SATURDAY, JUNE 21

Afternoon of films at SAJA (South Asian Journalist Association) Annual Conference

Segment 1: LETTERS FROM HOME presenting themes from abroad.

Director Leena Pendharkar, Sumitra Rajkumar & refugee youth present for Q&A

Segment 2- OUT OF FOCUS questioning representations.

Director Prerana Reddy present for Q&A

Segment 1

PICTURES: A STORY Documentary Project for Refugee Youth

MY NARMADA TRAVELS by Leena Pendharkar

FLOWER SELLER by Children of Out Of Focus

IN THROUGH THE OUTDOOR AKM Zakaria

BHUTAN, THE LAST PLACE Alexis Bloom, Tshewang Dendup

Segment 2

(UN) SUITABLE GIRLS Prerana Reddy

BROWN FACE Ivan Jaigirdar and Dharini Rasiah

YELLOW APPAREL: WHEN A COOLIE BECOMES A COOL Anmol Chaddha, Naomi Iwasaki, Sonya Zehra Mehta, Muang Saechao, and Sheng Wang

COMMERCIALS AND CLIPS by Amitav

Saturday, June 21

Segment 1: 1-3pm, Segment 2: 3-5pm

Columbia University, 115 Street & Broadway, Lerner Hall, Room 477

Admission: $5 (one segment), $7 (both segments)

For more info: http://www.thirdi.org

Email: thirdi_ny@yahoo.com

SEGMENT 1: LETTERS FROM HOME

Director Leena Pendharkar, Sumitra Rajkumar and refugee youth from Documentary Project present for Q&A

PICTURES: A STORY

New York, 2003; 19 mins

Director: Documentary Project for Refugee Youth

Refugee children from Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and elsewhere talk about their experiences. These haunting letters, along with photos of the children's new lives, tell a disturbing story of lost innocence and displaced lives.

MY NARMADA TRAVELS

India/US; 22 min.

Director: Leena Pendharkar

A film about an untouched people in a land that's slowly sinking beneath the waters of development. Over 500,000 indigenous people in Domkhedi, India face displacement as a result of the massive Sardar Sarovar Dam, a part of the aggressive Narmada Dam project. Told from a unique Indian American perspective, Pendharkar takes viewers through a journey of discovery, constantly wondering: what is the price of progress?

FLOWER SELLER

Bangladesh, 2002; 10 min.

Director: Children of Out Of Focus

Stories that have emerged about working class communities have invariably been stories arousing sympathy for the poor and respect for the benevolent, and have not addressed the politics of inequality and exploitation, or the power of the elite. It was felt that images produced by working class children, could perhaps overcome this inequality. This collective attempt by working class children of Mirpur (called "Out of Focus") and Drik remains one of the few examples where such complete authority has been questioned. FLOWER SELLER looks into a day in the life of a young girl, who sells flowers to passing cars on the streets of Dhaka.

IN THROUGH THE OUTDOOR

Bangladesh; 26 min

Director: AKM Zakaria

Two Bangladeshi women journalists talk about their careers in a male-dominated field. As they talk, they also watch clips of the work-in-progress, adapting to the footage of each other. Ironically, one of the journalists lost her job after this documentary was filmed-- as the newly elected rightist government shut down ETV, Bangladesh's first private terrestial TV station.

BHUTAN, THE LAST PLACE

Bhutan/US, 10 min.

Director: Alexis Bloom, Tshewang Dendup, PBS FRONTLINE

This film explores the impact of television on a remote Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas. After centuries of self-imposed isolation, Bhutan legalized TV in 1999 -- the last country in the world to do so. Follow Rinzy Dorji, the local "cable guy," as he hooks up "an electronic invasion."

SEGMENT 2: OUT OF FOCUS

Director Prerana Reddy present for Q&A

(UN) SUITABLE GIRLS

30 min., Prerana Reddy

This film documents members of the South Asian Women's Creative Collective (SAWCC), a New York-based arts group for women of South Asian descent, as they prepare to present one of their startling and hilarious satirical showcases, "(Un) Suitable Girls." The SAWCC presentation is a biting social commentary that challenges the age-old notion, still prevalent in parts of Asia and elsewhere, that women are commodities to be bought, sold, advertised and owned. In the film, the women discuss their art and experience living within the desi (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) world, while at the same time being part of the larger American community.

BROWN FACE

9 min., Ivan Jaigirdar and Dharini Rasiah

A light hearted yet poignant filmic collage exploring South Asian representation and the phenomena of white Hollywood actors passing as brown.

YELLOW APPAREL: WHEN A COOLIE BECOMES A COOL

2000, 31min., Anmol Chaddha, Naomi Iwasaki, Sonya Zehra Mehta, Muang Saechao, and Sheng Wang

When does one cross the line between appreciation and appropriation? Between supporting the struggle for social justice and objectifying the struggle into a fashion trend? This film seeks to go beyond the western construction of an exotic Asia and exposes the real reason for the all-too-new interest in Asian culture as a problem of the suburbs and whiteness. In the film, Trinity College Professor Vijay Prashad brings closer attention to the fact that when Asian peoples wear a piece of their own culture, they instantly become unassimilable aliens in the eyes of mainstream America and in turn become conspicuous targets for hate crimes. So while white folks play dress up, Asian peoples and other peoples of color are oppressed for practicing the very same cultural rites that mainstream America has now deemed "cool".

COMMERCIALS & CLIPS

18 min., Amitav

Amitav is a writer and director/producer based between New York and Bombay. His work reflects concepts of cultural plurality and the irony of the modern human condition as told from an international but Indian perspective. Presented here are works he has written and directed/produced films and media that focus on international and Indian themes ranging from global corporate colonialism (i.e. commercials for Diesel Jeans/"Johnny The International Rundi") to 2nd generation South Asian music culture, (i.e. music media/videos with Talvin Singh, Bally Sagoo, Karsh Kale).

COMING IN JULY