The 10th annual Indie Meme Film Festival showcasing independent films from South Asia and Iran takes place April 9-13 at AFS (Austin Film Society) Cinema in Austin, Texas. Since I will be seeing the films for the first time during the festival, the following film descriptions are courtesy of IMDb along with festival programmer Animon Jose and his team, who have chosen a stellar selection of independent films. Many of the films have won awards in international festivals and all have been released this year or last, except for the one classic film.
The 5-day festival begins with a look back at that classic independent Indian film, MANTHAN (The Churning, 1976), directed by Shyam Benegal. His filmmaking career spanned 63 years and consisted of 75 feature and short films. This feature film is a narrative depiction of the “beginnings of the dairy cooperative movement that transformed India from a milk-deficient nation to the world’s largest milk producer.” Remarkably it was financially produced by the small donations of 500,000 dairy farmers. A virtual Q&A with actor Naseeruddin Shah will follow the screening.
April 10th brings an evening of Texas Shorts, films exploring themes of “love, self-discovery, dilemmas of immigrants, loneliness, unpredictable encounters, an unfamiliar reality, and Texas ranch life” (the latter film with the perfect title, “Cowboys and Hindus”). All films were made by Indian and Indian American filmmakers who have lived in Texas at one time and who will participate in a rousing Q&A session after the screenings.
The following night promises to be memorable with the arrival of “maverick filmmaker” Anurag Kashyap, a major voice in India’s independent film culture, often exploring themes involving drugs, guns, violence, corruption, and moral dilemmas, comparable to Scorsese, Tarantino, and/or Takashi Kitano. For the festival he will be presenting KENNEDY, about an “insomniac ex-cop, long thought to be dead… still operating for the corrupt system, while looking for redemption.” Besides the Q&A, an extra added attraction will be a master class taught by Kashyap on Monday April 14th.
Saturday starts with a selection of shorts from various states of India, Bangladesh, and Pennsylvania. Animon Jose describes this selection of shorts as featuring “a fisherwoman’s bold act of defiance, a farewell meal, a confrontation with emotional abuse, a fulfilled prophecy, the complexities of immigrating, a metaphysical enquiry into human existence, and a trip out to sea.”
The animated feature film from Pakistan, THE GLASSWORKER, depicts “the life of a young glassblower in training and his relationships over the years, as his land goes through war and strife.”
An Iranian-Indian co-production AND, TOWARD HAPPY ALLEYS, “inspired by Iranian cinema and the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad,” tells the story of a young Indian film director traveling to Tehran “to witness how resistance becomes a daily act of survival in Iranian society.” The film’s director Sreemoyee Singh and lead actress Aida Mohammadkhani will be on stage for a post-screening Q&A.
Nepali film POOJA, SIR is focused on a woman detective’s search for two boys who have been kidnapped from a border town in Nepal. Themes of racism, misogyny, and LGBTQ issues are explored by the filmmakers in hopes that at least such topics can begin to be discussed in Nepali society. I will be conducting the Q&A with director Deepak Rauniyar and lead actress Asha Magrati.
Saturday evening ends with the documentary BACK THEN – THE STORY OF LIVE MUSIC IN BOMBAY, which reveals the diverse musical underground of Mumbai starting in the 1990s. Musicians performing punk, metal, electronica, and hip-hop are presented in various non-mainstream venues along with nostalgic testimony from fans.
Sunday starts cheerily with the documentary AGENT OF HAPPINESS, which features Amber, “a happiness agent,” who “travels the Bhutanese Himalayas surveying people’s happiness” while seeking his own emotional fulfillment. Bhutan is famous for their king declaring in 1972 that “Gross National Happiness” is “more important than Gross Domestic Product.” I think I should move to Bhutan.
LITTLE JAFFNA is set in the Parisian neighborhood which currently is the home of around 100,000 Tamil immigrants, many of whom fled the late 20th century war between the Tamil Tigers and the government of Sri Lanka. The narrative film depicts “a young police officer assigned to infiltrate a criminal group known for extortion and money laundering for the benefit of separatist rebels in Sri Lanka. But as he works his way deeper into the heart of the organization, his loyalty will be tested, in a relentless pursuit against one of Paris’ most hidden and powerful gangs.”
Veteran filmmaker Suman Ghosh’s PURATAWN (The Ancient) stars celebrated actress Sharmila Tagore, whose film career began in 1959 with Satyajit Ray’s THE WORLD OF APU. In this new film Tagore portrays an 80-year-old woman celebrating her birthday with her daughter and son-in-law while manifesting the relentless, irreversible descent into dementia. “What seemed like an ostensibly routine and ritualistic event turns into a larger metaphysical enquiry into human existence and how the past dictates our current state.”
The Indie Meme Film Festival closes with BOONG, in which a “young schoolboy embarks on a journey to reunite his divided family amidst the backdrop of Manipur’s socio-political unrest.”
Many of the feature films are accompanied by short films exploring similar themes as those of the features. Most of the films which don’t have live Q&A sessions will have virtual or pre-recorded visits with the filmmakers. There are several mixers and parties listed in the festival schedule.
For those unable to attend the festival in Austin, a selection of films will screen virtually May 2 – 4.
