Bengali feature and documentary to be screened at Gothenburg film festival

The 35th Göteborg International Film Festival, from 27 January till 6 February 2012, has a rather limited stock of South Asian movies on the programme. The only feature to be screened is ”Runaway” by the Bengali-American film maker Amit Ashraf, previously working with a number of documentaries, short films, commercials and animations. "Runaway" is his first feature film that took him back to Bangladesh to work with producer Sumon Arefin. It is a film about three men who run from their homes, searching for something better. Perhaps a better wife. Perhaps a better life. Then there is one man who is hired to find these runaways. He locks them up and brings them back  home. He is constantly on the prowl for his big catch.
The director Amit Ashraf will be present at the festival in Gothenburg. The film is scheduled for 4 and 5 February.
Kolkata-based film maker Nilanjan Bhattacharya will also be represented in Gothenburg with his 2011 film ”Rain In The Mirror”, a documentary about three generations of men from one family living in Sikkim near the border with Tibet in the Himalayas. Bhattacharya has been involved in film making for the last 15 years. He has worked in feature films as an assistant director to Tapan Sinha. The new film, that is scheduled for 28th and 30th January,  has been produced with support including from  Göteborg International Film Festival’s Film Fund.

Finally, British director Michael Winterbottom has made an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel ”Tess of the d'Urbervilles”.  The film, entitled ”Trishna”, was shot in Jaipur and Mumbai, India, and the leading stars are Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed. 

Aside of the film program, there will be a seminar with the Indian singer and actress Pallavi Arun who visits the festival with the Suchitra School of Cinema and Dramatic Arts, Bangalore. Pallavi has won the Karnataka State Film Award for her song in the film Duniya released in 2007. The seminar will take place on 1 February 2012, 19.00 at Draken cinema. 

More information on the 2012 Gothenburg International Film Festival.