ONE DAY, FOUR AMAZING SOUTH ASIAN FILMS

The Forest City Film Festival in London, Ontario, returns for the 9th year from October 19-27. The festival that will feature several big names including Canadian icon Victor Garber receiving a lifetime achievement award.

On October 23, the festival will dedicate one day of the festival to four amazing films from South Asian creators: Charulata, All We Imagine as Light, The Glassworker and Eega.

Charulata: Oct 23, 5:00 pm at Imagine Cinemas #1. One of the most acclaimed movies ever made, Satyajit Ray’s romantic drama focuses on the lonely wife of a newspaper editor, and her unexpected feelings for her husband’s cousin.

It’s the end of the 19th century in Calcutta, the Bengali Renaissance is at its peak, India is fighting for freedom against the British, and for Bhupati, who runs a political newspaper, business is booming. Unfortunately, he has absolutely no time for his new wife Charu, who is living the life of the idle rich. With nothing to do but read old books, Charu has developed a melancholic loneliness. Sensing her boredom, Bhupati has his cousin, Amal, come to stay at the house, where he is to provide Charu with intellectual companionship. As they discuss books and poetry, and as Charu becomes confident enough to write short stories, she begins to develop feelings for Amal, complicating her seemingly dull life.

Likely the greatest filmmaker to ever come out of South Asia, Satyajit Ray is known for his patient, humanist works of filmmaking, which focus on the beauty that can be found in the domestic life of ordinary people. In his landmark Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apu’r Sansar), he tells the story of a boy growing into a man over the course of three films and fifteen years. In Jalsaghar (The Music Room), Ray shows how social mobility is an illusion, and how the upper class will never accept the “new rich” as their own. In Charulata, he turns his focus to the idle rich, or more specifically, someone who is forced into being of that class. While Charu’s husband works to provide the life that many people dream of, all Charu wants is to have something to keep her occupied. But outside of the books that keep her company through the long days, there is little for someone of her status to do. Always keenly observant and empathetic, with an understanding of the nuances of class, Satyajit Ray’s Charulata is a towering achievement, fully deserving of its classic status.

All We Imagine as Light: Oct 23, 8:00 pm at the Wolf Performance Hall. Two nurses escape the city buzz of Mumbai to the tranquility of the seaside, in Payal Kapadia’s award-winning poetic drama. In the center of Mumbai, one of the largest urban centers in the world, there’s no such thing as being alone, yet it can still feel lonely. For two nurses, Anu and Prabha, the city takes time away from them. Taking buses and trains to get to work, passing by thousands of people every day, never connecting with any of them. This disconnect extends to their romantic lives, as Prabha feels abandoned by her husband, who out of nowhere decided to move to Germany to work, and as Anu enters into a new relationship, but finds it impossible to find anywhere to be free from the prying eyes of the city. Part-tone poem, part-city symphony, All We Imagine as Light is an ode to the working class women of Mumbai.

Arguably the most important moment for Indian cinema on the world stage since Lagaan was an Oscar-nominee in 2001, or possibly even since Satyajit Ray won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1957. This year, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light was the first Indian film to play in the Cannes Competition since 1994, winning the Grand Prix of the festival. This major award signals one of the most striking and exciting new voices in Indian cinema, a true artist breaking out with her very first narrative feature film. All We Imagine as Light is a film of quiet beauty, a movie that turns the constant buzz of a metropolis like Mumbai into the quiet backdrop of the lives of two women who work to live, fitting their lives in into the small amount of time between the late-shifts at the hospital. With a dream-like atmosphere created by its jazzy piano score, and almost surreal images of the city of dreams, All We Imagine as Light is Indian cinema like you’ve never seen it before.

The Glassworker: Oct 23, 5:30 pm at the Wolf Performance Hall. Pakistan’s first-ever hand-drawn animated movie is a heartfelt tribute to the films of Studio Ghibli, telling the story of the son of a pacifist glassworker and the daughter of an army colonel.

In a seaside village, a father and son duo make their living by crafting exquisite works of art out of colorful glass. Vincent apprentices in his father’s workshop, hoping to become a master glassworker himself one day. Everything changes when the military sets up a base in the town, with a high ranking colonel arriving with his family. Although the glassworkers try to stay far away from the military’s orbit, Vincent finds himself drawn towards the colonel’s daughter, and the two families become entwined.

It looks like a Hayao Miyazaki movie, it sounds like a Hayao Miyazaki movie, and it feels like a Hayao Miyazaki movie; it even has the anti-war themes and the connection between nature and magic. But despite all appearances, this is NOT a Miyazaki movie, it is in fact the first feature film made by Mano Animation Studios, a small but mighty animation studio in Pakistan focusing on the art of hand-drawn animation. In an era where more and more studios are distancing themselves from traditional forms of animation, Mano Animation Studios emerges a future giant in the medium, showing that making this type of film is still possible. The Glassworker will serve as a major inspiration for aspiring animators, especially those from South Asia who have rarely seen themselves or their stories represented in this field. This film isn’t just a great imitation of Studio Ghibli, it’s a truly beautiful work that uses a familiar visual style to tell a beautiful anti-war story. Rooted in South Asian visual style and steeped in Pakistani mythology, The Glassworker is a magical piece of art that is not to be missed

Eega: Oct 23, 7:30 pm at Imagine Cinemas #1. Before RRR, there was Eega. In S.S. Rajamouli’s wildly imaginative romantic action comedy, a man is reincarnated as a fly, and seeks revenge for his murder.

A love triangle between a businessman, Sudeep, a firework salesman, Nani, and a micro artist, Bindu, turns sour when Sudeep kidnaps and murders Nani, who he sees as his romantic rival. Although Sudeep believes that he has “won” the affections of Bindu, he soon finds his life turned upside down by a fly that simply will not leave him alone. What starts out as simply annoying soon becomes dangerous, as it becomes clear that this seemingly ordinary housefly is actually the reincarnation of Nani, who has intentions to avenge his death and kill Sudeep.

With RRR, S.S. Rajamouli instantly entered the ranks of the greatest action filmmakers of all time. But RRR only served to get Rajamouli the worldwide recognition that he had deserved for over a decade before. In a post-Naatu Naatu world, it’s worthwhile going back to appreciate Rajamouli’s earlier convention-destroying action epics. In Eega, Rajamouli brings a seemingly impossible story to life, focusing in on a protagonist who silently buzzes around, creating chaos everywhere he flies. Like many of Rajamouli’s films, it’s impossible to fully define exactly what type of movie Eega is. It’s undoubtedly a romantic comedy that never for a second takes itself too seriously, while also being packed with large scale musical sequences and jaw dropping action scenes. Eega is many things, but all of them are epic and delightful. No one else makes movies like S.S. Rajamouli, and by the end of Eega, you’ll be wishing that more action movies had a touch of his shameless whimsy and unbridled creativity.

More info and tickets here.