19th Tasveer Film festival
Oct 15-20, 2024: Tasveer Film Festival
The Tasveer Film Festival is the leading South Asian film festival in North America, headquartered in the beautiful Pacific Northwest city of Seattle in Washington State. We are also the first and only Academy® qualifying South Asian Film Festival in the world.
This festival offers a platform for South Asian storytellers from all over the world to showcase their talent through various mediums such as films, workshops, and panel discussions. We firmly believe that film has the power to unite ideas and communities, and through storytelling, we can create deeper understanding leading to a happier and healthier world.
South Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, and its various Diasporas worldwide.
TSAFF POSTERS
The first Tasveer Film Festival (also known as Tasveer South Asian Film Festival, TSAFF) began in 2004 as part of Tasveer’s mission to inspire social change through films, art, and storytelling.
Since 2004, Tasveer Film Festival has been showcasing the best of South Asian films and provide a platform to amplify under-represented South Asian voices. The festival places a spotlight on South Asian filmmakers and strive to carry our mission of stimulating thinking and social change through films, Q&As, panels, and workshops, which in turn empower, transform, heal, and entertain attendees.
Every year in October, Tasveer South Asian Film Festival brings films from all parts of South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet) as well as its Diaspora from all parts of the world.
Some highlights, and proudest achievements are exhibiting films from trailblazing filmmakers like Shaunak Sen, Mariam Ghani, Roya Sadat, and others long before their recognition.
We’ve also provided a platform for niche storytellers like Tibetan directors Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam or Anand Patwardhan, whose unique perspectives are not always welcome in theaters due to geopolitical pressures.
Here’s a brief history of Tasveer South Asian Film Festival over the years:
2004: First Tasveer Film Festival, then called as the Independent South Asian Film Festival, was organized at Broadway Performance Hall
2011: The earliest prototype of the Tasveer mascot, the girl with a megaphone is found in this year festival’s poster. Check out our TSAFF Archive to see the 2011 poster.
2013: The Tasveer logo becomes official and visible on the 8th Seattle South Asian Film Festival. Check out the TSAFF 2013 poster.
2020: Tasveer collaborates with other South Asian film festivals from the US and Canada to launch a unified virtual film festival, Coalition of South Asian Film Festivals, COSAFF. This was one way of reaching out to our audience during the Pandemic.
2023: Tasveer attains Oscar-qualifying film festival status.
ELIGIBILITY
- All works must be related to South Asia and/or its Diaspora. This includes films made by filmmakers of South Asian origin and non-South Asian filmmakers that focus on a South Asian theme.
- Films must have English subtitles and closed captions.
- Seattle premiere is required, some discretion allowed in case of non-premieres
- All works must have been released on or after October 1st 2022. Some discretion allowed
- To be eligible for a student film submission, either the school name must be in the credits or the filmmaker must be currently enrolled in school. Please include a photocopy of your current school. If you miss do that, your submission will be disqualified.
- In general, we do not screen films that are already available online. Some discretion is allowed by the selection committee.
Exceptions could be discussed via email to festival directors at tsaff@tasveer.org.