SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF AMERICA

OFFICIAL 2022 WINNERS - Jury selection

Innovative Storytelling International - jury selection

JUST ANOTHER DAY

Director: Prataya Saha

Producer: Desktop Films

Artist or Cast: Anshulika Kapoor, Amit Aggarwal, Sumeet Borana

Language: English, Hindi

Country: India

Runtime: 10 min

FILM SYNOPSIS

“Just Another Day” is a modern neo-realist film that draws attention to in-arguably one of the most raging topics of modern times - depression, abuse and the perception of separated/divorced women in society.

Through the happenings of a single day, the story traces the life of a 40 something newly separated woman, Anjali Katekar, as she navigates another 24 hours of her life in the busy city of Mumbai.

Her interactions with her colleague at work and a middle-aged lawyer at a cheap restaurant highlight the indifference of a typical patriarchal society to her mental and physical health coupled with their general lack of empathy and understanding. Societal indifference is sometimes one of the biggest reasons for the under-reporting of domestic abuse crimes.
Through Anjali, we can live the agony of hundreds of middle-aged women facing stigma for mistakes that are not even their own.

DIRECTOR BIO

Prataya Saha is an independent filmmaker, Tedx performer, theatre director & photographer based out of Bangalore, India.
Featured on The Week, India's leading news magazine.
Prataya's directorial debut was Anna's Weekend in 2016 which got selected in festivals in US and China. He is now 10 short films old with his films selected in 60+ film festivals around the world, winning around 20 awards, including the prestigious New York Asian Film Festival, Oaxaca Film Fest, Woodpecker International Film Festival, Cardiff International Film Festival, Oscar Qualifying festivals like Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, Bengaluru International Film Festival, etc.

Best Documentary - jury selection

SEEING GOD

Director: Kunal M. Patel

Producer: Kunal M. Patel, Rianjali Bhowmick, Kushal Parmar

Artist or Cast: Pratima Doobay

Language: English

Country: USA

Runtime: 12:37

FILM SYNOPSIS

Pratima Doobay is a priestess based in the west-Indian community in New York. She is the most recent in a familial lineage of priests; having grown up seeing her father conduct sacred Hindu ceremonies and guide the community out of their Brooklyn home. Through the lens of a first generation, spiritual, queer woman, we are shown both the joy and loneliness that Pratima faces everyday as a practitioner and leader of this divine faith. From her father’s initial rejection of her calling, to the effects of her darker complexion within a culture that is constantly dealing with its own casteism/colorism, we watch as Pratima prepares for an event at the Sri Trimurti Bhavan Temple in Ozone Park, NY.

DIRECTOR BIO

Kunal M. Patel wears many hats, including entertainment attorney and musician. With no formal training, but a team of talented creatives by his side, he delved into the possibility of female Hindu priestesses, while searching for a priestess for his own wedding. The culmination of that search was "Seeing God". Kunal practices in LA, alongside his extraordinary wife Rianjali, who helps bring his ideas to life.

Best International film - jury selection

IN A HAIL OF BROKEN GLASS

Director: Sabeeh Ahmad

Producer: Seham Ahmad

Artist or Cast: Ahmer Hussain, Erum Bashir, Fawad Jalal, Sameena Nazir, Hani Taha

Language: Urdu

Country: Pakistan 

Runtime: 7 min 37 sec

FILM SYNOPSIS

In a Hail of Broken Glass follows a young Pakistani couple as they host the husband’s overbearing family at dinner, right after a discovery that might upend their world. Struggling to understand each other, the couple must also look happy, and the unspoken anxiety that lurks in the kitchen must not escape to the living room. How long can they keep the pretence up?

DIRECTOR BIO

A Pakistani writer and filmmaker, Sabeeh Ahmad has a keen interest in the breadth of human experience. He strives to tell character-driven stories that connect with the audience emotionally and intellectually. Sabeeh’s stories engage with the complexities of the world, centering mostly on underdogs, rebels and anti-heroes.
Instagram handle: @sab.eeh

BEST SHORT FILM - jury selection

FOREVER TONIGHT

Director: Swetha Regunathan

Producer: Nashwa Zaman, Khaula Malik

Artist or Cast: Nivita Chaliki, Ethan River Cohen, Gulshan Mia, Sandra Belforte, Annie Ottati

Language: English

Country: USA

Runtime: 11:49

FILM SYNOPSIS

Indian-American teen Lekha sneaks out of the house to fulfill a prom night fantasy. When the evening goes awry, she ends up back where she started - but in a different place altogether.

DIRECTOR BIO

SWETHA REGUNATHAN is an award-winning writer and director. Her work explores nostalgia, disappointment, South Asian-American identity, and ecological sickness. Swetha's films have received awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. She was a 2019 finalist for the SHOWTIME® Tony Cox Screenplay Contest and on the shortlist for a 2017 Lexus Short Films award. Swetha was selected to participate in the 2020 Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab and the inaugural 1497 South Asian Writers Lab with her feature in development, Sundarbans. She is a 2020-21 IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow. Most recently she won the 2021 Nature Access Pitch prize supported by If/Then Shorts x The Redford Center for a documentary she's producing, Between Earth & Sky. She has directed music videos featured in Brooklyn Vegan and Rolling Stone in 2021. She also writes and directs branded video for clients like Vox, Forward, The Annex, Delta x NBC, and NPR. Swetha’s writing has appeared in Huffington Post, n+1, Guernica, and other publications. In 2009 she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for Best American Essay. She has an MFA from the Graduate Film program at NYU and a PhD in English Literature from Brown.

INTERNATIONAl Best Director - JURY SELECTION

AARON CHRISTIAN

The Internship

DIRECTOR BIO
Aaron is an award-winning writer, director and producer hailing from East London . After graduating in film from Kingston University he went on to found Individualism a leading menswear digital publication. His experience in fashion and digital soon saw him take up a position at MR PORTER running the film department and helping them establish themselves as one of the leading global companies for fashion films and content.

All of his work across mediums focuses on themes of culture and design, with an aim to explore and celebrate and champion overlooked cultures.

He is the founder of The Asian Man a digital community that celebrations stylish South Asian men, and is a co host of What Is This Behaviour a podcast that highlights south asians going against the grain and breaking old stereotypes. Founder of AC STUDIOS a London based moving image content studio focused on fashion, design and culture. His clients include Levis, Uber, GQ, Topshop, Hyundai, Aston Martin and Adidas to name a few (All of which can be found here). His comedy shorts have received millions of views online. He has also directed and produced his own award-winning shorts.

NORth america Best Director - JURY SELECTION

SWETHA REGUNATHAN

Forever Tonight

DIRECTOR BIO
SWETHA REGUNATHAN is an award-winning writer and director. Her work explores nostalgia, disappointment, South Asian-American identity, and ecological sickness. Swetha's films have received awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. She was a 2019 finalist for the SHOWTIME® Tony Cox Screenplay Contest and on the shortlist for a 2017 Lexus Short Films award. Swetha was selected to participate in the 2020 Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab and the inaugural 1497 South Asian Writers Lab with her feature in development, Sundarbans. She is a 2020-21 IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow. Most recently she won the 2021 Nature Access Pitch prize supported by If/Then Shorts x The Redford Center for a documentary she's producing, Between Earth & Sky. She has directed music videos featured in Brooklyn Vegan and Rolling Stone in 2021. She also writes and directs branded video for clients like Vox, Forward, The Annex, Delta x NBC, and NPR. Swetha’s writing has appeared in Huffington Post, n+1, Guernica, and other publications. In 2009 she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for Best American Essay. She has an MFA from the Graduate Film program at NYU and a PhD in English Literature from Brown.

SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF AMERICA

OFFICIAL 2022 WINNERS - audience choice

NORth america Best short film - audience choice

MAN BROWS

Director: Rohan Srinivasan

Producer: Rohan Palla, Diya Correa, Rohan Srinivasan

Artist or Cast: Tavish Mohanti, Roshni Datta, Davin Lazar VInod

Language: English

Country: USA

Runtime: 8 min 57 sec

FILM SYNOPSIS

An Indian-American teenager is forced to confront his “masculine” insecurities when he gets his eyebrows threaded.

DIRECTOR BIO

Rohan Srinivasan is a senior at the University of Southern California studying Film and Television Production. Rohan has always had an incredibly strong affinity for telling stories through a performance-based medium, having acted for about 9 years before transitioning into directing. Being one of few students in his high school graduating class to pursue an arts-based path, he hopes to continue making powerful, independent films that relate to his Bay Area upbringing and uplift the South Asian community for many years to come.

NORth america Best International film - audience choice

ANGREEZE

Director: Hebah Ali

Producer: Raeanne Chami, Mohammad Awad

Artist or Cast: Sam Sidhu, Shalvi Singh, Safia Arain

Language: Urdu/English

Country: Australia

Runtime: 16 mins

FILM SYNOPSIS

Fahad takes on the responsibility of teaching his daughter, Sufi, English despite not having strong English himself. When all the traditonal ways of learning (reading/writing) fail him, Fahad discovers an American sitcomin which he and other people from his life are reflected as characters.
Not only does this show propel Sufi and Fahad's English learning, but it also creates a bond between them, in an otherwise lonely, new country.

DIRECTOR BIO

Hebah is a writer and director based in Western Sydney. She graduated from UTS in 2021 with a degree in Communications (Media, Arts and Production) and is planting her roots in the film and television industry.

In 2021 she wrote and directed her first short film ‘Angrezee’ which told the story of immigration and assimilation. During the lockdown in the same year, she directed her first music video for musician Chelsea Warner; ’It Be Like That’ which has featured in Rolling Stone, and on MTV.

Being half Pakistani and half Fijiian-Indian, Hebah values honest and diverse story-telling and aims to amplify the stories of People of Colour and other underrepresented communities. She is currently developing her first limited tv series ‘Rearranged’.

NORth america Best music video - audience choice

MEET YOU AT THE LIGHT

Director: Alexander Farah

Producer: Shyam Valera, Kashif Pasta

Artist or Cast: Ishaval Gill, Kamaldevinder Gill, Balinder Johal, Harinder Saini, Shrey Vyas

Language: English

Country: Canada

Runtime: 6:09

FILM SYNOPSIS

A bittersweet and heartfelt portrait of a daughter and her ailing father. Performed by Ishaval Gill and her father Kamaldevinder Gill

DIRECTOR BIO

Alexander Farah is an Afghan-Canadian editor currently between Vancouver and Toronto. He is a graduate of the Film, Video and Integrated Media Programme at Emily Carr University, as well as a current candidate in Film Production at York University. His editorial work has screened at the Berlinale, TIFF, Telluride, Clermont-Ferrand, and Palm Springs as well as scoring nominations for the Prism Prize, Berlin Commercial Awards and the UK Music Video Awards. He’s cut projects that have premiered to critical acclaim on Nowness, BooooooomTV, Director’s Notes and Vimeo’s Staff Pick Premieres. Alex’s debut directorial short film Sahar premiered at TIFF, and his most recent music video for Desiree Dawson is an official selection at SXSW 2022. alexanderfarah.com

NORth america Best music video - audience choice

PUNCH ME IN MY THIRD EYE

Director: Lendrick Kumar

Producer: Tej Brar

Language: English

Country: India

Runtime: 3:21

FILM SYNOPSIS

JBABE’s first release after his critically acclaimed, lo-fi, indie-pop debut album is a hard-to-ignore, punk-rock declaration. On this track, the F16s vocalist and guitarist has gone over to the heavier side, letting loose all his pent-up anger, and raging against the “bad vibrations”.

‘Punch Me In My Third Eye’ gives a glimpse of the chaos that lives inside Josh Fernandes’s head. The video, directed by Lendrick Kumar, stars Preeti Alex (who gets her head shaved at the hands of Josh for the purpose of the video) and Josh himself, who play the role of two people being forced into marriage. As the first meeting begins, the two are given some time to themselves to get to know each other, and that’s when all the internal screaming begins. The first verse goes, “I’m a queen. Oh look, I’m a goddess. / No you’re not, get back into your closet,” seemingly referring to the heteronormative codes of marriage.

DIRECTOR BIO

I completed my Bachelors in Film and TV production in 2017. After working years in the corporate field, there was a need to expand myself and do what truly excites me. That’s when I came up with the concept of Lendrick Kumar, a wordplay on the famous American rapper Kendrick Lamar, as a joke. I decided to conceal my identity because a lot of what is been made out there is boring and comes with a lot of rules. As soon as you put a mask to your identity, suddenly you are given a lot of creative freedom to do whatever you like to do and make. This creative freedom is what made me want to do music videos and I’ve never looked back ever since.

NORth america Best Musicial Artist - audience Choice

TESHER

JALEBI BABY by Tesher and Jason Derulo

ARTIST BIO

international Best Musicial Artist - audience Choice

JOY CROOKES

Skin

ARTIST BIO