March 2, 2009
Media contact: Kim Lawrence
Cell: 604-302-6257
Office: 604-864-4611
kim.lawrence@ufv.ca
UFV to host third annual South Asian film festival
Ehsaas means to reflect or come to realization in Punjabi and Hindi, and that’s what the UFV’s Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies invites you to do by attending its third annual South Asian film festival.
The festival runs on three consecutive Mondays: March 9, 16 and 23, 2009. Films will be screened starting at 7 pm at University House (F110) at UFV’s Abbotsford campus (33844 King Rd). Admission is free and is open to the public, donations welcome.
This year’s festival will showcase three powerful films — Present in All That We Do, Amu, and Amal — that emphasize social consciousness. Each film has significant historical and current relevance while highlighting social justice issues. The goal of the festival is to raise awareness, initiate dialogue, and encourage understanding on topics that are globally significant yet have local relevance.
For more information, please call the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies at UFV at 604-854-4547.
Film Summaries
Monday, March 9, 2009
Reception at 6 pm, film screening at 7 pm
Present in All That We Do
Directed by Andrew Hedden, who will be present and lead an interactive discussion.
In 1907, more than two-hundred South Asian workers in Bellingham, WA were attacked by a mob of white workers. The white rioters broke into the South Asians' houses and workplaces, stole and destroyed their valuables, and threatened and beat them until they were forcibly expelled from the city. In the course of one night, an entire community was driven from the town — in the approving words of a local paper, “wiped off the map.” One hundred years later, in 2007, hostility towards non-white immigrants in Bellingham continues. Raids and detentions by government immigration agents are ongoing; so are surveillance and harassment from both government agents and groups like the Minute Men. How have the events of 1907 shaped Bellingham as we know it in 2007? What has changed and what remains the same?
Monday, March 16, 2009
7 pm
Amu
Directed by Shonali Bose.
Amu is the story of Kaju, a twenty-one-year-old Indian-American woman who returns to India to visit her family. The film takes a dark turn as Kaju stumbles against secrets and lies from her past. A horrifying genocide that took place twenty years ago turns out to hold the key to her mysterious origins. How were Kaju’s family involved in the killings? What happened and why? Who were the culprits? Who benefited? Will Kaju have the courage to pursue the truth no matter the cost? Will it destroy her relationship with her mother? Will it affect her burgeoning romance? Will it change everything she knows about herself and about India?
Monday, March 23, 2009
7 pm
Amal
Directed by Richie Mehta.
Auto-rickshaw driver Amal is content with the small but vital role he serves —driving customers around New Delhi as quickly and safely as possible. But his sense of duty is tested by an eccentric, aging billionaire, who, moved by Amal’s humility, bequeaths him his entire estate before passing away. With only one month to discover and claim the inheritance, Amal’s struggles with duty and wealth are threatened by all those around him — from a young injured beggar girl and a lovely store merchant, to the danger of the old man’s upper-caste friends and siblings, all seeking to claim their share of the riches.
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