The 5th Annual Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival (VISAFF) is is pleased to announce the countdown to its celebration of contemporary South Asian cinema from around the world, set for November 27–29 at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts housed in Vancouver's iconic Woodward's complex.
VISAFF 2015 focuses on the theme, Bollywood and beyond with a lineup that invites the celebration of stories that engage, educate and inspire by promoting free expression, crosscultural interactions, understanding, and combating intolerance and stereotypes. The festival’s program includes 20 feature-length and short films of all genres, with English dialogue or English subtitles, from the South Asian diaspora—including two Canadian feature-length premieres and numerous short film premieres. Organizers anticipate close to 3,500 audience and industry members over the three-day festival.
VISAFF’s opening film is the Canadian premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s dark psychological thriller, Ugly. Kashyap is an Indian filmmaker who is connected to critically acclaimed features like The Lunchbox, and The Gangs of Wasseypur, Parts 1 and 2. The festival will host the Canadian Premiere, of acclaimed movie, Zubaan, a coming-of-age musical drama about a Punjabi boy whose ambitious circle around becoming a musician. It will also showcase a Pakistani film, Dukhtar, in which a mother sets out to rescue her 10-year-old daughter from an arranged marriage. Other films include Dheeyan Marjania which covers female foeticide and Journey of a Dream, a feature length ‘rockumentary’ which combines heavy metal music, exile, Buddhism and Tibetan culture.
