It’s a Silk Screen summer
For the first time in its decadelong history, Pittsburgh’s Silk Screen Film Festival will offer its showcase of Asian movies and filmmakers in midsummer.
The event will open next Friday with “Theeb,” a Bedouin Western about a boy who, in order to survive, must become a man and live up to the name (“wolf”) his father gave him. It will screen at the Regent Square Theater, one of three Pittsburgh Filmmakers venues being used for the festival.
The celebration will kick off with a red carpet gala, live performances and ethnic food Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. at Carlow University’s A.J. Palumbo Hall of Science and Technology, 3333 Fifth Ave. Ethnic dress preferred but cocktail attire acceptable. Tickets, $125, through silkscreenfestival.org where you also can find more information on the films.
Opening night film tickets are $20, closing night of “Miss India America” and centerpiece presen-
presentation, “Dukhtar,” $15 each. Otherwise, single tickets are $10 or $5 with a valid student ID, and a four-film pass is available online or at the door for $30.
Thirty features, along with eight short films, will screen from July 10-19 at the Regent Square (RS), 1035 S. Braddock Ave.; Harris Theater (HT), 809 Liberty Ave.; and Melwood Screening Room (MSR), 477 Melwood Ave., also home to the Melwood Classroom.
“Theeb” — Although the world is in drastic upheaval in 1916, life for members of a Bedouin tribe in the Arabian desert is unchanged until they encounter a British soldier in need of guides to a strategic destination. An adventure turns into a lesson in survival in this adventure from director Naji Abu Nowar. 7 p.m. July 10, RS.
“Dukhtar” — In a mountain village in Pakistan, a former child bride runs away with her daughter after learning the girl will be forced to marry an older rival tribe leader. 6:30 p.m. July 16, RS.
“Miss India America” — A woman graduating at the top of her Orange County high school class has a plan to become a brain surgeon, marry her boyfriend and live happily ever after. When he runs off with someone else, she decides to pursue a beauty pageant crown. 5 p.m. July 19, MSR.
“A Picture of You” — When the mother of estranged siblings dies, they spend a weekend sorting through the remnants of her life and discovering some secrets. 8:30 p.m. July 10 and 2:30 p.m. July 18, Melwood Classroom.
“Amu” — Despite resistance from her family, a recent UCLA graduate heads to India to explore her personal history and discovers it is linked to tragedy. Starring actress Konkona Sensharma, this favorite opened the inaugural festival in May 2006. 8:45 p.m. July 15, RS.
“Brahmin Bulls” —A thorny father-son relationship takes a new turn when the dad unexpectedly comes to LA for a conference, and to connect with a woman from his past. Cast includes Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Mary Steenburgen and Justin Bartha. 2 p.m. July 12 and 8:45 p.m. July 15, both MSR.
“Chotoder Chobi” — An award winner for best film on social issues, along with a love story and look at the predicaments of those born with the genetic defect causing dwarfism. 8:45 p.m. July 11 and 6:30 p.m. July 17, both RS.
“CityLights” — After amassing insurmountable debt, a man and his family flee their rural village for Mumbai but fall prey to schemes and treachery. 4:30 p.m. July 12 at RS and 8:30 p.m. July 17, MSR.
“Crow’s Egg” — Two impoverished boys want nothing more than to try a bite of pizza when a new shop opens just outside the slums of Chennai. 2 p.m. July 11 and 4:15 p.m. July 18, both RS.
“Dearest” — The true story of a boy abducted from his divorced parents inspired this movie about a child who goes to play with friends on the streets of Beijing and doesn’t come home. 9:15 p.m. July 10 and 6:45 p.m. July 18, both RS.
“Fandry” — A boy from an “untouchable” caste longs for a better life and to win the heart of a classmate in a commentary on the caste system and the anger and frustration of poverty. 8 p.m. July 10 and 2 p.m. July 18, both MSR.
“Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere” — When a college student in Hanoi discovers she is unexpectedly pregnant, she and her no-account boyfriend struggle with her decision to have and finance an abortion. 2:30 p.m. July 12, Melwood Classroom, and 6:30 p.m. July 16, MSR.
“Futureless Things” — Satire of modern consumer culture in South Korea, as seen through the activities of convenience store clerks during a single day. 7 p.m. July 14, Melwood Classroom, and 8:45 p.m. July 16, MSR.
“The Grandfather of Dogs” — When a lonely, suddenly unemployed man starts taking in stray dogs, friction increases in this movie about the struggles and joys of caring for others, no matter the species. 2 p.m. July 19, RS.
“Haraamkhor” —A young student falls for a 15year-old classmate who, it turns out, is having an affair with her teacher in this Hindilanguage drama about love, infatuation, adolescence and, ultimately, consequences. 4:30 p.m. July 11 and 4:30 p.m. July 18, both MSR.
“The History of Love” — When a successful young artist travels back to his hometown after his grandmother’s death, he discovers it’s somehow connected to an ancient Chinese tomb. 5 p.m. July 11, Melwood Classroom.
“How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)” — Set in Thailand, where all men turning 21 must participate in the annual military draft lottery, which brings exemption to the lucky, and two years of service to the others. Based on the short stories by Rattawut Lapcharoensap. 6:30 p.m. July 12 at MSR and 5 p.m. July 18, Melwood Classroom.
“Killa (The Fort)” — When an 11-year-old boy moves from the city to a rural coastal town, he struggles to cope with the death of his father and to fit in with new classmates in cinematographer Avinash Arun’s directorial debut. 6:30 p.m. July 14 and 2 p.m. July 18, both RS.
“The Last Reel” — A college student, facing an unsuitable arranged marriage, flees from her parents and takes refuge in a dilapidated movie theater. She is shocked to discover an incomplete 1970s melodrama from pre-Khmer Rouge times with her mother as a glamorous young woman. 7 p.m. July 13 and 8:30 p.m. July 18, both MSR.
“Live From UB” — Pittsburgh native Lauren Knapp explores rock music as a catalyst for freedom, vehicle for international curiosity and medium for Mongolian nationalism. 5 p.m. July 12 and 7 p.m. July 18, both Melwood Classroom.
“Man From Reno” — Atmospheric mystery revolving around three characters, the sheriff of a small farming town outside San Francisco, a writer with a secret and a drifter. 8:45 p.m. July 11 and 2 p.m. July 19, both MSR.
“Margarita, With a Straw” — A coming-of-age story about a young Indian woman with cerebral palsy who leaves India to study at New York University. 2 p.m. July 12 and 6:30 p.m. July 15, both RS.
“Melbourne” — This story unfolds almost entirely in a Tehran apartment where a middle-class couple prepare for a move to Australia until tragedy derails their plans. 4:30 p.m. July 12 and 6:30 p.m. July 18, both MSR.
“The Nightingale” — Family-friendly film and French-Chinese co-production about a spoiled young city girl who accompanies her grandfather and his nightingale into the countryside. 6:30 p.m. July 11 and 6:30 p.m. July 15, both MSR.
“Nuoc 2030” — Mix of mystery and romance, set in the near-future when half of South Vietnamese farmland is underwater, about a woman trying to learn the truth about her husband’s murder. 8:30 p.m. July 12 at MSR and 4:30 p.m. July 19, RS.
“Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost” — Irrfan Khan is a Sikh uprooted by religious violence who moves his family to a safer locale and wishes for his fourth child to be a son. But when the baby is a girl, the child is raised as a boy in this examination of gender, spirituality and identity. 9 p.m. July 14 and 9:15 p.m. July 18, both RS.
“Red Amnesia” — Thriller, set in contemporary China, about an elderly widow living alone who begins to receive menacing calls. 6:30 p.m. July 11 and 9 p.m. July 17, both RS.
“Tangerines” —Taleofan older Estonian man who cares for two wounded soldiers from opposite sides of the 1990s-era war in Georgia. 4:30 p.m. July 11 and 8:45 p.m. July 16, both RS.
“Transit” — Story of one Filipino family struggling to remain connected to each other, their heritage and adopted homeland while Israel’s immigration policy threatens to split them apart. 2 p.m. July 11 and 6:30 p.m. July 17, both MSR.
“Upaj: Improvise” — Documentary on the universality of dance. 2:30 p.m. July 11 and 7 p.m. July 15, both Melwood Classroom.
Short Film Presentation — Eight shorts. 7:30 p.m. July 13, Melwood Classroom.