Slumdog wins three awards at BIFAS

London (PTI): Slumdog Millionaire, an English movie based on the award-winning novel of Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup, won three awards at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAS) ceremony here.

The story of the Danny Boyle's film featuring Anil Kapoor revolves around a Mumbai teenage boy who astounds all by doing well on 'Kaun Banega Karorpati', Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire quiz show.

The film won the award in the category of best film, best director and best newcomer (for its British lead actor).

The former artistic director of the Royal Court theatre, Boyle, was talk of the night and is already on many pundits' Oscar prediction lists.

Earlier, he has directed films like Trainspotting showing Edinburgh heroin addicts and The Beach in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the main role.

The young lead actor of Slumdog Millionaire, Harrow-born Dev Patel, best known to British audiences as Anwar in E4's Skins, won the best newcomer award.

The film tells the story of a Mumbai street child. As he does well on the quiz show, flashbacks chronicle his life, the realities of which Danny Boyle does not flinch from showing.

Boyle's film, a third of which is spoken in Hindi opens in the UK on January 9 but has already down well on the festival circuit and opened to fantastic reviews in the US.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/

Hollywood already in holiday mode

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hollywood's year-end boxoffice smorgasbord tends to be equal parts HomeTown Buffet and Four Seasons champagne brunch.

From the animated sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which opens Friday, to the Christmas prestige film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," diverse releases crowd the final two months of 2008.

Data service Nielsen EDI defines the holiday season -- one of five on the box office calendar -- as running from the weekend before Thanksgiving through the frame after New Year's, i.e. November 21 to January 4. But three sessions before Turkey Day, distributors are already lining up their most prized releases.

To wit: DreamWorks Animation's "Madagascar" sequel, which is getting a head start now rather than waiting for the holiday.

"It's a movie that feels like it should play strongly all the way through Thanksgiving vacation," says Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore, whose studio distributes DreamWorks Animation releases.

Next Friday boasts what will likely be one of the fourth quarter's biggest releases: the James Bond thriller "Quantum of Solace," from Sony and MGM. The Daniel Craig starrer is considered a lock to play strongly well into December, especially considering its huge U.K. opening, much like Sony's November 2006 Bond opener "Casino Royale."

Two weeks from now, over the November 21 frame, wide openers will include the season's biggest teens-and-tweens title, "Twilight," from newbie distributor Summit. Based on a series of high school vampire novels, the potential franchise-starter could sink its teeth into some serious business if the marketplace matches its prerelease Internet hype.
Source: http://ca.reuters.com/article