city of god

salaam bombay

Salaam Bombay is the story of Krishna, Manju and other children living hand-to-mouth on the streets of Bombay. Sometimes they can get temporary jobs, but mostly they have to beg for money and keep out of the way of the police.
The primary character, Krishna arrives in Bombay looking to earn 500 rupees to repay his mother for destroying his brother's motor-bike. Originally Krishna is apprenticed to a circus, but after they pack up and move on, leaving him behind, he makes his way to Bombay. Krishna is illiterate and, in spite of his circumstances, far too trusting of those around him.
Almost immediately Krishna is robbed. He follows the thieves and winds up befriending them. One of these thieves, a drug dealer and addict named Chillum, helps him get a job at a tea stall. Here Krishna acquires a new name, "Chaipau", meaning "tea & bread." In spite of his work at the tea stand, Krishna and his friends are forced to take odd jobs to survive. When Krishna loses his position as a tea boy, he also resorts to begging and petty theft.
One of the stops on Krishna's tea route is a brothel; he befriends some of the inhabitants. He quickly becomes acquainted with Baba, the mastermind overseeing criminal activities in their corner of Bombay. While Baba presents himself as benevolent to outsiders, he is actually controlling drug and prostitution rings. He also employs Krishna's friend, Chillum, as a dealer. Baba's common law wife, Rekha, is a prostitute; their young daughter, Manju, lives with them in the brothel and witnesses everything that occurs there.
One of the madams hires Baba to "tame" Sola Saal ("sixteen years"), a young girl who has been kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Baba accomplishes this by completely misleading the girl into believing he loves her and wants to rescue her. Krishna really does fall in love with Sola Saal, however, he is powerless to save her from the brothel.
Chillum's drug use escalates; he is eventually fired by Baba and resorts to begging in the streets to score enough money for a fix. He ultimately dies from his addiction; Krishna and his friends oversee his funeral. Krishna will later discover that before dying, Chillum stole all of the money he was saving to go home, in spite of their friendship.
One night, while returning home with their friends after working at a wedding, Krishna and Manju are apprehended by the police. Manju is sent to an orphanage. When Rekha tries to reclaim her, she is told that she has permanently lost custody, and that Manju will be adopted by a reputable family. Krishna, on the other hand, is accused of theft and taken to a juvenile detention home. He soon escapes the home and returns to the streets to continue his quest to earn the rupees and return home.
Krishna tries to convince Sola Saal to run away with him. However, she has now been completely "tamed" by Baba, and refuses to leave. Krishna hides while Sola Saal is sent out to entertain her first client.
Rekha, distraught over the loss of Manju, packs her bags to leave. Baba attempts to stop her and becomes violent. Krishna, happening upon the scene, kills Baba by stabbing him in the back with a knife. He and Rekha flee into the crowds celebrating the festival of Ganesha -- the Hindu deity in charge of removing all obstacles.

[edit] Cast
Shafiq Syed - Krishna/Chaipau
Hansa Vithal - Manju
Chanda Sharma - Sola Saal
Raghuvir Yadav - Chillum (as Raghubir Yadav)
Aneeta Kanwar - Rekha
Nana Patekar - Baba
Raju Barnad - Keera
Chandrashekhar Naidu - Chungal
Sarfuddin Quarrassi - Koyla
Mohanraj Babu - Salim

Awards Won
1988 Won Golden Camera, Cannes Film Festival
1988 Won Lilian Gish Award Excellence in Feature Film. Los Angeles Women in Film Festival (Tied with Elysium)
1988 Won Jury Prize Montréal World Film Festival (Tied with The Dawning)
1988 Won Most Popular Film Montréal World Film Festival
1988 Won Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Montréal World Film Festival

[edit] Nominated
1989 Nominated Oscar Best Foreign Language Film
1990 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Film not in the English Language
1989 Nominated César Best Foreign Film. César Awards (Meilleur film étranger)
1990 Nominated Filmfare Best Director Award
1989 Nominated Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film

the children of heaven

THE CHILDREN OF HEAVEN

Ali takes his little sister Zahra's shoes to the shoemaker to be repaired, but loses them on the way home. The siblings decide to keep the predicament a secret from their parents, knowing that there is no money to buy a replacement pair and fearing that they will be punished. They devise a scheme to share Ali's sneakers: Zahra will wear them to school in the morning and hand them off to Ali at midday so he can attend afternoon classes. This uncomfortable arrangement leads to one adventure after another as they attempt to hide the plan from their parents and teachers, attend to their schoolwork and errands, and acquire a new pair of shoes for Zahra. Zahra sees the shoes on a schoolmate's feet, and follows her home, but the two soon become friends.

Ali enters a high-profile children's footrace in hopes of receiving the third prize of a new pair of sneakers. He accidentally places first and wins another prize instead. The film ends with Zahra finding out that she will not get a new pair of shoes, but there is a quick shot of their father's bicycle at the end of the movie that shows what appears to be the red shoes Zahra had been focusing on earlier and another pair of white sneakers, presumably for Ali, whose old sneakers were torn from so much use. The film ends with the final shot showing blisters on Ali's feet. Some versions include an epilogue revealing that Ali eventually achieves the larger-scale success of having a racing career.

MAJID MAJIDI

The director of the movie

duel movie

production

Duel was Spielberg's feature-length directing debut, following a well-received turn directing a segment of the anthology television series Night Gallery. Initially shown on American television as an ABC Movie of the Week installment, it was eventually released to cinemas in Europe and Australia, and had a limited cinema release to some venues in the United States.

Despite its simple plot, a low budget (only $375,000) and very short filming deadlines (originally 10 days), the movie maintains a high level of suspense due to Spielberg's taut direction, tight editing and the script's refusal to resolve the central mystery of

the driver. The film's success enabled Spielberg to move beyond directing for television and establish himself as a competent film director. (source: DVD bonus material).

During the original filming, the crew only had one truck and so the final shot of the truck falling off the cliff had to be completed in one take. For the film's theatrical release, though, additional trucks were purchased in order to film the additional scenes that were not in the original made-for-TV version (i.e. the school bus scene and the railroad crossing). Only one of those trucks ha

s survived.

Much of the movie was filmed

in southern California's "Canyon Country," in and around Agua Dulce, California and Acton, California. In particular, sequences were filmed on Sierra Highway, Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Soledad Canyon Road and Angeles Forest Highway. Many of the landmarks from Duel still exist today, including the tunnel, the railroad crossing and Chuck’s Café, a place where David Mann abruptly stops for a break. The building, now a French restaurant, is currently still on Sierra Highway.

The original made-for-television version was only 74 minutes long and was completed in 13 days (3 longer than the scheduled 10 days), leaving 10 days for editing prior to broadcast as the ABC "Movie of the Week". Following Duel's successful TV airing, Universal released Duel overseas in 1973, especially in Europe. Since the TV movie's 74 minutes was not long enough for theatrical release, Universal had Spielberg spend 2 days filming several new scenes. These new scenes turned Duel into a 90 minute film. The new scenes were the railroad crossing, school bus, and David Mann's telephone conversation with his wife. Also a longer opening sequence was added with the car backing out of a garage and driving through the city. Expletives were added to make the film sound like a major motion picture.