Whether it is teenage girls in Afghanistan kicking stereotypes away (quite literally); the resilient children of the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal; the shipbreaking industry of Bangladesh; the plight of Biharis stranded in camps in Dhaka; Ladakhi cinema; or the lives of migrant Southasian workers in the Gulf countries – you name it and Travelling Film SouthAsia (TFSA) 2011 has a documentary for it.
TFSA’11 opens on 20 May (today) In Karachi and will continue through till 22 May (Sunday). It is being hosted by t2f – formally known as The Second Floor, a cafe-cum-public space run by PeaceNiche. The 12 films that are part of TFSA’11 include stories from almost every country of Southasia; and while some contain narratives particular to their areas, the ramifications are regional.
Three documentaries will be screened on Friday, starting at 6 p.m. with Maheen Zia’s ‘The Battle for Pakistan: Do Extremism and Madressahs Converge?’ (Pakistan, 2009; 40 minutes). This will be followed by ‘Afghan Girls Can Kick’ (Afghanistan, 2007; 50 minutes), and ‘The Last Rites’ (Bangladesh, 2008; 17 minutes).
Saturday being a half-day at most offices, the screening will begin slightly early (at 4 p.m.) with ‘Out of Thin Air: The high energy of Ladaki cinema’ (India, 2009; 50 minutes). Given the issues involving migration and identity, particularly in Sindh, the second documentary to be screened on Saturday, ‘The Promised Land’ (Bangladesh, 2008; 90 mins), about the problems faced by Biharis stranded in Dhaka, would be of interest to many. The third film, ‘The Way of the Road’ (Nepal, 2009; 60 minutes) details the changes that Tibet Road has brought to the lives of the local population. ‘Children of God: Where the dead have more worth than the living’ (Nepal, 2008; 89 mins) narrates the lives of children who live at or near the Pashipatinath Temple in Kathmandu. The documentary helped raise awareness about the plight of ‘temple children’, many of whom fall victim to glue-sniffing, drugs and alcohol. After the film was screened in Kathmandu last year, donations poured in, enabling philanthropists to enroll the three siblings featured in the documentary in school.
The documentaries that will be screened on Sunday – ‘Mayomi’ (Sri Lanka, 2008; 50 mins), about a young girl who was left holding her troubled family together after the 2004 Tsunami; ‘The Salt Stories’ (India, 2008; 84 mins), that follows the trial of Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March; ‘In Search of the Riyal’ (Nepal, 2009; 86 mins), about the plight of migrants labour in the Gulf countries; ‘Chalo Hamara Des’ (India, 2008; 98 mins), which searches for the poet, Kabir’s ‘des’; and ‘Saamam’ (India, 2009; 42 mins), which pays homage to Carnatic music and M.D. Ramanathan – are as compelling as the rest of the films in the package.
Film Southasia (FSA) has been organised for the last 12 years by Himal Southasian, the only monthly regional magazine for Southasia. ‘It takes the sweep of non-fiction audio-visual productions being made across Southasia,’ the organisers maintain.
While FSA is currently held every two years at a venue in Kathmandu, Nepal, its mobile version, TFSA, began with the first Film South Asia festival in September 1997. According to the FSA website, ‘after each FSA festival, about a dozen films are selected to tour regionally and globally. There have been six TFSA tours thus far, each time going to an average 50 venues all over.’
“We are keen for the festival to go to towns and cities, large and small, in Pakistan; and anyone is free to contact us,” Himal Southasian Editor-in-Chief Kanak Mani Dixit told Pakistan Today. TFSA’11 in Karachi will be open to the public. Day passes cost Rs100, and will be sold at the venue on a first-come-first-serve basis.
