on the DSAFF site for info about free screening and upcoming fest. If you wanna help and are in the DFW area - give me a call or email me - we can use you.

Blah ...

Feeling a little blaaahhh today. Time to just lay back and chill. Think. Take it all in. Breathe it out. I feel like writing a poem - so here goes!

I WAIT ...

by devashish saxena

I wait ...

to see your eyes

to smell your hair

to touch your face

to kiss your forehead

I wait ...

patiently

with hope

with fear

anxiously

I wait ...

to hug you

to hold you in my arms

to watch you sleep

to buy you everything

I wait ...

lovingly

with my fingers crossed

with prayers

anxiously

I wait ... for your return.

(c) 2004 Devashish Saxena. All Rights Reserved.

Another day, another dollar.

So the Academy rewarded LOTR for three years of filmmaking. Sounds about right. Those guys definitely deserve it. Good to see Sean Penn finally win! Good for him! No surprises here - pretty much what was advertised. We saw PASSION over the weekend as well - it is quite an engaging movie. Regardless of how you feel about what is being shown - you have to give Mel Gibson and his team a lot of credit for followig through on what they really believe in! As a filmmaker I would have wanted to see some things done a little differently - would you want to go to a war movie - where all you saw was the war - almost in real time? Hmmm...

Hey Ya!

Well well it's almost the end of the 1st quarter. Random thoughts:

1. Oscars are on tomorrow night. Good to see Sean Penn and esp Naomi Watts nominated. Good to see that Nicole Kidman was not. You already know who gets my vote - but in case there was any doubt you can check out the nominees by clicking here)
   Best Film - Mystic River
   Best Director - Fernandon Meirelles (City of God)
   Best Actor - the man Seann Penn (Mystic River)
   Best Supporting Actor - Benecio Del Torro (21 Grams)
   Best Actress - the awesome Naomi Watts (21 Grams)
   Best Supporting Actress - Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog)
   Best Original Screenplay - Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things)
   Best Adapted Screenplay - Brian Helgeland (Mystic River)
   Best Foreign Language Film - Haven't seen any of these so I can't judge.
   Best Art Direction - LOTR-TROTK
   Best Cinematography - Seabiscuit
   Best Costume Design - The Last Samurai
   Best Documentary - The Fog of War
   Best Editing - def City of God
   Best Makeup - LOTR-TROTK
   Best Score - LOTR-TROTK
   Best Song - Triplets of Bellville
   Best Sound - Seabiscuit
   Best Sound Editing - LOTR-TROTK
   Best Visual Effects - LOTR-TROTK
   Remember the above are just my votes. NOT my prediction of who will win. That'd be a completely different list.
2. Also I want to revise my Top 10 Movies for 2003 as follows:
   21 Grams
   Dirty Pretty Things
   Mystic River
   City of God
   House of Sand and Fog
   In America
   Lost in Translation
   Kill Bill Vol 1
   Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
   Monster
   I had to lose Cold Mountain - the further I got from it the less I liked it - which was a little weird.
3. As far as Indian movies go forming a Top 10 Movies of 2003 is much more difficult for two reasons. In my opinion this was not a good year for Hindi movies, but I also have not seen some of the better smaller films. If I had to pick some of the good and the bad of this year it'd go something like this:
   The Good:
   Koi Mil Gaya
   Mr and Mrs Iyer
   Teen Deewarein
   Samay
   Probably Good (but I have yet to see):
   Pinjar
   Khakee
   Munnabhai MBBS
   The Bad:
   Kal Ho Na Ho
   Bhoot
   LOC Kargil
   Qayamat
   The Hero
   Do I need to keep going?
4. Oh I have started writing again. Currently I am working on three different scripts - more on these later. If you are inclined to want to help on our next production - you know what to do. Drop us an email dude/dudetee!
   That's it for now folks. Get back to work - is this what you're getting paid for?!