The full schedule of the inaugural Bay Area South Asian Film Festival (BASAFF), being held from 21 to 23 September in southern California, has been announced. The festival will open with a performance by the dance company Xpressions. Titled ‘Kaleidoscope - A Journey through India’, the presentation will take the audiences through folk and Hindi film dances and put on a tribute to late actress Sridevi, who passed away in February this year.
Actor Dhanush’s international film, The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir (2018), with French actress Bérénice Bejo will open BASAFF. The film, directed by Ken Scott, will have its US premiere at the festival.
BASAFF 2018: T For Taj Mahal, Spring Thunder, The Song Of Scorpions in official selection
Joining T For Taj Mahal, Spring Thunder, and The Song Of Scorpions, in the official competition section are the films Noblemen (2018), Flat No. 609 (2018), 22 Yards (2018), and Shonar Pahar (2018).
Yoodlee Films’ Noblemen, directed by Vandana Kataria, is inspired by William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. The English language film chronicles the struggles of a young boy (Ali Haji) who is bullied by his peers at a boarding school. Actor Kunal Kapoor plays a teacher at the school.
The Bengali horror film, Flat No 609 (2018), directed by Arindam Bhattacharya, stars Tanushree Chakraborty and Abir Chatterjee as newlyweds who rent an ominous flat that is haunted by a supernatural.
22 Yards (2018), directed by former sports-journalist Mitali Ghosal, is the story of a sports agent and a budding cricketer who rise to the top with each other's support. The feature film stars Barun Sobti, Amartya Ray, Panchi Bora, Rajit Kapur, Rajesh Sharma, Chaiti Ghosal, and Geetika Tyagi.
Actor-director Parambrata Chatterjee's film, Shonar Pahar (2018), starring Tanuja and Soumitra Chatterjee tells the story of a 70-year-old and a 7-year-old, highlighting how society treats the elderly and the innocent imagination of a young boy. Chatterjee will also attend the festival.
The short film competition section will consist of six shorts. They are Everything Is Fine, Soundproof, Doitto (The Demon), Majaal Hai, 7 Rounds, Pashi and Waterbaby.
The three-day film festival will also host a panel discussion between filmmakers and screenwriters, and the audience will be treated to a play, Queen, by Enacte Arts and a classical dance performance.
The awards ceremony of the festival will be held on the final day, 23 September. There are awards to be handed out in six categories — Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Director (Feature), Best Director (Short), Best Actor (Feature) and Best Actress (Feature).