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A pair of new distributors have announced their arrival on the theatrical scene this morning with the bold acquisition of two contemporary Indian independent films fresh off successful festival runs. Deaf Crocodile, a partnership of former Cinelicious Pics/Arbelos execs Dennis Bartok & Craig Rogers, and Gratitude Films from festival programming veteran (Jio Mami Mumbai) Anu Rangachar have come together to present The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs (Laila Aur Saat Geet) and The Village House (Gamak Ghar) to US audiences this spring. Deaf Crocodile will also be releasing a brand new 4K restoration of John Carpenter's siege classic, Assault on Precinct 13 exclusively to theaters in 2022 following a festival premiere. It is rare that Indian indepedents make it to American cinema screens, which makes...

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Two Indian art house films, “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs” and “The Village House” head the joint slate of a pair of new distribution companies addressing the North American market.

Deaf Crocodile and Gratitude Films aim to give the two titles theatrical and digital releases in the second half of 2021, when it is hoped that North American cinemas are open and audiences return. They are also handling world sales outside India on “The Village House.”

Headed by Craig Rogers and Dennis Bartok, Deaf Crocodile will straddle distribution, restoration and post-production. Its focus is on world animation, LGBTQ films, cult horror and fantasy. Gratitude is sited in Los Angeles and Mumbai-based and headed by Anu Rangachar, producer and former programmer at the Mumbai Film Festival. The two companies aim to work together on four to six films per year.

Deaf Crocodile is separately working on a restoration of John Carpenter...

Traditions don’t disappear overnight. They slip away slowly over decades, as elders die off and younger generations experience shifts in priority, social norms, and cultural pride. Few films have been able to capture this kind of ebb and flow like Achal Mishra’s Gamak Ghar, a quietly beautiful drama primarily set in the rural compound where one Indian clan gathers for major life events. Split into three separate chapters that take place years apart, the film shows a graceful appreciation for the small decisions and compromises that eventually add up to profound change inside a family dynamic.

The first vignette, shot in Academy ratio and set in 1998, opens with a hazy still countryside image worthy of Kiarostami. A winding dirt road passes the vista’s lone tree, which is flanked by an ocean of short grass staring up at billowing white clouds and hazy blue sky. We’d half...

Cinema While Nivin Pauly won Best Actor (male) for 'Moothon' at the New York Indian Film Festival, Garggi won Best Actor (female) for 'Run Kalyani'.Tnm StaffNivin Pauly won the Best Actor award for Moothon at the New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff). The Geetu Mohandas film bagged three awards after it was selected for the competition on July 24. While Sanjana Dipu won Best Child Actor for her role in the movie, Moothon also won an award under the 'Best Film' category. Set in Lakshadweep and Mumbai, Moothon is about a 14-year-old boy who lands up in Mumbai in search of his elder brother. The film is a bilingual drama in Hindi and Malayalam and has a cast which includes Nivin, Sanjana, Roshan Mathew, Shashank Arora, Sobitha Dhulipala, and others. While it is director's Geetu Mohandas's third project as a filmmaker, Moothon is also Geetu Mohandas’s first full-length film.

Debut director Prateek Vats’ “Eeb Allay Ooo!”, a satirical social commentary revolving around a monkey wrangler in New Delhi, won three awards at the 21st edition of the Mumbai Film Festival, which concluded Thursday.

The film won the Golden Gateway first prize in the festival’s India Gold competition, the best actor award for Shardul Bhardwaj, and the Young Critics’ Choice award. It had its world premiere at the Pingyao festival earlier this month in China.

Gitanjali Rao’s “Bombay Rose,” a Mumbai-set animated romance, which has played in Toronto, Venice, Busan and London, won the Silver Gateway award. It shared the inaugural Manish Acharya award for new voices in Indian cinema with first-time director Achal Mishra’s family drama, “Gamak Ghar.”

Another debut feature, Kislay’s “Aise Hi,” a portrait of an elderly woman’s emancipation, won best actress for Mohini Sharma and the Film Critics Guild award. The...