South Asia through the director's lense
Seattle's 3rd Independent South Asian Film Festival underway this week

By Laila Kazmi-Barsotti

09/27/06

A great thing about living in Seattle is the number of film festivals that take place in the city throughout the year. Whether it is SIFF – country's largest international film festival, The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, the Seattle Arab and Iranian Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, or the upcoming Palestine Film Festival among several others, for film buffs like me, each offers a much appreciated respite from the usual formula-based, often mind-numbing, utterly generic Hollywood flicks that grace the movie theaters year-round.

These festivals, comprising in large part of independent films – usually low budget productions that are results of the directors' or script writers' labor of love rather than an eye on the profit margin - offer an opportunity for us, the audience, to get passionate and thoughtful perspectives on a variety of issues. Sure in every festival there are some bad indie films but also some wonderfully insightful ones.

This week, the Seattle based non-profit organization, Tasveer (http://www.tasveer.org) is hosting its 3rd annual Independent South Asian Film Festival (ISAFF) at the Broadway Performance Hall in Capitol Hill. Being a big fan of indie films, I have attended the festival each year, both as an audience member and a volunteer, and every time I have left inspired and invigorated.

The term ‘South Asia' is commonly used to define the region that includes the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. For those thirsty for international perspectives or glimpses of lives in some of these places, as well as, American and Canadian communities of these origins, ISAFF offers a rewarding experience.

The festival opened this week on Wednesday, September 27, with a reception and short films hosted by L.A.-based D'Lo, who, according to Tasveer's web site, is a queer Tamil Sri Lankan-American, political theatre artist/writer, hip hop performer, and music producer . The rest of the week will showcase a variety of short and feature films as well as documentaries, offering a chance to the audience to take part in post-film public discussions on issues presented.

Image from Ramin Bahrani's film 'Man Push Cart' screening at ISAFF this week.

The theme this year is ‘South Asia Captured: Social Movements Reel Moments.' Some festival highlights include ‘Man Push Cart' by Iranian-American director, Ramin Bahrani telling the story of Ahmad, a street vendor in New York selling coffee and bagels to commuters. Ahmad is a former pop star from Pakistan who emigrated to America and is struggling to put his life back together. The documentary, ‘Me and the Mosque' by Canadian Zarqa Nawaz, questions the status quo regarding the space for women in mosques, the Muslim places of worship. Following in the footsteps of women like journalist, Asra Nomani, Zarqa travels to different cities in Canada and America to visit mosques and talk to community members as well as those in-charge. Ali Kazimi's ‘Continuous Journey' is a touching look at the events surrounding the fate of the Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 Indian men, mostly sikhs, bound for Vancouver, Canada in 1914. As British subjects the men had legal right to move about freely anywhere within the British empire, however, the authorities at the ports of the "white Canada" of the time refuse to let the "Hindus" disembarks the vessel and enter Canada. ‘Footsteps' by Indian director, Suman Ghosh, is a story of a retired Shashanka and his relationship with his daughter Megha, played by Nandita Das (Fire, Earth). The beautifully shot short, ‘Time and Hour Run,' by Samir R. Patel is a dreamy rendition on the subject of mourning the loss of a loved one. These are just some of the many films presented at ISAFF this year.

Aside from films and documentaries, on Saturday, September 30, ISAFF features a program on education in South Asia and abroad with a talk by Seattle Public Schools Superintendent, Raj Manhas, and a documentary workshop on Sunday, Oct 1st .

The closing night includes a short documentary, 'Rebuilding @ 73 E' by local Seattle filmmaker, Nasir Aziz, on the October 8, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan that claimed over 80,000 lives and caused tremendous damage, making it one of world's worst natural disasters in recent history.

ISAFF is produced annually by Tasveer. For a full schedule of films and ticketing information visit Tasveer's web site at http://www.tasveer.org.