Thursday, September 14, 2006

Toronto trip, day 2

This was a busy day. We watched 5 movies - the maximum I have ever done in a day. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the 5th movie was in Paramount which was within walking distance of the hotel. So we didn't have to run around a lot.

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Outside the Paramount.

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And inside.

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We started the day with 12:08 East of Bucharest. This was followed by Requiem.For lunch, we came back to Dhaba at King West and John. They had a lunch buffet. Though some items were unique when compared to a regular Bay Area Indian buffet, overall, the food was just so-so, nothing great.

We rushed back to Paramount for 2:37. Set in Australia, this was a brilliant film about the pressure teenagers face in school. The director and one of the actors were present after the screening for Q&A. Hard to believe that this was the director's first movie. He said that he had experienced something very similar in his real life which prompted him to make the movie. He was very young, around 25. Extremely talented. He is the one holding the mike.

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I was looking forward to the next movie, A Grave Keeper's Tale. I got really excited when Hobbes pointed to Nandita Das walking towards the front of the auditorium. Both the director, Chitra Palekar, and the lead actress, Nandita Das, were present. This was a Marathi movie about a woman who lives as an outcast in a village, tending to the graves of children. Interesting tidbit - the movie was shot in Amravati. Nandita was extremely articulate during the Q&A. I was very impressed by the way she spoke. She looked very pretty in a sari. I have been a big fan of Nandita since I saw Fire.

The last movie of the day was Jade Warrior. This was a Chinese-Finnish movie where a Chinese prince is reincarnated as a Finish blacksmith. This had elements of surrealism mixed with Crouching-Tiger-style fights.

Dinner that night was at a Falafel place. We had survived 5 movies in a single day!

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