7 Days in Slow Motion

Closing Film
Vancouver Premier

Screening Time
Sunday, May 30, 7:00pm

Film Trailer

Fiction / India / 2009 / 100 minutes
Director/ Screenwriter: Umakanth Thumrugoti
Starring: Teja, Kunal Sharma, Shiva Varma
Music Composer: Anu Malik,
Singers: Kailash Kher, Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan
Produced by Kanth Films
Website: www.7daysinslowmotion.com
Language: English

A boy rebels against his mother by showing truth as he sees it through the lens of a “borrowed” camera.

When director and screenwriter, Umakanth Thumrugoti, began conceiving ideas for this film, he realized right away that it would be conceptually unique both in India and on an international level.

Within India, children’s films often depict ‘slice-of-life’ themes or fantasy and fairytales; Meanwhile, Indian stories that travel to the west are mostly festival fare that have historically dealt with niche subjects such as poverty, class struggles, abuse, and mysticism. 7 Days in Slow Motion explores a different perspective. Umakanth explains, “In this film, I told a simple fictional tale that rings true in nearly every middle-class family in India – the kind of pressure parents put on their children to succeed academically – and in turn, their kids who squelch their own dreams to please their parents who sacrificed so much for them.”

Set in Hyderabad, this film focuses on young Ravi, a boy ordinary in every way except for his extraordinary obsession with movies. When he finds a filmmaker’s lost camera, he sets out, along with his two friends, to make a film in a mere seven days. However, the demands of school and family interfere, setting the film’s production behind schedule. Ravi soon realizes that the stories that most need to be told are not the fruit of his imagination, but the daily dramas that unfold all around him.

Deftly balancing humor and insight in just about every scene, the film cleverly glances upon several other societal issues in India, including child marriage, multiple generations under one roof, class-structure stigma, and fascination with foreigners.

Festival Entries & Awards
2009, Official selection, International Film Festival of India
Audience Award, Stuttgart Indian Film Festival
Audience Award, New Jersey South Asian Independent Cine Fest
Special Recognition, Houston Indian Film Festival
Best Writing, Asian Festival of First Films

About Umakanth Thumrugoti
A 15-year veteran of Disney Feature Animation, Umakanth Thumrugoti masterfully visualizes stories in art palettes and story panels. During his time at Disney, he helped shape the development and production of projects like Pocahontas, Chicken Little and Fantasia 2000. He has worked in such varying capacities as Software Developer, Technical Director, Digital Effects Supervisor, Sequence Lead and Lighting Supervisor. He also spent four years in Visual Development at Disney, designing layout and character. Most recently, he was co-Art Director of a project in development for Disney Feature Animation.

Thumrugoti took a one-year sabbatical to shoot his first live-action feature film in India. After screen testing over 300 kids in Hyderabad, he chose his 3 main leads and rehearsed with them extensively.

Click here for press kit of the film. presskit(3.31.09)a

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