Austin, is a
cultural hub of food, film and arts, hosting SXSW, film festivals, book
festivals, foodie
paloozas,
and more each year.
Indie Meme film festival, does its small part in bringing in
socially relevant South Asian independent cinema to Austin audiences. A step towards creating cross-cultural
understanding and awareness; encouraging and facilitating dialogue and building
a globally conscious community!
The Indie
meme festival in its 4th year brought in this year, over 20 films from 7
countries in 9
languages with 5
International Filmmakers in attendance-
The festival started with a soft launch on Sunday April 14 with a showing of some short
films made by students in the Austin community, encouraging youth involvement,
followed by a long-short film directed by Mohd Gani- Gubbare ,
and Priya Ramasubban’s inspirational movie- Chuskit. The official festival April 26th-28th
started off Friday with its opening feature The Last Color by Michelin
Star Chef turned filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance.
The event was sponsored by couple of Austin companies, one being
Charles Maund Toyota- Having a belief
that involvement with South Asian community is imperative because of South Asians
brand loyalty towards Toyotas, they took this opportunity to give back to the
community. I had the pleasure of seeing
many of these films this weekend with Charles Maund Toyota.
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| Film Makers @ IMFF19 |
The extraordinary part about the film festival was the interactions
with the film makers. Their inspiration and the motives broadened understanding
of the film. Questions, observations and dialog between the maker and the
audience gave an extra dimension and depth of perspective to each film.
Here are a few of the movies I checked out with my take and
understanding and appreciation of each.
Review:
What attracted me to the movie was the
intrigue of how a celebrity chef with a Michelin star, a highest standard in
food creation fare in film making! Vikas Khanna is interestingly a simple man
with a passion and works with his heart hence achieves success in all his
endeavors.
The movie The Last Color is based on a book published earlier by the film
maker. Last Color is a story of three people on
the fringe of society, who are marginalized, ostracized, and looked down upon
by society, religious clerics, and unfortunately even by the government and
judicial system of the country. The heartwarming narrative shows the lives of an old widow living life of colorlessness
and abstinence; a rejected and mistreated Hijra- Eunuch; and a street dwelling
low caste untouchable orphan; giving rays of hope, breaking taboos and showing a victory
of human spirit.
Excellently written,
directed, acted and executed, the story sensitizes us to the harsh realities
which prevailed and still exist in India which need to be questioned and
stopped.
The naivety and
natural talent of the orphan Chothi (Aqsa Siddiqui ) and Neena Gupta’s depth of
acting experience with elevated performance as the widow Noor are the highlight
of the movie. Vikas Khanna’s debut filmmaking is surprisingly excellent,
bringing out the hostile truths balanced with innocence and spirited energy and
color! Some of the scenes are well directed and choreographed
especially the scene with Choti on tight rope
across buildings while Noor wrapped in
white is passing under.
The movie was beautiful
and sad, disturbing yet thought provoking and poignant. I give it 4.5 (****.5 /5) stars and recommend a watch.
In the Q &A with filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance- he opened up
his life and talked indepth about how he
got inspired to write the story, about the motivation behind the couple of
characters, the incidents of his own
life which got adopted in the story, his
trips to Varanasi or his rides on the river Ganges which gave him food for
thought!.
When comparing the mis-en-place of cooking to the prep of film making
he said he found it similar to orchestrate. On asking the actress Neena Gupta
on skype about her experience working with a debut filmmaker, she felt it easy
to work with Khanna because his fervor for the cause gave him clarity and vision
for the movie.
We look forward to more such though provoking movies from chef Vikas Khanna.
Saturday Morning started off with an Indian short film
followed by a documentary from Pakistan:
A circus facing extinction due to competition
with new modern forms of entertainment tries its luck with a new act.
Review:
Indus blues is a movie about the exploration
of music traditions, the disappearance of the folk musical treasures and the
fading art of music. Film Maker Jawad Sharif got triggered to make this movie after
seeing a video clip where people in a remote southern town of Pakistan were
burning musical instruments. He felt he had to talk about the dying heritage of
music and declining craftsmanship of musical instruments in Pakistan before it disappeared.
In this documentary he travels across the
large landscape of Pakistan from Northern Mountains to southern coastline,
talking to artists, musicians and craftsmen
of musical instruments. He captures the
raw feeling of the Pakistani folk artists talking about their struggle to keep a fading art form
alive while reminding the world what they are about to lose at the hands of the
fundamentalist Taliban and their own lack of governmental support.
Spreading the word to keep the musical culture
alive, Filmmaker Jawad Sharif showcases the dying instruments like the
Boreenda, Alghoza, Murli
Meen, and Raanti a unique Instrument
which is strung together by horse hair.
He walks you in to the life’s of a dying Saroz artist and the dying
instrument; narrates how the last Sarinda
player of Pakistan has a son who has moved on to playing western musical
instruments like saxophone; The Sarangi player who narrates the art is dying
since it takes 12 years to master playing this instrument and people are not
inclined to learn this art when it’s not appreciated and lucrative. The film
maker also focuses on folk artists and singers like talented Mai Dhai of Sindh
who has even visited Austin for SXSW. The highlight of the movie was the melodious
music played on these unique musical instruments.
The
narratives of the musicians are sad with a lot of questions- “why artists are a free soul in the rest of the
world, but curbed by social norms of society in Pakistan?” “Why
are the extremists burning our musical instruments which are made from gods beautiful nature
though music like god is invisible but
has a presence?”. The director’s story
telling style of direction made this documentary a beautiful and heart-rending watch.
I recommend it to anyone who cares about music.( Rating: ****/5)
In the Q&A on skype Jawad Sharif narrated
the many trials and tribulations he had
to go through to make this film even his own family discouraging the process. The
film maker encouraged the audience to connect with the artists and craftsman to
buy their instruments or to support the artists in other ways through the
website. https://indusbluesfilm.com/take-action/
The afternoon featured:
YASMINA (US/Short film /6min 41sec /English &
Farsi)
A surprise encounter leads a daydreaming,
young, line cook to discover that perhaps her heart’s desire may be found in
the unlikeliest of places.
HALF WIDOW (India/ Fiction/Drama/ 1hr 31 min/
Kashmiri & Urdu)
Review:
The story set in the backdrop of the Kashmiri
conflict is about the tragic life of half widows who are living in a state of
limbo and suffering after the disappearance of the husbands, who were captured
by armed forces for unknown reasons.
[In 1990, the Indian
government established the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act
which allows the Army to take over the running of the state and, until
recently, allowed the Army complete immunity to carry on whatever operations it
pleased, often at the cost of constitutional freedoms and rights. It was common
to have curfews implemented by the Army, during which people of the Kashmir
valley were randomly searched, asked to provide identification and, just as
randomly, arrested on “suspected” anti-social affiliations. These arrests were
often unofficial, and the arrested men often “disappeared” with no trace, often
for good, leaving their wives and families behind. “Half widow” is the name
given to the wives of the men who disappeared and remain missing through the
years of conflict.]
Danish Renzu; the film maker felt there were
too many half widows suffering in this state
of unknown waiting….. And wanted to create a story of life after the loss, a
life of healing.
The Story narrates the life of Nilofer (Neela)
who had a blissful simple life, happily married to an artisan businessman
Khalid with a baby on the way when tragedy strikes and her husband is take
away. Constantly searching, inquiring prisons, police stations, getting
involved in support groups and rallies and activism, Neela almost gives up one life, when she finds
nothing working.
But finally over the years Neela embarks on her
journey of self-discovery, her ability to live a fuller life instead of feeling
half. Finding herself, a meaning to her life, and finally
having the ability to tell her story and his story.
(Rating:***.5/5)
In conversation with the film maker in
attendance- Danish Renzu, of Kashmiri origin-
he felt he was doing a small part to
help these women in their state of suffering by encouraging a path of healing
with Neela’s story. And empowering women
about the next step. Glad to see such humanitarian efforts like these by
filmmakers to help communicate the suffering and troubles and help bring
change.
LAYOVER (US/ Short Film/9min/English)
While on a business trip to London, Meera has
a layover at LAX and agrees to meet with Vik. During the few precious hours
that they have together, they decide to recreate an early date, reminding them
of what drew them together in the first place and what ultimately broke them
apart.
Mohan was living a secret all his life, rife
with inner conflict, but he starts to see things differently, after revisiting
the reality from which he escaped years ago.
YOURS TRULY (India/Fiction/Romantic Drama/1hr 39
min/English & Hindi) US PREMIERE
Amidst the daily din of the local trains in
Calcutta, a lonely working woman in her late fifties finds herself falling in
love with the voice of the railway announcer.
Skype QA with filmmaker Sanjoy Nag
I caught up Sunday Movie from later afternoon with
A day in the life of a veteran who was
deployed to Afghanistan as an electrician and now impacts students’ lives by
blowing bubbles in the Texas State campus.
FADE (Iran/Short film/3min/Silent)
Seen through the eyes of a young boy, Fade is
a walk down memory lane of life before the war.
JIRGA (Afghanistan/Australia /Fiction/Drama//1hr18
min / English & Pashto)
Review:
Jirga also a definition
of an Afghani tribal council, is a movie about how a former Australian special
forces soldier feels haunted and is repentant of the tragic accidental killing
of a civilian in his hands and returns to Afghanistan to make amends and seek
forgiveness of his actions.
In war many a soldier of both sides
are killed but the guilt of killing an innocent leads many a mortal to drink,
drugs, depression and even suicide. But the filmmaker’s portrayal of the
soldier seeking forgiveness and redemption of his guilt from the family he
destroyed may be one step closer to realization in many for the need of this
for humanity to exist and bring more peace than war!
The soldier Mike (Sam Smith),
unfamiliar with the local language yet persuades himself to get a passage to Kandahar
through the touristy and scenically spectacular Bamyan. Rest of the movie is
the arduous journey Mike takes through rugged mountains, including a capture by
a Taliban group and living on the mercy of locals.
Mike’s captors surprisingly aid him upon
knowing he has come in repentance and is seeking forgiveness from the bereaving
family. They also advise him that his western materialistic reflection and
intention of compensating the family with money will be seen negatively and
upset the pride of the Afghani people.
The movie concludes with the council-Jirga
sitting together to decide his fate when he puts his life in the hands of the village
justice system. After deliberations the heavy burden of decision is put on the
young son of the dead victim who is told to make the decision of revenge or
forgive.
Overall the movie gives a true
glimpse of war torn Afghanistan and the effect it has both on the people living
and the uninvited guests and warriors who justified their horrible actions
through their own lenses and then when the lens were removed, fell into
despair.
The actor SamSmith does an excellent job
in expressing the agony of soldier troubled with his actions while the Afghani
support team does a great job of showing life of Afghani during the times of
war. Brilliant movie by the filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour and huge applause for
his efforts to bring about the faces and layers of war many never ponder about
and show the sad price of war.
(Rating: ****.5 /5 )
In conversation with the filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour we
get to know the inspiration and motivation
behind the movie. He said that with Jirga he wanted to counter the
Islamic terrorist stereotypes and modern military propaganda we face in the
West, demonstrating the true human cost of conflict.
He said civilians trying to survive in their ravaged
lands are not the only ones who believe that war is unjust. Many damaged and
disillusioned soldiers have also come to share that view. And the motives for Mike’s return to
Afganistan seeking forgiveness were inspired by the lingering sense of
responsibility experienced by army veterans, from conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq
and Timor-Leste.
He also mentions the difficulties, hindrances and many hoops he jumped through to make this
movie including a rejection by Pakistani government to make the movie in the
border towns close to Kandahar. But he persevered and was able to shoot it in
Afghanistan itself.
On being asked about the absence of subtitles for few
scenes he said, he wanted the audience to be in the same predisposition as Mike
who was unfamiliar with the language yet despite the language barrier bonded
with the old taxi driver over food and music; or the discomfort he felt when he
was unaware of the conversations of his captors and their intentions.
Gilmour also hoped Jirga is seen as a film that
doesn't attempt to neatly divide the good from the bad, but instead offers an
insight into the character and motives of those we view as the enemy and the
struggles of Afghans and the mercy found in their faith and traditions.
The closing film was
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
KAAMYAAB (India/Fiction/Comedy-Drama/1hr 53min/Hindi)
Review:
Hardik Mehta’s KAMYAAB
was a tribute to all those side actors, character actors, and forgotten stars
of Bollywood. It’s a story about a small time actor Sudheer, who has done many
a tiny role in about 499 movies but had no track of all his roles till he gets
reminded of it with his IMDB page.
Following which it triggers his desire to get cast in one more
substantial role and memorialize his life as an actor.
His search for a role and journey through many a
casting process makes him feel inadequate, that he even forgets to appreciate
the things and people which made him happy.
Finally he stands up to become a role model to the people who love and
appreciate him.
The movie was excellently directed and executed by
Hardik Mehta making us feel emotional for this underdog, forgotten actors. The actor Sanjay Mishra and
the other side actors who were so appropriately casted gave outstanding performances making it
kamyaab! (Rating ****.5/5)
In conversation with Hardik Mehta and the lead actor
Sanjay Mishra who has played many a clichéd side actor roles earlier- when
asked about how reflective was this role to his own career and if parts of the
script were real in anyway, he said the question answered itself since it was
true in many ways to him and many actors like him in the Bollywood industry.
Hardik Mehta was hopeful that times were changing in Bollywood and India, where previously only the lead actors and actresses
were glorified and idolized, unlike the western film industry where
all actors are respected and
celebrated.
On a question of what you consider as success posed to
the actor and film maker they said success is not a mark or achievement but the
happiness in what you have done with your life and people you love.
Incidentally, following up on the success question I
felt the need to reiterate and echo to both film maker Hardik Mehta and especially
Actor Sanjay Mishra that if success were to be measured in achievements, he as
an actor has reached that ‘KAMYAABI’ or ‘Success’ by encapsulating the role of
the forgotten star and memorializing it;
and to the film maker for making such a brilliant and heartwarming debut feature film. So everyone came out ‘Kamyaab’
in the end.
Wishing the film maker more such kaamyabi….
End of Sunday night, the festival wrapped up with the
awards ceremony where more congratulations were given to the movie-Kamyaab for
winning the Audience choice award for the Indie Meme Film Festival 2019 .
Congratulations team
Indiememe for a successful Indie Meme film festival 2019, till we meet again.....
