SEPTEMBER 8 || 7 PM || BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM

The Tasveer South Asian Film Festival is the largest South Asian film festival in the country. Join us as we partner with the Bellevue Arts Museum to launch our festival with an evening of short films, festival previews, and a celebration of Nepali culture.

Enjoy trailers and shorts from the thought-provoking programming, discussions with Festival organizers and filmmakers, and vibrant performances by Subhash Prajapati & Band, Soniya Kunwar, and the Bhutanese Community Group.

Thank you to Bellevue Arts Museum, Eastside Arts PARTNERSHIPS, City of Bellevue, Spice Route/Moksha for supporting this program.

Refreshments will be served.

MACCHAR JHOL: This film is a recipe made up of 7500+ drawings, 570 days of hardwork, and most of all, your belief and faith in us to bring you this 2D hand-drawn animated film.

THE JOYOUS FARMER: Ratnapala is an impoverished and alcoholic farmer living in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. Having sold all his possessions to drown his sorrows, he lacks industry and motivation. His environment is desolate and his future is bleak. After an encounter with a government official, he is prescribed an experimental drug to enhance his work ethic.

THE SHAME: Born into a life of bonded labor (kamaiya), without a voice of his own, one innocent man discovers what happens when he suddenly finds the freedom that he has always wished for.

SISAK: India’s first silent LGBTQ love story.

MORE LOVE AND LESS PREPACKAGED BULLSHIT: Set to the soul beat of Assata Shakur, a trio of a black transwoman, a brown genderqueer person, and a white queer cis man resist dystopia with a sweet bowl full of joy, intimacy and love.

SHOR BAZAAR: An experimental short based entirely on musical compositions from the environmental sounds of Empress Market.

1 min || Pakistan 

An experimental short based entirely on musical compositions from the environmental sounds of Empress Market.

Mudassir Sheikh is a musician and a filmmaker based in Karachi. He works as a freelance sound designer, music composer and video editor in addition to working on personal projects. His experience with filmmaking includes working on music videos, short films and experimental documentary.

Highly inspired by independent cinema and experimental songwriters, he draws inspiration from various mediums ranging from music, words and a variety of films.

10 mins || India 

Lalit, 28, decides to come out to someone who is really special and close to him. In order to reveal his sexuality and seek acceptance, he cooks a special dish, a Bengali style fish curry, ‘Maachar Jhol.’ He prepares the dish by listening to a famous radio cooking show. Will the fish curry turn out to be delicious? Delicious enough to appeal to the heart of someone special?

Abhishek is a fun loving guy who enjoys doing creative work and sees himself as a hard-working person with focused objectives. He enjoys reading different genres, watching all types of cinema, writing stories, and editing with special effects.

Best short film @Kashish- Mumbai International Queer Film festival-2017, Mumbai (India)
Special prize “City of Annecy Award”, best short film in perspective @Annecy International animation festival-2017, Annecy (France)
Best animation film @International short and documentary film festival of Kerela-2017, Kerala (India)
Best Animation film @GIIFFA-2017, New Delhi (India)
Best Story in Animation @GIIFFA-2017, New Delhi (India)
Nominated in the selection of World Panorama films @World festival of Animation films-Animafest Zagreb-2017, Zagreb (Croatia)
Nominated in short film Competition @SICAF-2017, Seoul, KoreNominated in short film competition @Indie-Anifest-2017, Korea
Nominated in Narrative short animation competition @2017 Ottawa International Animation Festival
Nominated for 2017 Iris Prize Festival, UK

15 mins || Sinhalese || Sri Lanka || 2017

Ratnapala is an impoverished and alcoholic farmer living in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. Having sold all his possessions to drown his sorrows, he lacks industry and motivation. His environment is desolate and his future is bleak. After an encounter with a government official, he is prescribed an experimental drug to sharpen his focus and drive.

Hiran is a filmmaker based in New York who has worked for several production companies of note, including Kontent Films and Remedy Editorial in San Francisco, as well as BBC Films and Ponda Films in London. As an Editor, he has worked on a number of award-winning short films, including Somebody Nobody’s JUS SOLI. He has also edited films for Channel 4, the British Film Institute and Crux Films, among others. The Joyous Farmer is his directorial debut.

Best Short Film:
Jaffna International Cinema Festival, Sri Lanka 2016
Agenda14 Short Film Festival, Sri Lanka 2016

Official Selection:
Woods Hole Film Festival, USA 2017
Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival, Canada 2017
Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema, USA 2017
Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, Hong Kong 2017
Bucharest ShortCut CineFest, Romania 2017

Exhibited:
Goethe Institut Film Forum, Sri Lanka 2017
Cinnamon Colomboscope, Sri Lanka 2017

20 mins || Nepali || Nepal || 2017

Individuals born into a life of a bonded labor (kamaiya) never have a voice of their own. What happens when they suddenly find the freedom that they always wished for? Such is the plight of one innocent man, who is torn between the life of unpaid slavery that he has left and this new existence where he is struggles to find his identity. All he wants is two yards of cloth, enough to reclaim his dignity.

For 7 years, Sushan has been working as a cinematographer and producing a variety of movies in Nepal. A film graduate, with a degree in motion picture photography, he began his career in the Nepal film industry and worked his way up to cinematographer. This short movie Laaz (The Shame) is his first experience as a director.

15 mins || India || 2017

Set in the fast-paced environs of the usually bustling Mumbai local train system, Sisak details a romance that develops slowly and intoxicatingly, nestled in the silences and quiet comforts of the end-of-day train journeys between two men.

Faraz Arif Ansari started his film career as a co-writer with Amole Gupte (writer & creative director of Taare Zameen Par or Stars On Earth). Faraz was the associate director, casting director & executive producer on Fox Star’s Stanley Ka Dabba, released in May 2011. Faraz has been the associate director on many commercials directed by Amole Gupte for major brands like Nestle Cadbury’s, etc.

Faraz has written the story, screenplay, and dialogues for an Indo-Pakistan peace project short feature film called Silvat that was produced by Zee Television’s Zeal for Unity and was directed by Tanuja Chandra. He was also the associate director and casting director on Silvat.

When not working behind the camera, Faraz conducts cinema and theatre sessions for underprivileged children across the slums in Mumbai and teaches them to write screenplays and direct their own short films. Faraz also runs a charitable initiative called ‘Gift a Meal,’ which works at the grassroots level and provides meals to the street children across Mumbai and Delhi.

Best Short Feature Film at The Boston LGBT Film Festival (First Indian Film to win this)
Best International Short Film at DIGO – Festival Internacional de Diversidade Sexual e de Gênero de Goiás
Best International Screenplay at DIGO – Festival Internacional de Diversidade Sexual e de Gênero de Goiás
Best Overall Short Film at FilmOut: San Diego
Award of Excellence: Best Short Film at Accolade Global Awards
Winner: Jury’s Award (Special Mention) Connecticut LGBT Film Festival (Out Film CT)
Winner: Audience Award, Queer Bits International Film Festival, Chicago
Winner, Best Short Film, Audience Award, Excuse My French Indie Film Festival, Paris
Winner, Best International Film, Jury Award, North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Winner, Best International Short, Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival

2 mins || USA

Set to the soul beat of Assata Shakur, a trio of black trans woman, brown gender queer person and a white queer cis man resist dystopia with a sweet bowl full of joy, intimacy and love.

Neelu Bhuman is an independent filmmaker and interaction designer. Within their films, Neelu explores social and political themes as they play out in close relations. Playfully evoking insights into the workings of difference in intimacy, Neelu’s films blend viewpoints ranging from sexuality, race, gender, nation, and romance. Starting with the experimental documentary Family in Frame (2010) the voices of family members get mapped in order to frame a queer identity. Pushing these themes further in FU377 (2014) and Love Letter/Prēma Lēkha (2015) Neelu’s films purposefully move from direct and personal narratives to more abstract retellings of the problematics of identity categories and foregrounding varieties of resilience and resistance to experiences of duress–both immediate and political. Neelu uses a variety of cinematic techniques from clay animation in FU377 to extreme close-up and durational shots in Love Letter/Prēma Lēkha.