FRI NOV 9

8:45 PM

THE ROYAL

Preceeded by
I Am What I Ought To Be

BUY TICKETS 

VALLEY OF SAINTS

TORONTO PREMIERE | RATED PG

Director/Writer: Musa Syeed (in attendance) | Kashmir/USA 2012 | 84:00 | HDCam | Kashmiri w/ English Subtitles
Producer: Nicholas Bruckman | Cinematographer: Yoni Brook | Editor: Musa Syeed | Music: Mubashir Mohi-Ud-Din
Cast: Gulzar Bhat, Neelofar Hamid, Afzal Sofi

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize, World Cinema Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival 2012

Reel Asian is honoured to present the Toronto premiere of director Musa Syeed’s Sundance Film Festival multi-winner Valley of Saints as the festival’s inaugural South Asian feature film. Valley of Saints is a lyrically beautiful slice-of-life film with strong performances and lush cinematography that paints an ethereal atmosphere throughout its brief running time.

Dal Lake is widely considered to be the jewel of Kashmir. The lake is a sprawling aquatic community where idyllic life is often disrupted by political unrest that occurs on shore. Gulzar, a young working class boatman, lives with his elderly uncle but longs to escape with his best friend for the bright lights of the big city. When his plans are temporarily thwarted by a military curfew, Gulzar is forced to wait it out, and takes a job assisting Asifa, an attractive young scientist who is in Kashmir to collect water samples for an environmental study. As they navigate the floating landscape collecting samples, an unlikely relationship blossoms between the two that soon causes a rift between Gulzar and his best friend. When Asifa’s research reveals harmful pollutants in the water, Gulzar’s worldview is shaken as he realizes that his livelihood, as well as his community and its entire way of life, may soon disappear.

Syeed expertly contrasts two different worlds in his film. Life on shore is reality, while life on the lake is almost fantastical–a sanctuary away from the chains of law, greed and other human vices. But through Asifa’s scientific discoveries, real life consequences creep into the serene world of the lake. Enlightening and filled with visual splendour, Valley of Saints is a dynamic yet sensitive film about finding one’s life path in a changing world.

- Anderson Le

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:

Musa Syeed is an independent filmmaker and writer based in New York City. His debut narrative feature, Valley of Saints, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. As writer/director, Syeed received the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Production Award for his screenplay, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and a National Geographic All Roads grant. In anticipation of the film, he was named one of the “10 to Watch in 2010” by the Independent Magazine. Syeed’s previous work includes Bronx Princess, A Son’s Sacrifice, and The Calling.

REVIEWS:
"Valley of Saints is a tale of enduring friendship, cautionary statement on the importance of the ecosystem and environment, a love story and a patriotic ode. [The film] has a light-hearted and sincere nature that is almost disconcerting in its innocence." - Film Threat

"The Alfred P. Sloan jury presented the Sundance award to the film for its “brave, poetic and visually arresting evocation of a beautiful but troubled region, and for its moving, nuanced and accurate depiction of the relationship between a local boatman and a young woman scientist whose research challenges the status quo and offers hope for a restored ecosystem.” " - Hollywood Reporter

PRINT SOURCE:
Jeffrey Winter, The Film Collaborative
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