Press Release 2011-09-20
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7th Seattle South Asian Film Festival Opens With Legendary Actress Deepti Naval's Directorial Debut!
Theme: Chalo Cinema: Undefeated Voices, Dissident Margins
Contact: Shanthala Mudegowda, 253-234-7016, shanthala@tasveer.org
Seattle South Asian Film Festival- October 7-9, 2011
Venues: (Both venues are located at Seattle Center)
SIFF Cinema 321 Mercer Street
SIFF Film Center 305 Harrison Street
Seattle, WA, September 20th, 2011: Tasveer's 7th Seattle South Asian Film Festival (SSAFF) opens with legendary Indian actress turned director Deepti Naval's directorial debut Two Paise for Sunshine, Four Annas for Rain. Deepti Naval, the famed Bollywood actor turned director will be the chief guest at the opening night of Seatte South-Asian Fim Festival (SSAFF) on Friday, Oct 7th. Her debut movie is said to be poetically set in Mumbai's monsoon, with Gulzar penning the title song. Expect a very fun evening as Tasveer (www.tasveer.org), the organizers, have set up a reception following the showing of the movie. Tickets for the entire event are available first-come-first-serve on their website at a very affordable price. So, hurry before the event is sold out.
SSAFF will be showcasing more than 30 films (100% Seattle premiere!) from October 7-9th, 2011 at the SIFF Cinema at Seattle Center. This year’s theme, “Chalo Cinema Undefeated voices, Dissident Margins,” underlines the thematic essence of the films as well as the spirit that inspires Tasveer to organize our festivals year after year.
This year's festival will close with one of the most assertive and breathtakingly bold film of the year: I Am Afia, Megha, Abhimanyu, and Omar. This film is about issues and dilemmas that bruise the modern Indian society, the struggles of individuals seeking their identity in a cold and callous world: surrogate motherhood, the Kashmir issue, child abuse, and homosexuality. We will be live Skyping with the director Onir and producer Sanjay Suri after the film.
The following is a partial line-up of our exciting films:
I Am Kalam: The film revolves around Chhotu, a poor Rajasthani boy, who is inspired by the life of former President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and his strong desire to learn to read.
Meherjaan: In 1971, during Bangladesh’s war of independence, Meher falls in love with a soldier from the enemy side. When her love is discovered, she is shamed and silenced by her family and society. Today 38 years after the war, Meher has a visitor she cannot turn down.
A Decent Arrangement: This film is the story of Ashok Khosla, an Indian-American copywriter, who journeys to India seeking an arranged marriage. After he encounters an American woman traveling through India and is set up with an Indian woman who unexpectedly captivates him, Ashok must navigate the complexity of cultural traditions and the leanings of his own heart.
Singhing Bee: Harjinder (Honey) Singh is a 10-year-old Indian American boy poised on the brink of a major turning point in his life. His parents' obsession with raising a national spelling bee champion sharply conflicts with his desire to pursue more creative interests.
Love Crimes of Kabul: The film follows three young prisoners as they go to trial, jailed for running away from home to escape abuse, for allegations of adultery, and other “moral crimes." The women of Afghanistan’s Badum Bagh prison band together to fight for their freedom.
I Am: I Am chronicles the journey of an Indian lesbian filmmaker who returns to Delhi, eleven years later, to re-open what was once home, and finally confronts the loss of her mother whom she never came out to.
Shuttlecock Boys: The film revolves around the lives, successes and failures of four friends who hail from lower middle class backgrounds in Delhi. The one thing that unites these four friends is their common love for badminton. While playing badminton one such night, they decide to do something on their own. This very attempt becomes their lifeline putting them to a litmus test of determination, courage, luck and spirit of friendship.
Half a Billion Dreams: Almost fifty percent of the population of India is under the age of 30. In the midst of a chaotic tryst for breaking out, these youngsters have limited space to grow, to dream, to fall in love, to marry. Amidst all this chaos a burning desire to excel, Half a Billion Dreams.
Sidi Goma: An African-India Odyssey in India: African-Indian Sufis in Gujarat known as Sidis have always had the traditional role of performing sacred music and dance as wandering fakirs singing to their African Sufi saint, Bava Gor. Sufi Sidis were brought to India as both slaves and honored servants centuries ago.
The Undefeated (Aparajita): This film is about three women who have dedicated their life to bring enlightenment into the society. Through conversations, they ponder their thoughts about current society, their work, and where they think we are heading.
A Doctor to Defend: The Binayak Sen Story: This is a film about an ordinary man who led an quietly extraordinary life as a village doctor helping poor tribals in a truly backward state—Chhattisgarh—for almost 30 years till he crossed paths with the state by exposing human rights abuses in even more remote and dangerous areas. He paid a heavy price for his courageous choices, for daring to speak out, the state put him in jail for 2 years under charges of sedition and being a "fake doctor."
Daughters of the Brothel: This film is about a little village in Bihar (India), home to about 10,000 women and children, which has been a brothel for nearly 300 years. Prostitution is a family business here, passed down from mother to daughter. But one girl, Naseema, was able to get an education, and she came back to Chaturbhuj-sthan to make a better life for the women. Produced by Al Jazeera India.
Roots of Love: Told through the stories of six different men ranging in age from fourteen to eighty-six, Roots of Love documents the changing significance of hair and the turban among Sikhs in India.
Partners in Crime: Full of wicked irony, great music and thorny questions, this film explores the grey horizons of copyright and culture in times when technology is changing the contours of the market.
Between Border and Fence: This film is delves into the untranslatable in Kashmir, maps the distance Kashmir has travelled emotionally and psychologically from the idea of India. Twenty years of turmoil in Kashmir and the consequent Indian State response may have brought Kashmir to a point from where, there may be nowhere else to go.
Milne Do (Let them Meet): Filmed in Karachi, with archives and footage from Kashmir and Kathmandu, this film documents the experiences and insights of some Pakistanis - and a Kashmiri - who were able to meet across the
iron curtain
that divides Kashmir.
Silent Voices: Home-based Women Workers in Pakistan: This short film tells the stories of home-based women workers in Pakistan in a gritty and realistic style. It shows us what it’s like when you don’t have the protections needed for workers and how workers can accomplish when they speak up for themselves.
Boxing Ladies: It is the story of three teenage sisters, Zainab, Bushra, and Sughra, staying in the confines of a small slum in Kolkata, India. They are all national level boxers. The film looks at the lives of these three spirited girls and their dreams to break the mould of the stereotypes of Muslim women and rise above their living conditions.
I Am Happy: Vashna and Aakash bind together by the medium of Radio and share their incompleteness. They write letters to each other and and they find comfort in their growing relationship and discover their new meaning of happiness... LOVE?
The Flower Bud: Can hope be found in the most unusual places amongst the most unlikely characters? A young transvestite prostitute, Kusum, gears up for a regular night like any other, but just then enters Purab, an out-of-job, obsessive, suicidal English literature teacher without a clue of the local language hoping to spend his last night with a girl!
But I am a Woman Too: Selvi is a software professional. Her immediate superior and colleagues are not forthcoming to her as they maintain that their company appointed her under their "Corporate Social Responsibility" program, as she is a transgender. Selvi decides to take everything in her stride and struggle against prejudices at her office.
Televisnu: A surreal tale of a young Indian woman who works at a call center. Her computer breaks down and in an attempt to fix it she falls into a magical, mythical web of electronic wires where memories, secrets, and hidden desires reveal themselves.
For hi-res posters and flyers please go to this link:
https://tsaff.tasveerarchive.org/2011/index.php/press/