Cinema

In the beginning, of course, there was no cinema as we understand it today. It took 20 years for the novelty of 1895 to transform into an industry. The earliest films were inane snapshots, roughly a minute in length, and often made up of a single shot. Not many dared to experiment initially. But slowly, by 1905, the average duration increased to roughly 5-10 minutes, and even employed changes of scene and camera position to illustrate a story or a theme. The cinema of the period between the mid...

A little more than a 100 years ago, a 20-year-old girl who barely knew the facts of life, accidentally became pregnant. At the turn of the 20th century when the very idea of single mothers would have been outlandish and scandalous even in Europe, this gritty young woman refused to marry the would-be-father. She brought up the child on her own. The life of Asta Nielsen (born 1881) today is canned history, but if one were to be told about her, it would be no surprise to know that the first truly...

“Of everything other than thought, there can be no history.” RG Collingwood, The Idea of History Watersheds, when looked at closely – as film historian Eric Rhode wrote – become less distinctive once one delves deep into them. And to be just to the progenitors of cinema, no single discovery or invention was isolated – everything was built on a previous milestone or observation. The roots of cinema were lost in spools of films when the world paid homage to Auguste and Louis Lumiere on December 28...

The Indian film industry is one of the largest in the world, and Indian cinema is unmatched in its variety. Tracing the history of Indian cinema through the traditional methods is not tedious – it is too gargantuan a task. This is just an occasional attempt to revisit the Indian film history, and look at various aspects that have made Indian films so memorable, through different prisms. This time, we take a look at 10 celebrated, creative collaborators. There would be needless to say, problems...

Reliance Entertainment has gone overboard after obtaining a John Doe order from the Delhi High Court to prevent piracy of its film Bodyguard, that was released this week. The company has sent over two thousand notices to internet service providers, seeking bans on file-sharing websites, and website owners, requesting them to find and remove all offending content that is currently hosted on their websites or may be uploaded in future. The court order restrains websites, cable operators and ISPs...

Mainstream Hollywood cinema is cliche-ridden. All cliches start as facts, and then they become what they are. After a point, many become irritants. Here's my pick of the 25 most irritating ones: Let’s get out of here! Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Don’t you die on me! Breathe, dammit! Cover me. I’m going in. You can't do this to me. I'm a American citizen. You’d better come in. Follow that car! I’m not leaving you. Is this some kind of sick joke? What seems to be the problem, Officer? I...

Women who win the Best Actress Oscar are at a higher risk of divorce than nominees who do not win. On the other hand, Best Actor winners do not experience an increase in the risk of divorce after an Oscar, a new study insists. Tiziana Casciaro, an assistant professor of organisational behaviour at the Rotman School of Management, studied the marital graphs of 751 nominees in the best actor and actress categories of the Academy Awards between1936 to 2010. The results, which have been published...

The three-day Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival, which brings together eight extraordinary films from around the world that deal with human rights issues, gets under way in New Delhi on Thursday. The films urge people to reflect, react, revolutionalise and act as a ‘flashpoint’ to usher in change. The festival has already been held in Mumbai from December 8-10, 2010. The New Delhi edition would include special focused thematic screenings and panel discussions. The eight documentaries to be...

By the time you read this piece, there might well be some developments on the front that this write-up is about. The core issue, however, will remain. It’s about the film producers being up in arms over the proposed changes to the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010. The Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Oscar Fernandes has submitted its report on the Bill and may well become law soon. It is a 118-page report, and by far one of the most exhaustive such documents to have been produced...

Amazon.com Inc is entering film production with a website that will allow aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers to submit scripts and films that could eventually hit the screens. The Web retail giant announced on Tuesday the launch of Amazon Studios in a partnership with Warner Bros Pictures. To start with, Amazon Studios (http://studios.amazon.com) is offering $2.7 million for "top submissions" of scripts and test films received by December 31, 2011. Those would subsequently be developed as...