Salisbury International Arts Festival 22 May - 07 June 2009

Take a Trip Round India with this Years Salisbury International Arts Festival Film Programme!

Amal (UK Premier) Salisbury Arts Centre Sun 24 May @ 7.30pm

The Festival presents its strongest Film programme to date, showcasing a diverse selection of films old and new inspired by the themes of India, Devotion and Water. Many are exclusive to the Festival and most are accompanied by Q&A’s with film makers or discussions led by Festival Film Programmer Patrick Bliss.

Trailers:

UK Premiers include Amal, a crowd pleasing fable about a humble auto rickshaw driver who inherits a billionaire’s fortune, followed by a Q&A with actor Rupinder Nagra (arriving by auto rickshaw!), and Women of Tibet: The Great Mother, a critically acclaimed documentary about the mother of the 14th Dalai Lama. Director Rosemary Rawcliffe will introduce her film and answer questions afterwards.

Other exclusive presentations include a rare screening of surrealist masterpiece Entr’acte with a live tabla accompaniment from Festival Artist in residence Kuljit Bhamra, and Kanchivaram, a ravishing period drama about the silk weavers of Tamil Nadu.

Guest speaker events have been a strong point of recent Festival film programmes, and this year is no exception. BATFA winning director Asif Kapadia, will present his stunning debut film The Warrior, which will be shown along with his award winning short The Sheep Thief. Liz Mermin will present her highly original documentary Shot in Bombay, an entertaining look at crime and celebrity in India’s entertainment capital.

The Warrior and The Sheep Thief + Q&A with Director Asif Kapadia Salisbury Arts Centre Sun 31 May @ 7.30pm

And of course, you can’t celebrate Indian film without visiting Bollywood, and we do so in grand style with the epic Devdas, a spectacular period romance with costumes and set design so sumptuous you could almost eat them, dazzling choreography and unforgettable songs.

India was chosen as the first of four rapidly developing counties that will provide the geographic focus of the Festival over the next four years. Films such as Monsoon Wedding and this years Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire document the transformation that modern India is going through, where telecommunications and western lifestyles mix with old traditions.

Our Slumdog Millionaire screening will be followed by a discussion about street children in India with David Maidment, founder of the Railway Children charity and Geoff Dunlop, director of short film The Children’s Bank, which will accompany the Slumdog screening.

Pather Panchali Salisbury Arts Centre Sun 30 May @ 4.30pm

And not forgetting some gems from the archives, like Satyajit Ray's enchanting debut Pather Panchali and restored silent classic A Throw of the Dice with a shimmering new orchestral score by Nitin Sawhney and the LSO.

Full details can be found on the Festival Website.

For information on the 2008 Festival, click here

For information on the 2007 Festival, click here