FRAMING CHILDHOOD

ASHMINA

(16 mins/ Nepali, English, German/ 2018/ Nepal, Israel, UK) 

by Dekel Berenson

Available from: 29^th November, 2:30 PM

Until: 3 December, 10:30 AM

About the Film: Nestled between a beautiful lake and the Himalayas, Ashmina, 13, lives with her family at the outskirts of Pokhara Nepal, paragliding capital of the world. Forced to skip school, Ashmina helps her family make ends meet by working at the landing field, packing the parachutes of foreign pilots in return of small change.

About the Film maker: Dekel Berenson is an award-winning Israeli filmmaker and storyteller currently based in London. After completing a mandatory three-year service in the Israeli Defence Forces, he obtained a Master’s degree in International Relations and European Studies and traveled the world as a human and environmental rights activist. Over the past three years, he has combined his two passions, making artistic films of high quality that bring light to real-world social and humanitarian issues. His 3rd film, Anna, will première in competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.  

Trailer:

DYING DREAMS

(18 mins/ 2015/ Sri Lanka)

by Sudath Abeysiriwardana 

Available from: 29^th November, 2:30 PM

Until: 3 December, 10:30 AM

About the Film: A pupil in the primary class in school has had to perform a part of a soldier in a play to commemorate the war. His mother and child practice the character in their home. The father of the child is a soldier who died in the battle field. 

Festivals and Awards

• International Competition - Pune Short Film Festival, Pune, India 2020
• International Competition - Asia Peace Film Festival, Pakistan 2018
• Official Selection- Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai, India 2018
• International Competition-  IFFON  International Film Festival,  Nepal 2017
• Best Short Film- BIFF International Film Festival, Patna, India 2017
• Best Short Film Silver Award- State Television Award 2016, Sri Lanka
• Best Nominee (Short Film) - Jaffna International Film Festival, Sri Lanka, 2016
• Best Nominee– Agenda 14 Short Film Festival, Sri Lanka, 2015

About the Filmmaker: Sudath Abeysiriwardana is a visual media practitioner. He has been working as a play and film director since 2002. His interests are deeply rooted in exploring the visual medium through its text, narrative and imagery. He has directed plays and short films on themes like youth unrest, migration issues, war and lifestyles.

Still:

HOPE

(7 mins/ Tamil with English subtitles/ 2017/ Sri Lanka)

by Fathima Shanaz

Available from: 29^th November, 2:30 PM

Until: 3 December, 10:30 AM

About the Film: Child marriages have been an unnoticed reality in some sections of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. This film tells the story of Fathima, a 16-year old school girl who is set to marry a man older than her. Not only is her right to education denied but her consent to marriage too. Until she accidentally meets her future husband, she has not even seen him. She is caught between her hopes and the reality of her destiny.

About the Filmmaker: Fathima Shanaz is a Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies attached to the Journalism Unit, University of Colombo. She has obtained B.A. Special (Honours) in Mass Communication at the University of Kelaniya. She is a filmmaker and researcher. Her short films ‘Hope’ and ‘H2O’ were screened at several national and international festivals and won several awards nationally and internationally. She has presented her research papers in both, national and international symposiums and now, she is reading for her MPhil degree programme in film studies. 

NOOREH

(22 mins/ Shina, Kashmiri, Urdu with English subtitles/ 2018/ India)

by Ashish Pandey

Available from: 29^th November, 2:30 PM

Until: 3 December, 10:30 AM

About the Film: Nestled in the Kashmir valley, lies a small village on the India-Pakistan border, always caught in the crossfire between the two warring nations. One night, an eight-year old girl ‘Nooreh’ discovers that the gun battle rages when she sleeps and the bloody duel stops when she keeps her eyes open. 

Selected Festivals and Awards

• 23rd Busan International Film Festival - Sonje award for best short
• 66th Belgrade doc & short film fest - Martovski - Official selection
• Indian film festival of L.A, 2019 - Official selection
• Short shorts film festival & Asia, Tokyo 2019 - Official selection
• Krakow film festival - Market selection
• Kurz film fest, Hamburg - Official selection
• 25th Palm Springs ShortFest.- Official selection
• London Indian film festival, 2019 - Nominated for Satyajit Ray short film award

About the Filmmaker: Ashish crossed the barrier of the spoken word with his first short ‘The Cabin man’ (2007), which dealt with the loneliness of an old railway cabin man guarding an abandoned cabin. With his second short ‘Open Doors’ (2011), he learnt to camouflage the plot with the stillness of time and space. ‘Nooreh’ (2018) set in a border village is actually shot in a border village and with locals as actors. His films have been screened at major fests and exhibited at art galleries. Ashish is a graduate from Satyajit Ray film & television institute, Kolkata with specialization in Sound.

Trailer:

CHANDA KE JOOTE

(22 mins/ Hindi/ India/ 2011)

by Ektara Collective

Available from: 29^th November, 2:30 PM

Until: 3 December, 10:30 AM

About the Film: Chanda Ke Joote is Ekatara’s first fiction film. A little girl Chanda, who is the undisputed Pithoo champion of her basti and her friend Shameen are burdened a bag full of worries after getting enrolled in a big school-one that brings with it, new books, uniforms and the worst of all evils; they must wear shoes! Chanda hates shoes. Will Chanda manage to dream up a plan to beat the rules and make a little space for herself within the discipline of the school?

About the Filmmakers: Ektara Collective is an independent, autonomous, non-funded group of people who seek to combine creative efforts and imagination, collaborating with trained and untrained people to make films that are content-wise and aesthetically located in people’s subjective, contextual realities and experiences. Through this process Ektara has earlier produced the short fiction films Chanda Ke Joote (22 min, 2011) and Jaadui Machchi (38 min, 2013). This is their first fiction feature film.

Trailer:

WHEN MOTHER COMES HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

(109 mins/ Sinhala, Greek and Tamil with English subtitles/ India, Germany, Greece)

by Nilita Vachani

Available from: 29^th November, 2:30 PM

Until: 3 December, 10:30 AM

About the Film: In today’s globalised economy, the first world mother is able to go out and work because of the services of the third world woman who replaces her at home. Josephine Perera is a migrant worker from Sri Lanka who has spent the last ten years taking care of the homes and families of others. She worked in the Middle East and then moved to Athens, Greece where she takes care of two-year-old Isadora whose mother works in Paris.  Josephine has not seen her own children in ten years.  They share a less fortunate fate in the home country, left to orphanages and the temporary homes of unwilling relatives. Josephine’s youngest son, Suminda was only two when she migrated, the same age that Isadora is now.

Festivals and Awards

• Rotterdam Film Festival 
• Thessaloniki International Film Festival 
• New Directors, New Films, MOMA
• Toronto International Film Fest 
• London Film Festival 
• LA Asian Pacific Film Festival 
• New York Asian American Film Fest 

About the Film maker: Nilita Vachani is a filmmaker, writer and teacher. She has produced, directed and edited the acclaimed award-winning documentaries, Eyes of Stone, Diamonds in a Vegetable Market and When Mother Comes Home for Christmas. Her novel HomeSpun won Foreword's Choice Fiction award for 2008. Her long-form journalistic piece ‘Inside Job’ won the Asia Media Foundations’ Inaugural prize for Investigative Journalism in 2016. Nilita is affiliated with the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai

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