I sit down to talk with John Turner director of Korla, a documentary that takes you on a fascinating journey on Korla Pandit’s music and life. Pandit was a talented musician, who was the person to perform live on American TV. Pandit performed on KTLA in Los Angeles in 1949. He was eventually replaced by… Continue Reading
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s award-winning film The Salesman (Forushande in Persian) centers around the notion of love, friendship, trust, revenge and forgiveness. If you have seen Farhadi’s previous films like About Elly or The Separation you know they leave you with more questions than answers. In The Salesman Farhadi skillfully peels layer after layer and… Continue Reading
I sat down to speak with Halfdan Hussey, CEO and co-founder of Cinequest Inc, a Silicon Valley-based organization. Every year they host an annual film festival that features films, workshops, conversation and spotlights the latest technology for content creators and filmmakers. They also have a program for youths called Picture The Possibilities. Hussey talks about the philosophy behind… Continue Reading
Meet Devika Chawla, Engineering Director at Netflix and a music composer and singer. I sat down with her to find out how she developed and nurtured her interests in science, especially computer programming and music from a young age.How did her parents help shape her interests? Why did she elect to study computer engineering at George Town University?… Continue Reading
I sat down to speak to with Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges about his role in Manchester By The Sea, Kenneth Lonergan, his new film with Martin McDonagh, acting, learning to pay the banjo and his love for Harry Potter. We also find out why he elected to study at University of North Carolina School of the Arts,… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley’s annual film festival Cinequest is back this year with a strong foucs on virtual reality (VR). The VR offerings range from short VR films to VR experiences and workshops with filmmakers on how to capture and create VR content. Cinequest Film & VR festival runs from Feb 28 – Mar 12, 2017 and is… Continue Reading
Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone was in Hollywood a few days ago to promote her new film xXx Return of Xander Cage that stars Vin Diesel and is directed by DJ Caruso. Diesel, Caruso and Padukone attended the Indian premier in Mumbai since the film released in India on Jan 13, 2017. Diesel’s films are hugely popular in India, and so… Continue Reading
We caught up director Theodore Melfi during the screening of his film Hidden Figures by the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS). We talked to him about the making of Hidden Figures which is about 3 African-American math teachers, who went on to work for NASA and worked in the Apollo project in the 1960s. We… Continue Reading
Veteran actor Om Puri (66) passed away on Jan 6, 2016 in Mumbai. A versatile and talented actor, Puri acted in theatre, films and TV. He made his film debut in the 1970s and went on to act in many art house films in Hindi and branched off into mainstream Bollywood. He then went on to act… Continue Reading
What a year 2016 turned out to be. To use the hackneyed phrase surreal to describe 2016 would be a master understatement. It is as if we are all part of some bad film. What was utterly surreal is the way in which the mother and daughter actors Carrie Fisher (60) and Debbie Reynolds (84) passed away… Continue Reading
Director John Madden’s new film Miss Sloane is about a powerful Washington DC lobbyist played by Jessica Chastain. We caught up with Madden at Industrial Light Magic’s (ILM) office in San Francisco. ILM was a fitting venue since Madden’s first American project was a radio drama of Star Wars. George Lucas is a big fan of radio… Continue Reading
Jayalalitha Jayaraman, the Chief Minister of the southern Indian India state Tamil Nadu passed on Dec 5, 2106 in Chennai. Jayalalitha (68) represents a rare breed of Tamil politicians, who built their career in the Tamil film industry before joining politics. Jayalalitha along with MGR and Karunanidhi exerted a powerful influence on their voters and on the policy… Continue Reading
Jayaraman Jayalalitha, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu passed away on Sunday, Dec 4, 2016 in Chennai. She was 68 years old. This obituary from the BBC sums up Jayalalitha’s life in films and politics. She was popularly known as Amma (mother). For many Jayalalitha was the “Iron Lady” of Tamil Nadu, the Southern state… Continue Reading
Lucas Hedges is a fine, fine actor. I sat down to speak to Hedges about his role in Manchester By The Sea, Kenneth Lonergan, his new film with Martin McDonagh, acting, music and Harry Potter. Hedges has known Lonergan since he was a kid and yet was very nervous when he audioned for the film. He auditioned… Continue Reading
Dr. Aaron Lington and Chris Motter play their version of Bags’ Groove, a well-known jazz tune by Milt Jackson. Dr. Lington shares how they have funkified their version and explains how they improvised this well-known jazz number. Dr. Lington is an educator, composer and arranger, who teaches at San Jose State University. Motter is a… Continue Reading
Actor Lucas Hedges shares how he got to star in Kenneth Lonergan’s film Manchester By The Sea. He auditioned for his role 5 times and was very nervous if he’d bag the role he shares. Lonergan wrote and directed the film that stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler and Lucas Hedges. We have a… Continue Reading
Singer-songwriter and novelist Leonard Cohen died in his sleep in Los Angeles on November 7, 2016. He was 82 years old. Cohen’s “dry, monotone voice…provided a rarefied alternative to more accessible troubadours, employing meticulous language to plumb the vagaries of the human condition,” writes Joseph Cerna of Los Angeles Times. And, Cerna is absolutely right.… Continue Reading
Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berg share on how they came to write the screenplay for Trolls. One of the interesting things about trolls is that there was no backstory or a universe available for them. Aibel and Berger got an opportunity to architect and create a whole new world and backstory for these happy-go-lucky trolls. Their… Continue Reading
Damien Chazelle’s beautifully crafted film La La Land hits theatres in December 2016. I saw the film a couple of months ago and instantly fell in love with it. The film pays homage to dreamers, Los Angeles, Hollywood musicals and to French filmmaker Jacques Demy. We have an interview coming up with Chazelle and Justin… Continue Reading
Director Mike Mitchell and co-director Walt Dohrn talk about their relentlessly happy film Trolls. Mitchell and Dorn have known each other since their time as students at Cal Institute of Arts and later on in Shrek and other films. Both are big fans of Walt Disney and HayooMiyazaki and talk about them as well as Alfred Hitchcock. How… Continue Reading
3rd i’s San Francisco International South Asian Films Festival is back this year in two locations: San Francisco and Cupertino in Silicon Valley. The San Francisco leg of the festival is a 4 day event that runs from November 10th-13th, 2016. And the Silicon Valley leg of the festival in Cupertino is a one day event… Continue Reading
We sat down with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger to talk about how they wrote the screenplay for Trolls. Happiness is the central theme of this 3D animated film. How did they write the screenplay and create a universe for trolls? Tune in to find out. A long time ago in a far away city where… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Barry Jenkins Moonlight is an elegant and brilliantly evocative film about coming-of-age and love.This is one of the best films I have seen so far this year. There is an aura of quiet grace about Moonlight that makes you think long after the end credits have rolled. You go away wondering what is that little… Continue Reading
Mike Mitchell and Walt Drohn are the directors of Trolls, a new 3D animation film from Dreamworks. Relentlessly happy is the phrase that comes to mind when I watched the film a few days ago. I wondered if the directors themselves were relentlessly happy folks. Tune into to find out. Happiness is the central theme… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Ewan McGregor makes his directorial debut with American Pastoral that is based on a Philip Roth novel by the same name. Roth won a Pulitzer prize for his novel. American Pastoral stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakokta Fanning, David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba, Rupert Evans and Valorie Curry. We caught up with McGregor in San Francisco to talk about the making… Continue Reading
The annual United National Association Film Festival (UNAFF) is back this year with an interesting mix of documentaries and shorts from the US, Ethiopia, Spain, India, Canada, Guatemala and other countries. The theme for this year’s festival is Compass For A Better World. “We went through 600 screeners to select the films for this year’s festival,”… Continue Reading
This is a highlight from an upcoming interview with filmmaker Barry Jenkins on the making of his new film Moonlight. The film is based on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s novel In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. Jenkins explains why he chose to shorten the title to Moonlight. Moonlight is an elegant and emotionally charged film. This… Continue Reading
Ewan McGreogor talks about how he got into acting and how his parents helped him with his decision to become an actor. He also talks about his new film American Pastoral, which marks his debut as a director. American Pastoral is based on Philip Roth’s novel by the same name and stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Valorie… Continue Reading
We speak with filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra about his new film Mirzya. “It is a film about love,” shares Mehra. The film is set in two, different time periods he adds. We talk to Mehra on how how the idea for the film was born, the preparation that went into making the film, the music… Continue Reading
We caught up with Zoe Elton, Director of Programming for the 39th Mill Valley Film Festival (Oct 6-16, 2016) to find out what they have in store at this year’s festival. We spoke to her about the film, actors and the new sections they have on Latin America & Culinary Cinema. This is one of… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 