London INDIAN Film Festival: Closing Night UK Premiere Screening of ‘The Well’
Following the phenomenal success of the Opening Night UK Premiere Screening of ‘Love, Sex Aur Dhokha’ and successive film screenings as part of the first annual London INDIAN Film Festival, showcasing the burgeoning movement of alternative Indian cinema, the critically acclaimed film ‘The Well’, has been selected to close the inaugural festival on Tuesday 20th July 2010, 7.00pm at Cineworld Haymarket.
Girish Kulkarni, producer and lead star of ‘The Well’, will grace the Red Carpet for the Festival’s closing film. He will be joined by an array of luminaries spanning industry stalwarts, VIP’s and film celebrities.
The Well’, by Umesh Kulkarni, has been feted globally following its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Stunningly filmed amongst the grandeur of the rolling Indian plains ‘The Well’ is a moving “coming of age” tale that boldly captures the very essence of adolescence and the moments that define it. At its core is a meditation on how children deal with grief and loss. ‘The Well’ tells the story of young Sameer as he leaves the city with his parents to visit their family in the countryside, who are preparing for a wedding. Sameer, however, has only one aim, to meet his cousin and best friend Nachiket.
The two adolescent boys are inseparable and Sameer looks up to his older, free thinking cousin, who teaches him many truths as they stand at the cross-roads of their lives, with the innocence of childhood slipping away. This change is echoed by the fate of Sameer’s female cousin, who is being forced into a marriage for the family’s petty gains. Nachiket becomes increasingly distraught by this marriage, until he can take it no longer, leading to an action that will change Sameer’s young life forever.
India is the largest film producing country in the world producing up to 1,000 films a year and out stripping Hollywood. But apart from mainstream Bollywood, very few of these films are seen in the UK. Showcasing a repertoire of cutting edge films from some of India’s hottest independent talents and a new wave of avant-garde filmmakers, London INDIAN Film Festival’s programme of films has been screened across London, in venues such as Cineworld, Haymarket, Barbican, Nehru Centre, Watermans and Genesis cinemas.
The Festival has covered a wide range of themes and issues from family dramas, coming-of age tales to twisted urban romance. What pervades many of these films is a new more assured Indian cool, experimenting with cinematic styles, new technology and influenced by themes both East and West, which has helped them win favour with the young in-crowd in super cities like Mumbai, as well as with connoisseurs of world cinema across the globe.