The fifth annual DFW South Asian Film Festival (DFW SAFF) unveiled its 2019 film lineup recently, and it includes some of the regions finest films of 2018-19. The festival takes place from May 16th through the 19th, mostly at the AMC Village on the Parkway in Addison, just north of Dallas.
Among the selections for this year's event are Cannes 2018 alum Sir, by director Rohena Gera on opening night May 16th, TIFF Midnight Madness award winner, The Man Who Feels No Pain by Vasan Bala as the centerpiece film on May 18th, and Aijaz Khan's excellent Hamid as the closing night film on May 19th.
In between these gala screenings will be a total of 21 screenings of shorts and features. In addition to the film screenings, the festival will be giving out its first awards with nominees listed below.
Fans can also expect Q&A's and introduction with some of the incredible talent being featured including Sir star, Vivek Gomber, Vasan Bala and Abhimanyu Dassani from The Man Who Feels No Pain, and director Aijaz Khan of Hamid.
Find the full lineup, schedule, and award nominees below:
5th Annual DFW SAFF Unveils Entire Festival Lineup: Eight Features, Two Docs &
11 Shorts over Four Days(Dallas, Texas – May 1, 2019) The 5th annual DFW South Asian Film Festival, presented by Toyota, is proud to announce its entire festival lineup, which consists of ONE World Premiere, TWO North American Premieres, ONE U.S. Premiere, 14 Texas Premieres and THREE Dallas Premieres.
The four-day movie event, taking place from May 16th to 19th at various locations including Victory Park, Addison and the Design District, boasts 21 shorts, documentaries and feature films, Q&A sessions with attending filmmakers/actors and nightly after-parties for festival-goers. For the entire festival schedule, please click HERE.
The opening night film & after party will take place at The Perot Museum in Victory Park on Thursday, May 16 from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. The festival will kick off with the World Premiere of Gaurav Sharma’s short film THAT MAN IN THE PICTURE, followed by the Texas Premiere of Rohena Gera’s SIR, starring Tillotama Shome and Vivek Gomber (in attendance).
The centerpiece film (also men’s programming) is the U.S. Premiere of Vasan Bala’s (in attendance) action-packed film MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA (The Man Who Feels No Pain), marking the acting debut of Bollywood actress Bhagyashree’s son, Abhimanyu Dassani (in attendance). The movie will screen at the AMC Village on the Parkway 9 on Saturday, May 18 at 7:15 p.m., followed by an after party at Saffron House in Addison.
The festival closes with the Texas Premiere of Aijaz Khan’s (in attendance) emotional Kashmiri drama about a boy in search of his missing father, HAMID, starring Rasika Dugal of MADE IN HEAVEN, DELHI CRIME and QISSA fame. The closing night film will take place at the AMC Village on the Parkway 9 at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, followed by an after party at the Design District’s Center Stage.
COMPLETE FESTIVAL LINEUP
Thursday, May 16: Opening NightTHAT MAN IN THE PICTURE (short), SIR (feature)
Friday, May 17:
Shorts Programming:MALAI (short), MAUN (short), PAGG (short), THE LAYOVER (short), STILL ROLLING: THE DDLJ STORY (short)
Friday Night Feature:
THE LIFT BOY (feature)
Saturday, May 18:
Documentary Programming:LOVESICK (documentary)
Children’s Programming One:CHIPPA (feature)
Pakistani Programming:DREAMS (short), SALAM (documentary)
LGBTQI Programming:THE HOMESTAY (short), A MONSOON DATE (short), KHEJDI (feature)
Centerpiece/Men’s Programming:MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA (feature)
Sunday, May 19:
Children’s Programming Two:NANU AUR MAIN (short), CHUSKIT (feature)
Arts Programming:
VANDE MATARAM (short), NUDE (feature)
Closing Night Film:HAMID (feature)
For the first time since its existence, DFW SAFF, Presented By Toyota, will bestow awards, selected by an esteemed panel of jurors, to its films. The theme of this year’s festival is “Five Years: Five Awards.”
Categories include Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Short.
Two additional special mention awards will be selected by the audience-at-large. They are Audience Favorite and Best Child Actor.
And the nominees are (drum roll please)…
Best Film:
- SIR
- CHIPPA
- SALAM
- MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA
- HAMID
Best Director:
- Rohena Gera – SIR
- Safdar Rahman – CHIPPA
- Anand Kamalakar – SALAM
- Vasan Bala – MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA
- Aijaz Khan – HAMID
Best Actor:
- Vivek Gomber – SIR
- Moin Khan – THE LIFT BOY
- Ashish Sharma – KHEJDI
- Abhimanyu Dassani – MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA
- Vikas Kumar – HAMID
Best Actress:
- Tillotama Shome – SIR
- Radhika Madan – MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA
- Kalyanee Mulay – NUDE
- Rasika Dugal – HAMID
Best Short Film:
- THAT MAN IN THE PICTURE
- MALAI
- PAGG
- THE LAYOVER
- DREAMS
Audience Favorite:
- SIR
- THE LIFT BOY
- LOVESICK
- CHIPPA
- SALAM
- KHEJDI
- MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA
- CHUSKIT
- NUDE
- HAMID
Best Child Actor:
- Sunny Pawar – CHIPPA
- Jigmet Dewa Lhamo – CHUSKIT
- Talha Arshad Reshi - HAMID