FAMILIES AND MEMORIES






IF YOU FALL 
(7 mins/ English and Hindi/ 2017/ India)
by Tisha Deb Pillai

Available from: 29th November, 4:00 PM
Until: 2nd December, 10:30 PM

About the Film: Eight year old Lila takes on the daunting task of learning how to cycle, as she faces an unfamiliar role-reversal at home. Through the eyes of an innocent child, the filmmaker wants to show the challenges and advantages of such a role-reversal, and how the child gradually becomes aware of the family dynamics and complexities.

About the Film maker: Tisha Deb Pillai is an Indian filmmaker who currently resides in Vancouver BC, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Media Arts in Animation from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her animation films Bon Appétit Bon Appetight and If You Fall have screened at Cinanima, Ottawa International Animation Festival, TIFF Canada’s Top Ten, NY International Children's Film Festival, Northwest Animation Festival, Animation Nights New York, and Vancouver International Women in Film Festival. Her film ‘If You Fall’ was added to the permanent collection at the Education Department Resources at the Museum of Modern Art. As an animator living between Canada and India, her work has been inspired from two vastly distinct worlds of colours, cultures and ideas. She enjoys telling stories from personal experiences and memories, and weaving them into narratives with a universal theme.

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SITA’S FAMILY
(58 mins/ Hindi, Punjabi, English/ 2002/ India)
by Saba Dewan

Available from: 29th November, 4:00 PM
Until: 2nd December, 10:30 PM

About the Film: Sita's Family explores memory and the mysterious ways in which it is transmitted from mothers to daughters. It is about the family, the primary site of struggle for women and it is about the outside, forbidden territory to be negotiated at considerable peril.

Selected Festivals
  • Film South Asia, 2003, Ka
  • thmandu
  • Zanzibar International Film Festival, 2003
  • Another World Film Festival, Asia Social Forum, 2002
  • IV Fest, 2003, Trivandrum
  • Open Frame, PSBT Film Festival, 2002
  • Chennai Women’s film Festival, 2009
  • Persistence Resistance Film Festival, New Delhi, 2010 
  • Nazariya Women’s Film Festival, Ahmedabad, 2011
  • Telecast on Doordarshan in 2002
About the Filmmaker: Saba Dewan is a documentary filmmaker and author based in Gurgaon, India. Her work has focused on communalism, gender, sexuality and culture. Saba’s notable films include Dharmayuddha (Holy War, 1989), Nasoor (Festering Wound, 1991), Khel (The Play, 1994), Barf (Snow, 1997) and Sita’s Family (2001) and have been screened at film festivals nationally and internationally. She is known for her trilogy of films focusing on stigmatised women performers. Delhi –Mumbai – Delhi (2006) on the lives of bar dancers was the first film of the trilogy; the second being Naach (The Dance, 2008) that explores the lives of women who dance in rural fairs. The third and final film of the trilogy is The Other Song (2009), about the art and lifestyle of the tawaifs or courtesans and has been screened widely.

Saba's debut book, Tawaifnama was published in 2019 by Westland and supported by a fellowship from the New India Foundation. The book has been widely reviewed and has been invited to several literary festivals across India. In March 2020, Saba won the prestigious AutHer Award 2020 for Non- Fiction for Tawaifnama. 

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2nd Face
(03:41 mins/  Persian (Dari) with English subtitles/ 2018/ Afghanistan)
by Hassan Moosavi

Available from: 29th November, 4:00 PM
Until: 2nd December, 10:30 PM

About the Film: This short film is about a woman whose husband has been beating her a lot, however, he personates like a women's rights advocate.
About the Film maker: Hassan has made several short films, TV dramas, documentary films, commercials and more since 2006. He has taught filmmaking workshops in three countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan.

Trailer link: https://vimeo.com/441929927
Password: Hassan2ndFT


ONTORJATRA
(85 mins/ English, Bangla, Sylheti with English subtitles/ 2006/ UK, Bangladesh)
by Tareque & Catherine Masud

Available from: 29th November, 4:00 PM
Until: 2nd December, 10:30 PM

About the Film: “Ontojatra” (literally means 'inner journey') is an intimate exploration of the complex issues of dislocation and identity in a diasporic world. A divorced mother and her son return to Bangladesh after 15 years abroad, prompted by the boy’s father’s sudden death and funeral. After his rediscovery of a long forgotten land, culture and legacy, Sohel knows that his return is just the first of many."

About the Filmmakers: Catherine Masud is an award-winning filmmaker with over 25 years of experience in producing, directing and editing, working in both documentary and fictional genres. Her films have been screened at major festivals and released in many countries worldwide. Thematically, many of her films address social justice issues and the conflict between religious and cultural identity. An American citizen by birth, Catherine spent much of her film career in Dhaka, Bangladesh, working together with her late husband and filmmaking partner Tareque Masud. Since her relocation back to the US in 2015, she has divided her time between teaching, advocacy, and filmmaking.

Tareque Masud was one of the leading filmmakers of Bangladesh. He studied History at Dhaka University, where he became active in the film society movement. He completed his first major film Adam Surot, a documentary on the Bangladeshi painter S.M. Sultan, in 1989. Together with his American-born wife Catherine, he went on to make a number of documentary, fiction, and animation films. In 1995, they made the widely appreciated feature length documentary Muktir Gaan from archival footage on the ’71 i\Independence war. In 2002, his first narrative feature, Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the International Critics’ Prize, and later became the first Bangladeshi film to compete at the Oscars. Other notable films include Runway (2010), Ontorjatra (2006), and Muktir Kotha (1999). He died in a road accident in 2011 and received the Bangladesh Government’s highest honor, the Ekushey Padak, in 2012.

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