You can use this application as a guide for the information to include: ISAFF Application.

Send VHS NTSC or DVD NTSC to:

ISAFF
1122 East Pike St. Box #960
Seattle, WA 98122-3934

Yes! Please write to Rita Meher at rita@tasveer.org for info on sponsorship opportunities.

South Asia is group of countries that are culturally, historically, and linguistically connected, and also geographically located in the Indian subcontinent. There are variations on the countries that are included when “South Asia” is referred to, although most include India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Some include border countries like Afghanistan, Burma, or Tibet, while other organizations choose not to do that. Tasveer decided to include the countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka based on research, considerations, respect, and recognition for each country and people.

Because Afghanistan is central between South Asia and the Middle East, it often gets lost when regions are classified. Some South Asian organizations include Afghanistan in their mission while others don’t. We include it because of its historical significance during the Moghul and British colonial period and its close political, religious, linguistic, and cultural relationship with other South Asian countries. We also include Afghanistan because there is no Seattle based film organization that covers Afghanistan in their mission statement and we did not want this country to be disregarded.

The countries listed are the countries considered to be in the South Asian region and in the mission statement of the presenting organization Tasveer. There is intention and effort to include all the people of South Asia around the globe. But films are selected based on availability, costs, production year, production value, public screening rights, and other logistical factors. Most likely a film from your region/culture/language is not in the festival because it was not feasible for any number of these reasons.

Specifically, this first ISAFF we were unable to procure films from Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. There are also several Indian languages (i.e. Kannada, Assamese and others) and diasporic communities (i.e. Trinidadians, Fijians, Cape Malays, and others) that are not represented in the festival this first year. In the future, we hope to procure films that represent and inform about groups that did not make it into the first ISAFF. The intention and mission is to include, not to exclude, the multitude of South Asia.

Please email us if you know of any independently produced films from your region, culture, or language. You are also welcome to join the festival team for 2005, because you might have more access, knowledge, and language skills to films from your region. And finally, we encourage everyone to learn to make films so that South Asian diversity is reflected in the films available. Contact us if you are interested in filmmaking and need our assistance. Our email for general inquiry is info@tasveer.org.

Several film series have been presented by various local organizations in the past, including:

- In 1999, South Asia Center UW hosted a series called Traveling Film South Asia (TFSA), a set of documentaries from Nepal that travel around the world.

- In 2002, Tasveer in collaboration with our supporting partner 911 Media Arts Center, presented TFSA 2001.

- Summer '03, Tasveer presented South Asian Reels film series at the Seattle Art Musuem that complemented their art exhibit.

- Earlier this year, UW organized the weekend academic symposium "Classics on Celluloid: Bollywood Recasting the Tradition".

All these events were centered around film and the South Asian region. And we hope that there will be future events, besides ISAFF, featuring films from South Asia. For example, Waheeda Rehman film series is coming up in October.

So what makes ISAFF first? It is the first film festival celebrating the full spectrum of independent South Asian cinema - political documentaries, forums w/ grassroots filmmakers, narrative feature films, experimental short films. And it is entirely curated and organized in Seattle. ISAFF is also the first to show over twenty-five films in only five days, allowing patrons to fully emerge in independent South Asian cinema. But what makes it really first is that there is an implied promise of Seattle's "second" and "third" (and "fourth"..) Independent South Asian Film Festival. Of course, this can only happen with your support! Please spread the word, attend as many programs as you possiby can, and support us in your own unique way. Thank you!

We don't want anybody to miss a film due to lack of funds. Engagement with the issues is more important than the price of the ticket. It's a peoples' festival. So please write to us at info@tasveer.org and we will explore the options and your specific situation.