Ajitpal Singh’s internationally acclaimed debut Hindi feature, Fire In The Mountains, the Opening Film of 19th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the festival

The IFFLA Opening Night screening of Fire In The Mountains was followed by an insightful Q & A of Ajitpal Singh with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Amy, Sienna)~

Written-directed by Ajitpal Singh and produced by Jar Pictures, Fire in the Mountains had its World Premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2021 as the only film selected from South Asia in World Cinema Dramatic Competition

 The film recently won top two awards, Silver Lady Harimaguada and Best Actor at prestigious 20th Las Palmas De Gran Canaria International Film Festival, Spain

 Apart from his feature, Ajitpal Singh’s award-winning short Rammat-Gammat is also part of IFFLA’s Special program “Childhood on Edge” curated by Uma da Cunha 

Festival teaser out:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTz7R4PdVgQ

Mumbai, 28th May 2020Self-taught filmmaker Ajitpal Singh’s internationally acclaimed debut Hindi feature as a writer-director, Fire In The Mountains which was the Opening Film of the 19th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the festival, held virtually in California from May 20-27.

The Opening Night screening of Fire In The Mountains was followed by an insightful Q & A of Ajitpal with the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Amy, Sienna) who was also Singh’s mentor at the Mumbai Mantra-Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2012. Ajitpal’s first screenplay which was selected at the Lab won the Sundance Grant.

Excited about winning the Audience Award for Best Film, the self-taught filmmaker and the writer-director of the film Ajitpal Singh says, “We always have an audience in mind when we make films, it’s so great to know that Fire in the Mountains resonated with its viewers in California and they rewarded us with the audience choice award at IFFLA.”

Fire in the Mountains had its World Premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2021 as the only film selected from South Asia among 10 films in the ‘World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

The film recently won two awards, Silver Lady Harimaguada, Jury Award for 2nd best film & Best Actor (Chandan Bisht) at  20th Las Palmas De Gran Canaria International Film Festival, Spain. The LPA Film festival Jury stated they were impressed with  “The film’s ability to portray contradictions in contemporary India and its dilemma between tradition and modernity with apparent simplicity while expressing its characters’ complexity.” Earlier titled Swizerland, the film won two awards, ‘Prasad Lab DI’ and ‘Moviebuff Appreciation’ for the best WIP project at 2019 Film Bazaar’s Work-In-Progress Lab. It was also part of NFDC Screenwriters Lab 2018-19 and Marche Du Film 2020’s, Goes to Cannes Section.

The 82-minute intense family drama about a mother who toils to save money to build a road in a remote Himalayan village to take her wheelchair-bound son for physiotherapy but her husband believes that a shamanic ritual (Jagar) is the remedy, steals her savings stars Vinamrata Rai, Chandan Bisht and Sonal Jha, and first time young actors from Uttarakhand, Harshita Tewari and Mayank Singh Jaira.

The Jar Pictures production, Fire In The Mountains is produced by Ajay Rai and Alan McAlex and co-produced by Mauli Singh and Amit Mehta.

 Apart from his debut feature, Ajitpal Singh’s short film Rammat-Gammat which won an award at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2018 and recently released on Mubi India was also part of IFFLA’s Special program “Childhood on Edge” curated by Uma da Cunha.

For more updates you can follow the film on Social Media handles

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FireInTheMountainsthefilm/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fireinthemountains_film/

Twitter: @FITM_TheFilm

 About Ajitpal Singh

Ajitpal Singh is a self-taught filmmaker living in Mumbai. His greatest passions are writing, reading, cooking, cycling and travelling. After studying chemistry, learning theatre and photography, he chose filmmaking as his calling.

Born in Punjab, Ajitpal Singh was an 8 years old boy when his father, a farmer and ex-army man, ran a cinema hall in Bathinda which suffered huge losses and was shut down during insurgency in Punjab. His family moved to Ahmedabad where his father took up a job of a security guard. Ajitpal Singh grew up in a ghetto amidst poverty and violence and being a Sikh child, he faced a lot of discrimination due to anti Sikh sentiments at that time.

Ajitpal’s first screenplay was part of Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2012 where it won the Sundance Grant. His mentors were Oscar winner filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Amy) and Oscar Nominated screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, Babel and 21 Grams), Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), José Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries), Howard A. Rodman (Savage Grace) and Marcos Bernstein (Oscar nominated Brazilian film Central Station).

His second screenplay (FITM) was selected for NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab. He was also part of Berlinale Talent Campus and the youngest member of Indian delegation at Munich Film Festival 2009, selected by Goethe Institute.

His short film Rammat-Gammat won the ‘Special Mention’ award at the prestigious short film festival of Oberhausen 2018, and after touring over 50 noted international and Indian film festivals including Palm Spring Shorts Fest, Cinekid, MAMI and won six awards, the short film premiered on Mubi India. His other short film, Hummingbird which also travelled to many international film festivals won a jury award for best short film in France. Fire In The Mountains (earlier titled Swizerland) is his debut feature as a writer and director.

Ajitpal wrote dialogues for Once Again (available on Netflix), a Germany-India co-production film and worked as an associate director for Gurgaon (available on Netflix) and as an assistant director for Patang (Berlinale 2011).

About Jar Pictures

JAR Pictures founded by Ajay G. Rai and Alan McAlex in 2011 is an Indian motion picture production company based in Mumbai and also provides production services to leading studios in India. They have produced award-winning films, Liar’s Dice (Sundance 2013, India and Official Entry to Oscar), Killa (Berlinale Crystal Bear Winner 2014), Gurgaon, Moothoon, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, and TV Series. Currently, they are producing the feature film of Cannes Winner Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage. Their recent feature project is selected for Berlinale Co-Production market 2019. They have produced critically acclaimed and commercially successful films like Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 and 2, Nil Battey Sannata and Qarib Qarib Single starring Irrfan Khan

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