Tasveer and Chaya present
Aaina: South Asian Women’s Focus
5th Year Anniversary!!!
April 9th, 10th, 11th
Ethnic Cultural Theater, University of Washington
Featuring YONI KI BAAT! (South Asian adaptation of the Vagina Monologues)
Aaina, which in Urdu means mirror, focuses on and celebrates the artistic and activist work by, for, and about South Asian women. The variety of media includes film, performances, visual art, workshops and speakers aimed at highlighting issues relevant to South Asian women. Chaya will be releasing its first ever zine publication, a compilation of personal narratives, perspectives, and art to raise awareness about issues of violence and oppression in the South Asian community. Look out for 3 shows of the popular and powerful Yoni ki Baat on April, 9, 10, and 11!
Gupshup: Aaina Opening Night on April 9, 6 pm
Join us for an evening of chit chat and gupshup with local South Asian women artists and activists as we kick start Aaina 2010.
This year, we’re excited to partner with the following South Asian women for an evening of Gupshup.
· Kim Vora of Anarkali, a new business that ethically sources the small treasures of South Asia and brings them to Seattle, will have items for sale throughout the festival.
· Local author Shahana Dattagupta will have her new book Ten Avatars on sale.
· Salma Uddin, owner of Hair Rageous in Renton, will provide “threading” services and styling consultations for attendees.
CALL FOR ARTISTS
We’re also inviting all local South Asian female artists to submit their works of art to display at Gupshup. Feel free to submit paintings, written works, photographs, graphic art, music, decorative art pieces, and more! Please e-mail Alisha at aldamodaran@gmail.com for details. Given Aaina’s focus on social justice issues, we hope to display works or informational materials that aim to activate or empower South Asian women
Yoni Ki Baat: South Asian Adaptation of the Vagina Monologues on April 9 & 10th@ 8pm ; April 11th@ 5pm
Yoni Ki Baat is a collection of authentic, bold, vivid, tender, powerful and poignant stories told by South Asian women.
Every year Yoni Ki Baat is unique featuring local South Asian women, many of whom write their own scripts. This year’s Yoni Ki Baat is directed by Anjulie Ganti, a longtime Chaya and Tasveer supporter.
Every year thus far, YKB has been sold out!
Buy your tickets today at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/104025
FILMS on April 10th@ 5pm
Tasveer Picks: International Shorts made by and about South Asian women
$8, Saturday, April 10th, 5PM
Tasveer Picks some old and some new for this beautiful, inspiring and complex collection of short films. We are still confirming the lineup, but stay tuned. Here are few that have been confirmed:
"This will be the Last Time..." (Gazelle Samizay, Afghanistan/US, 2008, 5min)
 In an effort to escape her marital problems, a woman preoccupies herself with washing a seemingly clean bed sheet. Constrained by cultural stigmas and pride, she will not leave her husband. She prefers to maintain the façade of a perfect life over her own happiness. However, all the past memories of the relationship metaphorically seep out of the sheet. Soon, she feels the burden of keeping silent, and realizes that she is complicit in her own misery. Instead of escaping her problems, she is consumed by them, until they render her powerless.
Sum Total (Sonali Gulati, US, 2000, 5min):
What does an Indian lesbian do when her family puts pressure on her to get married? What does her matrimonial advertisement look like? sum total answers these questions through a short poetic film that addresses issues of identity, self-representation, and hetronormativity.
Desire Of The Moth (Amrita Mahadik, India, 2005, 15min)
 This 76-year-old YOUNG woman looks like any grandma next door but her paintings reflect the maturity of a Sensitive Artiste. Her half "Marathi" half "Tamil" features add a unique charm to her personality. An honest human being with child-like genuineness and with true spirit, who has accepted life as it came, Shakuntala Patade, the grandma with an impish smile has a lot to tell through the film.
Flying (Kirthi Nath, India, 2009, 9min)
Flying is a personal essay inspired by the memories of a loved one lost. Flying is a poetic visual documentary journey about loving,
grief, letting go and a search for faith. Flying explores when you are not sure it is out there.
Beauty Parlor (Mehreen Jabbar, Pakistan, 1998, 18min)
 Beauty parlor gives a glimpse into the lives of four characters in a salon. Two friends, a bride, a prostitute and a hijra deal with issues of identity and desire.Beauty parlor gives a glimpse into the lives of four characters in a salon. Two friends, a bride, a prostitute and a hijra deal with issues of identity and desire.
Little Miss Eyeflap ( Iram Haq, Norway, 2009, 9min)
 Through a ten-minute aesthetic animation film withreal actors, we follow a young immigrant girl’s hesitant steps out into the Norwegian reality. For the first time, Skylappjenta has to find her way in life alone, as an assimilated Pakistani who belongs nowhere.
" Official Selection of Sundance Film Festival 2010 "
Program sponsored by Dreamfly
Laxmi and Me
Nishtha Jain, India, 2008, 59minutes, Hindi/English, DVD
$5, Sunday, April 11th, 3PM
 Even in a metropolis like Bombay, old feudal attitudes still govern relationships between employers and their ‘servants'. Against this backdrop, Nishtha begins making a film with Lakshmi, her part-time maid. 20-year-old Lakshmi's is a precarious existence to begin with; illness and romance compound her problems in unexpected ways. As the filmmaker is drawn deeper into Lakshmi's life, she is forced to look at aspects of her own self as well, and to question many of the things she takes for granted. During a year and a half of dramatic changes,
the process of filming has its own impact on unfolding events and on the relationship between the two women.
If you missed the film on PBS here is your another chance to view. Here is the article from PBS
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lakshmiandme/film.html
FREE WORKSHOP on April 11th@ 1pm
Human Rights, Film, and Advocacy: "The Sari Soldiers", "Tales from the Margins", and "There was a Queen"
FREE, Sunday, April 11th, 1PM
In this workshop, Alka Kurian will explore the ways in which documentary film has been used a tool of resistance against women's human rights violations in South Asia.
Using the example of a few representative documentary films, she will investigate the significance of “technologies of witnessing”, and the “visual culture of human rights”. Films: “The Sari Soldiers,” “Tales from the Margins,” and "There was a Queen."
Alka Kurian is presently working on her book entitled South Asian Cinema: Gender, Justice and Dissent, due for publication. She was also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sunderland (UK), with a teaching portfolio covering media and cultural studies, film and literature of the Indian subcontinent, postcolonial studies, black popular culture, and Third World feminisms.
Donations are accepted.
If you are attending please RSVP to rita@tasveer.org
Community Events
BollyQ featuring DJ An1jali ; April 3rd, Saturday
Cafe Metropolitain, 1701 E Olive Way,
Get on your dancing shoes with Trikone Northwest at our biggest party of the year! Dance to your favorite Bollywood and Bhangra sounds by DJ Anjali, the Northwest's hottest Desi DJ who's been rocking Portland for ten 'dhamakedaar' years!
Saturday University Lecture Series
The Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park invites you to its Saturday University, for the spring series on Religions and their Expressions in Contemporary Asian Societies, for six Saturdays beginning March 20, from 9:30 to 11am. Join us to explore a few of the ways that Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam in Asia are expressed through contemporary societies, politics, and the arts.
For ticket information, call (206) 654-3121 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (206) 654-3121 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit seattleartmuseum.org.
Volunteers Needed:
Three Dollar Bill Cinema is hosting its 3rd annual auction March 26--this year with a theme from the brat-pack film Pretty in Pink (think high school
prom and Molly Ringwald). For more information, contact Kevin Fansler (kevin@threedollarbillcinema.org) or go
directly to our online sign-up tool and look through the shifts available
(registration required): www.threedollarbillcinema.org/volunteer/
|
