Indian Film Festival of Houston February 23-24, 2024

WEDNESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2010
Theater 1 | Feature Film – COOKING WITH STELLA

DIRECTOR : Dilip Mehta
LANGUAGE : English
CANADA | 104 Minutes

At first glance, Stella, who has cooked for Canadian High Commission families for thirty years, is a religious Catholic and devoted servant in New Delhi. Everyone loves her, not knowing she has a thriving side-line business selling food, silver, jewelry and anything else she can steal from the household. She’s devious, making it appear that other employees are responsible for the thefts.

When a new family arrives with their baby, Stella assumes that the husband Michael is a diplomat. Instead, Maya, his half-Indian/half-Polish/Canadian wife is the Consul. Michael, a chef in Ottawa, looks for a diversion from being a house-husband and implores Stella to be his “cooking guru.” After initially refusing, she relents. An honest nanny enters the household and a series of adventures ensue. A plot is uncovered and in culinary terms, Stella gets her just “desserts.”

THURSDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2010
Theater 1 | Short Film – BOOND

DIRECTOR : Abhishek Pathak
LANGUAGE : Hindi
DURATION : 26 Minutes

Water becomes the major focus of life in the stark futuristic film Boond. Its lone source is carefully guarded by an unmarried woman and her young bastard son whose father dug the well then was killed after it was completed. The cruel village leader plots to take the well by force with surprising results. Caution: Language

Theater 1 | Feature Film – SHOB CHARITRO KALPONIK (Afterwards In The Language Of Lost Love)

DIRECTOR : Rituparno Ghosh
LANGUAGE : Bengali
DURATION : 102 Minutes

The poet Indraneel Mitra is about to be memorialized by his colleagues and admirerers. He died of a massive heart attack not long after learning that he won a prestigious prize, including a large sum of money, for his book. His wife Radhika.sits on the stage listening to the recitation of his beautiful poems. Though a series of flashbacks, she reviews their life together, remembering their conflicts. By education, he was an engineer, yet he often missed work, was irresponsible, lazy, undependable and had a hard time making money. By contrast, Radhika was the “adult” of the relationship, taking responsibility for keeping food on the table.
She relives the moment when she heard that Indraneel was dead. She was away, taking care of her ill mother, accompanied by her colleague Shekhar. Radhika had planned to ask for a divorce, then was jolted by the news. During the days after her return, she fantasizes that her husband is still there with her, along with the imaginary woman featured in his book. As the film ends, Radhika accepts reality and begins to live again.

Theater 2 | Feature Film – HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY

DIRECTOR : Paresh Mokashi
LANGUAGE : Bengali

Dadasaheb Phalke was a multi-talented man who was ahead of his time. After dabbling in photography, printing and performing magic, he became mesmerized when he saw his first silent film. He learned as much as he could in his small town, then traveled to England where he was taught about equipment and technical matters. He made the first Indian full-length “moving picture’ in 1913. This period piece is a humorous look at his trials and tribulations making Raja Harishchandra at a time when no decent woman would dare be an actress, so he used men in wigs instead. His search for cast and crew, involving his family in the adventures, are recreated and the sped-up shots in this film are like those in early silent films. Phalke’s marketing skills changed empty theaters into sold out ones, and he is considered the Father of Indian Cinema.

FRIDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2010
Theater 1 | Feature Film – UDAAN

DIRECTOR : Vikramaditya Motwane
LANGUAGE : Hindi

A seemingly minor infraction is one too many for Rohan and his three classmates. They are thrown out of a prestigious boarding school where he has spent eight straight years after his mother died. His father never visited him, so he has a rude awakening when he returns to his small industrial town to find his young half-brother Arjun whom he never knew existed. His father is so irate at the expulsion, he forces Rohan, an aspiring writer, to work long hours at the factory.
His cruelty breaks the spirit of the once rebellious boy. When Rohan discovers that Arjun, whom he has grown to love, has been beaten so severely that he is hospitalized, Rohan takes matters into his own hands with satisfying results.

Theater 2 | Documentary REVEALED: SHAH RUKH KHAN

DIRECTOR : Samar Khan
LANGUAGE : English
DURATION : 45 Minutes

The actor who began his career as dark anti-heroes and rose to become a Mega-Star is the subject of an unusual biography. Film critics and scholars, an advertising/brand expert, the Editor of Vogue, India, and a social anthropologist give insight into Shah Rukh Khan’s phenomenal rise. His movies opened the overseas market and captured the spirit of the nation. Snippets of his films, such as “My Name Is Khan” are shown, and the engaging “King” Khan himself shares his thoughts about family and films.

Theater 2 | Feature Film – THE JAPANESE WIFE

DIRECTOR : Aparna Sen
LANGUAGE : English/ Bengali
DURATION : 105 Minutes

This is a haunting but improbable love story involving three shy people: Snehamoy Chatterjee, an Arithmetic teacher in a school in the interiors of riverine West Bengal; Miyage the Japanese girl who became his wife through a strange sequence of letters, and Sandhya, a widow forced by circumstances to take refuge in his home.

SATURDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2010 AT 03:00 PM
Theater 1| Documentary – WOMAN REBEL

DIRECTOR : Kiran Deol
LANGUAGE : Neapali/English
DURATION : 37 Minute

A young woman from the countryside of Nepal joins the Maoist rebels as a result of witnessing the effects of inequality on women and the poor. During the ten-year revolution, 1996-2006, she fights against government forces, the side which her brother has chosen.
Uma Bhujel, code name “Silu,” rises to leadership in the People’s Liberation Army which is comprised of 40% women. Eventually Nepalese, tired of the senseless waste of life, press for peace. When the King steps down, and a new Parliament is formed, Uma/”Silu” becomes a Constitutional Assembly Member. She vows to continue the struggle for the right of everyone to have food, clothes and a roof over their head. But this time she’s working within the law

Theater 1 | Feature Film – THE SUN BEHIND THE CLOUDS: TIBET’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

DIRECTOR : Ritu Sarin – Tenzin Sonam
LANGUAGE : Neapali/English
INDIA/ UK | 79 Minutes

In 1959, ten years after the Chinese invaded Tibet, The Dalai Lama led an exodus of his people to Dharamsala, India, where they have made their home in the diaspora. He feels that the Tibetan Issue is not “pro-Tibetan nor anti-Chinese; but rather, it is pro-justice.” He accepts having the Chinese rule, but for general autonomy. In addition to the huge numbers of Chinese already there, the new railroad brought 1.5 million Chinese migrant workers and aspiring entrepreneurs to Tibet, which will cause the character of the country to vanish. The documentary gives a comprehensive look at Tibetans who were born in India and want to go back, at those who were born in Tibet, and how both differ with the Dalai Lama’s philosophy of “The Middle Way”.

Theater 2 | Short Film – YOU CAN’T CURRY LOVE

DIRECTOR : Reid Waterer
LANGUAGE : English
USA | 23 Minutes

A “closeted” young Indo-British executive who is obsessed with his boss is temporarily transferred to India to oversee the new office. He resists going, but on the first day meets and begins a comfortable relationship with the desk clerk. The film gives a light-hearted look at the two men as they go sightseeing. When the executive returns to London, he is given the choice of a large promotion which means traveling around Europe with his boss, or returning to manage the office in India. What will he decide?

Theater 1 | Short Film – THE ROAD HOME

DIRECTOR : Rahul Gandotra
LANGUAGE : English
USA | 23 Minutes

Sent by his parents to an international boarding school in the Himalayas, Pico grapples with his identity as he escapes from his boarding school in search of the road back home to England.

Best Feature Film Jury Award : Udaan : Vikramaditya Motwane
Best Documentary Film Jury Award : Women Rebel : Kiran Deol
Best Short Film Jury Award : Sun Behind the Clouds : Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam
Special Recognition : “Cooking with Stella” : directed by Dilip Mehta
IFFH First Philanthropy Award : Carolyn Farb
IFFH First Leadership Award : Amit Khanna : Reliance Media Works