MELBOURNE, 19 July 2023: At this year’s Indian Film Festival of Melbourne-2023 (11-20 August 2023) there are three award winning & beautifully poignant films that shed light on life in Kashmir. Maagh (The Winter Within) & I’m Not the River Jhelum will be screened in cinemas. And, the documentary short Siege in the Air can be seen online.
Siege in the Air: The film, weaves together a narrative of what it means to live under unending and recurrent cycles of lockdowns in Kashmir, keeping the Article 370 abrogation’s and communication blockade at the centre.
Director, Screenplay, Producer and Editor– Muntaha Amin DoP Ghania Siddique
Music -Reneesh Basheer, Vimal Nazar
Sound Design– Mohammad Fibin
I’am Not River Jhelum: In following the life of Afeefa, the film traces her growing understanding of the forces at play in Kashmir that lead to her feelings of suffocation and trauma, evoking the atmosphere of perpetual uncertainty and violence in the milieu.
Cast:Amba Suhasini K Jhala, Lokesh Jain, Hiba Qamar, Anand Kumar, Gandharv Dewan, Farooq Bilal Fazli, Syeda Hameed, Inder Salim
Director:Prabhash Chandra
Maagh (The Winter Within): A young Kashmiri woman searches for her husband, a militant who has been ‘disappeared’ by occupying forces, in this compelling drama from actor-turned-director Aamir Bashir. Aamir Bashir was born in Srinagar, Kashmir. His directorial debut Autumn (2010) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Urdu in 2012. The Winter Within is his second film.
For all information – https://www.iffm.com.au/
