Traveling Film South Asia opens eyes by moving across borders
Last October in a crowded auditorium in Kathmandu, Shyam Benegal took the stage to announce the winners of the biannual Film South Asia (FSA) documentary competition. Of the hundreds of documentaries submitted from across the region, 45 had been selected to compete at FSA 2001. As Benegal, the chairman of the threemember jury panel, rose to announce the winners, a hush fell over the over-capacity crowd, which spilled into the aisles. "And the winner is…"
FSA's origins date to 1997, when Himal Association, a Kathmandu-based group, and Himal magazine decided to organise a regional documentary film festival. Since that time, the competition has grown to involve hundreds of filmmakers from across the region. Most significant has been the evolution of a traveling festival that takes FSA's best documentaries to audiences small and large in South Asia and overseas.
The latest Traveling Film South Asia (TFSA) set out immediately after the awards ceremony ended last October and has traveled so far to venues in Pakistan, India and the United States. TFSA Coordinator Archana Bhandary explains that the focus of the organisers is to promote a "screening revolution" in the region by ensuring that not only film buffs and elite urban audiences but also lay viewers and those in smaller towns get to enjoy the films. "The non-fiction films being produced now have a lot of variety, and many are rather slickly made. And we believe there is an audience for these documentary films all over – the only problem being that no one has taken it to them." Bhandary says the organisers encourage groups all over South Asia to screen TFSA. "The package of films comes for free for South Asia venues, subsidised through a modest charge for all overseas screenings."