Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Deepa Mehta, Kumar Shahani to pay tribute to Satyajit Ray at IFFSA Toronto

The International Film Festival South Asia (IFFSA), Toronto, which is the largest South Asian film festival in North America, is scheduled to take place virtually from 12–22 August this year.

A year-round platform, IFFSA organizes various sub-festivals and initiatives through the year.

IFFSA Toronto showcases a selection of the best films from around the world, on themes of South Asian cultures and identities. This year, too, like in 2020, owing to the restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will take place in a virtual format.

A statement from the festival said, 'During this global health crisis our thoughts go out to the victims of COVID-19 and we stand in solidarity with all those fighting the pandemic. Like all other areas of life, cinema has not been left untouched by this crisis. We would like to extend our sympathy to all artistes, festival colleagues, cinema operators, distributors and producers who are facing grave difficulties during this time. IFFSA believes in cinema as a social force that will not lose its power even in the face of the virus. Through resilience and innovation we can overcome the challenges presented by the global pandemic. Together with our global partners, we are determined to deliver the high-quality festival experience that IFFSA is known for in a unique hybrid format.'

As part of the worldwide celebration of 100 Years of Satyajit Ray, the festival will bring together filmmakers Anup Singh, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Deepa Mehta, Goutam Ghose, Kumar Shahani and others, as part of a tribute to the auteur.

Ray’s film The Home And The World (Ghare Baire, 1984) will be screened on the opening day of the festival. The other films to be screened as part of the tribute are Jalsaghar (1958), Charulata (1964) and Nayak (1966).

The Marathi language feature Sthalpuran (2021) and the Tamil language film Koozhangal will be the closing films of the festival.

Masterclasses with artistes Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, Abhay Deol and Divya Dutta, filmmaker Richie Mehta and writer Shama Zaidi, among others, have been scheduled as part of the programme.