3rd I NY Co-Presents

2008 NEW YORK ARAB & SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
MARCH 5 - 16, 2008

Venues: Tribeca Cinemas, Columbia University, Art in General, Cantor Film Center at NYU, and Two Boots Pioneer Theatre

Alwan for the Arts, with partners 3rd i NY and the South Asian Women's Creative Collective, presents the 2008 New York Arab and South Asian Film Festival including over 50 feature premieres, documentaries and short films from 25 countries in North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and their diasporas.

South Asian Highlights

Retrospective on South Indian Director Murali Nair
Screening of his Camera d'Or winning Throne of Death, A Story that Begins at the End, and his latest film Unni which looks at how caste differences affect the life of four young boys who are friends. Plus Free Masterclass with Murali Nair at Columbia University 3/12 10 am - 2 pm. RSVP here.

7 Islands & A Metro
(Madhusree Dutta, India, 2006, 100 min) NY Premiere
A tale of Bombay through a tapestry of fiction, cinema vérité, art objects, found footage, sound installation and literary texts. The narrative is structured around imaginary debates between famed writers Ismat Chugtai and Sadat Hasan Manto.

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame
(Hana Makhmalbaf, Iran/Afghanistan, 81 min, 2007) US Premiere
The daughter of master director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, directs this poetic tale set in Bamian, the actual town where the Taliban destroyed the Buddha statue. A little girl, Baktay just wants to go to school, but she must contend with with her family's poverty and a band of boys who harass her.

Doll House / Khelaghor
(Morshedul Islam, Bangladesh, 2006, 124 min) NY Premiere
In the turmoil of the 1971 war of liberation in Bangladesh, Rehana, a headstrong young woman, arrives in a village where her brother's friend Yakub has sworn to protect her. In a dilapidated house, as the monsoon rages and flood threatens, love blossoms between them.

Mischief Night
(Penny Woolcock, UK, 2006, 93 min) US Premiere
Tina Crabtree lives on the white side of the park with her three unruly children. On the Asian side lives Immie Khan's family. As the clock ticks down to Mischief Night, Yorkshire's version of Halloween, they are unaware that their worlds are about to collide in a blaze of crime, clubbing, love and fireworks ­ changing all their lives forever.

Sankara
(Prasanna Jayakody, Sri Lanka, 2007, 87 min, Sinhalese with English ST, 35mm) NY Premiere
In this meditative and painterly film, a young Buddhist monk arrives at a village to restore the temple's paintings - five moral tales that embody the trap of the five senses. Later when he encounters the village belle, he realizes that he, himself, is not immune to worldly desires.

In the Name of God / Khuda Ke Liye
(Shoaib Mansoor, Pakistan, 2007, 170 min) US Premiere
A young man's musical career is turned upside in the intersection of politics and religion in post 9/11 Pakistan. Featuring Naseeruddin Shah.

Plus Artist & SAWCC Boardmember Swati Khurana curates a FREE program of South Asian and Arab Art Videos: "The Stories We Tell."
Visit the NYASAFF web site for complete listings & to buy tix or festival passes.

© Copyright 3rd I NY 2002-2008. All Rights Reserved.

This event is made possible in part through public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities/New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.