The Indian Film Festival is Back in Htown!

Houston is always excited about Fall. Come Fall and we can enjoy the cool weather, welcome Indian festivities like Dusherra, Durga Puja, Diwali and celebration of Indian cinema. The Indian Film Festival of Houston returns for its 5th year in 2013. The inaugural festival’s success hosted at the residence of the Consul General of India led to a great start and spread the awareness of Indian culture by expanding the horizons of an international audience through the film medium. Lights Camera Action will be there on October 4, 2013 for the kick off of the Film Festival at its new location, Asia Society Texas Center to bring you all the details. This is certainly a must go event for cultural and movie lovers. See below the details about the movies being showcased at the film festival and to get ticket info visit iffhinc.org.

Some of the Films Selected for the 5th Annual Indian Film Festival of Houston are as follows:

“The Good Road” 92 min, Drama, Gujrati (with English Subtitle) Director: Gyan Correa

Pappu is a truck driver. Supporting his parents and extended family is beyond his means. Now, he has been presented a plan. An accident will be staged. Pappu will “die”. Insurance payments are substantial. David and Kiran, a middle class urban couple, with their son Aditya, are on a holiday. Aditya will be accidentally separated from them during a brief halt at a Dhaba. And his loss will only be discovered several hours, and several hundred kilometers later. They must double back to find him. Poonam is an 11-year old-year-old child from the city. She is looking for her grandmother, living in a town at the end of this highway. Tired and hungry, Poonam wisely stops at the Topaz, what seems to be a small garment dying unit.Aditya will be found by a local dhaba owner, and put onto Pappu’s truck. Has Aditya found a new and unlikely home on this truck? Later, when it is too late, Poonam will discover that the Topaz is not quite the place for her. She will be confronted, forcefully, with the very same choices she is running away from. Which way will this young girl turn? And Pappu, looking for answers to balance his need with those of this little boy, will find a new strength and conviction within.

“The Good Road” has been chosen as India’s entry for the best foreign film category at the Academy Awards 2013.

Goynar Baksho, (The Jewelery box) 136 min, Drama, Director: Aparna Sen

Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s famous tale of 3 generations of women & their changing position in society, seen in relation to a box of jewels, handed down from one generation to the next.

Celluloid, 129 min – Biography – Director: Kamaluddin Mohammad

The story of J C Daniel, who made the first ever Malayalam film ‘Vigathakumaran’ in 1928, resulting in his exile and eventual downfall.

Afterglow (II) 20 min – Short | Comedy | Drama, Director: Kaushal Oza

Today is the tenth day after Minocher Mirza’s death. And while his widow Meher is trying to come to terms with her personal grief; friends and relatives, according to Parsi customs, make their condolence visits and offer mock sympathy.

The Golden Hour, 60 min – Documentary | Action | Biography, Directors: Jessica McGaugh, Roma Sur

After witnessing one too many unnecessary roadside deaths and the personal tragic loss of a young cousin, a 29 year old man walks away from his corporate career to take on the convoluted political and social systems of India. Can one man make a difference in facing the monumental task of changing the cultural mindset of 1.2 billion people?

Silvatein, 20 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles. Director: Arati Raval Pandey

Silvatein looks at a relationship and a city through the lens of love. Arati, who has been born and raised in Mumbai or Bombay as she has always known it, sees the city changing at breakneck speed.The streets, the people and even the name. With the city, the people have changed too. As it is with relationships, even a city needs nurturing. As it is with a city, even a relationship needs the compassion of its people. The couple’s predicament mirrors the predicament of a city that’s trying to make peace with its varied shades.

When Hari Got Married, 75 min, Hindi.Documentary. Director: Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam

Hari, a 30-year-old Indian taxi driver, prepares for his arranged marriage to a girl he has never met, but with whom he has fallen in love on the mobile phone. Outspoken, opinionated and funny, Hari expounds on love, marriage, the state of India and his own upcoming marriage as he drives his clients around. Meanwhile, frantic preparations are afoot as his family makes sure that the wedding goes off without a hitch. The film takes an intimate and humorous look at the changes that are taking place in rural India, as modernity and globalization meet age-old traditions and customs.