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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Blind Chess: McDonald's Chess Docu Algorithms nominated for Grierson Prize
Hello chess blog friends, we've written about Ian McDonald and his chess documentary on blind chess players from India before. McDonald, from Newcastle University actually remortgaged his home to make the documentary which is now nominated for yet another award, reports ChronicleLive.
Dr Ian McDonald, a senior lecturer in film, is in the running for a Grierson prize for his documentary Algorithms, which follows blind chess players in India. He made the documentary, which spans three years, after reading about the chess players in an Indian newspaper in 2006. Dr McDonald directed, filmed and edited the film alongside his wife Geetha, the producer.
He said: “It is a great privilege to be nominated for a Grierson. “Making the film has been a real struggle, but it’s had a great response wherever it has screened and now for the film to receive this nomination is a real honour for us.”
Dr Ian McDonald and his wife Geetha
Algorithms has already won six awards, including best foreign documentary at this year’s LA Femme film festival and the best film trophy at Film South Asia in Nepal last year. Dr McDonald was inspired to create the film after discovering a “community that was almost unknown to the outside world”.
He said: “To be part of their world for three years was a transformative experience.
“It changed my understanding of ability and disability and reminded me of the forgotten significance of touch.”
The husband and wife duo followed three boys competing in tournaments in India and abroad, as well as visiting the chess champions at home.
Dr McDonald found out for himself that despite being blind, the boys were still able to see the winning moves on the board.
The Grierson awards were set up in memory of renowned Scottish filmmaker John Grierson in 1972, and recognise groundbreaking documentaries. Read full article. From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also
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Blind Chess film receives Praise at the World Chess Championship in Chennai
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
A full house and an enthusiastic response greeted the award winning documentary Algorithms about young blind chess players from India, screened at the FIDE World Chess Championship on Thursday evening.
Directed by British filmmaker Ian McDonald and produced by Geetha J for the South Indian production house AkamPuram, Algorithms is the first ever feature documentary on blind chess.
Shot over three years, it follows three youths and their mentor, Charadutta Jadhav from the All India Chess Federation for the Blind, as they travel to national and international chess championships.
A long and lively Q&A with Director Ian McDonald and Producer Geetha J followed the screening. They were joined by Chennai boy Sai Krishna who features in the film and Prasanna, who scored original music for the film.
The discussion was emotionally charged and ranged from talking about the players and the music to the struggle to make the film.
One visitor remarked, “I came here to watch the match between Anand and Carlsen, but went to the screening out of curiosity and ended up staying for the whole film. It was so good”, while another reacted that he thought the film was “better than Hoop Dreams”.
Ian McDonald said, “It was a really special night. We have had a fantastic response to the film on the international film circuit, but it’s the response in India that matters most to me. So I am overjoyed that people really liked the film. Thanks must go to FIDE for inviting us to screen the film here.”
Ian McDonald and Geetha J
The producer, Geetha J commented that she is planning to take the film on a screening tour of India next year, “We are trying to raise funds to make this happen, and also to do a high spec audio-description so blind and visually impaired people can enjoy the film. We want this film to be experienced by every Indian in the country”.
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Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk Backs Algorithms - Documentary on Blind Chess Players
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
We just have 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk backing a very special chess documentary: Algorithms by Ian McDonald.
Donald has been running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for ALGORITHMS - our documentary on blind chess players from India. GM Kosteniuk has been supporting the documentary all along.
The Kickstarter campaign is nearing nearing the final date and they have only 6 days left with still need £6K to raise! Don't hesitate, pitch in whatever you can to support chess and support chess for the blind.
The film will be screened at two international film festivals soon including the RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The documentary was praised in India and surely, it deserves a bigger international platform. The director and his team are now looking to secure an international premiere at a top film festival outside India. It had its World Premiere at the International Film Festival of India in Nov 2012. It was also a Film Bazaar Recommended (FBR) film at the industry event parallel to IFFI and screeners have been taken by visiting festivals. For this, the film needs to be regraded. The original picture grading was not done to a big screen projector. But this is expensive. Also, the teams wants to take the desired high quality outputs (HD CAM, DCP etc), which again are very expensive. McDonald's team has little time to raise funds. They have now decided to go down the crowd-funding route with a Kickstarter campaign. The target is £10,000 in 45 days. If they fail to reach the target they get nothing!
Would you like to support this very special chess documentary? Here is the Kickstarter Campaign link for 'Algorithms'. Crowd funding a project through Kickstarter is slowly becoming the most viable way for documentary filmmakers and now one-third of films that come to festivals are funded this way. In fact, the Oscar award for short documentary went to a Kickstarter film this year!
Ian McDonald is a sports sociologist and documentary filmmaker. Having always used the camera to support his research on sport and physical culture in UK and India, Ian’s move to documentary filmmaking, benefits from a seemingly effortless ‘way of seeing’ that has resulted in documentaries with a difference on art and sport, especially of the ‘sporting outsider’- the one who is seen as ‘different’ by a ‘normal’ society. His documentaries have been screened at film festivals, conferences and campaign meetings around the world. Ian is based at the University of Brighton, UK.
ALGORITHMSIndia | 2012 | HDV | B&W | 109 mins English, Hindi, Tamil, Odiya with English subtitles
In India, a group of boys dream of becoming Chess Masters, driven by a man with a vision. But this is no ordinary chess and these are no ordinary players. Algorithms is a documentary on the thriving but little known world of Blind Chess in India.
Filmed over three years, Algorithms travels with three talented boys and a totally blind player turned pioneer to competitive national and world championships and visits them in their home milieu where they reveal their struggles, anxieties and hopes.
Going beyond sight and story, this observational sport docu with a difference moves through the algorithms of the blind chess world challenging the sighted of what it means to see. It allows for the tactile and thoughtful journey that explores foresight, sight and vision to continue long after the moving image ends.
Visually Challenged Chess Players - Ian McDonald Documentary on Indian Chess Players
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
At the 14th IBCA Chess Olympiad for Blind in Chennai recently, British filmmaker Ian McDonald announced the completion of his documentary film Algorithms in India. The film will feature a documentary on Blind chess for the first time in India. It almost took four years to complete this unique film and is the first ever feature documentary on young blind chess players from India.
The film is in English, Hindi, Tamil and Odiya subtitles. Talking more about the movie, Ian told journalists, "The story of the film revolves about a group of Indian boys who are dreaming to become chess masters. These boys are no ordinary boys and have only one vision to win the Champions title. Over past three years we have been making the film and our aim was to highlight the world of Blind chess in India. It also talks about the struggle, anxieties and hopes of the chess players."
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