How We Celebrate Freedom (Jashn-E-Azadi)at 4pm

and

Sikandar at 7pm

Two films that are part of a sidebar program of the 2009 Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival.

From fictional narratives to documentary, from feature films for the big screen to multi-media and short films on the web, the complexities of Kashmir are investigated and interpreted by filmmakers in India and in the US in this special MIAAC09 focus on Kashmir.

In addition to the screenings below, IN FRAME: KASHMIR will include events at other venues, including a screening of Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan, Onir’s short film Omar, and a video installation at Aicon Gallery of MTV Iggy’s short films from their Change: Kashmir media initiative, and Parthiv Shah’s single-channel work, Barbed Wires and Beautiful Skies. A special panel discussion, Kashmir on Film, will take place at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

A complete program of MIAAC09 events is available here.

Tickets for each feature: $15, plus $2 handling fee are available at the door or by Advance purchase.

4:00 p.m.: How We Celebrate Freedom (Jashn-E-Azadi)
(Sanjay Kak, India, 2007, 138 min. In English, Kashmiri and Urdu, with English ST) NY Premiere

It is India’s Independence Day and the Indian flag is raised every year in an eerily empty Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar, Kashmir. This sullen act of protest is the point from which Sanjay Kak, a Kashmiri Pundit by birth, begins to explore in his documentary film, the many meanings of Freedom–of Azadi–in Kashmir. An ageing father in the Martyrs’ Graveyard; the Out Patients Ward of the Psychiatric Hospital; the satirical farce of Bhand folk performers; the words of Kashmiri poets – fill out the contours of the 18 year old conflict where there are no easy answers to burning questions. Sanjay Kak in person.

7:00 p.m.: Sikandar
(Piyush Jha, India, 2009, 107min. In Hindi, with English ST) NY Premier

Sikandar leads a simple life, living with his aunt and uncle, playing soccer, getting to know Nasreen, the new girl in town, and dealing with a trio of bullies. But, when he finds a gun, the small dramas of his life become entangled with the larger conflicts of the country. Sikandar’s innocent life soon spirals downward as he becomes embroiled in a power struggle between militant groups and the film takes on the twists and turns of a suspense thriller. With Parzan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Madhavan, Sanjay Suri, Arunoday Singh. Sanjay Suri in person. Preceded by: WITNESS. CHILDREN AND THE KASHMIR CONFLICT (Maya Mirchandani, India, 2001, 20 min) US Premiere

Promotional Cosponsor: Queens Museum of Art

The Alwan for the Arts & 3rd i NY Collaborative Monthly Screening Series are made possible in part through support from The Fund for Creative Communities administered through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Last updated: 2009-10-17 18:59:02