South Asian Film Festival: Diaspora & Discovery

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 04 November 2019 16:18

Written by Brad Balfour

I Am Alone, So Are You…

Featuring South Asian/Indian film makers, the South Asian Film Festival returns with a new slate of films November 20 to the 24th. Held at the Village East Cinema (189 2nd Ave, NY, NY) the Festival is committed to exhibiting films from South Asia (i.e India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal) and within the Indian Diaspora.

One of the highlights of the fest is Jallikatu, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery. Set in a remote village in the hill ranges of Kerala, Jallikatu unfolds during the course of a day and night as what starts with a butcher’s buffalo running away turns into ferocity, greed, lust, distrust and vengeance lurching below the surface erupting into the open. In the opening night film The Illegal, directed by Danish Renzu, in which an educated middle class kid from Daryganj, India comes to Los Angeles after getting accepted into a prestigious film school, but due to an unfortunate turn of events, he is forced into working illegally on his student visa in a restaurant in order to survive. In I Am Alone, So Are You…, from director Harish Vyas, a girl from Meerut and a boy from Chandigarh run away from their respective homes on their wedding day and bump into each other at a club in Delhi, setting them on a journey of self discovery. 

To learn more, go to: https://saiff.org/2019/

South Asian Film Festival
November 20 - 24, 2019

Village East Cinema
189 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003

Irish Screen America New York: From Gaza to the Boxing Ring

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 21 October 2019 13:01

Written by Brad Balfour

Irish Screen America, the film fest for Irish storytellers, will have its latest NYC edition running October 25 to the 27th. Held at NYU’s Cantor Film Center (36 E. 8th St), the festival includes shorts, documentaries, and live Q&As with cast and crew.

Films include the documentary Katie, which follows champion boxer Katie Taylor as she attempts to rebuild her career after a year of turmoil threatened to derail it. With many writing her off, Taylor decided to start again, and the notoriously private champion agreed to let a small crew document her attempt to rescale the heights. Gaza, directed by Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell, is a portrait of Palestinian life which offers a rare chance to be immersed in the heart of this misunderstood land to get to know the real people who inhabit it.

To learn more, go to: https://www.irishscreenamerica.com/nyc/

Irish Screen America New York
October 25 - 27, 2019

Cantor Film Center
36 East 8th Street
New York, NY 10003

CineCina Film Festival: Indepedent Chinese Cinema

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 21 October 2019 11:30

Written by Brad Balfour

Raining in the Mountain

The CineCina Film Festival (CCFF), running October 25 to November 3, is the fest that sets out to promote art house Chinese and international cinema. Held at venues across NYC, CCFF was formed in 2018 by a group of young film scholars and filmmakers active in New York looking to create a new platform for Chinese cinema. This year’s edition of the film festival will open with Elia Suleiman’s Palestinian Oscar selection for 2019, It Must Be Heaven, and will close with a special 10th Anniversary presentation of Samuel Maoz’s Lebanon. A digitally restored version of King Hu’s 1979 classic Raining in the Mountain will make its U.S. Premiere as the Centerpiece Screening. Raining in the Mountain was voted as one of the “100 Greatest Chinese Films” by the Hong Kong Film Awards and follows a Buddhist monastery during the Ming Dynasty in turmoil over a stolen scripture and the decision of who will be the next abbot. 

North American premieres include Takahisa Zeze’s The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine, about two female sumo wrestlers trying to escape the abuses of their past, while two other women – members of an anarchist group - start to watch their wrestling matches. Lu Zhang’s Fukuoka looks at two old schoolmates reconnecting, as a mysterious woman who enters the picture, leading to a tense love triangle. There will also be a screening of the John Woo classic The Killer and Naoko Yamada’s A Silent Voice will be screened as a special Tribute to Kyoto Animation.

To learn more, go to: https://cine-cina.co/

CineCina Film Festival
October 25 - November 3, 2019

Various Locations