Friday, August 21, 2015

New PTA Film, "Junun", To Premiere At NYFF


There's been a slight (and pretty cool) epidemic, as of late, of world class filmmakers slipping their movies completely under the radar until they are edited and finished and premiering at festivals (see: Noah Baumbach). The latest director to add to that list is one Paul Thomas Anderson whose mysterious India exploits with Jonny Greenwood were actually the fruits of his first-ever documentary.

That's right... PTA made a documentary! The film is called Junun and will premiere at the 53rd New York Film Festival in the Special Events category. It comes in just under an hour long and here's  NYFF website has to say about it:
Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2015, DCP, 54m
English, Hindu, Hebrew, and Urdu with English subtitles
Earlier this year, Paul Thomas Anderson joined his close friend and collaborator Jonny Greenwood on a trip to Rajasthan in northwest India, where they were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, and he brought his camera with him. Their destination was the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort, where Greenwood (with the help of Radiohead engineer Nigel Godrich) was recording an album with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and an amazing group of musicians: Aamir Bhiyani, Soheb Bhiyani, Ajaj Damami, Sabir Damami, Hazmat, and Bhanwaru Khan on brass; Ehtisham Khan Ajmeri, Nihal Khan, Nathu Lal Solanki, Narsi Lal Solanki, and Chugge Khan on percussion; Zaki Ali Qawwal, Zakir Ali Qawwal, Afshana Khan, Razia Sultan, Gufran Ali, and Shazib Ali on vocals; and Dara Khan and Asin Khan on strings. The finished film, just under an hour, is pure magic. Junun lives and breathes music, music-making, and the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration. It’s a lovely impressionistic mosaic and a one-of-a-kind sonic experience: the music will blow your mind. World Premiere
Notably, as you'll see in the photographs in the above link in this post, PTA shot this one (at least in part) digitally. We can't wait to see what his first outing in that format yielded. With Pinocchio potentially getting underway soon, the fact that PTA has kept busy with this and the Joanna Newsom music video is very exciting. Stay tuned!

(Thanks to Joe for the heads up)

C&RV
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(This was updated to reflect the film's running time as well as a fuller synopsis)

 UPDATE: AND TICKETS TO THE PREMIERE ARE AVAILABLE HERE.
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19 comments:

  1. It says at the NYFF website that it's 54 mins. exciting!

    ReplyDelete

  3. How to Write 'first documentary ever':

    Right: first documentary ever.
    Wrong: first-ever documentary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Wow! You did well in English. Good job! We're all very impressed. Not everybody does well in English. Some are Math people. Not you!

      But you know, there are millions of other websites on the internet, and they might not be aware of how well you did in English. Maybe you should go let them know, since we get it at this point. I'm sure it eats you up inside knowing there are all these other sites with readers just begging to read your worthwhile critiques. Take your ego up on it, and go make the rest of the internet world the better place you've made this.

      Delete

    2. Both are acceptable. Bush league trolling.

      Delete

  4. How to Make an Acronym:

    Right: P.T.A.
    Wrong: PTA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. How to Make an Insufferable Comment on Just About Every Cigs and Red Vines Story:

      See: Mongolophile

      Annoying isn't it? Stop treating everybody as your supposed pupil. What you've been doing is far more obnoxious than whether or not the above poster put a dash here or a period there.

      Delete

    3. NASA is an acronym. PTA is an initialism. Punctuation is optional.

      Delete

  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

  6. Just a side note regarding Pinnochio I haven't seen mentioned anywhere.
    Coppolla was working on an adaptation for Warner Bros in the 90's that fell apart.....
    Seeing as PTA knows Coppolla I wonder was he influenced to take up the project based on some of his ideas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. And there's AI, of course. Another WB movie.

      Delete

    2. Yes but A.I was eventually made. Coppolla's Pinnochio fell apart and he sued Warner Bros and won 80 million in court. Maybe Paul will be taking on board some of Coppolla's ideas.

      http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/10/us/coppola-awarded-80-million-for-unmade-pinocchio-movie.html

      Delete

    3. Right, gotcha. I thought you were just talking about Pinocchio movies by filmmakers he admires :P

      Could be but somehow I feel like this is an entirely different thing. Would be interesting, though. The more I think about this Pinocchio thing, the more it intrigues me.

      Delete

  7. Thanks for sharing this great article! That is very interesting I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this.
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    ReplyDelete

  11. Just to let you know that yesterday at the Rome Film Festival press conference has been announced that "Junun" will be screened also here in Italy. For me a really really great news!

    ReplyDelete

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