KATHMANDU: Film Southasia 2017 has launched a Mobile App for the eleventh edition of the premiere non-fiction film festival for the region. The Festival opens on November 2 at the Yalamaya Kendra, Lalitpur, Nepal, with the theme ‘Documentary Bears Witness.’
The Mobile App – available for iPhone and Android phones on App Store and Google Play Store – is freely downloadable and features information regarding documentaries to be screened during FSA’17 and their screening schedule.
The App allows the screening schedule to be included in the user’s mobile calendar, thus allowing users to keep track of and set notification alarms for the movies of their choice. The App, named ‘Film Southasia 2017’, also allows users to view and update feed, exchange messages, view news and updates on the festival as well as provide feedback to the organizers.
The App can be connected to a user’s existing Facebook and Twitter accounts. The App is powered by EventsMo. EvenstsMo offers the all in one event management app platform to create the complete app that enhances users’ event experience, boosts engagement, connects attendees and delegates networking. “The Film Southasia 2017 app has been made for the benefit of our audiences to keep them updated on all festival information and the FSA schedule.
It helps users to efficiently organize their time to attend the screening of movies of their choice as well as engage with other attendees through messaging and public feed updates,” said Rewati Gurung, assistant festival director.
FSA’17, now in its 20th year, will screen 63 documentaries over four days from November 2 to 5. Selected from over 300 submissions, the festival will showcase the best of non-fiction films on Southasia that address contemporary issues in compelling ways. Of the 63 films, 45 are in the competitive section and will vie for five awards with a net cash prize worth USD 5,500. A jury comprising of Editor / Publisher Kunda Dixit of Nepal, filmmaker Farjad Nabi of Pakistan and senior journalist Rajashri Dasgupta of India will select the winners.
This year, the festival features two individual sections – one on ‘Student Films’ that has been carried over from FSA’15 and the other on ‘Documentaries of Dissent.’ Six films by the next generation of filmmakers will be screened under the student film category. Twelve non-fiction films, either banned or highlighting dissent within the region, will be screened under the ‘Documentaries of Dissent’ section that aims to open up confined media spaces and push the bar on freedom of expression in Southasia.
ABOUT FILM SOUTHEAST
Film Southasia is a biennial festival that was set up in 1997 with the goal of popularizing documentary production so that it entertains, informs and helps transform lives and livelihoods. It is, in fact, the first such festival by and for South Asians in the region, and by far the premiere one even today. The festival believes that film (audio and visual) is a powerful medium that contributes immensely in introspection and initiatives to bring change at the local and national level besides representing the region internationally.
FSA takes place in Kathmandu every two years. Kathmandu as a venue offers the festival a unique geopolitical advantage as it allows Southasians to gather and interact without inordinate visa processes and political barriers. The Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi filmmakers are particularly appreciative of this and attend the festival with great enthusiasm each year. FSA has chosen to employ ‘Southasia’ as one word in seeking to restore some of the historical unity of our common living space. It believes that the aloof geographical term ‘South Asia’ needs to be injected with some feeling, hence the etymological departure in ‘Southasia.’