Tasveer Film Festival: A snapshot of South Asia
Seattle-based Tasveer Film Festival, also known as Tasveer South Asian Film Festival (TSAFF), this year became the first and only South Asian film festival to be designated as an Oscar-qualifying film festival by the Academy of Motion Pictures, has bestowed Tasveer with status, reaching the ranks of Tribeca and Cinequest. In a recent interview with me, festival founder and director, Rita Meher, said the first Tasveer Film Festival in 2004, then called The Independent South Asian Film Festival, was organized at Seattle’s Broadway Performance Hall to stand up against ethnic racism and hate crimes, and to usher social change through films, art, and storytelling.
Over the last two decades, Tasveer has provided a platform to amplify under-represented South Asian voices. Today the festival curates 60-80 films from nearly 500 submissions every year. It includes films from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet, and South Asian diaspora from all parts of the world.
Tasveer has showcased trailblazing filmmakers like Shaunak Sen, Mariam Ghani, Roya Sadat, and niche storytellers like Tibetan directors Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam or Anand Patwardhan, whose unique perspectives can sometimes be too politically incorrect for the theaters. Along with Rita Meher, I also had the opportunity to interview actor, writer and producer Neal Reddy, whose latest short film, Barely Breathing, left a lasting impression on us. Reddy said watching films from different parts of South Asia was a unique experience for his family.
Excerpts from the interview
