In its sixteenth year, the Tasveer festival will showcase film, literature and storytelling in an SXSW-style event. The festival will be held in hybrid format from 1–24 October and aims to provide a platform to amplify underrepresented South Asian voices.
The 2021 event highlights three themes 'Watch | Read | Talk' that combine the 16th Tasveer South Asian Film Festival (TSAFF), third Tasveer South Asian LitFest (TSAL), and a new platform that includes comedy workshops and South Asian pride narratives through the Desi Girl Comedy Project + Coming Out Stories.
A comedy workshop for South Asian women, the Desi Girls Comedy Project culminates with a comedy presentation during the Tasveer festival.
Rita Meher, executive director/festival director, Tasveer festival, said, “I’m so delighted my dream to combine all of the programmes of Tasveer events into one major festival has come true. I hope you all come to watch and enjoy this hard work of our team. We present not one but three unique ways for South Asian artistes and creatives to share their stories in this year’s 2021 Tasveer festival.
"Despite the challenges our industry has faced in recent times, our incredible community of South Asian filmmakers, writers and storytellers has come together to create a compelling and impactful event. Each of the Watch | Read | Talk segments is filled with entertaining and thought-provoking content that promises to challenge, engage and inspire.
"Thank you to Tasveer's hard-working staff behind this amazing festival. It is a labour of love,” she added.
The film festival will feature more than 60 narrative features, documentaries and shorts on a variety of subjects. Among the features in the line-up are 21st Tiffin by Vijaygiri Bava, Americanish by Iman Zawahry, Kripal Kalita’s Assamese feature Bridge, Wanphrang K Diengdoh’s Lorni: The Flaneur, Qazi by Anil Fastenau and Jakob Gehrmann, Raja Ramamurthy’s The Myth Of The Good Girl, and Sand & Snow by Jaraad Virani.
The documentary section includes Portrait Of A Willow Woman by Supriya Prasad; Rann by Peter Simpson, Sarina Pearson and Shuchi Kothari; Testimony Of Ana by Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda; Ghar Ka Pata (Home Address) by Madhulika Jalali; Backstage by Lipika Singh Darai; and An Engineered Dream by Hemant Gaba.