The festival’s totaling line-up of 24 shorts, documentaries and trio of feature films were announced earlier this week with the announcement signaling the festival’s choices would explore timely and relevant themes: immigration, surrogacy, police brutality and the aftermath of HIV/AIDS, as well as under-represented communities such as transgenders, deaf and hard-of-hearing and outcasts.
“Our programming team has worked incredibly hard to strike the right balance and showcase the most current, ground-breaking, topical independent cinema from various parts of South Asia at our inaugural festival,” said Jitin Hingorani, Founder and Festival Director. “We have focused our efforts on really engaging the millennials (Generation Z), as they are the future filmmakers, cinephiles, producers and investors, who will, ultimately, support film festivals like ours; so, it is our inherent responsibility to educate them about world-class cinema that is beyond Bollywood.
Batra’s Line Of Descent explores a dysfunctional mafia family in Dehli, as three brothers fight for control of their father’s legacy. Gitanjali Rao’s Bombay Rose will open as the festival’s centerpiece focused on three romantic arcs culminated by a single red rose. Tannishtha Chatterjee’s Roam Rome Mein will be the North American closing night premiere starring actor Nawazuddin Siddique as a man whose search for his sister pivots into a journey of self-discovery.
The festival will be held at several venues and the official website has all you need to know to keep track in terms of the programme, scheduling and tickets.