Wednesday, April 21st, 2010, 7:30 PM

HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY

India/2009/96min/35mm US Premiere

ArcLight Hollywood

[buy tickets here]

Director:Paresh Mokashi

Producer:Ronnie Screwvala, Smiti Kanodia, Paresh Mokashi

Screenwriter:Paresh Mokashi

Cinematographer:Amalendu Chaudhary

Editor:Amit Pawar

Music Composer:Anad Modak

Cast:Nandu Madhav, Vibhavari Deshpande, Atharva Karve, Mohit Gokhale

Writer/Director Paresh Mokashi's debut film HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY focuses on another first time filmmaker: Dadasaheb Phalke, the pioneer of Indian cinema. Never having been on a film set until the first day of shooting, Mokashi no doubt identified with his main character who falls in love with the burgeoning new medium and dives headfirst into the process of making India's first ever feature film, RAJA HARISHCHANDRA.

Phalke, a struggling magician (like fellow early silent filmmaker George Melies) soon meets with a host of unexpected challenges from raising money to finding a woman to play the Queen in his religious epic. Even the prostitutes that Phalke approaches are offended by the idea of being photographed for all to see. Mokashi gives the film a breezy feel with montage sequences shot in the jittery, sped-up motion of a silent movie from that era.

India's Official Entry for the Oscar's foreign language category, HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY celebrates the joy and wonder of the process of making moving images.

Marathi (English subtitles)

Presented by:
Maharashtra Mandal