RELEASED: April 14, 2005

DANVILLE, KY—Traveling Film South Asia, a series showcasing documentary films from such South Asian countries as India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, will come to the Centre College campus the week of April 13-20. Centre will be one of more than 50 international venues showing the films, which are showcased every other year at the Film South Asia Festivals in Kathmandu. The screenings, sponsored by the International Students Association (ISA), will be held in Young 101 and are free and open to all.

The following are summaries of the films, courtesy of TFSA:

Friday, April 15

6:15 p.m. A Night of Prophecy (77 minutes) India, 2002, director Amar Kanwar. The film travels in the states of Maharashta, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Kashmir. Through poetry you see where all the territories are heading towards, where you belong, and where to intervene, if you want to. The narratives merge, allowing us to see a more universal language of symbols and meanings. This moment of merger is the simple moment of prophecy.

7:40 p.m. Resilient Rhythms (64 minutes) India, 2002, director Gopal Menon. India's caste system places nearly 160 million people, the dalits, at the outskirts of society. It exploits their services but at the same time denies them acceptance as human beings. Resilient Rhythms deals with a range of dalit responses to their marginalization, from armed struggle to electoral politics.

Saturday, April 16

6 p.m. The Unconscious (19 minutes) Maharastra/India 2003, director Manisha Dwivedi. This film is a journey with men who call themselves kothi. They are men for their families and society, but for themselves they are women, and wives of other "macho" men. They walk two tightropes, both of fear and disgrace of and for their families and 'husbands.' And yet, they celebrate womanhood in their world of disguises.

6:25 p.m. The 18th Elephant—3 Monologues (62 minutes) Kerala/India, 2003, director P. Balan. Winner of the Ram Bahadur Trophy for the Best Film at Film South Asia '03. This film is a critique of modern man's mercenary attitude towards nature and his anthropocentric conception of development. The sad plight of the elephant in both its wild and domesticated states exposes how such behavior brings death and wreaks havoc on the lives and habitats of other species.

7:30 p.m. Swara—A Bridge over Troubled Water (40 minutes) Pakistan, 2003. Director Samar Minallah Swara examines and comments on the Pakhtun practice, in northwest Pakistan, of giving minor girls in marriage as reparation for serious crimes such as murder committed by their fathers, brother, or uncles.

Sunday, April 17

6:30 p.m. Bhedako Oon Jasto - In Search of a Song ... (55 minutes) Nepal, 2003, director Kiran Krishna Shrestha. Winner of the Special Mention at Film South Asia '03. For eight years, a well-known Nepali journalist would sing an unknown folk song he'd heard in the highlands north of Kathmandu to his friends and to strangers. Since no one had heard the song, he traveled up the mountains north of Kathmandu with members of a popular Nepali band and a friend, the filmmaker, in search of the source of this song.

7:30 p.m. Hunting Down Water (32 minutes) India, 2003, director Sanjaya Barnela and Vasant Saberwal. India's present water crisis is of its own making. The patterns of water use are changing, with increased cultivation of water-intensive cash crops. But there are other changes that defy logic, such as the growing number of private swimming pools in cities, rain dances and water amusement parks. As a consequence more and more of the rural poor are now forced to migrate.

Tuesday, April 19

6:30 p.m. Made in India (39 minutes) India, 2002, director Madhusree Dutta. A rural artist paints her autobiography, images of Bollywood movie icons are erased after a week-long run of their films, the national flag flutters on 150 kites, installation artists paint pop icons on the rolling shutters of shops. Symbols of nationalism become a fashionable commodity. Made in India is about contemporary visual cultures in India.

7:20 p.m. Sand and Water (105 minutes) Bangladesh, 2002, director Shaheen Dill-Riaz. Winner of the Third Best Film Award at Film South Asia '03. The middle section of the Jamuna, one of the three main rivers in Bangladesh, is called "the deadly paradise." Sand and Water shows how the people of the islands here live in the most extreme natural conditions and cope with the "moods" of Jamuna, which also provides them with their livelihood and fertile islands.

Wednesday, April 20

6:30 p.m. Itihaas Jitneharuka Laagi (History for Winners) (55 minutes) Nepal, 2003, director Pranay Limbu. An award-winning singer makes a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to make a comeback after being in musical hibernation for seven years. Itihaas Jitneharuka Laagi portrays the changes in the Nepali music scene, as represented by Kuber Rai and Dhiraj Rai. The two singers are a study in contrasts, with their diametrically opposing personalities and attitude towards music.

7:30 p.m. Shei Rater Kotha Bolte Eshechi (Tale of the Darkest Night) (43 minutes) Bangladesh, 2001, director- Kawsar Chowdhury. Winner of the Second Best Film Award at Film South Asia '03. The film tells the story of the killings by the Pakistani army in Dhaka University. Surviving members and witnesses speak, and bring alive the havoc of that night. The documentary also includes the wireless messages the Pakistani army exchanged that night.

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