2023 South Asian Film Festival Program

October 7, 2023

11am: Against The Tide

Rakesh and Ganesh are so close, they consider themselves brothers. Both are fishermen of Bombay’s Indigenous Koli community, but they’ve taken contrasting paths. Rakesh uses his inheritance — his father’s boat and the knowledge passed down by generations of Koli fisherman — to fish in the traditional ways, while Ganesh — who was educated abroad — has instead embraced modern, technology-driven, and environmentally destructive methods of deep-sea fishing, causing increasing friction between the friends. But with declining fish populations caused by pollution and invasive species, neither man is finding much success, adding to the burdens facing their young families, and testing the bonds of their brotherhood. Director Sarvnik Kaur takes a deeply humanistic and intimate approach in her profile of these two men at a crossroads in both their friendship and profession. Immersing the viewer in their experiences, where neither man is hero or villain in the choices they make to survive in an imperiled world, she presents a microcosmic, sea level view of the fragility of our relationship with the changing environment. Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Verite Filmmaking at Sundance 2023.

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2pm: Goldfish

With help from a community and a past she has shunned, Anamika, a young woman from a mixed marriage (Kalki Koechlin, Margarita with a Straw, SAFF 2015; Waiting, SAFF 2016), returns home to deal with her estranged mother’s (Deepti Naval) onset of dementia and the scars of her childhood. Mother and daughter, strangers for over a decade, find themselves thrown together once again, and “Ana” is forced to become daughter and mother, caregiver and secretary. Around her, in the neighborhood she escaped so long ago, Anamika begins to discover a woman she never knew at home, alive in memory, in anecdote, and in Hindustani classical music she doesn’t understand. Powerhouse performances help make this Indian-British-American co-production a delicate, poignant, and timeless story of a difficult yet special parent-child relationship, and a charmingly protective neighborhood. Goldfish is a remarkable drama about memory, music, mental health, and identity.

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October 8, 2023

11am: Chhota Cinema: New Indian Shorts 2023

Always striving to showcase the best in cutting-edge new Indian cinema, the South Asian Film Festival is proud to present 5 highly acclaimed short films from across the globe. This fascinating and diverse mix features both narrative and documentary: EID MUBARAK, THE AFTER: A CHEF’S WISH, WHITE ANT, ESPERANZA, and NOCTURNAL BURGER.

Eid Mubarak

USA/PAKISTAN, 2022, 16 MIN
Directed by Mahnoor Euceph
In Urdu with English Subtitles

Florida Premiere!

A privileged six-year-old Pakistani girl embarks on a mission to save her beloved pet goat from being eaten on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Azha, only to learn the meaning of sacrifice.

The After: A Chef’s Wish

PAKISTAN, 2022, 26 MIN
Directed by Umar Riaz
In English and Urdu with English Subtitles

Florida Premiere!

After Chef Fatima Ali—Fan Favorite Winner of ‘Top Chef: Season 15’—faces a tragic turn of events in her life, her brother Mohammad must take up the mantle to continue her legacy of bridging cultures through food and providing the joy of it to the underprivileged in Pakistan.

White Ant

UK/INDIA, 2022, 15 MIN
Directed by Shalini Adnani
In English and Hindi with English Subtitles

East Coast Premiere!

Ashish, a middle-aged businessman, is called back to his now abandoned childhood home, where he is confronted with a colony of termites eating the house from the inside out.

Esperanza

USA, 2022, 18 MIN
Directed by Shruti Parekh
In English, Hindi and Spanish with English Subtitles

Southeast Premiere!

When an immigrant taxi driver in upstate New York takes an undocumented couple to the Canadian border, they find themselves at odds in the shared pursuit of a better life.

Nocturnal Burger

2023, INDIA, 28 MIN
Directed by Reema Maya
In English, Hindi and Marathi with English Subtitles

Southeast Premiere!

A 13-year-old girl and a 30-something man are brought to a police station in Mumbai in the middle of the night by two strangers. Amidst questionable motives and unreliable narrators, a frustrated female constable investigates what happened that night, and what could’ve happened.

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2pm: Kacchey Limbu

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, played or followed by 2.5 billion people. But it’s often a man’s game. As Bend it Like Beckham and Love & Basketball did before it, Kacchey Limbu puts a talented young woman at the center of play, sparking a contrast with much more than the final score at stake. Set in the courtyards and improvised pitches of Mumbai, this colorful comedy follows a pair of siblings who find themselves on competing cricket teams as they struggle to balance family loyalty with the pursuit of their passions. Aditi (Radhika Madan) dreams about being a fashion designer, though her father insists she study medicine. Her big brother Akash (Rajat Barmecha) drags himself to corporate job interviews, though his first and only love is cricket. When he is accepted into a new league, Aditi decides to throw her hat in the ring and start her own team, assembling a motley crew of players who don’t exactly look the part. Propelled by high-energy music and loveable characters, Kacchey Limbu is an amusing and vibrant story of teamwork and self-discovery with enough comedy and camaraderie to appeal to the whole family.

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October 9, 2023

6:30pm: Eega

You will believe this man is a fly! From the mind of S.S. Rajamouli, the director of spectacular Academy Award-winner RRR, this wild and insanely imaginative early masterwork will make you think twice about flailing your arms at the sight of a fly ever again. Nani loves Bindhu, but when lecherous developer Sudeep also takes a liking to the soft-spoken artist, he decides to get rid of the competition.  Only his plan backfires when Nani rises from the dead, reincarnated as a common (but crafty) housefly out for blood who wreaks havoc on Sudeep’s life and quashes his romantic designs on Bindhu. A jaw-dropping action-fantasy-musical-revenge tale, Eega is indescribably fun and inventive, and presented here uncut on the big screen for the first time in over a decade. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a fly try to kill a man for two hours in the most outrageous and off-the-wall ways imaginable—Eega is a once-in-a-lifetime moviegoing experience you won’t soon forget!

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Date: October 7-9, 2023

Location: Enzian Theater - 1300 Orlando Ave, Maitland, FL 32751

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