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TSAFF 2019: The Tasveer South Asian Film Festival comes to UW

September 18, 2019

The South Asia Center is proud to be a sponsor of the 2019 Tasveer South Asian Film Festival. This year Tasveer has collaborated with the South Asia Center to bring a film screening and panel discussion to the UW Seattle campus, both on October 4th.

At 4 PM attend the symposium Filmmaking in New South Asia, and at 7 PM watch The Sweet Requiem, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.

Symposium: Filmmaking in New South Asia
Friday, Oct. 4, 
4-6 pm
Communications Building (CMU) 120

This event is free and open to UW students, faculty, and staff

This symposium brings together filmmakers, academics, and activists who will together meditate on the challenges and opportunities of making films in South Asia that is going through major political and cultural shifts.

Topics include but are not limited to:

  • Filmmaking and politics.
  • The role of independent and documentary cinema.
  • The popularity and challenges of digital film making platforms.

PANELISTS

Anand Patwardhan (Reason): Anand Patwardhan has been making political documentaries for over four decades, pursuing diverse issues that are at the crux of socio-political life in India. Many of his films were at one time or another banned by the censors and by State television channels and became the subject of litigation. Anand, who successfully challenged these censorship rulings in court, has also been active in movements for communal harmony as well as movements against unjust, unsustainable development; casteism; militarism; and nuclear nationalism.

Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam (The Sweet Requiem): Ritu Sarin finished her MFA in film and video from the California College of Arts. Tenzing was born in Darjeeling in northeastern India to Tibetan refugee parents. He studied broadcast journalism at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Their work has primarily focused on the subject of Tibet and has attempted to document, question and reflect on the issues of exile, identity, culture and politics that confront the Tibetan people. Ritu and Tenzing are the directors of the Dharamshala International Film Festival, which they founded in 2012.

Syed Muhammad Hassan Zaidi (Dunkey Following European Dreams): Hassan Zaidi is a filmmaker/ Lecturer at The Film and Television Department, National College of Arts in Lahore. He is also completing his Masters in Multimedia Studies from the National College of Arts, Lahore.

 

Filmmakers Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam | 91 min | 2019 | Tibet
Friday, Oct. 4, 7-9 PM
Physics/Astronomy Auditorium (PAA) A102 (Ronald Geballe Auditorium)
This event is free and open to UW students, faculty, and staff. 
Film screening followed by Q&A with filmmakers. 
When a young, exiled Tibetan woman unexpectedly sees a man from her past, long-suppressed memories of her traumatic escape across the Himalayas are reignited and she is propelled on an obsessive search for reconciliation and closure.
Ritu Sarin was born in New Delhi. After graduating from Miranda House, Delhi University, she did her MFA in lm and video from the California College of Arts. Tenzing Sonam was born in Darjeeling in northeastern India to Tibetan refugee parents. He graduated from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and then studied broadcast journalism at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Working through their film company, White Crane Films, they have made more than 20 documentaries, several video installations and one dramatic feature. Their work has primarily focused on the subject of Tibet and has attempted to document, question and reflect on the issues of exile, identity, culture and politics that confront the Tibetan people.  Ritu and Tenzing are the directors of the Dharamshala International Film Festival, which they founded in 2012 and is now considered to be one of India’s leading independent film festivals. They were awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency in 2017.