Eunuch Alley will be screened at the South Asian International Film Festival, on Friday, December 3, 1:45pm-3:45pm, at the Rubin Museum of Art; 150 West 17th Street (between 6th &7th Avenues), New York City.

Go to the New Artist Showcase section for tickets and information.

A plug for my pal, Lalit Vachani’s films on the RSS, The Boy in the Branch. and Men in the Tree. Check out rest of the festival, there are some amazing films which would be difficult to see elsewhere.

If you come please introduce yourselves!

I am a fan of John Waters, recently he was on NPR talking about his favorite movie scene.

Rich Studios has released an animated version of the life of Prophet Muhammad. It has solved the problem of prohibitions against representation of the prophet by making the camera the prophet’s all seeing eye. The New York Times has a review:

Seemingly faithful to its source material, “Muhammad” is a pious and ponderous film, unlikely to move audiences who are not already familiar with its story. The script (by Brian Nissen) feels heavily vetted by Islamic scholars, without wit or whimsy. The literalism of the subjective-camera conceit is at times unintentionally comic: when Muhammed rides a horse into battle, the animal’s head bobs repeatedly in the middle of the frame, undercutting the moment’s nobility. When he is wounded in battle, a rock flies straight at the camera, and suddenly followers gather to inquire after “our” health. The camera literally puts the viewer in the position of the divine messenger, a disquieting device that never quite accomplishes its task. It’s hard to be awed by the sublimity of the offscreen prophet when you are the offscreen prophet, munching Jujyfruits in your theater seat.

Directed by Richard Rich, who is a former Disney employee and known for making films with “positive ethical and moral values,” this film is not the first one to solve the problem of representation in this way. The 1990 film International Gorrillay used the same technique, what is more, this film also seems far more exciting, here is the IMDB summary:

The Islamic world is in crisis with the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. Rushdie wants Pakistan, the stronghold of Islam, to fall. Determined to foil his plans are a trio of brothers who form a holy army to destroy Rushdie. Rushdie plans to drive the final nails into the coffin of Islam by opening a new chain of Casino’s and Disco’s spreading contemptable vice and debauchery. Mustafa Qureshi, hen pecked to death by his demented wife, decides to call it a day with his day job at the Police station and induct his unemployed brothers to create a Mujahid (God’s soldiers) trio whose sole aim is to seek out and destroy the despised Salman Rushdie before he manages to destory all virtue and decency on the planet.

And to top it all, the three intrepid heroes appear in ill-fitting Batman costumes for some inexplicable reason.

The Dutch Ring is a site for pinhole camera photographers. They have some beautiful examples on the gallery section of their site. There is something quite other-worldly about these lensless images. If you don’t remember your high school Physics or Art History, here is a page that can tell you. Camera Obscura trivia: Apparantly, as a boy, Satyajit Ray would watch images cast by the narrow slits in the windows on hot Calcutta afternoons, he credits those long afternoons for his interest in cinema.

Indiewire reports on a newfilm festival in San Antonio, TX.

Festival films will be judged using a criteria that includes a project’s “sound biblical worldview,” its theological accuracy, the quality of the project, production values and the “holiness in presentation.”

I am sure these films will be extremely well-made. When I was in film school, as a pre-screener for the student film festival, I saw films from places like Regent University. These films had high production values, were technically accomplished and seemed to have a lot more money behind them than the average student film. What was consistently true of these films were their peculiar flatness, as if they had been made by automatons, maybe it was just that the characters always seemed rather opaque and zombie like, even when they were being lively. Speaking of religious films, I remember the pleasure of viewing films like Ben Hur, Samson and Delilah, Quo Vadis, screened regularly for us by the nuns at school. What was enjoyable about these films was the garish sexiness of the non-believers, the heathens had better fashion sense and were having more fun. Peter Ustinov as Nero is a treat not to be missed.

I have been surfing the web for theologically correct films (is that going to replace pc?) and all the websites are consistent in their complaint of being victims of Godless Hollywood fare and those horrible non-religious elites, not unlike what independent filmmakers complain about. Maybe the catacombs never went out of fashion. But seriously what are they complaining about, the man in the White House has a mandate from God.

Anyhow, here is an image courtesy of Body and Soul.

The IAAC film festival in New York City awarded the Best Documentary prize to “Whose Children Are These?” by Theresa Thanjan, as the editor of this documentary, I am thrilled! The documentary tells the stories of three Muslim youngsters who have been impacted by post 9/11 detentions and deportations. The film has an extensive website detailing the impact of 9/11 on immigrants, the PATRIOT Act etc. It needs finishing funds to make it broadcast ready, so consider donating.

The IAAC film festival in New York City, is showing a documentary I edited, “Whose Children Are These” by Theresa Thanjan. It tells the story of three very diverse teenagers who have been impacted by the post 9/11 detentions and deportations.

Nov 7 at 3 p.m (Shorts Program 4). The festival is at Anthology Film Archives at 32 Second Avenue (at 2nd street).

The election result has been having a strange effect on my friends and colleagues, there is uniform hand wringing, displays of bad temper, in my case add paranoid anxiety–understandable if you read this article from the normally staid and fuddy-duddy New York Review of Books about surveillance and secret persecution by the State. All in all resembling symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So thanks to Amardeep Singh for linking to this excellent blog, Easily Distracted by Tim Burke, which has somewhat alleviated my suffering.

I had blogged about Enid Blyton last month, the radio documentary by Shebana Coelho is up on the BBC website.