A FOND KISS

(AE FOND KISS)

San Francisco Premiere

UK/Italy/Germany/Spain 2004 | 103mins | 35mm Color | English & Punjabi w/E.S.

Ken Loach, the uncompromising British director of such socially conscious and politically committed films as CARLAâS SONG (1996) and LAND AND FREEDOM (1995), now tackles interracial romance with a clear eye and a loving heart. When handsome Pakistani Scottish accountant-turned-deejay Casim breaks up a school brawl involving his belligerent younger sister Tahara, he encounters Roisin, her beautiful÷and white÷music teacher. He falls headlong in love with this strong-willed woman, before remembering that he's already committed to another young girl, one due to arrive any moment from Pakistan.

What follows is a complex, erotic drama that, while celebrating the love affair, never stoops to demonize the cultural and religious forces that threaten to tear it apart from both sides. Woven through the film, poet Robert Burnsâ verse "Ae Fond Kiss" remains an ardent reminder of what the lovers stand to lose, and proves that such struggles have always been, and always will be. ãWhen Catholics first came to Scotland 150 years ago they were seen as aliens with a loyalty to something foreign,ä writes Loach. ãAnd now weâre demonizing asylum seekers.ä Loach also refuses to mock Casimâs family, who dreads an adored only son's marrying out of his community. ãFamilies are families,ä he notes. ãThe surface details change, but the emotional blackmail is the same. There are always sticking points, and thereâs always rebellion.ä

÷Frako Loden

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