Written by Tasnia Habib
The Coalition of South Asian Film Festivals (CoSAFF) premiered its virtual film festival on October 3rd and will run until October 17th. CoSAFF is a collaboration between seven South Asian Film Festivals across North America. The festival features free online screenings of selected films, along with Q&As with the creators. It will also include webinars focused on key industry topics, masterclasses with industry professionals and other virtual events.
The seven festivals that are part of the coalition are the following: Tasveer South Asian Film Festival in Seattle, Chicago South Asian Film Festival, DC South Asian Film Festival, Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival in Mississauga, Nepal America International Film Festival in Maryland, South Asian Film Festival of Montreal and the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival.
CoSAFF was created over the past summer in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The seven film festivals decided to unite to show solidarity, and support filmmakers. “We wanted to do something for filmmakers and the film community, something that would help them and would make sure they are getting a little bit of support in these difficult times,” said Arshad Khan, the director of the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival (MISAFF) in Mississauga.
Still shot from the film Lato Kosero.
All films and events will be streaming on the Vimeo OTT platform for free. The virtual platform offers a unique opportunity for filmmakers to screen their films. “All these filmmakers in the year 2020 would have never been able to showcase their films,” said Kirtana Banskota, one of the founders of the Nepal American International South Asian Film Festival (NAIFF). “The OTT platform being as big as it is now, we’ve been able to take advantage of that.”
CoSAFF is screening 64 films that were chosen from over 150 films by the coalition. Some of the special events that will be streamed during the event include a masterclass with actress and director Nandita Das, a South Asian Actors panel presented by SAG-AFTRA and ACTRA, and an industry panel on film distribution in a pandemic.
Khan and Banskota spoke highly about their personal and professional experience with CoSAFF. “It’s been one of the best experiences learning, working, and networking wise,” said Banskota. Collaborations between film festivals are not very common, noted Banskota. “Film festivals are very independent entities in many ways. We’ve never realized the power of film festivals helping each other either,” said Banskota.
Khan and Banskota both expressed fondness for the relationship they have built through CoSaFF. “I love this bunch of people I’ve met,” said Khan. “They really care for cinema and they really care for good stories.” Banskota echoed similar sentiments – “I’ve formed life long friendships and life long sisterhoods here,” said Banskota.
Below are some films that Khan and Banksota are particularly excited for that are screening during the festival. The full program can be viewed at https://tasveer.org/cosaffschedule.
Poster for Mee Raqsam
Mee Raqsam (showed Opening Night)
100 min., Narrative Feature
Director: Baba Azmi
Country: India
Logline: The relationship between Salim and Maryam (Aditi Subedi) is the big beating heart of cinematographer Baba Azmi’s directorial debut. Mee Raqsam (I Dance) is set in Mijwan village in Uttar Pradesh’s Zamagarh district. The production is a tribute to the filmmaker’s father, the renowned Progressive poet and lyricist Kaifi Azmi, who was born here in 1919. Mee Raqsam is dedicated to Kaifi Azmi’s vision of tolerance and social justice, which remains unfulfilled. But, as Salim often demonstrates, it is worth chasing.
Lato Kosero
91 min., Narrative Feature
Director: Shirish Gurung
Country: Nepal
Logline: Under the instructions of a shaman, Bishnu takes a journey to reach the state of ultimate happiness.
Eeb Allay Ooo (Closing Night)
98 min., Narrative Feature
Director: Prateek Vats
Country: India
Logline: Anjani, a young migrant, battles hordes of monkeys as a contractual monkey repeller, a newly created government job to tackle the monkey menace in the heart of Delhi. His job profile entails mimicking aggressive langurs, the original and extremely effective employees for the task- recently let off on account of animal rights. The sacred pests shred Anjani’s dignity and courage in quick succession, and make such a mockery of his professional ineptitude that an early discharge seems imminent. But when admonished by his pregnant sister, Anjani grits his teeth and decides to counter the monkey business with monkey business of his own.
Still shot from the film Eeb Allay Ooo.
Pride and Protest
90 min., Documentary Feature
Director: Blaise Singh
Country: United Kingdom
Logline: In the wake of the Birmingham protests against LGBTIQ+ relationship education in primary schools, director Blaise Singh and his Rainbow Films team follow various queer people of color as they challenge homophobia and racism in their communities. They speak out against internalized shame and lack of representation, and we follow them trying to figure out their place in the world in the build up to UK Black Pride.
I’ll Meet You There
Narrative Feature
Director: Iram Parveen Bilal
Country: USA/Pakistan
Logline: “I’ll Meet You There” is a family drama following the father-daughter journey of Majeed, a Chicago policeman, and Dua, his teenage ballerina daughter. Eager for a raise, Majeed is cherry-picked to go undercover in a mosque for a special FBI co-assignment. Shortly after, Baba, Majeed’s long-estranged father, shows up unannounced from Pakistan. Majeed uses Baba as an excuse to reenter the mosque after a decade. Counter to his liking, Dua and Baba take to each other. Baba urges Dua to question her passion for dance in the name of religion. The family explores new truths about their present, past, and future until everything comes to a head in a surprise bait and switch by the FBI.