Kabir Centre for Arts & Culture Annnounces 6th South Asian Film Festival in Montreal

Kabir Centre for Arts & Culture is pleased to announce the 6th edition of the South Asian Film Festival of Montréal (SAFFMontréal), organized in collaboration with the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema of Concordia University, on November 4, 5 and 6. This innovative festival presents an eclectic choice of inspiring and thought-provoking films made in the countries of the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Maldives) and its diaspora. These engaging and entertaining films have their focus on South Asia; while at the same time compel audiences to realize how much there is in common among cultures throughout the world, identifying both shared life-struggles and joys. Admission is free, with donations gratefully appreciated. Discussions are held after each screening.

The South Asian Film Festival will be presenting 17 films this year; short and long, documentaries and feature films, including comedy, drama and music. All films are subtitled in English and explained in French, with various original languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali and English, as well as silent films, making them accessible to as many people as possible. The films have been carefully chosen from more than 1000 entries and all screenings will be followed by a talkback between spectators and a panel of experts. Directors for some of the films will be present, other times the directors will interact with the audience via Skype. Most of the films are recent and have won awards at international festivals. As in previous years, the films are drawn from different parts of the Indian subcontinent; recognized as the largest producers of films on the planet.

This from SAFFMontréal Director, Dushyant Yajnik: "These are outstanding fictional stories and documentaries about the human condition in all its complexity. As a bonus, if you attend all the films over the weekend you will end up getting a virtual tour of South Asia and its people of different religions and languages. Together, the films take you on a journey from Lahore and Karachi in Pakistan; south to Mumbai, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu; north to Delhi and the heartland; east to Bengal and Bangladesh, and even a tour of Park Extension in Montreal!"

The Festival opens with India's first female buddy movie, Angry Indian Goddesses, by Pan Nalin (also the maker of the iconic film, Samsara). It is a fresh, realistic portrait of women in India today. Says Nalin of this film dealing with the hot-button issues of gender and sexism: "What we see in urban India, how women bond together or fight together, has not ever been really shown in the cinema. The whole process of making the film was a real eye-opener". The Montreal-set film, Cricket and Park-Ex; A love story/Cricket & Park-Ex: Une histoire d'amour by Garry Beitel, is in English and French and features original music by Socalled.

Says TK Raghunathan, president of Kabir Centre for Arts & Culture, "The Kabir Centre aims to promote and present the finest South Asian music and dance to the Montreal public. Where it concerns the choice of films, we make sure that they have high artistic value and at the same time touch on issues relevant to peoples' lives, not only in South Asia but elsewhere in the world. Important subjects such as gender equality, economic imbalances, caste prejudices, religious intolerance, child poverty etc. are often recurrent themes in the films presented."

To post a comment, you must register and login.