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…
Author: Chale Nafus
Chale Nafus
Born in Dallas during World War II, Chale Nafus attended public schools, spent summers on his sister’s ranch in Comanche County in the 1950s, learned Spanish from schoolmates, and dreamed of getting out of Dallas. After getting through freshman year at SMU, he worked at Texas Instruments before realizing he really needed a college education. After attending the University of Texas at Arlington (B.A., English), La Universidad Autónoma de México, and UT Austin (M.A., English/RTF), he began a long college teaching career at Texas Southmost College (Brownsville), La Universidad de Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Kingsborough Community College (Brooklyn), and finally Austin Community College (1973-1998). At the latter, he founded the Department of Radio- TV-Film, taught classes in film studies, and for seven years served as Chair of Humanities (Northridge Campus). Retiring in 1998, Chale spent 4 years traveling and writing before joining the staff of Austin Film Society as Director of Programming (2002-2015). He is now totally retired and happily serving on the boards of Austin Film Society and OUTsider Fest as well as the advisory committees of IndieMeme (South Asian film organization) and Cine Las Americas.
I had hopes that the narrative film I Am Gitmo would provide a nuanced depiction of the experiences of terrorists, actual or innocent, taken to the military prison at Guantanamo, that tiny portion of Cuba still questionably “owned” by the United States. Ever since the shock of 9/11 and the initially justifiable War on Terror, we have read and heard news reports and watched documentaries on what were eventually deemed excesses of interrogation techniques used on suspected terrorists. If one were designated an “enemy combatant,” then they were not protected by the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which otherwise called for…
Throughout the history of world cinema, the sound of fists pounding on doors has always signified something terrible. When it is accompanied by the sounds of rapid gunfire, our hearts quicken and our breathing is suspended. That is how THE LAST BIRTHDAY opens as we see a woman rushing about her apartment gathering and burning photos and documents while anxiously awaiting the invasion of her home. On August 13, 2021, thirteen days before this tense opening scene, the same woman is happily preparing for her birthday party. Various friends and loved ones arrive to celebrate the occasion. They include Leili,…