Media Release
Selection of Indian Films at DIFF 2015
The Durban International Film Festival 2015 opens on Thursday and the diverse line-up of film from around the globe is bound to capture an equally diverse audience. The festival, which takes place from 16 to 26 July at 13 venues across Durban, features over 255 screenings and includes a number of films from the Indian sub-continent as well as films from the diaspora.
Sunrise, a feature film directed by celebrated Indian director Partho Sen-Gupta and set in Mumbai, tells a story of Joshi, a policeman who lost his six-year-old daughter, Aruna, ten years ago. The film exposes the horrid life of young girls that have been trafficked and the constant quest by policemen to stop such crimes.
New York and Mumbai based independent filmmaker and producer, Shrihari Sathe’s 1000 Rupee Note is a film that encapsulates the isolated political issues in rural India. The story is of Budhi, a poor old widow and mother who receives a gift of several 1000 Rupee notes from a politician during a political rally in a small village in Maharashtra, central India. 1000 Rupee Note is a narrative of a passive character that speaks to the broader concerns of Indian rural society. A society that is in a perpetual state of waiting for something to happen to them just as Budhi does.
Tigers directed by Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning director Danis Tanovic, is about two filmmakers wanting to expose the dark and unscrupulous methods used by a multinational corporation in manufacturing infant milk formula. Many babies die after consuming the formula and doctors blame the salesman named Ayan. Ayan quits his job with a determination to reveal the scandal behind the corporation’s infant milk formula.
The documentary Indians Can’t Fly, directed by Enver Samuel is a celebratory documentary about South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol who died in 1971 after being thrown from the 10th floor of the John Vorster Square Police Station. The documentary is narrated by Timol's nephew Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, author of Timol: Quest for Justice..
The Fall of Ganesh, a short film directed and written by Sheetal Megan, tells the story of a troubled Mira hosting a Diwali dinner in order to announce her engagement to her boyfriend Sizwe, only to discover that this raises unspoken conflicts between herself and her father. Their dispute is over shadowed by a violent confrontation with the neighbours as the night ends in fireworks. This is one for the films in the NFVF’s Female Filmmaker Project.
For more information and the full programme go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za
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