[Goanet-News] Films bring in the diverse hues of South Asia to Goa

[Goanet News]

Films bring in the diverse hues of South Asia to Goa

FN

GOA, June 28: Spread over four days, the South Asian Film Festival,
being held in the coastal holiday resort of Goa, brings in diverse
moving images to three screening halls in Panaji, the Goan capital
that is also host to India's international film fest IFFI towards
Nov-Dec each year.

After its launch on Friday (June 27), the first film to be screened
here has been 'Osama' from Afghanistan.

This 2003-award winning film is about a 12-year-old Afghan girl and
her mother who lose their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital
where they work. The Taliban have also forbidden women to leave their
houses without a male "legal companion." With her husband and brother
dead, killed in battle, there is no one left to support the family.

The mother disguises her daughter as a boy, called 'Osama', and
embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she fights to avoid
the Taliban from realising the truth. Inspired by a true story, this
was the first entirely Afghan-shot film since the fall of the Taliban.

Director Siddiq Barmak has said, in an earlier interview: "Afghanistan
was forgotten by different people, different audiences, different
countries. I really wanted to make this movie to remind people about
Afghanistan."

'Golden Cup: The Legacy' directed by Tshering Penjore, is a musical
fantasy written by Tshering Penjore, a former personal bodyguard of
King Namgyal, or King Jigme. Its narrative includes song-and-dance
sequences inspired by Bollywood musicals.

Short-film Gulchaihrah by Sayed Wahidullah Qathalie raises issues of
women's rights in the context of forced marriages.

Documentaries included in the festival include Pakistan's Double Game
and Iraq-The Lost Generation (Pakistan, both by Sharmeen Obaid),
Lanka-The Other Side of War and Peace (by Iffat Fatima of India), and
A Journey Through Afghanistan (Pakistan, Sharmeen Obaid).

"Pakistan's Double Game" sees reporter Sharmeen Obaid travelling
around her country to ask ordinary citizens what they think of their
government's alliance with the United States and backing for its "war
on terrorism."

In Lanka-The Other side... , Kashmiri filmmaker and cultural
researcher Iffat Fatima travels the A9 highway, collecting the stories
and testimonies of people whose lives have been, for decades,
disrupted by violence. Various narrators have multiple perspectives in
this May 2005 film, screened widely in Sri Lanka.

Other films in this festival include Shomapti (Bangladesh, Tanveer
Hossain), Reinventing The Taliban (Pakistan, Sharmeen Obaid), August
Sun/Ira Madiyama (Sri Lanka, Prassanna Vithange). From Bangladesh
comes Zakhir Hossain's Auction. Stoning from Afghanistan is by Latif
Ahmadi, while Tanveer Hossain's Ami Shadhinota Eneichi is from
Bangladesh.

Mumbai-based director Madhur Bhandarkar, who began life with a video
cassette library in Khar, has two of his films in this festival --
Chandni Bar and Traffic Signal and Corporate. He is known for his
socially relevant films, including 'Page 3' on glamour and newspapers
and a self-centered elite, as also for a 'casting couch' controversy.

Indian films at the festival also include Kunal Deshmukh's Janaat,
Apaharan by Prakash Jha ('Kidnapping' in Hindi, starring Ajay Devgan
and Nana Patekar), Mare Paryant Fashi by Panaji Doordarshan station
director Chandrakant Barve, and Heena by director 1947-born Bollywood
actor, producer and director Randhir 'Daboo' Kapoor.

Aparahan is the story of a complex relationship and clashing
ideologies between a father and son set in the backdrop of the
kidnapping industry in Bihar.

Randhir Kapoor is the eldest son of Raj Kapoor. Randhir directed Henna
in 1991. It was started by his father, who died during its production,
and Randhir earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Director.

Other Indian entries are Benaras (Pankuj Parashar), Floating Lamp of
The Shadow Valley (Rajesh S. Jala), Sakshi (which has been labelled
the "first Goan Marathi film" by Sandeep Kalangutkar), Doshor
(Rituporno Ghosh), Saanjhbatir Roopkathara (Anjan Das) and Jannat
(Kunal Deshmukh).

South Asian films being screened during the three-day event include
Chitra Nodir Pare (Bangladesh, Dir. Tanvir Mokammel), Hansa Vilak (Sri
Lanka, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake), Khamosh Pani (Pakistan, Sabiha
Sumar).

World Ka Centre (Pakistan, Bilal Minto), Sacrifice (Afghanistan),
Dharinnattakai (Maldives, Ahmed Nimal), Women Of The Holy Kingdom
(Pakistan, Sharmeen Obaid), Hothat Dekha (Bangladesh, Tanveer
Hossain), Mille Soya (Sri Lanka, Boodee Keerthisena) are being
screened.

Films also showing include a world premiere of Unadittya (Bangladesh,
Razibul Hossain), and others like Stranger (Afghanistan, Siddiq
Barmark), Matir Moina (Bangladesh, Tareque and Catherine), Golden Cup
(Bhutan, Tshering Penjore), Schools in the Crossfire (Nepal, Dhurba
Basnet), A Journey Through Afghanistan (Pakistan, Sharmeen Obaid),
Khoya Khoya Chand (Sudhir Mishra), Khuda Ke Liye (Pakistan, Shoaib
Mansoor), Travellers and Magicians (Bhutan, Khyentse Norbu).

Viewers would also get to watch Ontorjatra (Bangladesh by Tareque &
Catherine), Chandni (Pakistan, by Siraj-Ul-Haque), Veils Of Maya (Sri
Lanka by Boodee Keerthisena), Akhtar The Joker (Aghanistan, Latif
Ahmadi), Auction (Bangladesh, Zakir Hossain) and Nepali film Kagbeni
Bhushan Dahal.

Entry for the festival is being offered on a first-come-first-served
basis, and there is no entry fee, organisers said. But it is open only
to those above 18 years of age. More details at iffigoa.org

ENDS

The venue, decked up for the event...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616576838/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2615747451/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616581110/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616581110/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2615747451/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616573466/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616571494/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616571494/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616567086/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616538438/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2616537136/

>From a Pakistani documentary on religious fundamentalism in that part
of South Asia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2615761535/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2615760129/sizes/o/

Another film from the festival
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2615706187/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2615704279/sizes/o/

Other photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/
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