The 2nd edition of the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival 2018 (SGSAIFF) kicked off with an opening ceremony and a screening of Nandita Das’ much-acclaimed film Manto starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film was presented by writer-director Nandita Das and the screening at SGSAIFF 2018 marks the film’s South East Asian premiere.
Writer-director Rima Das’s Village Rockstars which is India’s official entry to Oscars 2018 has been chosen for the Feature Film Showcase section at SGSAIFF 2018.
The 2nd edition of the festival is being held from 5th to 14th October 2018 which includes the closing and awards ceremony that will be held on 13thOctober at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. This year the festival will include five World Premieres, two Special Screenings, eight Feature Films and nine short films In Competition.
The opening ceremony which was held at Carnival Cinema in Singapore was attended by actors Anshuman Jha, Sharib Hashmi and Inaamulhaq – the lead actors of Midnight Delhi and Nakkash which are having its World Premieres at SGSAIFF 2018 and Kenneth Tan – Chairman of Singapore Film Society.
The SGSAIFF 2018 lineup represents a diverse mix of feature films, short films and documentaries, which include films from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan.
The jury for the Competition Films at the festival comprises of filmmakers Girish Kasaravalli (Ghatashraddha), Siddiq Barmak (Osama), producer Marc Baschet (The Lunchbox), film consultant Golda Sellam and renowned film critic and author Gautaman Bhaskaran.
The Competition Section includes Feature Films In Competition and Short Films In Competition.
The Feature Films sections include Feature Films In Competition, Feature Film Showcase and Special Screenings.
The Feature Films In Competition section includes eight films – Prasad Namjoshi’s Video Parlour, Rakesh Rawat’s Midnight Delhi, Miransha Naik’s Juze, Sumathy Sivamohan’s Sons And Father, Naresh Kumar KC’s Dying Candle, Atanu Ghosh’s Mayurakshi, Ektara Collective’s Turup and Prashanth Vijay’s Summer of Miracles (Athisayangalude Venal).
The SGSAIFF 2018 is hosting the World Premieres of Prasad Namjoshi’s Video Parlour, Murari M Rakshit’s Reunion, Pravin Tarde’s Mulshi Pattern, Rakesh Rawat’s Midnight Delhi and Zaigham Imam’s Nakkash which was launched at Cannes 2018.
The Feature Film Showcase section includes ten films – Aparna Sen’s Sonata, Rima Das’ Village Rockstars, Fakhrul Areefen Khan‘s Bangladeshi film Bhuvan Majhi, C V Nandeeshwar’s Akkamma’s Fate, Indrashish Acharya’s Pupa, Murari M Rakshit’s Reunion, Praveen Tarde’s Mulshi Pattern, Kireet Khurana’s T For Tajmahal, Sumit Mishra’s Agam and Zaigham Imam’s Nakkash.
The Special Screenings section includes two films – Siddiq Barak’s Osama and O P Srivastava‘s Life In Metaphors.
The Short Films sections include Short Films In Competition, Short Film Showcase and Documentary Showcase.
The Short Film Showcase features three titles – Kabeer Khurana’s Religion For Dummies, Aditya Kelgaonkar’s Sound Proof and Prabhjit Dhamija’s Me (Asmad).
The Documentary Film Showcase section includes Umesh Kulkarni’s Kumbh, Manhoor Zaidi’s Dust To Dust, Upneet Kaur-Nagpal’s Singh In The Lion City, Aparajita Ghosh’s Dance Of Joy, Anirban Mitra and Tirtha Dasgupta’s Ray Of Light and Prasanna Ramaswamy’s Writer Ashokmitran.
SGSAIFF 2018 lineup also includes a special section – Films set in South Asian Diaspora. This section includes two films –Glimpse (Malaysia) and Upneet Kaur-Nagpal’s Singh In The Lion City (Singapore).
The panels at the festival include ‘Rethinking Cinema Beyond Storytelling In The Netflix Age’ which is being conducted in collaboration with Puttnam School of Film, LaSalle College Singapore.
The panel which includes eminent filmmakers Girish Kasaravalli (Ghatashraddha), Siddiq Barmak (Osama), producers Marc Baschet, film consultant Golda Sellam and will be moderated by Amit Agarwal – Artistic Director SGSAIFF will see the participants share their perspectives and engage with film students and cineastes on a rapidly changing filmmaking landscape.
SGSAIFF 2018 will also be conducting two interesting workshops during the course of the festival. The first is an Acting Workshop For Adults And Children. The second is a Filmmaking Workshop For Children that focuses on making films using smartphones.
On the occasion of the opening day of the 2nd edition of the the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, an elated Abhayanand Singh – Chairperson of SGSAIFF said, “SGSAIFF in its second year has started with a phenomenal response for its opening film Manto and it actually reinforces our belief that there is an audience which is hungry for good content.”
Actor-director Nandita Das’ whose film Manto opened the 2nd edition of the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival said, “I am delighted that Manto is the opening film at the SGSAIFF. Such festivals give us the opportunity to celebrate our identity as South Asians and I think who could be better than Manto to kick off the festival. He was truly a South Asian writer, who went beyond the national and religious identities. I look forward to sharing my passion and my concerns through my film with the Singaporeans”
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