We're chatting to the three Coventry locals who helped curate the UK Asian Film Festival.
This week, we’re hosting the UK Asian Film Festival for the first time ever, as part of our City of Culture programme of events.
Back in March, UKAFF chose three Coventry locals to help curate the line-up of films featured in this year’s festival. Amisha Patel, Jessica Goodwin and Shabana Sarguro attended two days of online workshops, led by Dr Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram (Queen Mary University of London) and Dr Monia Acciari (Demontfort University). They were taught valuable tools in curational excellence which they employed when selecting the Belgrade’s opening film.
We recently chatted to the curators to find out how they found the experience.
Amisha Patel
Shabana Sarguro
How did you get involved in curating the UK Asian Film Festival?
I saw the information about the curating workshops on social media and connected with Aman before sending the 100-word note. I wasn’t sure that with my background of over 16 years in the film world in Mumbai, I would stand a chance. Aman was very helpful, and we did speak about the curating sessions and after all the paperwork, I was in.
What did your experience involve?
The workshops were fantastic, especially day one. The workshops flowed seamlessly, a brief description and introduction, breaking us into groups with a moderator who guided us to identify parameters for evaluating the films. Post that all of us discussed our group parameters to consolidate into five final parameters. I was conducting the session where we all discussed what the final five would be and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think that was the best part of the workshops for me.
Dr Monia & Dr Ashvin were brilliant when it came to sharing their perspective about what we should be looking at considering the theme of the festival. A pleasure to have collaborated with them.
What did you gain from your experience?
While I was involved in selecting commercial cinema/ films for TV channels and airlines, my perspective of selecting / curating a film for the film festivals was limited, these workshops were insightful and made me understand the differences and nuances between the two. It also changed my perspective toward film festivals and the selection criteria.
What did you learn about South Asian film?
Well, I have been watching South Asian films for more than 35 years now with a voracious appetite for four or five films a week (pre-covid times) in about five languages. The workshops made me understand how films are selected for a film festival and that changed my perspective.
How did you decide on Toofan Mail as the opening film for the festival?
On day two we watched three films back-to-back, scoring them on the parameters we had set on day one. We were split into groups where we discussed the scoring. We ranked the films in our group. We got together to discuss our ranking and finally, we were asked to vote. Well, the film I voted for wasn’t selected by the other curators.
Jessica Goodwin
How did you get involved in curating the UK Asian Film Festival?
I got an email from my university department advertising the Young Curators Lab workshop and it sounded like something I would be interested in, so I did some more research about the film festival and then decided to apply.
What did your experience involve?
The Young Curators Lab was a two-day workshop where I learned about the process of curating for a film festival. On the first day, we discussed how a festival is created and films are submitted for selection, as well as what parameters are key to deciding which films are appropriate to be screened at the festival. We then came up with our own five parameters in breakouts and then reconvened to discuss as a whole group. On the second day we watched all the films up for the Young Curators award and then applied the parameters we discussed to each film and ultimately voted on which film we individually felt deserved the award.
What did you gain from your experience?
The workshop was surprisingly engaging and interactive even with it being hosted over zoom and I really enjoyed myself. For me, it was interesting to see so many perspectives on not only the films we viewed but also South Asian films in general. As a film studies student, curation is a really big post-education pathway for me and so by taking part in this workshop I gained valuable experience that will help me in the future. As well as this, I got to experience some amazing films and meet other like-minded cinephiles to discuss cinema with.
What did you learn about South Asian film?
When South Asian film is brought up it can be easy just to reduce the conversation just to stereotypical Bollywood films, but this experience it’s helped me remember just how rich and varied South Asian cinema is, and how important it is. It’s also helped me become more aware of the socio-cultural issues that these films deal with.
How did you decide on Toofan Mail as the opening film for the festival?
Toofan Mail was really a film that resonated with me over so many different criteria and out of all the films we watched it was the one that stood out to me the most. In terms of the parameters we had created, it scored highest overall for me, but I also felt that it resonated with the festival’s theme of hope in the most engaging and interesting way. On top of this, from an aesthetic standpoint, I thought the film’s use of mise en scene was strikingly gorgeous from the others and gave the film a distinctive look.
The UK Asian Film Festival takes place in B2 from Thurs 27 – Sat 29 May. Tickets for all films are available here.