Entertainment
Film Southasia festival to kick off from November 19
The tenth edition of Film Southasia, a biennial documentary film festival that aims to promote storytelling in the South Asian region, is set to be held at the Yalamaya Kendra, Patandhoka.The tenth edition of Film Southasia, a biennial documentary film festival that aims to promote storytelling in the South Asian region, is set to be held at the Yalamaya Kendra, Patandhoka, Lalitpur, starting November 19. Film South Asia 2015 (FSA’15) will be screening 43 films in total, including eight student films and will be attended by as many as 30 filmmakers, including prominent Bengali filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. FSA’15 will be judged by a panel that includes prominent figures like Nepali documentary filmmaker Narayan Wagle, Anomaa Rajakruna from Sri Lanka and AS Panneerselvan from India.
The festival will showcase films that delve into the underlying problems of the South Asian community.
Apart from the film festival held in Kathmandu every odd year, FSA also promotes screening, discussions and workshops all across the globe focusing on South Asian subcontinent to promote non-fiction filmmaking.
During each festival, the selected films are judged by a three-member jury. Every year, the festival awards the best film with the Ram Bahadur Trophy, along with a citation of $2,000. The second best film is awarded a citation along with $1,000 and the best debut film is treated to the same. This year, there is also an award for the best student film, a citation along with $500.
Past juries have been headed by well-known South Asian auteurs such as Shyam Benegal, Goutam Ghose, Tareque Masud, Saeed Mirza and journalist Mark Tully.
The festival will kick off with the screening of Drawing the Tiger, a film directed by the veteran filmmaker Ramyata Limbu. Along with the aforementioned, the festival will see the screening of films such as News from Jaffna, What the Fields Remember, Tomorrow We Disappear, Being Bhaijaan, Japan in Nagaland, A Walnut Tree and Accesex, among others. The subjects of the films—shot by noted auteurs from South Asia—range from intense issues such as politics, journalism, and religion to lighthearted ones, including a film about the story of a Salman Khan look-alike.