The film first won the Grand Jury Award at the New Hampshire Film Festival, which took place from October 13 to 16. And on October 27, at this year’s Mumbai Film Festival, the documentary took home two awards: Special Jury Award in the category India Gold, and Young Critics Choice Award. The production has attracted massive attention both from Indian and international media agencies, especially after it was premiered at Cannes in May.
The film depicts how showmen riding cinema lorries have brought the wonder of the movies to faraway villages in India once every year. Seven decades on, as their cinema projectors crumble and film reels become scarce, their patrons are lured by slick digital technology. A benevolent showman, a shrewd exhibitor and a maverick projector mechanic bear a beautiful burden - to keep the last traveling cinemas of the world running.
Shirley Abraham has directed documentaries for the Guardian, Al Jazeera English and Doordarshan India. Her work is supported by the Sundance Institute, Bertha Foundation, Filmmaker Fund, PMA WorldView and Asian Cinema Fund.
Amit Madheshiya is a photographer and filmmaker. In 2011, he received the World Press Photo Award for his series of twelve pictures of a "Night Screening at Travelling Cinema" in India, which were exhibited at the Cluster "Asia and Europe" in 2011 and, along with a preview of the documentary, at the South Asia Institute in 2013.
During their short-term fellowship in 2009, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya were affiliated with the Chair of Visual and Media Anthropology were they held a workshop and worked on the project "Film technology as cultural import: The restructuring of the domain of religious fairs in India by the arrival of travelling cinemas".
The New Hampshire Film Festival is an independent film festival taking place each fall in Portsmouth, NH.
Mumbai Film Festival is an International film festival held in Mumbai each year. Organized by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), the festival previews new films of all genres from around the world with a range of Competitions and Showcase categories.
Find out more about "The Cinema Travellers" here.
The film depicts how showmen riding cinema lorries have brought the wonder of the movies to faraway villages in India once every year. Seven decades on, as their cinema projectors crumble and film reels become scarce, their patrons are lured by slick digital technology. A benevolent showman, a shrewd exhibitor and a maverick projector mechanic bear a beautiful burden - to keep the last traveling cinemas of the world running.
Shirley Abraham has directed documentaries for the Guardian, Al Jazeera English and Doordarshan India. Her work is supported by the Sundance Institute, Bertha Foundation, Filmmaker Fund, PMA WorldView and Asian Cinema Fund.
Amit Madheshiya is a photographer and filmmaker. In 2011, he received the World Press Photo Award for his series of twelve pictures of a "Night Screening at Travelling Cinema" in India, which were exhibited at the Cluster "Asia and Europe" in 2011 and, along with a preview of the documentary, at the South Asia Institute in 2013.
During their short-term fellowship in 2009, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya were affiliated with the Chair of Visual and Media Anthropology were they held a workshop and worked on the project "Film technology as cultural import: The restructuring of the domain of religious fairs in India by the arrival of travelling cinemas".
The New Hampshire Film Festival is an independent film festival taking place each fall in Portsmouth, NH.
Mumbai Film Festival is an International film festival held in Mumbai each year. Organized by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), the festival previews new films of all genres from around the world with a range of Competitions and Showcase categories.
Find out more about "The Cinema Travellers" here.