A group of South Asian filmmakers, including Indian director Anurag Kashyap (Kennedy) and the team behind Pakistani Directors Fortnight title In Flames, talked on a Cannes panel about how cinema can cross the political barriers that are keeping their countries apart.
Tensions between India and Pakistan are making it difficult for films and filmmakers to travel between each other’s countries, despite the popularity of Indian cinema in Pakistan, and the recent rise of Pakistani films on the world stage, including In Flames and last year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner, Joyland.
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Kashyap, who is in Cannes with neo-noir thriller Kennedy playing Out Of Competition, said a new generation of young producers from different South Asian countries is helping talent from the region to work together and introducing global audiences to the whole region’s films: “These young producers make a difference because they don’t have any boundaries,” Kashyap said.
In Flames director Zarrar Kahn agreed and name-checked his own producer, LA and Toronto-based Shant Joshi, who was also speaking on the panel, and Apoorva Charan (Joyland), who like many of this new generation, works between South Asia and the US.
“International opportunities are happening because these producers are coming through from more established industries and helping South Asian collaboration grow,” said Kahn. “And that is how growth is going to happen – as a community.”
Anadil Hossain, a US and Bangladesh-based producer, who co-produced Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, agreed there’s a growing sense of solidarity: “I’ve been a great ambassador for Bollywood over the years, but was never really accepted because I’m not Indian. But I think that’s changing, especially with my other South Asian sisters coming up.”
Fawzia Mirza, a Canada-born Queer Muslim filmmaker (The Queen Of My Dreams), talked about cinema overcoming boundaries of sexuality, religion and race. “My first short film was asking if can I be Queer and Muslim and love Bollywood romance all at the same time, and the answer is yes, but if I couldn’t make that film I would have no way of expressing my internal truth,” Mirza said.
The panellists also touched on the rise of nationalism and censorship in India. “I’ve always told myself that the best Iranian cinema came out of the most challenging times, so there’s always a way around,” said Kashyap. “Especially genre filmmakers, they always find a way to tell their story, and that’s what changes society.”
Kahn said: “My heart goes out to the Indian film industry, because what’s happening now looks a lot like what we went through in Pakistan in the 1970s.”
He also said international film festivals and labs are crucial for bringing filmmakers from across South Asia together: “I went to Busan’s Asian Film Academy and met people from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka that I could never have met in Pakistan.”
The panel, ‘South Asian Stories In The Global Market’, was hosted by Telefilm Canada, In Flames producer Other Memory Media, executive producer Fae Pictures and South Asian-US cultural collective Product Of Culture.
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