...And Now - INTRODUCING BOLLYWOOD!!!
Bollywood 101: A lecture and presentation of clips by Alka Raghuram

March 8, 2009
2-4pm

@ ATA (Artists' Television Access)
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, 94110

Price: $8 (at the door)

Learn about the many faces of the Indian Film Industry - a little history of Bollywood cinema. How do Indian films reflect the social and political moods of its people? Look beyond the dance and drama that constitutes the largest film industry in the world, and learn about the many cinemas within Indian cinema as we go down the decades, from Indian Independence to the present.

The presentation will be 2 hrs long. There will be a break, followed by discussion and Q & A. This 3rd I seminar will be led by Bay Area filmmaker Alka Raghuram.

Alka Raghuram's short films Tired of Dancing, Panchali and The Ant and The Monkey have screened at various festivals in the US and abroad. Panchali received the John Gutman award for innovation in cinema and was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards (2004). The Ant and The Monkey received the Emerging Arts Fund in Spring 2006 from The Peninsula Community Foundation. Currently she is finishing a documentary about coping with grief and loss after the 2004 Tsunami in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, India, and in early pre-production for her first feature The Conqueror which was presented at the Berlin Talent Project market in 2008. Alka was awarded the L'Oreal Woman of Worth Vision Filmmaker Award at Tribeca All Access in April 2008.

3rd I Copresents at the 27th San Francisco Asian American Film Festival:

3rd I South Asian International Shorts 2009
84 mins
Shorts Programs
A richly layered compilation of dark yet hopeful South Asian short films from India, the U.K., the U.S.A. and Australia.

Kanchivaram: A Communist Confession
India | 2007 | 117 mins
International Showcase
Priyadarshan, the famed director of such Bollywood hits as VIRASAT and GARAM MASALA, returns to his South Indian roots with KANCHIVARAM, a Tamil CITIZEN KANE that combines Bollywood flair, social commitment and film-noir grit to follow one man's political awakening among India's exploited silk-weavers. If you're ready to move a bit beyond Bollywood, this is the film to see.

Karma Calling
USA | 2008 | 90 mins
Narrative Competition
Lord Ganesh sounds like a SOPRANOS mobster when east meets west in the Raj household in New Jersey. Call centers, Hindu hip-hop, dollar-store moguls and busybody aunties are all toppings for this extra-large slice of the immigrant story. The moral: Don't hang up on that call center operator. It might be your karma calling.

The Mosque in Morgantown
USA | 2009 | 75 mins
Documentary Competition
A small university town in West Virginia becomes the unlikely battleground for the soul of Islam in America when Asra Nomani fights for the right of women to pray alongside men in the local mosque. A thoughtful, evenhanded documentary about a community struggling with change while trying to hold itself together.

Ocean of Pearls
USA | 2008 | 94 mins
Narrative Competition
A young Sikh doctor is forced to decide between his culture and career in this heartfelt dissection of the post- 9/11 Sikh experience in North America. Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

Project Kashmir
USA | 2008 | 88 mins
Documentary Competition
Once called paradise on earth, Kashmir is now scarred by extremist violence and a power struggle that looms as a potential trigger for nuclear war. This much-admired documentary follows two American friends, Geeta and Senain, as they learn what daily life is like for those who call Kashmir home and why the bloodshed continues.