Featuring movies from across India, the South Asian Film Festival (SAFF) is launching for its inaugural run on Halloween evening.
The festival runs from October 31st to November 4th and presents a collection of recent Feature, Short, Documentary and Animated films from the South Asian Family of Nations: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives.
Screenings take place in Vancouver (Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Granville 7 & VIFF on Seymour), Surrey (Empire Theatres) and in Abbotsford (Towne Cinema & the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre).
All films are subtitled when not filmed in English.
More information is available at www.saffcanada.org.
Here are some of the films featuring in the coming days.
The Bright Day (India)
Mohit Takalkar is feeling unfocused and disoriented. He needs to release himself from the safety net of his supportive family and friends. With his friend Sarang Sathaye—who plays Shiv in the film—he sets off on an unplanned journey through the landscapes of India, hoping the cities, deserts and banks of the Ganges will provide his escape route. Nine years later he has released his film on his journey: The Bright Day.
The Tortoise, An Incarnation (India)
Anand Rao is a simple man, a low level civil servant on the verge of retirement. When a popular television serial about the life of Gandhi loses its lead actor, Rao’s resemblance to the hero brings him to the attention of the young director. Reluctantly Rao accepts the role but the deeper he delves into the character of Gandhi, the more he deviates from the script. In his interpretation of Gandhi he reads his own personal failings: his strained relationship with his son, his stubborn unwillingness to show kindness to his wife as she lay dying. He decides to rewrite the script and, in so doing, tries to correct his own failings, and the failings of Gandhi.
Lahma (Pakistan)
The loss of a child in a car accident tears a young couple apart. Lamha is about forgiveness: Raza and Maliha need to forgive themselves in order to keep living and loving each other, while Anil, full of remorse, needs forgiveness from Maliha in order to build his own family. Lahma is the most anticipated Pakistani film of 2012.
Life in the Shore of Death (Bangladesh)
Natural disasters like cyclones and floods are a major concern for the low-lying country of Bangladesh. Students from the Media Studies and Journalism Department (University of Bangladesh decide to interview residents of the “disaster-prone” areas. They meet resilient people who not only survived the fury of nature but who had learned to overcome the devastation all around them. The interaction between the city-born students and the residents of these communities creates an unusual dialogue filled with honesty and courage as residents and students open up to one another.
Life is Good (India)
Rameshwar (Jackie Shroff), an accountant at the local post office in a North Indian hill station is in the throes of a mid-life crisis. He refrained from getting married for fear that the woman he married would not care for his handicapped mother. Now his mother is dead and Rameshwar is plunged into depression. As he contemplates swallowing a handful of sleeping pills, an unexpected blessing arrives. Mishti, a six year old firebrand, suddenly lands in his life with a crash, and a broken window.
Colour of Sky (Kerala)
Color of Sky is the story of a wise old man who lives on an isolated island. Once a month he comes to the port close to the island to sell his paintings and to buy supplies. One day, a young man jumps into the boat and demands money. The old man calmly starts the boat and the young man, unable to swim, is trapped.
Once on the island, he recognizes the isolation of the island and panics. The only other inhabitants are a 7 year old boy, a beautiful deaf and dumb girl and a middle-aged man with a stammer. The young man is forced to live with these peculiar people and he begins to understand the value of trust, the preciousness of companionship and the gifts bestowed on all by the natural world.
Himself He Cooks (Punjab)
Filmmakers Berteau and Witjes paid an unscheduled visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and were immediately led to the “langar”, the kitchen where volunteers prepare food every day for pilgrims. Philippe Witjes—who works as a professional cook—was astonished by the choreography and scale of the organization, as well as the enormous amount of food prepared for the meal. Himself He Cooks is a beautifully shot, contemplative recording of the simple act of Seva—or Service.
Shot without narration, the camera simply observes the dexterity, the commitment and the love with which the volunteers come together, work together, and simply clean up after the enormous task is finished.
Gangoobai (Marathi)
Gangoobai, a childless and elderly widow has lived her entire life in a tiny colonial hill four hours’ drive from Mumbai. She lives simply and works as a domestic helper for several homes in the area. One day she sees a young woman wearing a Parsi Sari of white Chinese embroidered motifs. Gangoobai, who has never had much in life, suddenly develops an overwhelming passion to have a similar sari. After four years of self-sacrifice, she manages to save the exorbitant sum of 50,000 rupees. She makes the trek to the over-crowded and polluted city of Mumbai Gangoobai’s essential goodness and unfailing generosity to all life redeem the destruction of her dreams.
The Crowning Wish (Bengali)
150 years later on the occasion of Tagore's anniversary celebrations, Rudra, a graceful dance impresario, decides to create a new interpretation of this seminal dance-drama, with an emphasis on androgyny. During the course of the rehearsals, Rudra is persuaded to employ Partho—a talented percussionist with a history of addiction. Rudra almost immediately falls in love with Partho, and Partho, also lonely, succumbs. From this moment, Rudra’s life and the dance drama meld into one reality. As their relationship deepens, Rudra—in an impulsive moment—decides to renounce his male identity and become a woman.
Pehchaan 3D (Punjabi/ Canada)
Late one night, Jagjot and Mani witness a murder. As a result, both must make a choice. Do they stand up and tell the police or do they remain silent? The decision they make will impact their lives dramatically and bring into question every concept they have ever had about family, cultural loyalty and friendship. Jagjot decides to go to the police, resulting in the necessity to change his identity, his appearance and his entire life. Transported to another world and without the close knit family around him, Jagjot is extremely vulnerable and succumbs to Meena, a lovely woman who is interested in him. He quickly regrets his actions, knowing he must return to his family and his own life. A thriller, a family drama, a love story—Pehchaan 3D is an ambitious undertaking for a debut film, filled with atmosphere, tension, and moments of tenderness.
I Was Worth 50 Sheep (Afghanistan/ Sweden)
Sabere has a price on her head. When she was just ten years old, she was sold to a man forty years her senior. After seven years of confinement and abuse, she escaped to find temporary refuge in a women's sanctuary. Now her life is in danger as her husband will kill her on sight. The camera picks up Sabere at the point where she has re-connected with her family. She must decide if she should stay in the shelter or rejoin her family. For the family it is a dangerous game of cat and mouse as they move from location to location, always trying to stay one step ahead of her murderous husband. But that is only half of the story. Her half-sister Farzaneh was sold by her father, Abo Khalegh to buy 50 sheep, with the agreement that she would stay with her family until she was a teenager. But her father was forced to let her go, or lose everything. The last the family heard of her is that she was taken into Taliban country—and the trail went cold.
Woman from the East (Punjabi)
Paala Singh, a small farmer from a remote village in Punjab is 65 yrs. old, and without a son from his first wife. His need for a son is overwhelming. Eventually he sells his cattle and "buys" Ganga, an innocent village girl from Bihar. Ganga belongs to a very poor family and is considered to be little more than a burden by her step mother. Ganga's father agrees to sell his daughter for a very nominal amount of money, and she is simply uprooted from her natural surroundings and sent off to Punjab where she is referred to as a Kudessan - a Woman from the East! Kudessan is a disturbing and heart-wrenching tale of the cruel realities found in the underbelly of rural India.
The Businessman’s Wife (Gujurati)
The setting is a beautiful hill station in India—Saputara. Siddharth and his wife Swati are on a holiday to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. By chance, Swati meets a young orphaned boy and finds herself drawn to him. She learns that his parents were killed by a local terrorist group, an act witnessed by the child. His life may be in danger, and Swati instinctively feels protective towards the boy. Siddharth can only think about how a link to local terrorists—no matter how nebulous—could adversely affect his business and resents her feelings for this child.
House Number 111 (Afghanistan)
Basir is a young Afghan man, raised in Europe, with little knowledge of his home land. He is asked by his mother to return to Afghanistan in order to sell the family home. He is very uncomfortable in Afghanistan and dismayed when he sees the condition of the house. Despite his mother’s protestations, he takes a trip to the northern-most region of the country and finds himself falling in love with Afghanistan. Basir ultimately decides not to sell the family home, but instead to rebuild it, and make it his home.
Sam’s Story (Sri Lanka)
Siriratne (Sam) is the eldest of two children living in a remote village in Sri Lanka. Abandoned by their father, Sam and his younger brother Jaya are raised by their mother. Sam is mentally handicapped, and ably protected by his childhood friend, Piya. When Piya dies, Sam is taken by his uncle to a neighbouring town to work as a servant house boy, but rushes home when he learns that Jaya was killed by Tamil soldiers. Ultimately, Sam returns to his village, unable to work. When his mother dies, he is ridiculed constantly by the villagers and becomes despondent, until one day when everything changes.
Add new comment