Chicago South Asian Film Festival

  • EVENING SHADOWS and SALAM: THE FIRST ****** NOBEL LAUREATE Win at Chicago South Asian Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_31969" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Evening Shadows Evening Shadows[/caption] After a fierce competition, the Chicago South Asian Film Festival , now in its 9th year, announced the winners of its four Audience Choice awards, with the award for Best Feature Length Fiction Film going to EVENING SHADOWS, and the award for Best Feature Length Documentary going to SALAM: THE FIRST ****** NOBEL LAUREATE.

    2018 Chicago South Asian Film Festival Award Winners

    Best Feature Length Fiction Film EVENING SHADOWS Directed by Sridhar Rangayan – a film depicting the story of a young Indian man disclosing his sexuality to his traditional parents. This was a particularly poignant tale in light of the recent decriminalization of homosexuality by the Supreme Court of India. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDpqasfWF9k Best Feature Length Documentary SALAM: THE FIRST ****** NOBEL LAUREATE Directed by by Anand Kamalakar, this enlightening documentary is a biopic of Abdus Salam, a Nobel Prize winning Pakistani physicist. Best Short Length Fiction Film LIFE AFTER Director Ria Tobaccowala’s emotional short follows Nisha, a single mother and Indian immigrant who travels to New York City to clear out her daughters apartment. Out of her element in the big city, Nisha discovers surprising new details about her daughter. Best Short Length Documentary Film DO WE BELONG? The film depicts the aftermath of a hate crime against an Indian man in Kansas City. In his acceptance speech, producer Pulkit Datta underscored the importance of this film by sharing a message of love, and the need to challenge ignorance, in preventing incidents of hate.

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  • 2015 Chicago South Asian Film Festival Awards; THE CROW’S EGG Wins Best Film

    Kaaka Muttai, The Crow's Egg The 2015 Chicago South Asian Film Festival, presented by Zee Cinema, announced the winners of Jury and Audience Awards for Best Feature and Short Films of the 2015 Festival and presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ms. Sharmila Tagore, an Indian cinema icon.

    The Jury Award for Best Feature Film was presented to “Kaaka Muttai (The Crow’s Egg)” (Director: M. Manikandan) / India / Chicago Premiere – When a pizza parlor opens on their playground, two carefree slum boys are consumed by the desire to taste this new-fangled dish called ‘Pizza’. Realizing that one pizza costs more than their family’s monthly income, they begin to plot ways to earn more money inadvertently beginning an adventure that will involve the entire city.

    The People’s Choice Awards for Best Feature Film was presented to “Dukhtar (Daughter)” (Director: Afia Nathaniel) / Pakistan/ Chicago Premiere – In the mountains of Pakistan, a mother and her 10 year-old daughter flee their home on the eve of the girl’s marriage to a tribal leader. A deadly hunt for them begins.

    The People’s Choice Awards for Best Feature Film was presented to “Sundar” (Director: Rohan Kanawade)/ India/ Chicago Premiere  – Bangles, jhumkas, bindi, lipstick, blouse, sari and attitude to carry; Jayu walked in public and played dandiya during Navratri (nine days Hindu festival). Onlookers laughed and whistled mockingly. It was just another reason to make fun of him. He didn’t care, because it was his happiness, he was living. Until, he laid his eyes on his mother, who stood in between those onlookers. She beat him up before the entire neighborhood… It’s Navratri, again. Tonight is the last night. But this year, all he could do is look at others as they marched towards the dandiya ground, all dolled up.

    The 2015 Chicago South Asian Film Festival Awards: The Jury Award for Best Feature Film was presented to “Kaaka Muttai (The Crow’s Egg)” (Director: M. Manikandan) / India/ CHICAGO PREMIERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzOp7hRXOLo The Jury Award for Best Short Film was presented to “The Blue Sweater” (Director: Dhaneesh Jameson) /United States/ CHICAGO PREMIERE The Audience Award – People’s Choice Award for Best Feature Film was presented to “Dukhtar (Daughter)” (Director: Afia Nathaniel) / Pakistan/ CHICAGO PREMIERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo5xat8WLjU The Audience Award – People’s Choice Award for Best Feature Film was presented to “Sundar” (Director: Rohan Kanawade) / India/ CHICAGO PREMIERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJOUGcr55A The Chicago’s Choice Award for Best Short Film was presented to “The First Session” (Director: Ryan Logan) / United States/ CHICAGO PREMIERE  

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  • The 5th Annual Chicago South Asian Film Festival Unveils 2014 Film Selections; Opens with Chicago Premiere of LIAR’S DICE

     Liar’s Dice Liar’s Dice

    The Chicago South Asian Film Festival revealed the film lineup for this year’s festival to be held between September 18th and 21st, 2014. The festival will present over 25 films in downtown Chicago, at the Showplace ICON Theater in South Loop,and in Evanston, at The Evanston Public Library.  This year’s Festival will open with the Chicago premiere of Liar’s Dice by director Geethu Mohandas, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and includes dynamic performances from Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa and Manya Gupta. Festival circuit favorite, M Cream, will be the Friday night feature. Monsoon Shootout will be the centerpiece film and also includes the audience favorite, Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Invigorating performances in Ankhon Dekhi directed by Rajat Kapoor, known for his roles in Dil Chatha Hai, Bheja Fry and Monsoon Wedding, will close out the Festival on Sunday evening.

    A full list of films to be presented in the windy city is provided below.

     A Boy Called Boris (Director: Ashok Vish): Short Film; United States; Max Kolby, Brian Gildea, Jose Amor

    Algorithms (Director: Ian McDonald): U.S. Premiere; Documentary; India

    Blouse (Director: Vijayeta Kumar): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; India; Sumeet Vyas, Imran Rashid, Ronjini Chakraborty, Preeti Sharma

    Brahmin Bulls (Director: Mahesh Pailoor): Chicago Premiere; Feature; India; Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Cassidy Freeman, Justin Bartha

    Color of War (Director: Sai Pawar): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; United States; Matt Pohlkamp, Tristan Coe, Jon Peterson, Scott E. Myers

    Fandry (Director: Nagraj Manjule): Chicago Premiere; Feature; India; Somnath Avghade, Kishor Kadam, Sanjay Chaudhri, Suraj Pawar Payeshari

    The Fading Valley (Director: Irit Gal): Chicago Premiere; Documentary; Israel

    Give Into the Night (Director: Sonejuhi Sinha): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; United States; Sarita Choudhury, Alisha Nagarsheth, Vijay Bhargava

    Hit the Road (Director: Gor Baghadasharyan, Mushegh Baghdasaryan): Documentary; India; Ric Gazarian, Keith King

    Int. Café- Night (Director: Adhiraj Bose): U.S. Premiere; Short Film; India; Naseeruddin Shah, Shernaz Patel, Shweta BAsu Prasad, Naveen Kasturia

    Jaya (Director: Puja Maewal): Short Film; India; Faimida Shaikh, Anil Rathod, Jaihind Kumar

    It’s About Time (Director: Snehal Patel): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; United States; Omi Vaidya

    Kaphal- Wild Berries (Director: Batul Mukhtier): Feature Film; India; Harish Rana, Pawan Singh Negi

    Katiyabaaz (Director: Deepti Kakkar, Fahad Mustafa): Chicago Premiere; Documentary; India

    M Cream (Director: Agneya Singh, Aban Raza): Chicago Premiere; India; Imaaduddin Shah, Ira Dubey, Auritra Ghosh, Raaghav Chanana, Barry John, Tom Alter

    Mitraa (Director: Ravi Jadhav): U.S. Premiere; Short Film; India; Veena Jamkar, Sandeep Khare, Mrunmayee Deshpande

    Mohammad (Director: Shahnawaz Ali): World Premiere; Short Film; Qatar

    Munnariyippu (Director: Venu): Feature; U.S. Premiere; India; Mammootty, Aparna Gopinath

    Odh- An Odyssey (Director: Naina Panemanglor): Short Film; India; Devashish Boralkar, Priya Bagalkote

    Phoring (Director: Indranil Roychowdhury): Chicago Premiere; Feature; India; Ritwick Chakraborty, Sohini Sarkar, Shankar Debnath, Akash Adhikary

    Present Continuous (Director: Aner Preminger): Chicago Premiere; Feature; Israel; Hagit Dasberg, Eyal Nachmias, Matan Preminger, Tamar Preminger

    Purple Skies (Director: Sridhar Rangayan)- Chicago Premiere; Documentary; India

    Rangzen-Freedom (Director: Gaurav Saxena): U.S. Premiere; Short Film; India; Tenzin Dayoe, Sonam Phunsok

    Tamaash- The Puppet (Director: Satyanshu Singh, Devanshu Singh): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; Kashmir; Zahid Ahmed Mir

    Veil (Director: Sreemoyee Bhattacharya): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; India; Joey Debroy, Daminee Basu

    What Remains (Director: Sarita Khurana): Chicago Premiere; Short Film; United States; Ananya Kumar-Banerjee, Sumitra Rajkumar

    View the full film schedule here: www.csaff.org/film-schedule/

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  • Chicago South Asian Film Festival Reveals 2013 Film Selections; Opens With US premiere of OASS

    OASS directed by Abhinav Shiv TiwariOASS directed by Abhinav Shiv Tiwari

    The Chicago South Asian Film Festival revealed the film lineup for its fourth annual event to be held between September 20 and 22nd. The festival, to be hosted at the Showplace Icon Theaters and Film Row Cinema at Columbia College will present over 24 films. The festival will open with the US premiere of OASS, a portrayal of the injustices faced by the many victims of child trafficking. Directed by Abhinav Shiv Tiwari, the film follows Kiku, a girl of great determination, as she endeavors to return home from the dingy brothels of Delhi.

    The centerpiece film is SHAHID, by director Hansal Mehta and producer Anurag Kashyap. The biographical piece recounts the inspiring journey of Shahid Azmi, a human rights activist and lawyer who was killed in 2010. The festival will close with the presentation of THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, starring Riz Ahmed and Kate Hudson. The film, directed by Mira Nair and winner of the IFFI Century Award, tells the story of a Pakistani man whose American Dream is threatened by post 9/11 reactions to al-Qaida attacks.

    Also included in the lineup is CLUB 60, Sanjay Tripathy’s directorial debut in Bollywood. Featuring acclaimed actors Farooq Sheikh, Sarika, Satish Shah, and Tinnu Anand, the film offers a glimpse into the lives of young at heart 60-year-olds. “We all are still young at heart. It’s all about how you live your life,” said Sheikh during a photo shoot for the film. FARAH GOES BANG, TOURING TALKIES, PIED PIPER, CHOR CHOR SUPER CHOR, Bengali film TASHER DESH, and the Sri Lankan film THANHA RATHI RANGA round off the features.

    Among the short-length films, BANSULI (THE FLUTE) presents a narrative that takes place in the remote west of Kamali, 3 PUFFS OF GOLD explores the subject of sexual assault, and BREAKDOWN introduces the story of an American caught in the darkest shadows of urban India. Other shorts included in the lineup are FREE KAA REFILL, THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS, …OR DIE, SHAMELESS, and KHULI KHIDKI.

    The festival will also present MUCH ADO ABOUT KNOTTING, a documentary based on the practice of marital matchmaking in contemporary India. “We’ve looked at a pan-cultural phenomenon through an Indian prism. What was earlier negotiated at closed family events has now snow-balled into a multi-million dollar industry. It’s a startling scenario and the film presents the multiple facets without being judgmental,” said director Geetika Narang Abbasi in a previous statement. THE OTHER ARMY, directed by Sana Attiq Haq, focuses on the stories of three Pakistanis who sacrificed their lives in the fight against terrorism.

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