The week long festival will be held to promote, discover, introduce and celebrate cinematic endeavours by talented South Asian filmmakers, and highlight works with South Asian themes that can be brought to a mainstream audience.

 

The FILMI South Asian Film Festival was created ten years ago in response to the absence of South Asian representation in the North American Film industry. Today it has grown to be the largest festival of its kind in North America, and aspires to become the largest outside India. The creation of the FILMI South Asian Festival is further proof that all great things are born from a dream. In 1999, Mohit Rajhans and Dinesh Sachdev founded FILMI. And ever since, this festival has become the largest of its kind in North America.

 

The Fourth Annual South Asian Filmi Festival will be opened by Ajay Naidu’s ASHES at Art Gallery of Ontario on September 30, 2010. For more information about the Opening night movie, click HERE.

 

FILMI will showcase 'Shorts' at its South Asian Film Festival on October 1, 2010. For more information, click HERE.

 

Canadian Premiere of Eyad Zahr’s ‘The Taqwacores’ will be held on October 2nd, 2010. For more information, click HERE.

 

‘Spirit of South Asia’ by Richie Mehta and Cyrus Sundar Singh will be showcased on the closing night of the FILMI South Asian Filmi Festival on October 3rd, 2010. For more information, click HERE.

 

 

The word 'Filmi' is Hindi slang, referring to anything associated with the Indian motion picture industry. The festival was created to promote South Asian independent films from around the world, and to provide a forum for South Asian artists to showcase their cinematic endeavors to a culturally diverse audience.

 

The first South Asian Film Festival debuted on September 30, 2000, at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The Filmi launch showcase featured Bugaboo, a Silicon Valley film by Sujit Saraf, a documentary by Tony Sehgal entitled No Laughing Matter, and East is East, by Damian O'Donnell.

 

By 2001, FILMI had grown exponentially - both programming, and in its number of supporters. The second annual festival was a two-day free event, showcasing six features and eight short films and attracting over 2,500 theatergoers.

 

Once again, the Harbourfront Centre hosted the event, generating interest among local and international media and drawing several over-capacity crowds. Among the feature presentations were Just a Little Red Dot, directed by Mitra Sen, Hyderabad Blues by Nagesh Kukunoor, and the shocking true story Bawandar (Sandstorm), directed by Jagmohan Mundrah.

 

In ten years, audiences have grown to over 5,000 people. FILMI, with the support of many of its generous sponsors, continues to have the opportunity to showcase and premiere many Canadian films by South Asian filmmakers as well as South Asian film from around the world.

 

Over the years, festival supporters have included Tonya Lee Williams, founder of the Reel World Film Festival, Alliance Atlantis, Where Magazine, Now Magazine, India Journal, Weekly Voice and South Asian Newsweek and the Asian Television Network.

FILMI hit the festival circuit during the summer of 2000, at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, earning accolades from the worldwide film community and audiences alike.

 

Continuing with its success, Filmi is now an annual event committed to cultivating a new audience for films produced outside of India and the Bollywood system.