Mosaic film festival reaches beyond Bollywood
Cinephiles will be heading to Mississauga for this slate of South Asian programming
Multiplexes throughout the GTA may screen Bollywood’s latest hits, but chances to sample more widely from the bounty of South Asian cinema are rarer than they ought to be. That’s why worldly cinephiles may forgo downtown this weekend in favour of Mississauga, the host city for the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival (MISAFF).
The slate of new features, docs and shorts includes Labour of Love, a Bengali drama about a working-class romance in Kolkata.
Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s film plays its Canadian premiere at the Living Arts Centre’s RBC Theatre on Friday at 8 p.m. Making its North American premiere on Friday at 9:55 p.m. in the LAC’s RBC Theatre, Amar Akbar & Tony is a multi-ethnic comedy-drama that traces the lives of three boyhood friends in London.
Atul Malhotra’s debut feature puts a British Asian spin on Amar Akbar Anthony, a hit for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan back in 1977.
Also on Friday, the MISAFF presents two acclaimed Indian-set films with Toronto-based creators. Richie Mehta’s drama Siddharth plays the RBC Theatre at 6:15 p.m. while Sturla Gunnarsson’s meteorologically themed doc Monsoonis at the Rogers Theatre at 7:15 p.m.
Another Canadian premiere for the fest on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Rogers Theatre, Gour Hari Dastan: The Freedom File is a biopic about a freedom fighter who earned praise from Gandhi as a teenager, but spent decades struggling to get recognized for his efforts.
A family adventure film from India that was a favourite in Berlin festival’s youth section and TIFF Kids, Dhanakplays the Cineplex Coliseum on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The MISAFF’s closing gala follows at 3 p.m. with Umrika, a recent Sundance audience award winner starring Life of Pi’s Suraj Sharma. The actor can also be seen in the flesh since he’s here as one of the festival’s special guests. Assassination Though the director has yet to gain the same kind of international rep as peers such as Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, Choi Dong-hoon has become one of the South Korean industry’s canniest hitmakers on home turf.
An espionage thriller set in 1930s Seoul that’s every bit as slick as Choi’s 2012 heist flick The Thieves, Assassination has outgrossed most of the Hollywood imports this summer. It opens Friday at Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and Empress Walk. Queer West Film Festival Now in its seventh year as a showcase of LGBTQ-made and -themed work for moviegoers who live closer to High Park than Church and Wellesley, the Queer West Film Festival runs Friday to Sunday at the Revue.
The three afternoon programs include Canadian premieres for such titles as Open Windows, a French doc about the life experiences of four septuagenarian lesbians in Paris and Madrid. It plays the fest’s closing program on Sunday at 4 p.m. Remembering Rowdy Fans of wrestling and movies star- ring wrestlers were sad to hear of the passing of Roderick George Toombs — better known as (Rowdy) Roddy Piper — last week at the age of 61. The Carlton marks this sad occasion by showcasing the Saskatoon-born bellower’s finest screen achievement: his starring role in John Carpenter’s alien-conspiracy satire They Live. It plays Saturday at 11:30 p.m. Proceeds go to the anti-bullying campaign Stand for the Silent. Apollo 13 Ron Howard’s lost-in-space thriller marks its 20th anniversary this year. Cineplex’s Classic Film Series celebrates with screenings on Sunday, as
well as Aug. 17 and 19. Unity Joaquin Phoenix, Helen Mirren, Selena Gomez and Dr. Dre are just a handful of the dozens of well-meaning celebs who serve as narrators for Unity, a new documentary that plays a one-night engagement across North America this week.
The latest by Earthlings director Shaun Monson laments humankind’s unfortunate appetite for selfdestruction and sketches out brighter possibilities for our future should we ever get our act together. It plays the Carlton on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Steak (R)evolution The Bloor welcomes the year’s most unabashedly carnivorous movie when Steak (R)evolution opens for a run starting Friday.
The foodie doc by a French filmmaker with the suitably tasty name of Franck Ribiere depicts the search (and fierce competition) for the world’s best beef by chefs, ranchers, restaurateurs and, of course, diners in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, France, Spain and the U.S. Much talk of cuts, rubs, marbling and ideal resting times follows the Bloor’s screenings from Friday to Thursday. Outdoor screenings TIFF in Your Park continues its campaign to bring the outdoor-movie experience to new pockets of the GTA with a screening of Beyond the Lights in Maidavale Park on Friday. The Christie Pits Film Festival opts for a camp classic when What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? plays Sunday. (The fest also has a new date for Mean Girls on Aug. 23 since the Aug. 2 event was rained out.) Then, on Tuesday, the City Cinema program at Yonge-Dundas Square joins Warren Beatty and Madonna for Dick Tracy.
The options on Wednesday include The Descendants at Harbourfront Centre’s Free Flicks at the WestJet Stage, Dial M for Murder at TIFF in the Park in David Pecaut Square, a Bollywood movie night at Regent Park and Unexpected at the Open Roof Festival at 99 Sudbury St. jandersonesque@gmail.com