Press Release

Final preparations complete for Film South Asia '05

Kathmandu, 25 September – Preparations for the fifth edition of Film South Asia '05, which will be held from Thursday, 29 September to Tuesday, 4 October, are complete and documentary connossieurs will soon be able to participate in one of the few events of international acclaim that is organized in Nepal. The festival has been organized every two years since 1997 by Himal Association together with Himal Southasian magazine

Altogether 44 films from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Burma, South Africa and Canada are being screened over four days at FSA '05. Eleven of these films will be world premieres and several of them South Asian premieres. The films were chosen from among 189 entries received.

In order to cater to the growing demand for documentaries by the Kathmandu public, this year the festival has been shifted to a larger venue – Kumari, the commercial duplex cinema in Kamal Pokhari. Two films will be screened simultaneously in the two halls over the four days of FSA '05.

“Every time, we are more impressed with the intensity, diversity and craft evident in the documentaries submitted to us,” says Manesh Shrestha, director of the festival. “The non-fiction films of FSA ’05 celebrate South Asian life and livelihood even more than before. The Kathmandu audience is really in for a treat."

Noted Bombay filmmaker Sai Paranjpye will open the festival on Thursday, 29 September in front of an invitee audience. Ms. Paranjpye's opening speech will address the role of documentaries in developing societies, and the opening film will be "My Brother My Enemy", a joint India-Pakistan production. FSA '05 will be open to the public starting the evening of 29 September.

Some 40 of the finest documentary filmmakers of Southasia will be gathered at FSA '05 to interact with each other and to engage with the Kathmandu audience. "The fact that all the attending filmmakers are arriving at their own expense highlights the esteem with which FSA is regarded in our region," says festival director Shrestha.

Film South Asia is a competitive festival and the best film will be awarded the Ram Bahadur Trophy, cast in bronze, which also carries with it a cash award of USD 2000. The film adjudged second best will receive a prize of USD 1000. For the first time a Best Debut Film award has been instituted, carrying a cash award of USD 1000. There are six first-time productions at FSA '05, including the Nepal-made film Team Nepal by Girish Giri.

The three-member jury of FSA '05 is headed by Dhaka-based auteur filmmaker Tareque Masud, and includes Hasan Zaidi, director of the Kara International Film Festival (Karachi) and Sabeena Gadihoke, teacher of film at the Jamia Millia School of Mass Communication (New Delhi).

Some of the well known directors who will be in Kathmandu with their films include: Rakesh Sharma from India, Shireen Pasha from Pakistan and Yamine Kabir of Bangladesh.

In addition to the 44 documentaries screenings, two discussion sessions have been planned. A panel discussion on Censorship and the South Asian Documentary is scheduled for 30 September, Friday, at 11:30 a.m. There will be a presentation and discussion on the subject Funding and Marketing Documentaries in the morning of Saturday, 1 October. The discussion will be led by a representative of the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, the biggest festival of documentaries in the world.

As with past editions of Film South Asia, audiences in venues other than Kathmandu will be able to view a special selection of FSA ’05 films through the Traveling Film South Asia (TFSA), in which 15 outstanding productions will go to up to 50 venues in South Asia and the West.

Public screenings begin on 29 September at 4:30 p.m. and at 9:00 a.m. for the remaining three days. Screening schedules with details of films and timings have been posted at www.himalassociation.org/fsa and posters have been put up at many other public venues within Kathmandu. Tickets are available at Dhokaima Café (5522113), Jai Nepal Chitraghar (4442220), Kumari Cinema (4434514), Mandala Book Point (4245570), Saraswati Book Centre (5521599), Thamel Book Shop (4419849) and Vajra Book Shop (4220562).

Contact: Reshu Aryal, Coordinator FSA ‘05
Email: fsa@himalassociation.org
reshua@himalmag.org
Tel: 5542544/ 5543333
Mobile: 98510 13954