Montclair fest premiering restored ‘Diary of Anne Frank’

NEW DELHI, April 6, (Agencies): The planned release of a Bollywood biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi days before the start of Indian elections has run into trouble with a court challenge pending and the censor board yet to clear its opening in theaters.

Opposition parties are protesting that the film’s release would unfairly advantage Modi’s Hindu nationalist party as it seeks reelection.

The Supreme Court set a Monday hearing date for a Congress party petition demanding the movie’s release be deferred until voting concludes in mid-May.

The Hindi movie couldn’t be screened as planned on Friday because the censor board hasn’t certified it for release.

“This is to confirm, our film ‘PM Narendra Modi’ is not releasing on 5th April. Will update soon,” film producer Sandip Singh tweeted late Thursday.

Vivek Oberoi, who plays the title role, said the Congress party was trying to block the movie’s release because it was scared of Modi’s popularity.

Oberoi, 42, said in an interview with the New Delhi Television news channel that the screening of the movie would not violate the code of conduct for national elections.

India’s autonomous Election Commission is expected to rule next week on separate complaints filed by two opposition parties protesting the launch of a NaMo (Narendra Modi) television channel named after the prime minister.

The Congress party and the Aam Admi Party said the channel was started by the BJP and it violated the code of conduct that barred political parties from starting such channels after the announcement of the election schedule.

The channel started broadcasting Modi’s election campaign and a compilation of speeches highlighting his government’s achievements three weeks after the voting schedule was announced by the commission on March 10.

The voting for India’s elections will be staggered over seven days, beginning April 11 and concluding May 19. Counting will begin May 23.

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LOS ANGELES: The Montclair Film Festival will hold the world premiere of the restoration of the 1959 movie “The Diary of Anne Frank”, Variety has learned exclusively.

The black-and-white film, directed by George Stevens, has been restored by Twentieth Century Fox and the Film Foundation. The holocaust drama was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including best supporting actress for Shelly Winters.

The festival, now in its eighth year, will take place May 3-12 in Montclair, NJ, and features more than 150 films, events, discussions and parties. The festival had previously announced that it would open with a screening of Tom Harper’s “Wild Rose”, with star Jessie Buckley attending for a post-screening Q&A.

This year’s Storyteller Series will include A Conversation with Mindy Kaling, moderated by Stephen Colbert, taking place May 4 and A Conversation with Ben Stiller, moderated by Colbert, on May 5. Olympia Dukakis will attend for a Q&A following the May 5 screening of Harry Mavromichalis’ documentary “Olympia”.

The festival’s fiction film highlights include Michael Tyburski’s “The Sound of Silence”, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Rashida Jones; Noble Jones’ “The Tomorrow Man”, starring John Lithgow and Blythe Danner; Mary Harron’s “Charlie Says” with Harron attending on May 4; Alex Thompson’s SXSW Audience Award winner “Saint Francis”; and Guy Nattiv’s “Skin”, starring Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald and Vera Farmiga.

Documentary highlights include Roger Ross Williams “The Apollo”, which will screen May 4; Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce’s “Framing John Delorean”, portions of which were shot in Montclair; Montclair’s own Erin Lee Carr with true crime thriller “I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs Michelle Carter”; and the premiere of Ken Spooner and Mike Mee’s “Life With Layla”, which examines the opioid epidemic through the experiences of a New Jersey family.

The festival is also screening its first Family Centerpiece film, Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone’s “The Elephant Queen”, presented by The Nature Conservancy. The Documentary Centerpiece will be “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool” on May 10, with director Stanley Nelson attending for a Q&A.

“This year’s festival program reflects a wide range of concerns and points of view that speak to the current state of our cinematic world,” said Montclair Film Executive Director Tom Hall. “Film is a global community, held together by our collective passion for the power of cinema. We look forward to our artists and audiences coming together to share that passion at the festival.”