Famed Indian directors to attend film festival

Thursday, February 20, 2003, By News Staff

Famed Indian directors to attend film festivalFebruary 20, 2003Cynthia J. Moritzcjmoritz@syr.edu

Renowned Indian directors Jabbar Patel and Aparna Sen will attend the final two days of “Illuminating Oppression: A Film Festival on Human Rights in South Asia,” Feb. 22 and 23 in Room 254 of Newhouse II on the Syracuse University campus.

Patel’s 1999 film “Dr. Ambedkar” will be shown Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. The screening will be followed by the discussion with the director. The film is the true story of the title character fighting against his “untouchable” status and for the rights of the millions of others born into similar circumstances.

Sen’s award-winning 2002 film “Mr. And Mrs. Iyer” will be shown in a newly added session Feb. 23 at 1 p.m., after which Sen will discuss the film. The film, a love story about two unlikely traveling companions drawn to each other under harrowing circumstances, takes on the issue of Hindu-Muslim conflict in India.

Besides being a film director, Patel is a well-known Marathi theater personality and a pediatrician who runs a hospital with wife. His previous directorial credits include “Simhasan,” “Jait Re Jait” and “Umbartha.”

Sen began her film career as an actress, starring in Satyajit Ray’s “Teen Kanya” and “The Middleman” and James Ivory’s “Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie’s Pictures.” She is also the editor of the “Sananda,” the first Bengali women’s magazine.

Other new films on the schedule for “Illuminating Oppression” are as follows:

  • Feb. 14, 5-7 p.m.: “Deham” (Body), India’s first science-fiction movie, which explores the future of Bombay’s poor, who in 2022 have much the same fate as they do now, except that in this stark future ruled by multinational conglomerates, there is a market for young men’s body parts to replace those of an aging Western generation. The film, directed by Govind Nihalani, last 120 minutes.
  • Feb. 22, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.: “11.9.02,” U.S. director Mira Nair’s docudrama of a South Asian family in Queens, N.Y.