Festivals: SAIFF
South Asian 2016 Review: MAROON, A Tale of a Man Trapped With His Worst Fears
In Maroon, veteran character actor Manav Kaul plays an associate college professor whose wife goes missing, and it's not too long before his sanity goes along with her. Manav Kaul plays Saurabh, an associate professor of literature at a liberal...
SAIFF 2014 Review: DUKHTAR Exposes The Deadly Binds That Tie Together Tribal Pakistan
South Asian cinema has come to the point at which the international community has begun to take closer notice. Films, the vast majority of which hail from India's burgeoning Hindi independent cinema, are appearing on international film festival rosters at...
SAIFF 2014 Review: X - PAST IS PRESENT Is A Look At Love Through 11 Pairs Of Eyes
We've all done it.We've all sat in the ruins of a destroyed relationship and wondered where exactly we went wrong. We've all become flush at the prospect of a new romance and felt our hearts flutter at the endless possibilities...
Check Out The Lineup And Trailers For NYC's 11th South Asian International Film Festival
I've had the privilege of covering New York City's South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) since 2010, shortly after I came on board at ScreenAnarchy. Each of those five years has brought at least a couple of films that have made...
SAIFF 2013 Review: TASHER DESH Turns Tagore's Yarn Into Psychedelic Spin-Art
Bengali cinema's enfant terrible, Q, is not known for making films for the faint of heart or weak of mind. His latest film, an adaptation of a play from Nobel Prize winning Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore, is no exception. Tasher...
The 10th Annual South Asian International Film Festival Announces Its Lineup!
I feel very fortunate to have been able to cover New York's SAIFF for the last three years, and this fourth go around looks like it's going to be as great as ever.Yesterday SAIFF 2013 announced its complete line up,...
SAIFF 2012: Inaugural South Asian Rising Star Film Awards Winners Announced
For their ninth year, the South Asian International Film Festival have marked a new first: their first awards competition and ceremony. The South Asian Rising Star Awards focus on the best of upcoming talent coming out of the Indian subcontinent...
SAIFF 2012 Review: BALAK PALAK Can't Decide If It's A Sex Comedy Or An Afterschool Special
I don't think I'd be writing here if I didn't, on some level, have the irrepressible, deep-seated urge to root for the little guy. There are times when this makes it difficult for me to say less than glowing things...
SAIFF 2012 Review: MISS LOVELY Is One Of The Most Excitingly Original Indian Films Of 2012
Among the toasts of Cannes' Un Certain Regard section this year was Ashium Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely, a film chronicling the ups and downs of a couple of small potatoes film producers with dollar signs in their eyes. The film takes...
SAIFF 2012: Marathi Noir PUNE 52 Gets A New Trailer Ahead Of Its US Premiere
As the eleventh annual South Asian International Film Festival gets closer, we're starting to get more and more promo materials for some of the most highly anticipated Indian independents out there. One that we've been watching for a long time...
Well Beyond Bollywood: SAIFF Announces Eclectic 2012 Line-up
While a certain Mister J. Hurtado is the resident reviewer of South Asian fare here at ScreenAnarchy, many of us do enjoy the kaleidoscopic kind of cinema that the region churns out. And there probably isn't a better place to...
SAIFF 2011: ALMS OF THE BLIND HORSE Review
Alms of the Blind Horse, tells a day in the lives of people in a small Punjabi village. With the cast of mostly non-professional locals, the film is the first Punjabi feature to be shown in international film festivals. Based...
SAIFF 2011: KSHAY (CORRODE) Review
Obsession is a popular theme among filmmakers and it has been since the dawn of the cinema. Karan Gour's Kshay takes that theme and places it in a new context in a world unfamiliar to most people outside of the...
SAIFF 2011: DEOOL (THE TEMPLE) Review
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni's Deool is a political satire that literally slays the sacred cows of Indian politics and devotion. Kulkarni's focuses his keen eye on rural Maharashtra and the speed with which corruption can move through a well-meaning community when...
SAIFF 2011: ABU, SON OF ADAM Review
Abu, Son of Adam is a peaceful, contemplative film. This Malayalam drama about an aging couple and their quest to perform Hajj is without melodrama and without pretension. What it lacks in fireworks, it makes up for in real, raw...