India, Italy, Qatar, Romania202089 minGondiya, Madiya, Hindi with English subtitlesNorth American PremiereDocumentary, Open Captions
Somi and her husband met and fell in love while fighting alongside fellow Naxalites, a communist rebel group fighting for the rights of tribal communities in India for the past 50 years. Although the group represents a quarter of the population and lives in extreme poverty, Naxalites are seen as the biggest threat to national security for the State of India.
After a decade of armed struggle, Somi and her husband choose to surrender under the government’s Surrender Policy and begin the draining bureaucratic process of integrating into a hostile and unwelcoming Indian society. Through thoughtfully executed vignettes and with intimate access to Somi and her family, directors Arya Rothe, Cristina Hanes, and Isabella Rinaldi of the NoCut Film Collective construct a moving verité portrait of an ex-Naxalite family seeking a future for their children while being held hostage to the whims of a rigid and unforgiving contemporary Indian State.
– Mariam Zaidi
OFFICIAL SELECTION
International Film Festival of Rotterdam, 2020
Visions du Réel, 2020
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 2020
One World Romania, 2020
Durban International Film Festival, 2020
AWARDS
Special Jury Mention, International Film Festival of Rotterdam, 2020
Cristina Hanes, Arya Rothe, & Isabella Rinaldi
NoCut Film Collective was co-founded in 2016 by independent filmmakers Cristina Hanes (Romania), Arya Rothe (India), and Isabella Rinaldi (Italy) after studying together at DocNomads’ Master Course in Documentary Directing. NoCut Film’s first production is the creative documentary, A Rifle and A Bag (2020), directed and produced by the three co-founders.
12 Nov, 2020 10:00 am
to 19 Nov, 2020 11:59 pm
14A
ASL interpretation will be made available thanks to Toronto Sign Language Interpreter Services. Ticket holders can watch on the CineSend Reel Asian portal.
November 16, 2020 AT 11:00AM
Abundant with hope, desire, and resiliency, all six of these films make a statement to queer histories, presents, and futures—in front of and behind the screen. Includes National Film Board of Canada Best Canadian Short Film Award, Reel Asian 2020 winner SAFE AMONG STARS and winner of Change Connect Award, Reel Asian 2020 GOD'S DAUGHTER DANCES.
A cowardly horse robbery ends in murder, leaving a boy fatherless and his family in disarray. When the boy’s mother is forced to move the family out of their village, a mysterious man arrives who might be able to help restore order. What may appear to us as a “Western,” with its familiar framing of vast vistas and sublime steppes, is really a story about fractured families and survival in the wake of violence.
These six dynamic films touch upon art not solely as a creative practice for self expression but an integral force in making space, along with the responsibilities that come with it.
Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian, Asian diasporic, and Asian Canadian artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
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Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
