Billie Holiday turns 100 today. The talented jazz and blues singer was born on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia. “Lady Day” as she was popularly known was 44 years old when she passed away. But, what a life Holiday led filled with joy, happiness, pain, drugs, prison and music. And what a voice Holiday possessed. It was a… Continue Reading
Over 100 years ago a small group of Punjabis from British India made their way to the west coast of America in search of a better life. Many of them eventually moved to Yuba City in California, where they became successful farmers.Because of legal barriers the early settlers from India were not allowed to marry… Continue Reading
Noah Cowan is Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) that hosts the annual San Francisco International Film Festival. Cowan joined SFFS last year, and prior to that he spent a lot of his time at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). His last post was as artistic director of the Bell Lightbox… Continue Reading
The lineup of films, guests and events for the 58th San Francisco International FilmFestival (SFIFF) was announced yesterday. This year’s festival is an interesting mix that reflects the “spirit of the bay area,” as Noah Cowan put it. Cowan is the executive director of the San Francisco Film Society that hosts the annual film festival,… Continue Reading
That is Elon Musk in a 1999 documentary. He had just sold his first company Zip2.com for a little over $300 million, and was working on his second company called X.com which later on became PayPal when they acquired Confinity. Did you notice the last sentence he said in that video? He’d be happy if… Continue Reading
I finally saw “Life Itself,” a documentary about Roger Ebert, a well-known film critic with Chicago Sun-Times. The film is a warm portrait of Ebert and at times it is difficult to watch the film as we see him valiantly beat his cancer. The only reason I did not bail out was because of Ebert’s happy and… Continue Reading
The verdict is in for the high profile legal case between Ellen Pao vs. Kleiner Caufield Perkins and Byers (KCPB), the famous Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Pao lost the historic gender discrimination case against KCPB that was keenly followed by folks in Silicon Valley and around the world. Pao was a partner at Kleiner Perkins. She sued… Continue Reading
Art and films – that is what we are talking about with our guests in our upcoming interviews. Sherill Ingalls of San Jose Museum of Art talks about their current exhibit “Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India” that features 9 contemporary artists from India. Actors Tiya Sircar and Kosha Patel talk about their new… Continue Reading
Academy Award winner Danny Boyle of “Slumdog Millionaire,” is busy directing his latest movie in San Francisco bay area. And the new biopic is about Silicon Valley icon Steve Jobs. The shooting of the film started in the beginning of the year. The cast and crew has spent time filming in San Francisco and in locations around South… Continue Reading
San Francisco bay area has a rich history of filmmaking. The tradition goes all the way to the early 20thc when Niles Canyon near Fremont was home to the Silent Film Industry. Many silent films were produced in the studios of Niles Canyon. Fast forward to the late 1960s when Francis Ford Coppolo and George… Continue Reading
Louis Lumiere and Auguste Lumiere, the French inventors showed their first motion picture in Paris on March 22, 1895. They made the film using Cinematographe, which in turn was inspired by Thomas Edison’s invention Kinetascope. “Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory,” is less than a minute long and to use that hackneyed phrase the rest is history.… Continue Reading
Meet Lawrence Kasdan – writer, director and producer. He co-wrote the screenplay for George Lucas’s “Star Wars” trilogy, He worked with JJ Abrams on the latest Star Wars film “The Force Awakens,” that releases in December 2015. Kasdan was honored with a Maverick Spirit Award at the recent Cinequest Film Festival, which is where… Continue Reading
How is sound designed for a film? Ever wondered about it? We did and spoke with Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty to find out how he and his team worked on Shonali Bose’s “Margarita With A Straw.” Pookutty won an Oscar for his work in Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” “Margarita With A Straw,” is about… Continue Reading
American fruits and nuts in Bangalore you ask? Yes, you can find California pistachios, Washington apples and Oregon pears from big grocery stores to the corner mom and pop shops. According to one report California almonds rank fifth in the list of American exports to India.
“Miss India America” had its world premiere at the recently concluded Cinequest film festival in Silicon Valley. This humorous film examines the notion of ambition and the lengths to which we go to achieve our dreams. The film and the cast members got standing ovation from the audience. We spoke with Meera Simhan and Ravi Kapoor, the husband… Continue Reading
Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner’s new documentary “Merchants of Doubt,” is inspired by the book by the same name by Naomi Orsekes and Eric Conway. Kennar’s previous film is the award-winning “Food Inc.” that takes you behind the scenes of how the food industry operates. In this new film “Merchants of Doubt,” Kennar takes you behind the scene and shows… Continue Reading
Shonali Bose’s “Margarita With A Straw,” is the centerpiece of this year’s Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Festival at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre on March 15, 2015. We spoke to Bose about “Margarita With A Straw,” a coming-of-age film, which she describes as a deeply personal film. The story is about a differently abled person’s… Continue Reading
Food is the centerpiece of many Asian-American communities in the USA.There is absolutely no question about that and I can vouch for it. What are we eating today is a daily conversation in my family, and we cook everyday. And there are many memories and stories woven around food in my family. And food is… Continue Reading
India – that is subject of the latest edition of Granta, a British literary magazine founded in 1899 in Cambridge University. The India special has stories, poems, photos and artwork by new and well-known folks like Upamanyu Chatterjee, Neel Mukerjee, Kalpana Narayanan, Aman Sethi, Hari Kunzru, Anjali Joseph, Gauri Gill, Rajesh Vangad and others. A… Continue Reading
Wedding brass bands are a big part of Indian weddings. These bands grew out of the military brass bands in British India as ethnomusicologist Prof. Greg Booth explains. Imagine my surprise when a few years ago I stumbled upon Red Baarat, a brass band from New York. This 8-piece band was started by Sunny Jain… Continue Reading
Anne Thompson lives, breathes, talks and writes about films. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Thompson on Hollywood at Indiewire. She is the author of the book “The $11 Billion Dollar Year.” She teaches a course on films at UCLA. A prolific writer Thompson has written for Variety, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Washington… Continue Reading
Apple Watch was not the only thing that CEO Tim Cook and his team announced yesterday at their much anticipated March Spring Forward event in San Francisco. They announced a clutch of new products and services like an all-new MacBook, MacBook Pro, ResearchKit and HBO NOW on Apple TV. In case you missed here are… Continue Reading
“Make It Happen” is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. Everyday millions of women make it happen for themselves, their family and the society around the world. Over the years I have interviewed many women from different walks of life and have been lucky to talk to them about their lives and how… Continue Reading
Stanley Kubrick, the multifaceted filmmaker passed away on this day in 1999. Kubrick was born in New York, but spent most of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He started off as a photographer and went on to become a filmmaker. His film repertoire includes “Spartacus,” “Lolita,” “Dr. Strangeglove,” “The Space Odyssey,” “Clockwork Orange,” “Full… Continue Reading
If you have ever watched a silent picture in a cinema hall then you know what the whole experience is like.The silent film is usually accompanied by a live musician or an orchestra and it is an absolute treat to be transported back in time. There is an interactive element to the whole experience and you don’t… Continue Reading
Masashi Niwano, Festival director of San Francisco-based Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) breaks it down for us on what to expect at this year’s annual CAAMFest. This is one of the oldest and largest film festivals that has grown over the years and now includes food and music as part of its offerings. This… Continue Reading
Starting next week San Francisco bay area residents are in for an unusual treat of films, food and music from different parts of the world with an Asian American theme. It is time for the annual CAAMFest the oldest Asian American film festival in the US. This year the festival runs from March 12-22, 2015… Continue Reading
Happy Holi to all those celebrating it around the world. Today is Holi, a Hindu festival of colors that heralds the dawn of spring. This happy and riotous festival is celebrated on the last full moon day of the winter and is marked with people playing with colors. Holi is about the triumph of good… Continue Reading
Dalrymple examines the transformation of East India company and points out it that should serve as a lesson for the present. He argues that “the East India Company – the first great multinational corporation, and the first to run amok – was the ultimate model for many of today’s joint-stock corporations.” He underscores… Continue Reading
What are the sounds of Bollywood music? What are the various influences that shaped and continue shape Bollywood music? If you delve deep into the subject of Bollywood music as Prof. Jayson Beaster- Jones has done, you will discover all sorts of musical influence from jazz, big band to gypsy music and hip-hop. American music… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 