Travelling Film Southasia (TFSA) started with the first Film Southasia festival held in Kathmandu in September 1997. Since then, following each biennial ‘mother festival’, a selection of films is packaged and tours regionally and globally. Over the years the TFSA package has been screened in halls, cultural centres, classrooms and museums around the world, but with the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing rules that forbid gatherings, we at FSA have had to rethink how to exhibit these amazing films. FSA is now providing hosts the option to screen the films online to a limited audience via secure password protected expiring links.
THE TFSA’20 PACKAGE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING FILMS:
- In Fact by Debalina Majumder
India | 2019 | 51 mins
A celebration of love and togetherness – with a difference.
- Indus Blues by Jawad Sharif
Pakistan | 2019 | 75 mins
Pakistani folk artists struggle to keep their music and instruments alive.
- Scratches on Stone by Amit Mahanti
India | 2018 | 66 mins
The past lingers in Nagaland, casting shadows on its future.
- The Winter Tap by Aashish Limbu & Debin Rai
Nepal | 2018 | 12 mins
Bringing water to the family in Nepal’s mountains.
- We Have Not Come Here to Die by Deepa Dhanraj
India | 2019 | 78 mins
A young Dalit scholar driven to suicide by caste supremacists.
- An Engineered Dream by Hemant Gaba
India | 2018 | 72 mins
High pressure coaching centres drive students to the brink in Kota.
- Bamboo Stories by Shaheen Dill-Riaz
Bangladesh | 2019 | 96 mins
Pirates, rapids and other lurking dangers of the bamboo trade in Bangladesh.
- Facing the Dragon by Sedika Mojadidi
Afghanistan/United States | 2018 | 82 mins
Two women struggle to keep their rights and families safe in Afghanistan.
- Chai Darbari by Prateek Shekhar
India | 2019 | 29 mins
Conversations that swirl around a teashop in a political hotspot.
- Listen by Min Min Ho
Myanmar | 2017 | 13 mins
Portrait of a revolutionary artist exiled from Myanmar.
- Memoirs of Saira and Salim by Eshwarya Grover
India | 2018 | 14 mins
Revisiting an old home destroyed by communal riots stirs deep-rooted memories.
- Badshah Lear by Anant Raina
India | 2019 | 61 mins
King Lear finds resonance infolk theatre of Kashmir, but will a performance be allowed?
- Janani’s Juliet by Pankaj Rishi Kumar
India | 2019 | 53 mins
A contemporary performance of Romeo and Juliet reflects on honour killings.
- And What is the Summer Saying by Payal Kapadia
India | 2018 | 23 mins
A mystical film-poem on Kondwalli village in Maharashtra.
- Swimming Through the Darkness by Supriyo Sen
India | 2019 | 76 mins
The roller-coaster life of a visually challenged swimmer.
The TFSA 2020 package travels with the willing authorization of the individual filmmakers on the understanding that the screenings are ‘non-commercial’ (see Hosting TFSA 2020 for definition of the term). The FSA Secretariat encourages organizers, educators, academics, student groups and film enthusiasts in towns and cities large and small—all over Southasia and overseas—to consider hosting TFSA and bringing a taste of this diverse yet unifying package of documentaries to audiences. The TFSA 2020 package is ideally screened together as a complete film festival. The package is also useful for academic purposes at educational institutions. Please note that one city can easily have more than one TFSA festival.
