South Asian Film Festival in Dallas thrills Thousands

Mar 20, 2015 - 10:24 am EDT I. S. Saluja United States 0

Advisory Board & Team of DFW SAFF, with Patrick OHara, Nikita Vyas Hattangady, Josh Hurtado, Ami Doshi, Dusto Chele, Tripti Bhatnagar, Ritu Elhence Krishna, Jitin Hingorani, Anjali Desai, Aarti Sarna and Ambica Dev. (Photos/ Zia Khan- Dallas Photographer/ 214-207-7922)

DALLAS (TIP) It was a rich fare for three days for film lovers in Dallas during the first ever South Asian film festival held in Dallas, Texas which saw over a thousand film lovers attending the event that featured films focusing on issues affecting the continent. The three-day Dallas-Fort Worth South Asian Film Festival, held at the Angelika Film Center in Plano, North Texas from Feb. 27 to Mar. 1, featured 14 shorts, documentaries and feature films. Carefully selected films had a focus on issues affecting the South Asian subcontinent and explored the lives and stories of the South Asian Diaspora in the United States.

“The response was fabulous, especially given the crappy weather as news reports warned North Texans not to leave their homes because of the snowstorm, and we still had completely packed theaters for our screenings. It has been a very humbling experience, and we’re already preparing for DFW SAFF 2016,” said Jitin Hingorani, Jingo Media CEO and DFW SAFF founder and festival director.

The Indian Panorama team of editor Prof. Indrajit Saluja, Dallas Bureau Chief Lovllien Kaurr and Photo journalist Zia Khan attended the film festival on Saturday, February 28. Prof. Saluja and Lovllien Kaurr are seen with Jitin Hingorani, Jingo Media CEO and DFW SAFF founder and festival director, and festival organizers

The producers, directors and actors who attended the festival and walked the red carpet included Viveck Vaswani, Tannistha Chatterjee, Mahesh Pailoor, Jeffrey D. Brown, Jane Charles, Dylan Mohan Gray, Suma Reddy, Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar, Tarun Verma, Arun Sukumar and Ryan Matthew Chan.

The festival kicked off with the opening night film “Brahmin Bulls” Feb. 27, followed by shorts and documentaries “Katiyabaaz/Powerless,” “Asian Pride Project,” “Fire in the Blood” and “Tomorrow We Disappear,” and women’s programming “Blouse,” “Happy Raksha Bandhan” and centerpiece film “Sold” Feb. 28.

Makers of "Sold" and "Blouse" were honored at Angelika Film Center, Plano. — Makers of “Sold” and “Blouse” were honored at Angelika Film Center, Plano.

The showcase films screened Mar. 1 included family programming “Ravi and Jane” and “The World of Goopi and Bagha,” followed by youth programming shorts “Therapy,” “Just Friends” and “Acceptance.”

A question answers session on February 28th night after the screening of “Sold” and “Blouse” was indeed remarkably interesting. The makers of the two films candidly answered questions from a number of spectators. The Indian Panorama editor Prof. Indrajit Saluja congratulated the director and producer of “Bold” for highlighting the issue of girl trafficking which is a serious challenge to society everywhere, not just Nepal and India, the locations in the movie. He said the movie had stirred the conscience of viewers.