Bold and Courageous, FILMI 11 has something for everyone

The 11th Annual edition of FILMI, (www.filmi.org) Toronto’s South Asian Film Festival (FSAFF) will be presented September 30th – Oct 3rd 2010.The vision of FILMI Toronto’s South Asian Film Festival is to promote, discover, introduce and celebrate cinematic endeavours by talented South Asian filmmakers, and highlight works with South Asian themes that can be brought to a mainstream audience.
 

The festival comprises of films, a music video nite, seminars and panels and much more – some events are free.

 

There is an amazing line up of films which are a must see for all cine lovers. Some of the highlights this year are the opening night film ‘Ashes’ and ‘The Taqwacores’ ‘Ashes’ is a cautionary tale of mental illness, greed, and the definition of family both real and imagined. The story of two brothers living in the inner city, as one descends into the grips of manic depressive schizoid disorder, the other, Ashes, absconds from his responsibility and tries to become a wealthy drug dealer. Fraught with contradiction, the story is a meditation on how easy it is to fall through the cracks of today’s health care system and how we ultimately find grace in the face of suicide. 

 

 ‘The Taqwacores’– The film is about a hardcore, Muslim punk rock band that deals with the complexities of being young and Muslim in modern-day America. It is based on the novel by the same name written by Michael Muhammed Knight.

 

The festival features the much anticipated 3rd Annual FILMI Music Video Nite specially programmed by Canadian music personality Raoul Juneja (a.k.a. Deejay Ra). Artists such as Bollywood supergroup RDB & Nindy Kaur; JUNO Nominated R&B singer Deesha; and Montreal dance group The Bilz amongst many others are showcased in this segment.

 

Examining the future directors from the South Asian Diaspora, the FILMI Shorts Programme, are all BOLD and Courageous; Anand Kanna’s DGC nominated film ‘Serum 1831’, New York’s Award Winning ‘Gareeb Nawaaz’s Taxi’, The amazingly crafted ‘Rendered’ and the brilliant film of Canadian Jay Fields’ The Pickle and Patriach’

 

The festival closes with the film ‘Spirit of South Asia’ by Richie Mehta and Cyrus Sundar Singh. The film examines the lives of 23 prominent Canadians of South Asian heritage.  It looks at how their ethnicity and spirituality (or lack of spirituality) impacts their profession.  Among those profiled are actress Lisa Ray, world famous choreographer Lata Pada, author and poet Priscilla Uppal, celebrity chef Vikram Vij, entrepreneur and humanitarian Surjit Babra, the captain of the Canadian cricket team Ashish Bagai and the special advisor to Joint Forces Afghanistan Lt. Col. Sarjit Hajaan.

 

FILMI 11 is proud to have in attendance Samrat Chakrabarti (Kissing Cousins, Waiting City), Ajay Naidu (Office Space, Loins of Punjab), Richie Mehta (AMAL), Cyrus Sundar Singh and much more …

Please come out and support our local talent in this not-to-be missed edition! For more information on FILMI visit www.filmi.org

 

Tickets available exclusively through www.filmi.org