4th PELOPONNESIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "BRIDGES" * * Naseer wins Best Actor, The Coffin Maker lifts the Golden Pegasus

The awards for the 4th Peloponnesian International Film Festival “Bridges” were presented at the crowded Cineplex Lais of Corinth in Greece. The ceremony was conducted by Corinthian actress Helen Petropoulou along with festival director Petra Terzi. The audiovisual presentation ceremony was prepared by Socrates Lambropoulos. The choreographer of the closing ceremony is Glykofrydi and the dancers were Aggistrioti Maria, Andrea Kapasakalidi and Helen Stamatopoulou.
Amidst much applause and in the presence of the Honorable Ambassador of India in Greece Tsewang Topden and the First Secretary of the Embassy of India in Greece Somnath Halder it was India’s THE COFFIN MAKER that stole the glory at this year’s festival winning 5 awards decided by the eminent jury consisting of Bollywood Producer Vivek Singhania, Greek actor and director George Pirpasopoulos, the  director of the Corinthian theater George Tzavaras, the German director Oliver Kyr and the Greek Director of Photography Olympia Mytilineou.
Noted Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah won the Best Leading  Actor award for his performance in The Coffin Maker which also won Best Production Design for Bharat Vijan, Best Original Score for Bapi – Tutul, Best Director for Veena Bakshi and THE GOLDEN PEGASUS for BEST FILM
Praveen Morchhale’s BAREFOOT TO GOA was the other Indian film in competition and also won for Praveen a SPECIAL MENTION FROM THE JURY for his sensitive direction of the little child artistes
Clearly it was India’s night at Corinth. Through the realization of this year's Peloponnesian International Film Festival "Bridges" from 7 to 15 December, in cinema LAIS  in Corinth , the Seventh Art emerged as an intellectual cultural and inspirational event, with the projection of 70 films from 20 countries in total and along with various cultural events attractive even for the most discerning viewer.
The festival director Petra Terzi warmly congratulated, all actors and directors who participated and competed with their films at the festival, renewing the appointment with all cinephile public in December 2014 The hospitality hotel is  "Ephira" , the parties of the festival were hosted at cafes “Lemon”, “Fin”, “The House of Aloustini” and “Livingroom”, and the wine was provided by the winery Orfanos. The Official photographer and poster designer of the festival is Lorena Kir-Giannoulis.
Specifically, the awards given were the following:
*Short Films:*
*1. Best Short Film : *
“Picture Perfect”- Irina Izmestieva (United Kingdom)
*2. Best Direction in a short film : *
“The Case of Mary Ford”- Ben Mole (United Kingdom)
*3. Best Cinematography in a short film : *
“KIN” - Director of Photography Ben McKinnon (Canada)
*4. Best animation : *
“8-minute Deadline” - Zina Papadopoulos & Petros Papadopoulos  (Greece)
 *5. Best Greek Short Film : *
"A hardworking robber" – Michael Felanis ( Greece )
*6. Best Music or Dance Film :
“Elizabeth”  - Tori Lawrence - (USA)
B) Documentaries:
*1. Best documentary : *
"Stories of Livadero Kozanis" – Alexandros Karaiskos ( Greece )
*World Cinema “Bridges” *
“I loved you so much” - Οrhan Tekeoglu (Turkey)
*Feature Films “Golden Pegasus”*
1. *Best Production Design:*
Shared by: Nedeljko Bajić, Predrag Jočić, Jelena Mila - "Ice" ( Serbia )  /
Bharat Vijan - “The Coffin Maker” (India)
2. *Best Sets / Costumes : *
Mei Karamanidi and Louiza Karamouzi - "The Dragonphoenix Chronicles:
Indomitable" ( Greece )
3. *Best Original Score* :
BAPI - TUTUL – "The Coffin Maker" (India )
4. *Best Editing Award *:
Lara Tosello – "You cannot write a letter" ( France )
5. *Best Screenplay *:
Guillaume Levil - "You cannot write a letter " ( France )
6. *Best Leading Actor :*
Naseeruddin Shah - "The Coffin Maker" (India )
*7. Best Leading Actress : *
Danijela Mihajlović  - "Ice" ( Serbia )
*8. Best Cinematography : *
Pedrag Jočić - "Ice" ( Serbia )
*9. Best Director : *
Veena Bakshi - “The Coffin Maker” (India)
*10. Best Debut Director: *
Shared by: Stephanie Pedros - “Reality Check” (Germany) and Manolis
Damianakis -"Kame Koummando" ( Greece )
*Special Mention *to Praveen Morchhale for his sensitive direction to get
outstanding performances from the child actors in his debut film “Barefoot
To Goa”
*11. Audience Award in a feature film : *Alexander Leontarites - “The Final
Payoff” (Greece)
*12. Golden Pegasus : *Veena Bakshi - “The Coffin Maker” (India)

Identical twins underwent bilateral knee replacement surgery on the same day by Dr Rajesh Badiyani at Fortis Hospital, Vashi, Navi Mumbai

 

~1^st time in the world, surgeries performed on two identical twins on the same day

Team lead by Dr Rajesh Badiyani, leading joint replacement and orthopedic surgeon at Fortis Hospital Navi Mumbai operated successful bilateral Knee replacement surgery on 59-year-old identical twins sister Mrs Swapna Samel and Mrs Archana Shingare. This is a first time in world were twins underwent bilateral knee replacement surgery on same day for the tricompartmental knee osteoarthritis.

Its been 9 years since both Swapna & Archana started pain in knee making difficult in walking.They used to take pain killer for temporary relief but joint pain was still there.Both twin sisters had come to Dr Rajesh Badiyani very late when there was no options available other then replacing joint due to severe osteoarthritis for treatment. Hence after lot of thinking and taking suggestion of relatives finally they decided to get operated on Knee but at the same time.

This is for the 1^st time in the world that an operation of such magnitude took place where knee surgeries which lasted for over 10 hours performed on identical twins on the same day.

Dr Rajesh Badiyani, Joint Replacement Surgeon and orthopaedic Surgeon Says “Both sisters Swapna and Archana had various deformities with bowing of both knees, subluxation (incomplete or partial dislocation) of more than 50% of the knee joint as a result of which the sisters were not able to stand and walk without support. However, with support they could barely walk for few minutes.”

Since the twins had a limb length difference in the lower limbs leading to abnormal weight bearing axis of both lower limbs to the back and hips resulting in a lot of pain in back and leading to an abnormal posture.

The patients’ range of motion at both knee joints was hardly 10-40 degree with flexion deformity (not straight).

Dr. Badiyani further said “Since this was a unique case, it was decided to use bone conservative techniques and gender specific knee replacement implants specially designed for females”.  Now there is between 0-100 degree range of movements at both knee joint of both patients in 5 days post joint replacement.” The abnormal weight bearing axis of the sisters had also been corrected. Both patients have started weight bearing after 48 hours and started walking after 3 days of operation. The twin sisters were discharged after 8 days from the hospital.

Dr Rajesh Badiyani is one of the very few joint specialist in India, who has experienced in treating early stage osteoarthritis by injecting platelets rich plasma which get converted into stem cells it helps in cartilage regeneration and helps in slowing down of osteoarthritis and increase lubrication and smoothness of joint.

Mrs Swapna Samel says “the past nine years have been a nightmare for both Archana and me as we were unable to walk and attend to our household chores. Dr Badiyani gave us a new lease of life and we can get back slowly to our day to day chores and lead a normal life with our families.”

Mrs Archana Shingare says “We are thankful to Dr Badiyani for helping us overcome the traumatic nine years and made us stand back on our feet again.”

Tricompartmental knee osteoarthritis.

The three compartments are:

·         medial (inside) femoro-tibial compartment

·         lateral (outside) femoro-tibial compartment

·         patellofemoral compartment (formed by the kneecap and femur)

Gay Rights are Human Rights

FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival in the city sparks off discussions on LGBT rights

The recently concluded FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival highlighted several very pertinent issues – both international as well as local human rights violations and struggles.  The films screened at the festival focussed on issues like land grabbing in Cambodia, war crimes in Sri Lanka, murder of reporters in Mexico, censorship in Cuba, Iran & China, and forced disappearances in Kashmir.

Apart from film screenings, everyday the Panel @ Paanch - a panel discussion held at 5pm - highlighted several crucial topics like violation of personal & political boundaries, women’s rights issues, and creating change through activism. However, resonating through every discussion, was the current raging issue about the Supreme Court verdict on Sec 377 recriminalizing homosexuality.

Festival Director of FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival, Sridhar Rangayan said, “Right to love, and right to have sex are human rights too. Why should gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender persons be denied this basic right in India?”

At the three panel discussions, prominent LGBT activists Harrish Iyer, Shobhna S Kumar and Jerry Johnson located the LGBT rights discourse within the context of human rights.

Harrish Iyer said, “After the SC verdict I’m worried that LGBT persons would go back into the closet, and live in constant fear. I am also concerned that incidences of suicide and calls related to depression will resurface, which had dropped considerably post the Delhi High Court verdict in 2009 decriminalizing homosexuality”.

Framing the issue with respect to women, Shobhna S Kumar said, “Of late, over the past few years we had seen lesbian, bisexual and trans women making their presence felt at various events. With the new ruling it will be difficult for them to come out, as they face double discrimination – first as a women and then as a women with different sexual orientation or gender identity”.

Jerry Johnson, who lives with his partner Deepak Kashyap, says that same-sex relationships are now threatened by this new verdict, “Does the government have a right to intrude into people’s lives, can it dictate our identities?”

The other panelists who were filmmakers and human rights activists too felt that the recent verdict was a regressive one and implied gross human rights violation for the LGBT community.

Noted filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi, speaking at the panel on women’s rights said, “The bedroom is a personal space and no one has the right to invade it”.

Author & journalist Gautam Benegal said, “The government should only act as a night watchman; it should not have any business in our bedrooms, in our businesses, and in our lives”.

Women’s’ rights campaigner Shyama Kulkarni said “People have started understanding that this issue is not exclusive to gay rights. It’s a fight for the right to live with dignity, right to love without fear”.

Filmmaker and social activist Vinta Nanda said, “I have been a great supporter of equal rights and I will always support initiatives that uphold them”.

Rangayan called people to participate in the Global Day of Rage held across the world to protest against the SC verdict on Dec 15^th. “Whoever believes in any kind of rights should support us, because our struggle is not just about sexual rights, but about our lives”

The 3^rd FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival, organized by Solaris Pictures in association with ACEE-The Third Eye was held at the Alliance Française de Bombay from December 12 – 14^th. Supported by Movies That Matter, Netherlands, the film festival screened films on human rights from Cuba, Mexico, Iran, China, Sri Lanka, Israel, North Korea, Cambodia, Germany, USA and India. The film festival was well attended by activists, academics, students, filmmakers, celebrities and film enthusiasts.

The film festival was flagged off by its Festival Patron noted filmmaker and activist Mahesh Bhatt who dedicated the festival to the late Nelson Mandela. He said, “Nelson Mandela led a movement against apartheid. We need a similar movement here to fight against human rights violations, so that all can live as equals”.

Festival website: http://flashpointfilmfestival.blogspot.com

One By Two 2014 | Official HD Trailer | Abhay Deol | Preeti Desai

    
Watch the exclusive trailer of 'One By Two' starring Abhay Deol, Preeti Desai, Lillette Dubey, Rati Aghnihotri Virwani and Yudishtar Urs among many others.
Written & Directed by: Devika Bhagat
Produced by: Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Abhay Deol, Amit Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor and Vikram Khakhar.
Releasing: 31st January 2014

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 - First International Trailer - Tamil