The Coalition of South Asian Film Festivals will kick off Oct. 3 with Baba Azmi’s “Mee Raqsam” (I Dance) and close with Prateek Vats’ “Eeb Allay Ooo!” on Oct. 17. The centerpiece film will be Shirish Gurung’s “Lato Kosero” from Nepal. Azmi’s sister the veteran Hindi actress Shabana will present his film.
In-between more than 20 films and shorts will play at the fest, which will also host virtual programs including Q&As with talent and creatives. The films will be streamed on Vimeo’s OTT platform, while the Q&As can be seen on-demand.
The coalition, which comprises South Asian fests from Seattle; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Mississauga/Toronto; Maryland; Montreal; and Vancouver, will also unspool blocks of shorts covering themes of interest to the South Asian diaspora, the LGBTQI community, racism and love and relationships. Unable to host a festival on the ground due to the coronavirus, CoSAFF formed earlier this year for a virtual event. Information on registration and other details are at cosaff.org.
The full lineup is below:
Ama Khando / Dhondup Tsering Gurung, Nepal
Baato / Lucas Millard, Nepal
Eeb Allay Ooo / Prateek Vats, India (CLOSING NIGHT)
Gamak Ghar / Achal Mishra, India
I’ll Meet You There / Iram Parveen Bilal, USA
Lato Kosero / Shishir Gurung, Nepal (CENTERPIECE)
Maadathy, An Unfairy Tale / Leena Manimekalai, India
Made in Bangladesh / Rubaiyat Hossain, Bangladesh
Mee Raqsam / Baba Azmi, India (OPENING NIGHT)
Mishing (The Apparition) / Bobby Sarma Baruha, India
Pareeksha / Prakash Jha, India
Pride & Protest / Blaise Singh, UK
Sthalpuran (Chronicle Of Space) / Akshay Indikar, India
The False Eye / Rahul Riji Nair, India
Untying The Knot / Zana Shammi, Bangladesh/Canada
Behind the Bhangra Boys / Nance Ackerman, Canada
Hafiz / Amair Javed, Pakistan/ Canada
Knock Knock Knock / Sudhanshu Saria, India
Poet In Two Worlds / Swapnil Kapure, India
Someone to Blame: The Ahmed Timol Inquest / Enver Samuel, South Africa
Voice of Siang / Joor Baruah, India
