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
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
Meet Mikey McCleary – a Kiwi music composer who is busy creating all sorts of musical waves from Mumbai, the headquarters for Bollywood film industry. If you ever watch Indian TV shows then you have heard his music for sure. He is the guy behind all those advert jingles for Vodafone, Levis, Titan, Coke and many, many… Continue Reading
Two Indian-American films had their world premiere at Silicon Valley’s Cinequest Film Festival (Feb 24-Mar 8, 2015) this weekend – “Miss India America,” and “For Here or To Go?” The films are made by Indian-American filmmakers from California. “Miss India America,” is set in Southern California, while “For Here or To Go?” is set in… Continue Reading
Actor Omi Vaidya’s film “For Here or To Go?” will have its world premiere at Silicon Valley’s Cinequest Film Festival this evening. We caught up with the actor last night at Cinequest to talk about his new film, working in Bollywood and his future plans. “For Here or To Go?” captures the angst and uncertainties of… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Shlomi Elkabetz’s “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” was Israel’s entry for the 2015 Oscars. This is an intense, heart-wrenching and sometimes difficult to watch film that Elkabetz wrote and directed along with his sister Ronit Elkabetz, who plays the central character Vivian Amsalem. The film revolves around Amsalem’s drawn out court battle to… Continue Reading
For 25 years Kathleen Powell and Halfdan Hussey, co-founders of Cinequest Film Festival have worked hard to bring this unique festival that combines films and technology under one roof in the heart of Silicon Valley. Besides well-known filmmakers and actors, the festival features emerging artists and filmmakers and shines a strong spotlight on the contributions of youth… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley’s Cinequest Film Festival turns 25 this year. The film festival opened tonight with Dana Bachman’s “Batkid Begins” at the historic art deco California Theatre in San Jose. This feel-good and inspirational documentary about a little boy’s wish to be a super hero seemed to have resonated with the audience. The film and the filmmakers got… Continue Reading
Damien Chazelle’s film “Whiplash” won 3 Academy Awards this weekend at the 87th Academy Award for best supporting actor, editing and sound mixing. Chazelle wrote and directed the film. “Whiplash,” is an intense film centered around two ambitious musician – a 19 year old drummer (Miles Teller) and his draconian music instructor (JK Simmons). This tightly… Continue Reading
LISTEN: Academy Award Winner AR Rahman On His Musical Journey Part-2 In February 2009 I spoke to AR Rahman or AR as he prefers to be called about his musical journey and how it all started in his hometown of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. We spoke on the eve of his big Academy Award night… Continue Reading
British actor Eddie Redmayne plays the famous scientist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything.” The film takes you into the personal life Hawking and his time as a graduate student at Cambridge where he met his future wife Jane Wilde. It was around this time that Hawking got his diagnosis about the motor neutron disease.… Continue Reading
Lisa Fruchtman is an Academy Award winning editor (The Right Stuff) and a filmmaker. In Part-2 of our conversation we talk with Fruchtman on how she got started as an editor. What seduced her to continue her career as an editor at at time when there were barely any women editors in the film industry. This… Continue Reading
Lisa and her brother Bob Fruchtman produced and directed “Sweet Dreams,” an unusual film about drumming and ice cream shop. Yes, it sounds implausible, but that is the message of the film too. How to think out of the box and make things happen, especially in a war-torn country like Rwanda. Lisa is a successful… Continue Reading
Shonali Bose’s award-winning film “Margarita With A Straw,” has received praise ever since it was first shown at The Toronto Film Festival in 2014. The film is loosely based on her cousin Malini’s story. This coming-of-age film stars Kalki Koechlin, Revathy, Sayani Gupta, and Hussain Dalal. We caught up with Shonali in San Francisco and in… Continue Reading
Mention Walter Murch and you will get two kinds of reaction. The first is one of instant recognition. The second one veers between “The name rings a bell.” or I don’t know who he is.” However, if you ask them if they have heard of Francis Ford Cappola’s The Godfather or Apocalypse Now or George Lucas’s American… Continue Reading
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Silicon Valley-based Cinquest film festival that celebrates films along with technology and innovation. This year’s theme is “The Power of Creating,”and nearly 200 films from different parts of the world will screen at the festival. The festival spotlights young filmmakers in multiple ways. There is the Picture The Possibilities (PPT) session that helps connect… Continue Reading
Academy Award Winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s “Black Sea” releases today in San Francisco bay area. We spoke to Macdonald about the making of “Black Sea,” and what drew him to this particular story about a group of ragged submariners, who want to salvage gold from a sunken World War Two submarine. What was the real life… Continue Reading
Prof. Greg Booth is a musician, teacher and an author. In his book “Looking Behind The Curtain Making Music In Mumbai’s Film Industry” he takes us behind the silverscreen to show us how music was (is) made in Hindi or Bollywood films. In Part-2 Prof. Booth talks about the process of how songs were created especially… Continue Reading
Award winning actor Timothy Spall has a new film releasing later this year. “Mr. Turner” is directed by British filmmaker Mike Leigh and is about the legendary British artist JMW Turner. Spall won the best actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for essaying the role of Turner. Spall was in San Francisco recently to talk… Continue Reading
Laura Dern was in San Francisco bay area to attend Mill Valley Film Festival, where “Wild” was the closing night film.Last year her father Bruce Dern was honored at the festival for his role in “Nebraska” “Wild” is based on a real life story by Cheryl Strayed, who trekked and successfully completed the 1,100 Pacific Crest… Continue Reading
Academy award winner Hillary Swank’s new film “The Homesman” was the opening night film at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival. Swank was there on the opening night of the festival. In this video clip she talks about how she prepared for her role in the film and working with Tommy Lee Jones, who directed… Continue Reading
Every week we bring you interesting interviews and conversations. Take a peek to see some of the new interviews we have in store, and the ones that you may missed watching on our YouTube channel. And if you like what you see, it will be awesome if you subscribed to it. Every week on Thursday and… Continue Reading
Eleven. Do your remember what it was like to be a eleven year old? How did you view the world around you? What did you think of the world, love, music and helping people around you? What do eleven year olds around the world think is the subject of Australian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey’s documentary “I… Continue Reading
Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” is a film about America’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Released in 1987 the film follows a Marine group during the war. It took about 2 years to complete the shooting of the film. During the making of the film Mathew Modine maintained a dairy, which he later on published… Continue Reading
Eddie Redmayne plays the role of famous scientist Stephen Hawking in the “Theory of Everything.” The film is based on Jane Hawking’s book about her marriage to Stephen Hawking. The Hawkings eventually divorced. Hawking was a young graduate student, when he suddenly developed symptoms for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He earned his PhD and eventually went on to… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 