This year’s Cinequest Film Festival will present 13 days of films, including 200 international movies from 44 countries. Among them will be four films depicting Indian themes. The films are showing at Camera 12 (C12), 201 S. Second St., San Jose, (408) 998-3300, and at California Theatre, (Cal) 345 S. First St., San Jose, (408) 295-9600. Below are the film details.
Raavana. Like the roar of a thousand tablas in full frenzy, this modern retelling of an ancient tale is a dizzying roller-coaster ride of passionate storytelling. Based loosely on the Ramayana tale of the kidnapping of Ram’s wife played by leading Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai, Mani Ratnam’s direction creates a blinding cornucopia of love, jealousy and vengeance. In Tamil with English subtitles.March 8, 7 p.m. (Cal) and March 9, 6:45pm, (C12).
Madly In Love. In a crazy world it only makes sense to fall madly in love. With innovative directing that conjures a multiethnic love story incorporating Bollywood style song and dance into a delightful celebration about the fact that what sets us apart, also makes us attractive. In Tamil and German with English subtitles. March 3, 2:30 p.m. (C12); March 9, 7 p.m. (Rep); March 11, 9:30 p.m. (C12).
Troublemaker. “Nowadays it all seems to be a little less, a little more.” Rehka Kumar is a strong-willed, aspiring writer with massive financial problems and a serious chip on her shoulder. She ventures to Seattle with her ex-boyfriend, Omar, in search of financial assistance from her estranged father. On the road, she quickly discovers that it’s not really her father’s money that she needs at all. This poignant and headstrong coming-of-age story shows us that the search for security extends far beyond finances. In English. March 4, 9:30 p.m., (C12); March 6, 1:30 p.m., (C12); and March 7, 12 p.m. (C12).
Bardsongs. The art of the bards, singing story-tellers from the dawn of time, still exists today as a living, vital art form in many places on the globe. Here are three of them. In India’s Rajastan, in African Mali and in trans-Himalayan Ladakh, the bard’s songs tell ancient tales that simultaneously entertain, entrance and teach the stories specific to each culture, the truths universal. In Hindi and Bambara with English subtiles. March 2, 9:15 p.m., (C12); March 7, 12:15 p.m., (C12); and March 12, 7:15 p.m. (C12).