Take a break from Dasain shopping and give your wallets a rest as Kathmandu gets ready to host two international film festivals
Film Southasia, now in its ninth year, makes its return with screenings of 55 movies from across the region in what promises to be an absolute visual treat. Ekadeshma too returns for its second edition with 30 short films by Nepali and international students. Organised by Underground Talkies, a production-house based in Kathmandu, the three-day long fest includes interactive sessions with the makers. Here is a sneak peek of the amazing stories that will unfold in the coming weeks.
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Awakening documentary , MALLIKA ARYAL
Film Southasia 2013
3-6 October
QFX Kumari, Kamal Pokhari
www.filmsouthasia.org
fsa@filmsouthasia.org
(01)5013501
Transgender: Pakistan’s Open Secret (2011)
4 October at 5pm, Hall 2
Duration: 53’
Language: Urdu
Country: Pakistan
Director: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Many among Karachi’s transgender community scrape a living through dancing, singing, and begging on the streets. Others earn money catering to the sexual needs of men in the city’s seedier districts.
No Fire Zone (2013)
5 October at 1pm, Hall 1
Duration: 93’
Language: English
Country: UK
Director: Callum Macrae
No Fire Zone is the definitive story of the final, traumatic months of the 26-year-long Sri Lankan civil war as told by the people who lived through it.
Elemental (2012)
5 October at 1.15pm, Hall 2
Duration: 93’
Language: English, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Country: India/ Global
Director: Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Gayatri Roshan
Three individuals are united by their connection with nature and desire to confront some of the most pressing ecological challenges of our time.
No Burqas Behind Bars (2012)
5 October at 4.45pm, Hall 2
Duration: 77’
Language: Dari
Country: Afghanistan
Director: Nima Sarvestani
Takhar Prison. 40 women, 34 children. Four cells, no burqas. Women tend to be faceless in public in Afghanistan, burqas covering them from head to toe. Their identities are masked, they are rendered invisible and voiceless.
Invoking Justice (2011)
5 October at 11.15am, Hall 2
Duration: 86’
Language: Tamil
Country: India
Director: Deepa Dhanraj
Fed up with male-dominated jamaats (councils), where they cannot be represented, Mulsim women in South India set up their own council in 2004.
Char ... No Man’s Island
6 October at 2.15pm, Hall 2
Duration: 88’
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Director: Sourav Sarangi
Fourteen-year-old Rubel smuggles rice from India into Bangladesh. He has to cross the River Ganga (Padma), which acts as the international border in this area.
The Voice of God (2011)
6 October at 1pm, Hall 1
Duration: 9’35
Language: Unknown, English
Country: India
Director: Bernd Lützeler
If God came down to earth and tried to earn a living in Bombay, he would probably end up as a successful voice-over artiste, lending a voice to thousands of films.
Ekadeshma
27-29 September
11am to 6pm
QFX Kumari, Kamal Pokhari
Sarwanam Theatre, Kalikasthan
www.ekadeshma.org
9841239505
Maanasi
28 September at 5pm, QFX Kumari
Duration: 18’20
Country: Nepal
Director: Kiran Pokhrel
Chhora
28 September at 5.40pm, QFX Kumari
Duration: 25’
Country: France/Nepal
Director: Subarna Thapa
Sahasi Chori
28 September at 1pm, QFX Kumari
Duration: 20’
Country: Nepal
Director: Erin Galey
The Contagious Apparitions
of Dambarey Dendrite
28 September at 1.20pm, QFX Kumari
Duration: 18’30”
Country: Nepal
Directors: Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet