By Gautaman Bhaskaran
The Indian film, Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan (Alms of the Blind Horse), has been selected for the Venice Orizzonti Competition.
Produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India, “Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan”, is in a way a tribute to assigned creative producer of the film Mani Kaul, a recently deceased eminent Indian arthouse director.
The movie’s inclusion in the Venice International Film Festival was made known at a recent memorial meeting for Kaul in New Delhi.
Scripted by Gurvinder Singh and based on a novel by Gurdial Singh, the film is set in a Punjab village and traces the trials of a small family of India’s working class. The story provides a poignant look at the suffering and humiliation of members of the India’s working classes.
The Venice fest runs from August 31 to September 10 on the Lido island.
Iranian moviemaker Amir Naderi’s feature, “Cut”, will head the Orizzonti section. Set in the world of Japanese yakuzas, the film has been described as a “visual love poem” and will be part of the Competition.
The 2011 Orizzonti jury will be led by China's 2006 Golden Lion winner Jia Zhang-ke. Tate Modern's cinema curator Stuart Comer, French architect Odile Decq, Egyptian producer and director Marianne Khoury and Italian movie editor and director Jacopo Quadri will form the rest of the jury.