3rd i’s San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival 2017

3rd i’s San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival 2017

November 9-12, New People Cinema and Castro Theatre, San Francisco
November 18, CineArts Theater, Palo Alto

Come celebrate 3rd i's fifteenth anniversary this year, as the annual SF International South Asian Film Festival presents some of the best cinema from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Australia, and the USA. This year’s festival captures the political zeitgeist of our times, offering reflections on the democratic process, the power of the vote, and on the legacy of political revolutions. Home movies become rich fodder for filmmakers, their celluloid memories resurfacing stories about family, immigration, and cross-cultural dialogue. Voices from the margins circulate through the program, centering women’s unsung labor, queer voices, and disappearing landscapes. As always the shorts program gathers an impressive range of local and international offerings, while Bollywood is served up two ways - neo-noir and classic camp. For expanded program and ticketing information, please visit: http://www.thirdi.org

Thursday, November 9 @ New People Cinema
7:15pm
Abu (Father)
Arshad Khan (Canada, 2017, 80mins)
Filmmaker in Person! Deeply moving and smart, Arshad Khan’s outstanding documentary Abu is a quintessential immigrant story that captures the tumultuous journey of his family's move to Canada, from Pakistan, in the early 90s. Peppered with animations, snippets from Bollywood, and a treasure trove of home movie footage, Abu offers a complex and nuanced portrait of a family trying to hold on to one another in spite of all the challenges.

Friday, November 10 @ New People Cinema
7:15pm
Random Acts of Legacy
Ali Kazimi (Canada, 2016, 77mins)
Filmmaker via Skype! In this gorgeous, multi-layered documentary about immigration and integration, Ali Kazimi (A Continuous Journey) brilliantly weaves a rich tapestry of history and memory. Set in Chicago between the Great Depression and the post-war era, this award-winning film peeks into the everyday life of a commercial artist and his trailblazing wife, to reveal the experiences of a first-generation Chinese family in America.

9:30pm
Gurgaon
Shanker Raman (India, 2017, 107mins)
Stylish and smart, with a deep, dark twist, GURGAON is a neo-noir based on the true life story of a kidnapping gone awry, in the shiny outer reaches of the fast growing Delhi metropolis. Raman delves deep into the psychology of his characters, fleshing out an extremely compelling story that keeps the twists and turns coming - each one completely believable and integral to the plot.

Saturday, November 11 @ Castro Theatre
3:00pm
Nari (Woman)
Gingger Shankar (USA, 2016, 60mins)
In this unique live multimedia performance, accomplished musician and composer for film Gingger Shankar celebrates the life and work of her mother (Viji Shankar) and grandmother (Lakshmi Shankar). Hailing from India’s first family of music, and renowned artists in their own right, they helped bring Indian music to the West in the 1970s through their close collaborations with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison (The Beatles). Official selection at both the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals, the performance features Shankar on the double violin, accompanied by bandmates Vivek Maddala and Rob Amjarv.

5:30pm
An Insignificant Man
Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla (India / Netherlands, 2016, 95mins)
Followed by panel discussion. Dubbed the “Bernie Sanders of India”, Arvind Kejriwal shook up the status quo of the Indian political system in the last national election. This revolutionary shift in India’s mainstream political establishment is exposed in this gripping documentary. Training its unwavering lens on inequality, corruption, and the power of elites, this important doc highlights the democratic principles at stake in India and around the world.

8:15pm
Om Shanti Om
Farah Khan (India, 2007, 162mins)
Bollywood at the Castro!! Serving up a dazzling array of musical showstoppers and cameos by nearly every Bollywood star, Om Shanti Om is a blockbuster extravaganza for the ages. Director Farah Khan pulls out all the stops to squeeze in comedy, melodrama, action, and suspense in a masala mix of epic proportions. Shah Rukh Khan breaks out his disco moves in this star-studded tribute to the swinging 70's. Bring out those Bell-bottom pants for retro fun, romance and dance! A must-see on the big screen.

Sunday, November 12 @ New People Cinema
1:00pm
Shepherdess of the Glaciers
Stanzin Dorjai and Christine Mordelet (India/France, 2015, 74mins)
A mesmerizing tribute to the unbreakable bond between humans and animals, this meditative doc captures a disappearing way of life that is deeply intertwined with nature. Amidst the stunning landscape of Ladakh, shepherdess Tsering sets out to the high plateaus of the Himalayas, braving countless physical travails, so that her flock of sheep can graze through the winter.

2:45pm
Newton
Amit Masurkar (India, 2017, 106mins)
Amit Masurkar's smart and engaging black comedy finds humor in the tenuous nature of democracy, a hard task on the global stage at the present. When conscientious clerk, Newton, is placed on election duty in the conflict-ridden “tribal” area of Chhattisgarh - a democratic stress-center - he must keep devious military personnel and oddball bureaucrats in check, even as the voters remain strangely absent.

5:00pm
Last Man in Dhaka Central (The Young Man Was, Part 3)
Naeem Mohaiemen (Bangladesh/Netherlands/USA, 2015, 82mins)
Filmmaker in Person! Filmmaker Naeem Mohaiemen brings his razor-sharp critique and keen awareness of global politics to the conversation, as he probes Peter Custers, a Dutch journalist, about the dreams and inspirations (a la Che Guevara) that fueled his decision to travel half-way across the world to participate in a left-wing uprising in Bangladesh. The final installment in Mohaiemen's trilogy on the legacy of the radical left, this illuminating doc has screened at numerous prestigious film festivals including Rotterdam, Berlin, and IDFA. Preceded by the short Abu Ammar is Coming (2016, Bangladesh/USA, 6mins).

7:30pm
Coast to Coast: Mumbai to the Mission
Various (India/Sri Lanka/USA/Australia, 2016/2017, 84mins)
Bay Area Filmmakers in Person! From light comedy to dark wit, this year's kaleidoscope of cinematic offerings engage the intimate, personal and the intellectual: Bollywood and Bolsheviks revels in the pleasures of classic cinema, while the Spice Sisters sizzle down under; Brown Girls assert their sexuality and independence in Chicago, while artists in San Francisco struggle to claim their home in No Vacancy; and Disco Obu takes a humorous and poignant look on the ephemeral nature of fame.

Sunday, November 18 @ CineArts Theater, Palo Alto

1:00pm
The Cinema Travellers
Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya (India, 2016, 96mins)
This intimate and poetic gem captures the miracle of cinema in its purest sense, and the timelessness of a tradition that has existed in India for decades - the traveling tent cinema. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim, and should entice cinephiles with its effusive love of the bygone era of celluloid.

3:00pm
The World of Goopi and Bagha (Goopi Gawaiya, Bagha Bajaiya)
Shilpa Ranade (India, 2013, 79mins)
Set in a world full of vibrant music and color, Shilpa Ranade’s magical film is an animated adaptation of one of Indian master Satyajit Ray's most beloved works, and premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival. This timeless fable follows the hilarious misadventures of Goopi and Bagha, two tuneless musicians banished from their villages for their cacophonous music.

5:00pm
Bad, Brown, Bride: 3 Desi Series
Various (USA, 2017, 72mins)
Bay Area Filmmakers in Person! Snappy, sexy, and seriously modern, these three shorts series turn stereotypes about desis on their heads, and offer modern portraits of young South Asians in America. Featuring episodes from Shawn Parikh and Devanshi Patel’s Bad Indians, the hit series Brown Girls by Fatima Ashgar and Sam Bailey (recently picked up by HBO) and Ik Jagait and Palvinder Jagait’s locally produced Bullet Bride.

7:30pm
Dance Like a Man
Ritesh Menon and Lilette Dubey (India, 2014, 100mins)
India’s most successful English-language play (by Mahesh Dattani) is adapted for the screen in this stellar cineplay, a tragi-comedy that captures the tension and jealousy between a rising Bharatanatyam dancer and her parents, both dancers themselves.