VISAFF brings Bollywood to the city
If you love films and want to enjoy a taste of Bollywood glitz and glamour, the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival ( VISAFF) is your destination this weekend.
VISAFF opens today at Surrey City Hall with all the hype of a red carpet fanfare: cocktails, inspired conversations and a screening of the award-winning film Mehsampur. The film tells the story of a desperate filmmaker who drives a neurotic actress and an aging musician to a village of trauma.
The closing feature film Manto, a biopic on the fearless and controversial Indian/Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto, promises to
sizzle the audience with the fierceness of Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s (of Lunchbox fame) performance in the titular role. The film, written and directed by actress Nandita Das, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
VISAFF runs from Nov. 22-25 and will screen 45 films from six countries (including Canadian productions), workshops and expert panels at various venues in Vancouver and Surrey.
VISAFF was founded in 2008 with the aim of curating revolutionary, compelling and thoughtprovoking films by Canadian and Bollywood filmmakers that remain unrepresented by mainstream cinema.
This year, the festival has introduced two new segments: a youth component showcasing young local talent and OS5, an expert panel of five outstanding speakers from the film and TV industry, VISAFF producer Mannu Sandhu told Postmedia News.