23rd SAN FRANCISCO 
INTERNATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 
MARCH 10-20, 2005 IN SAN FRANCISCO, BERKELEY, AND SAN JOSE

The latest from South Asia and the South Asian diaspora, including a new Bollywood delight

The 23rd San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), the largest and most prestigious showcase of movies by and about Asians and Asian Americans, offers 16-feature length and short works by South Asian and South Asian Diaspora filmmakers, including a new Bollywood film. The SFIAAFF unspools March 10-20 in San Francisco (AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres and Castro Theatre), Berkeley (Pacific Film Archive), and San Jose (Camera 12 Cinemas). For more information or tickets please telephone (415) 865-1588 or visit www.naatanet.org/festival on the Internet.

Direct from India, a new Bollywood film

The Festival is delighted to present SWADES, the latest from Oscar-nominated director Ashutosh Gowariker (LAGAAN). Featuring India's reigning superstar—and NAATA favorite—Shah Rukh Khan (KAL HO NAA HO, SFIAAFF '04), SWADES is one of the most socially relevant Bollywood films in recent years. Khan is Mohan Bhargava, a successful non-resident Indian scientist who works for NASA. Homesick and lonely, he impulsively heads back to the subcontinent, hoping to reunite with the nanny who raised him. Tracing her to a remote village in Uttar Pradesh, Mohan finds a world more 19th century than 21st. Falling for the village's spirited young teacher (Gayatri Joshi), Mohan joins her fight to build a new school, and devotes himself to bringing electricity to this isolated, caste-divided town.

The United States Premiere of two terrific films from the Canada

The Festival is honored to offer the United States premiere of two feature length films from Canada: CONTINUOUS JOURNEY and PINK LUDOOS. Multi-award-winning Canadian filmmaker Ali Kazimi's latest, CONTINUOUS JOURNEY, is a stunning documentary about a long-forgotten historical moment. In 1914, a Japanese shipping vessel chartered by Sikh businessman Gurdit Singh arrived in Canada's Vancouver Harbor. Aboard were 376 migrants of Indian origin, citizens of the British Empire who believed it their right to move and settle freely within its domain. Upon anchoring, however, the passengers were prevented from disembarking by local Canadian officials, whose decision reflected a growing nationwide resistance to non-white immigration. Combining newly discovered archival footage, newsreels, poignant personal testimonials, and dramatically worked digital photography, CONTINUOUS JOURNEY critically examines a moment that forever changed the immigration policies of the British Empire and galvanized Vancouver's Indian community into action.

Sometimes comic, sometimes earnest, sometimes all-out melodrama, PINK LUDOOS, Gaurav Seth's first feature after A PASSAGE TO OTTAWA (SFIAAFF '02) is a quirky coming of age tale that ventures into some daring territory—pre-marital sex, abortion, alcoholism, religion, and gender discrimination. That's a lot of hot buttons to press in one film made over 16 days with a shoestring budget (featuring BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM's delightful Shaheen Khan), but the enormously entertaining PINK LUDOOS is helped along the way by some palmistry, a mysterious hunk who rises Venus-like from the sea, "magic water" and an eclipse.

Two features from the United Kingdom exploring the Pakistani British experience

Two new features put the spotlight on the Pakistani British experience: acclaimed Scottish filmmaker Ken Loach's A FOND KISS and Kenny Glenaan's YASMIN, which stars Archie Panjabi of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. In A FOND KISS, a passionate romance between a Pakistani Scottish man and a Caucasian woman buckles under the pressure applied from all sides. The film is an uncompromising look at interracial, cross-cultural love from the always-politically-committed Loach.

YASMIN, meanwhile, is set in a North England town where Yasmin (Panjabi) is a good daughter who even marries a goatherder from Pakistan to please her traditional father. Outside, her life is totally western, but the reverberations of 9/11 shake the foundations of Britishness she took for granted. YASMIN is written by Simon Beaufoy, the author of THE FULL MONTY.

Revival screenings of a classic documentary chosen by Gurinder Chadha

To celebrate its landmark 25th anniversary, NAATA, the Festival's producer, has asked Guest Programmers to select films from its past which embody the spirit, history and diversity of its work.

Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges are the writer/director creative team behind the celebrated films BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM and BRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Berges was the director of the Festival in 1994 and Chadha is one of England's leading filmmakers. Chadha and Berges' selection is Deann Borshay Liem's FIRST PERSON PLURAL. Borshay Liem's debut film is a personal documentary exploring the complicated landscape of assimilation, adoption, cultural difference, American attitudes and mistaken identity. Borshay's struggle to confront the secrets of her childhood and reconcile the demands of two families, two cultures and two nations reveals a poignant story about loss and finding a new way home. As Chadha and Berges enthuse, "It is fearless and has to be admired for its emotional honesty and power." FIRST PERSON PLURAL was funded by NAATA and was the Opening Night film of SFIAAFF 2002.

Also a great place to glimpse the future of filmmaking

The Festival's various shorts programs are always a great place to catch tomorrow's talented feature makers, today. The "3rd I South Asian International Shorts 2005" program, is an exciting, inspiring array of new South Asian films from India, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Featured are THE BYPASS by Amit Kumar; Richie Mehta's AMAL; G D Jayalakshmi's ARRANGED MARRIAGE; Keshni Kashyap's WAXED POETIC and GOOD THING; Nilesh Patel's THE WAITER; Dishad Husain's HOLLY-BOLLY; and Amyn Kaderali's CALL CENTER.

Prashant Bhagarva's BACKWATERS is included in the "Listening To Love Songs" shorts program; Sonali's BAREFEET is in the ̉Past Imperfect, Future Tense": shorts program; the "Lost And Found" shorts program features Sasha Khokha's CALCUTTA CALLING; and PUNJABI CAB by Liam Dalzell is in the "Brotherhood Best" shorts program.

The SFIAAFF gratefully acknowledges its sponsors

The 23rd San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, presented by NAATA and Asia Street on International Channel is supported in part by the Asian Art Museum, Canadian Consulate Trade Office, Comcast, Grants for the Arts, Koret Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Noon, Oscar Printing, Procter & Gamble, Radisson Miyako Hotel, San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and Wells Fargo. NAATA is supported with major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, runs March 10-17, 2005 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres, 1881 Post Street, and the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street in San Francisco; and the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley and March 18-20 at the Camera 12 Cinemas, 201 South Second Street in San Jose. For more information, please telephone (415) 865-1588 or visit www.naatanet.org/festival on the Internet.