FILMI 8
8th Annual South Asian Film Festival

Every year has seen FILMI South Asian Film Festival grown in some capacity and this year is no exception as it rapidly establishes itself as a Toronto cultural institution. In seven previous years, audiences have grown to over 5,000 people annually, and now FILMI, with the support of many of its generous sponsors, has expanded its ability to showcase and premiere many Canadian films by South Asian filmmakers as well as South Asian films from around the world by remaining national.

This year again, the FILMI South Asian Film Festival will showcase films in Vancouver during the Summer MELA! 2007 August 17th to 19th, 2007

In Toronto, the flagship festival is also continuing it's tradition of bringing the best new South Asian films to the public as this year's eighth annual FILMI South Asian Film Festival from August 8th to the 12th, 2007. This year's FILMI8 features a whole host of exciting and riveting films about South Asian Diaspora. Programming highlights include: The closing night film Life in a Metro, by Anurag Basu, the hilarious Canadian premiere of Offshore by Diane Cheklich, Liz Mirmin's comical documentary Office Tigers, and the eye opening diary about bollywood backup dancers Personality by Toronto's own Vinay Chowdhry. The festival kicks off with a first look at the up coming feature film The Night Writer by Bobby S. Brown

FILMI8 will also showcase Richie Mehta's short Amal, now a feature film making its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, as an act of continued support for a local filmmaker whose early films all made their premiere at FILMI.

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 together, they have grown this festival through a labour of love to be the largest of its kind in North America.

The word 'Filmi' is Hindi slang, referring to anything associated with the Indian motion picture industry. The festival itself 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 endeavours 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.

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

Ultimately the, vision of the Filmi South Asian Film Festival is 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. As such, they applaud and encourage all those who have supported the movement since its inception; that there are many more great things to come. However the greatest plaudits are reserved for FILMI's audience. It is the film going audience of the greater Toronto area that has made this festival the success that it is, by demanding interesting, intelligent, well crafted and delightful films and coming out in droves to witness the latest sparkling celluloid creation.

If you love movies, FILMI has seats reserved and ready.

FILMI South Asian Film Festival is currently in its 8th year with a 5-day festival in Toronto, with screenings at the National Film Board, and the AGO's Jackman Hall, as well a 3 day festival in Vancouver, with screenings at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. For a complete program listing please visit www.filmi.org on August 1st 2007 and buy tickets online exclusively through www.mybindi.com