Festival 2009Gearing Up

GEARING UP CANDIDAŢII
Documentary Specifications	Biography / Biografie
View Trailer GEARING UP CANDIDAŢII Gearing Up Sheetal S. Agarwal Hong Kong 2008 27 min. Director / Editor: Sheetal S. Agarwal Photography: Sheetal S. Agarwal & Alak Borkar Production Company: Sheetal S. Agarwal / Sheetla Films World Distribution & Sales: Sheetal S. Agarwal / Sheetla Films Address: Sheetal S. Agarwal / Sheetla Films, 33A, Tower 3, Hillsborough Court, 18 Old Peak Road, Mid Levels, Hong Kong Tel. / Fax: 0085228681271 E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it	SHEETAL S. AGARWAL M. A. in Fine Arts, majoring in documentary film making. Founder of a documentary production company by the name of SheetalFilms in Hong Kong. Master în Arte, specializarea Producţie de film documentar. Fondatoarea casei de producţie de film documentar SheetalFilms din Hong Kong.
	Filmography / Filmografie
	2005 - Ordinary Lives 2004 - Home and Away
	Awards / Premii
	The Michael Moore Award - Best Documentary Film at the 44th Ann Arbor Film Festival Best Documentary Award at the International Student Film Festival Hollywood (2006) Best Documentary KODAK Award at the 20th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (2005) Grand Prize at the Fifth Short Film Competition, Beijing Student Film Festival (2004)

Synopsis / Sinopsis

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are regarded as the world’s hardest engineering school to enter. The success rate for the annual entrance examination is not higher than 2%. The IIT alumni are founders CEOs of international companies (Sun Microsystems, Vodafone, Citigroup etc.) and can be found everywhere from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, and in research labs across the globe. This film is the story of four teenagers who prepare for one of the most important moments in their lives: the IIT entrance examination. The viewer becomes familiar with their motivations and ambitions, and ends up wandering, together with the characters in the film, about winning and losing, satisfaction, accomplishment, and happiness in a materially competitive world.

Se spune că la nicio facultate din lume nu se intră atît de greu ca la ITT (Indian Institutes of Technology). Rata de promovare la admiterile anuale nu depăşeşte 2%. Absolvenţi de la ITT au devenit fondatori sau directori executivi de companii multinaţionale precum Sun Microsystems, Vodafone, Citigroup, etc., pot fi întîlniţi din Silicon Valley pînă în Wall Street şi în laboratoare de cercetare din toată lumea. Filmul este povestea a patru adolescenţi care se pregătesc pentru cel mai important moment din viaţa lor: examenul de admitere la ITT. Le vom afla motivaţia şi ambiţiile şi vom reflecta alături de ei la chestiuni precum victoria şi înfrîngerea, satisfacţia, împlinirea şi fericirea într-o lume materialist-competitivă.

ASTRA FILM FESTIVAL 2009

Programming / Programare
Monday 26 - Hall A - 18h00 / Luni 26 - Hall A - 18h00
Wednesday 28 - Hall B - 13h00 / Joi 28 - Hall B - 13h00

Films in International Competition / Filme in Competitie - International
THE ABSENCE, Ricardo Greene, Chile/UK
A BLOOMING BUSINESS, Ton Van Zantvoort, The Netherlands
BRIDES OF ALLAH, Natalie Assouline, Israel
DONKEY IN LAHORE, Faramarz K-Rahber, Australia
GANDHI'S CHILDREN , David MacDougall, Australia
GEARING UP, Sheetal S. Agarwal, Hong Kong
GLORIOUS EXIT , Kevin Merz, Switzerland
HORSEMEN , Nancy Muquing Wu, China
THE LAST RITES OF THE HONORABLE MR. RAI , Jayasinhji Jhala, USA
MONTI MOMENTS:MEN'S MEMORIES IN THE HEART OF ROME,Michael Herzfeld,USA
NORTH-SOUTH.COM , Francois Ducat, Belgium
ROUGH CUT , Firouzeh Khosrovani, Iran
SWEETGRASS , Lucien Castaing, Taylor & Ilisa Barbash, USA
THE TALE OF NICOLAI & THE LAW OF RETURN , Ofek David, Israel

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

film screenings

AFF09 Film Program (.pdf)

Mo.26 | Tu.27 | We.28 | Th.29

Fr.30 | Sa.31 | Su.01

events

Mo.26 - Su.01

FILM ARCHIVE

ASTRA FILM manages an extensive documentary film collection with public screening facilities. The ASTRA FILM archive started in 1990, and it has collected since thousands of documentaries produced in over 70 countries.

Due to our focus on the Eastern European and Romanian production, the ASTRA FILM archive holds a unique collection of documentaries documenting the issues of post-communism and transition in the region.