British Academy of Film & Television Arts
195 Piccadilly W1J Tel: 020 7 734 0022
6.30om Gala Launch, 8.00 pm Screening
15 Park Avenue
Directed by Aparna Sen
116 mins English Hindi
A tale of two sisters set in present day Calcutta, starring Shabana Azmi as a successful professor with a powerful personality and Konkona Sen Sharma, as her schizophrenic sister.
Tickets Gala /Screening: £25 / Tongues on Fire and BAFTA members free.

GUHYA
Sat 11 March [20:30] ICA. Tickets Full £6.50, ICAMembers £4.50
Director: Kirtana Kumar
India 2000 | 55 mins | Hindi with English Subtitles.

Guhya is the name of the Goddess in Her aroused form as She sits alone, deep inside a cave... The film documents goddess-worship in Karnataka, Kerala and the North-East; and the rituals surrounding the Devadasi tradition, menstruation and the worship of the 'yoni'. Today, India lives in an aggressively patriarchal time. Modernity is equated with homogeneity and the complex nature of female sexuality is offered up at the altar of Nationhood. But thanks to the co-existence of diverse sexual and socio-religious practices, there still exist residual memories of a past where the Goddess is worshipped, and communities where the female principle is considered life affirming. This film asserts that attempts to eradicate such practices in the name of development are born of essentially patriarchal mores.

11 March 8.30pm
ICA, The Mall SW1Y 5AH
Tel: 020 7930 3647
Sunset Bollywood
Director: Komal Tolani, 54 mins, English
What happens when you become an overnight sensation in Bollywood and cannot maintain your status?

Tickets: £ 6.50 ICA Members £4.50 concessions available.

12 March 1.00pm
Curzon Mayfair
38, Curzon Street, W1J
Tel: 0870 756 4621. Tickets: £ 9.50 (£6 50).
British Premiere: Amu
Director: Shonali Bose
102 mins English /Hindi
This award winning debut film tells the tale of Kaju, who comes to India from America to discover where she was born. What begins as a 'back to the roots' tale becomes a powerful mystery when Kaju stumbles on secrets of her past ……

17 March 8.30pm AMU
Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton
London SW2 1JG
Box Office: 08 707 550 062 Tickets: £ 7.75 (£6.50)

24 March 8.30pm AMU
Watermans, 40 High Street, Brentford, TW8 ODS
Box Office: 020 8232 1010 Tickets: £ 6.50 (£4.50)

13 March 8.30pm
ICA, The Mall SW1Y 5AH
Tel: 020 7930 3647
Pink Ludoos
Director Gaurav Seth, 90 mins, English
Shaheen Khan (Bend it Like Beckham) plays the much put open mother on collision with her young daughter, who gets pregnant out of wedlock. This is a delightful Canadian comedy about the perceptions of girl children. Followed by Q&A with Shaheen Khan.

25 March 8.30pm Pink Ludoos
Watermans, 40 High Street, Brentford, TW8 ODS
Box Office: 020 8232 1010 Tickets: £ 6.50 (£4.50)

A DECENT SAMOSA YA
Wed 15 March [18:30] London Metropolitan University
Tue 21 March [10:00] Brentford School for Girls
Director: Natasha Badhwar & Radhika Bordia
Cast: Kuljit Bhamra, Mohinder Bhumra, Hard Kaur, Johnny Kalsi, Raj and Pablo, DJ Ritu
India/UK 2004 | 48 mins | English/Punjabi with subtitles.

Produced by New Delhi Television Ltd, A Decent Samosa, Ya! travels from London to Birmingham filming live performances in clubs, radio stations, Indian neighbourhoods, rehearsals in studios, attempting to shed a light on England's pulsating experiments with multiculturalism. Featuring, Hard Kaur’s experiments with Rap, Mohinder Bhumra, pioneer of bhangra, Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation, path –breaking, DJ Ritu with her Bollywood inspired remixes, musician, Kuljit Bhumra, Raj & Pablo, Asian Dub Foundation’s music activism.

Through these personalised histories of new, upcoming and established Asian artists the film is an intimate, candid document of a people, seeking to define their identity, looking to liberate and nourish themselves with the creative rhythms of their own unique music that asserts their identity as well as crosses boundaries.

The London Metropolitan University screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Hard Kaur & DJ Ritu talking about Asian women making it in the tough world of the music scene in the UK.

A TRIBUTE TO AMRITA PRITAM
Fri 17 March [19:00] Nehru Centre
She lived poetry and wrote life!

Amrita was popular because people liked the humanism in her books. Literature for her was not a mere photograph of reality; it was a vehicle to reflect on how corruption and ugliness are as much a part of life as beauty. During her life, she never compromised her free thinking and ruled out all rituals and mourning after her death. "Why mourn the end of a life that lived beautifully? You may celebrate instead by reading poetry" she'd say.

Tongues on Fire celebrates her life by reciting her poetry and songs, reading excerpts from her writings and recounting anecdotes from her life. Speakers: Dr Ranjana Ash, freelance lecturer, writer and Editor-Consultant, (Heinemann Asian Women Series), Rukhsana Ahmed, playwright, Amir Hussain, writer, Kailash Puri, a fellow writer and contemporary of Amrita Pritam and Ravi Randhawa, novelist. Dominic Rai, Lecturer & Theatre Director will conclude with recital of Amrita's work. Followed by reception supported by Indian Development Trust.

THE RISING
Thu 23 March [10:00] BAFTA
Director: Ketan Mehta
Cast: Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherji, Amisha Patel, Toby Stephens
India 2005 | 165 mins | Hindi/English with subtitles.

The Rising is an epic tale of friendship, love, loss and betrayal set against the backdrop of the first Indian Mutiny of 1857. It tells the story of Mangal Pandey (Khan) a native sepoy and his friendship with his British commanding officer, William Gordon (Stephens), which is challenged by the introduction of a controversial new gun cartridge among the troops. The relationship is further complicated when Gordon saves a beautiful young Hindu girl, Jwala (Patel) from the funeral pyre and falls in love with her. The film created controversy in the UK when it was released last year for misrepresenting British-Indian history.

23 March 10am - 4pm BAFTA:
EXPLORING PRODUCTION VALUES IN BOLLYWOOD CINEMA
Lovleen Bains is an experienced Costume Designer who has worked in contemporary and historical Bollywood cinema as well as cross-over films for the last 20 years. Credits include: Rang De Basanti; The Rising; Sarfarosh, Heat and Dust and Kama Sutra. She won the National Award for ‘Best Costume Design’ in 1994 for the film, In Custody, a Merchant Ivory Production and was nominated for the Genie Award for Excellence in Costume Design by the Canadian Academy of films for her work in Such a Long Journey by Sturla Gunnarson, 1999.

Moderator: Claudia Mayer
Claudia Mayer, Set & Costume Designer, has worked in theatre, opera, ballet and is currently associate director, Tara Arts.
This event is open to film students, media professionals, fashion designers, and people working costume & wardrobe in film / TV and theatre. For booking, contact Tongues on Fire via email: info@tonguesonfire.com or tel: 020 8961 8908

26 March 8pm
Watermans, 40 High Street
Brentford, TW8 ODS
Box Office: 020 8232 1010
Tickets: £ 6.50 (£4.50).
Kalyani
Director: Anjali Menon
90 mins Malayalam with English subtitles.
Kalyani is the tale of Kalyani Menon whose world changes when her husband passes away suddenly and her world is bereft of music and colour. The film portrays how she learns how to live through an unlikely friendship with Baiju, a young beggar boy.

26 March 4.00pm
Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn High Road
London NW6
Box Office: 020 7 328 1000 Tickets: £7 (£6)
Mann (Earth)
Director: Puthiyavan R
Tamil with Sub-titles.
Mann is set in northern Sri Lanka. A man returns to the village where he grew up after 18 years. On the journey he remembers his carefree life and coming to age pranks and sexual awakenings. However he soon gets involved in a complicated situation where love, lust, obsession and betrayal ultimately lead to tragedy.

KHAMOSH PANI / SILENT WATERS
Tue 28 March [10:30] Paul Robeson Theatre
Tickets: Full £3.00.
Director: Sabiha Sumar
Cast: Kirron Kher, Aamir Ali Malik, Rehan Sheikh, Shilpa Shukla
Pakistan/France/Germany 2004 | 100 mins | Punjabi with English subtitles.

The horrors of India-Pakistan partition and the advent of fundamentalism are relived through the eyes of a widow in 1979 Pakistan. She watches her innocent, unemployed son get drawn towards religious extremism and fights to hold on to her blissful life. A mysterious visitor from her past brings with him a shocking secret with catastrophic consequences. A film that echoes today's realities in India and Pakistan. Khamosh Pani won the best film award at the Locarno Film Festival in 2003.

MY SON THE FANATIC
Thu 30 March [18:30] Harrow College
Director: Udayan Prasad
Cast: Mino Desai, Rachel Griffiths, Akbar Kurtha, Om Puri
UK 2004 | 87 mins | English.

Pervez (Om Puri) is a Pakistani cab driver in a Northern English town who drives around a prostitute Bettina (Rachel Griffiths) and her colleagues and makes just enough money to feed his wife Minoo(Gopi Desai) and son Farid (Akbar Kurtha). One of Bettina's client asks Pervez to organize a sex party, and at the same time Farid, who under the influence of local Pakistani community becomes an Islamic fundamentalist, and his friends decide to morally clean up their town.

The screening will be followed by a Q/A with Hanif Kureishi (playwright, screen writer, novelist and film-maker) whose writing credits include ‘The Buddha of Suburbia,’ ’ My Beautiful Laundrette’, ‘Sammy and Rosie Get Laid’ and ‘London Kills Me’, hosted by Suman Bhuchar. Both events are by invitation only.

SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Fri 31 March [18:30]
ICA
The short film competition is an opportunity to showcase the work of upcoming film-makers and to create platform for them to network within the industry. All short listed entries are screened before an audience and a panel of judges who decide on the final outcome. For 2006 the short listed entries include:

1984 & THE VIA DOLOROSA PROJECT
Director & producer: The Singh Twins | 18min
The Singh Twins document their personal response to the storming of the Golden Temple in 1984.

THE GOODBYE GIRLS
Director & producer: Seeta Indrani | 8min
Two women. One man. Random moments and a chance meeting featuring Nina Wadia.

TOURETTES HAIKU
Director: Balwant Dass | 10min
A drama inspired by Japanese poetry about a young Asian woman suffering from the neurological disorder, Tourette's syndrome. Click here to read more about Tourettes Haiku.

MATTERS OF THE HEART
Director & producer: Rumeena Gujral | 15min
Raj is celebrating his daughter wedding but has a near fatal heart attack on her henna night. How can Raj change his lifestyle for the better?

HARROW COLLEGE
A compilation of shorts by students under 19.

AFTER PARTY
Fri 31 March [20:30] ICA
This will be followed by an after party and the evening kicks off with Bollywood Karaoke hosted by ‘Nimmi Namkeen’ - Filmi Queen, with a little help from Jaspreet Pandohar, Film Critic BBC Movies Online. Later you can dance the night away to DJs spinning the decks...
Tickets
Full £6.50
ICA Members £4.50