4th DC South Asian Film Festival concludes in Gaithersburg

The festival screened about 35 alternative motion pictures including documentaries.

AB Wire

The three day DC South Asian Film Festival held at the AMC Loews Rio Cinemas in Gaithersburg, MD, concluded on September 27. Many prominent films from South Asia were screened and popular film personalities attended the festival.

Hosted by Ceasar Productions, the festival screened about 35 alternative motion pictures including documentaries from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Actress Riya Sen, who attended the festival to pay tribute to famous Indian filmmaker late Rituparno Ghosh, said “I am honored to be here and I feel like home because of the warmth of the Indian community here”.

Speaking on the occasion, Ravi Kapoor, director of the “Miss India America”, which was screened in the festival, said “DC South Asian Film Festival along with many other south Asian film festivals, are very integral in terms of telling our stories”.

Ravi Kapoor said that many people related themselves to the characters in his film. He expressed happiness over Americans showing interest in watching films which have stories from the South Asian background.

“If we didn’t have venues like DCSAFF to help us find an audience, we wouldn’t be as motivated”, he added.

Writer and producer Rishi Bhilawadikar, whose film ‘For Here or to Go’ tells the story of an immigrant family, said that platforms like DCSAFF are really critical for bringing alternative cinema to a wider audience.

Speaking about the film festival, Bhilawadikar said, “It has been a fantastic showcase of south diversities within the south Asian Diaspora. I have been very impressed by the number of stories that have been covered and the number of nationalities that have been covered in a south Asian festival”.