Lynn Manwar

Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

Lynn’s Comments:    I was home on August 4th, 2012 when I got a call and a Facebook message about an opportunity to attend PIFAA 2012 at the Air Canada Centre, as my friend had extra tickets.  He asked me if I would like to attend and I said yes to the amazing chance to spend an evening to see Punjabi Film Stars, song and dance.   I was resting as I am in the midst of radiation treatment, but conserved my energy and got a drop downtown to meet my friend to attend the actual event.

On my mother’s side, our ancestry is Punjabi and it was nice to go to an event that is connected to 50% of my roots.  The awards show was pretty much all in Punjabi so, since I don’t understand the language, I just watched the song and dance, along with the beautiful people in the audience.   It was a packed house, and a great turnout— considering it was a first awards show of the Punjabi film industry.

It started at 8pm promptly and during the show, I got up and walked around.  I purchased herbal tea and a muffin, as I needed to regain some energy.  After watching some wonderful awards presentations and performances, I decided to leave at 10:45pm and call it a night.  The show was not yet over, but I ensured that I took care of myself and headed home on the subway.

I was extremely grateful that I received a ticket to attend PIFAA.  It was a memorable cultural experience!

Lynn’s Comments: It was on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 that I was invited to the Green Carpet Gala, an International Indian Film Awards Buzz event held at the Liberty Grand in Toronto.  It was a night full of music, drink, dance and fine entertainment, buzzing with local celebrities.  Overall,  I would say about 1000 people showed up and it got to be a busy night.  I met old friends and made new ones.  I had a great time dancing and had wonderful company. Thanks to Dinesh Sachdev of FILMI for the invitation and thanks to Ravi for taking me there.

Lynn Manwar with Ravi Amin

Lynn’s Comments: At the end of February 2011 I decided to register as a delegate for Hot Docs Film Festival to learn more about the industry. This year’s festival was held from April 28th to May 8th, 2011. I was able to watch many documentaries that touched, moved and disturbed me. I love the storytelling and reality that documentaries bring to the world. Some docs that really opened up my eyes included: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, <The Pirate Tapes, Being Elmo, Kumare, The Bengali Detective, My Barefoot Friend, and The Redemption of General Butt Naked.

The networking at this event was phenomenal with contacts from all around the world. I attended both Opening and Closing Night parties and met some great people, had lots of food and drink.

I had my first pitch session of my doc to TVO, even though I do not have experience in making a film. It was a good learning curve. I need to build my team and have a strong producer to go back to a broadcaster to support my project.

Opening Night Party of Hot Docs! Lynn with Ashima Suri and Lola of Limitless Productions

Jian Ghomeshi @ Hot Docs Awards

Lynn’s Comments: I attended the Press Conference for the 11th Annual ReelWorld Film Festival at Canada Square Theatre at 2200 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 15th, 2011.

Lynn Manwar with Actor Cle Bennet of Barney's Version film

The five day festival is about diverse film making and screens animation, documentaries, features, music videos and shorts.

I worked for this festival in 2006 as the Volunteer Coordinator and I am so happy to stay connected to this festival. Founded by actress Tonya Lee Williams, this festival has launched the careers of many aspiring diverse filmmakers

Lynn Manwar with Actress & Founder, Tonya Lee Williams

Lynn’s Comments: I had the good fortune of getting an invitation from Tushar Unadkat to attend the Press Conference of IIFA (International Indian Film Awards) held at the Royal York Hotel in January 2011.

We initially went to the Press Conference scheduled for Tuesday, January 18th to the Royal York Hotel, only to find out it had been rescheduled to the next day, due to the funeral of a fallen local policeman. On Wednesday, January 19th, 2011, we went early, got our seats and listened attentively to the speakers including Anil Kapoor and Preity Zinta. There was definitely a frenzy in the air with these Bollywood stars in attendance.

Anil Kapoor and Preity Zinta

Lynn Manwar with Tushar Unadkat & Mohit Rajhans

Luckily, I was able to find out when the tickets where going on sale for the actual IIFA show and set aside time in my week, to purchase tickets.