Akasa Kusum - Flowers of the Sky (Sri Lanka)

Please note: A short film TOPI will screen before the feature.

AKASA KUSUM - A mother’s search for a daughter she has never met. Sandhya Rani is an ageing film star who was once the darling of the silver screen. Having lost fame and fortune in a changing world, she now lives quietly in obscurity. She ekes out a living by renting out a room in her home to the young film and television stars of today to satisfy their illicit sexual desires. The popular young film star, Shalika, uses this room to carry on an affair with a young actor. When Shalika’s husband discovers this, the scandal and its publicity forces Rani into the limelight again.

Having left her husband, Shalika moves in with Rani and persuades her to join her in acting in a television soap opera. Sandhya Rani’s adoring fans are overjoyed as she returns to the public gaze. As she encounters her past again, the darker side of her rise to fame is revealed. Her daughter, Priya, whom Rani was forced to abandon when Priya was a just an infant, is now an attractive young woman who works as a hostess in a Karaoke night club. But she is also three months pregnant and infected with HIV.

Priya constantly watches her mother acting on television. Priya is bitter about her childhood abandonment and without meeting her face-to-face, Priya makes it known to her mother that she still exists and that Rani is responsible for her present plight. But this only makes Priya more lonely and depressed as she realizes she is hurting her mother. Rani’s guilt at what she did to her daughter in her rise to fame, drives her to search for Priya and seek forgiveness. But the form of her eventual forgiveness is not what she expected.

Sri Lanka 2010

Sinhala with English subtitles. 90 mins. Festival Rating

Director: Prasanna Vithanage Producers: H.H. Premasiri, A. Sreekar Prasad, Prasanna Vithanage.

Cast: Malani Fonseka

TOPI - Bir, a Hindu boy, is waiting to board a train from Pakistan to India with his mother, when a violent turn of events separates them. Lost in the middle of a communal riot, he must find her before it is too late. In 1947 the Indian empire was partitioned into India and Pakistan by the fading British Raj. The division was based on religious majorities and triggered one of the largest population migrations in history, displacing ten million people. Fearing persecution, Hindus and Sikhs fled to India, and Muslims to Pakistan. Communal clashes at the border resulted in the deaths of one million people. Inspired by a true story, 'Topi' depicts an encounter between two strangers during this turbulent time.

USA 2010

Hindi with English subtitles. 6 minutes. Festival Rating

Director: Arjun Rihan Producer: Arjun Rihan

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