The first ever Bay Area South Asian Film Festival begins its journey this Friday, 21 September. Dhanush’s The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir (2018) will open the festival, while Kireet Khurana's T For Taj Mahal (2018) will close it.
Both films will join films like Spring Thunder (2018), The Song Of Scorpions (2018), Noblemen (2018), 22 Yards (2018), and Shonar Pahar (2018) in the official competition section.
There are a number of celebrities slated to attend the festival over the three days in Mountain View and Palo Alto, California. Former actress Ashwini Bhave and Emmy award winning writer-director Mike Reiss will deliver the opening night keynote speech at the inaugural festival on 21 September.
Actor Barun Sobti, director Ken Scott and producer Saskia Vischer will be on hand at the red carpet on opening day. They will be representing their respective films 22 Days, The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir and The Song of Scorpions.
Writer Vikram Chandra, whose book Sacred Games was adapted into the Netflix series, will be present as a panelist for the filmmaker and screenwriter panel on 22 Saturday. Meanwhile, actor-director Parambrata Chatterjee and filmmaker Sangeeta Datta will attend the last day of the festival, 23 September, to present their films Shonar Pahar and Bird of Dusk, respectively.