Having screened an impressive collection of understated, independent films, the 13th edition of the South Asian Film Festival of Montréal (SAFFM) successfully came to its conclusion on 2nd June 2024. The festival opened with a thrilling narrative of wedding vendors-turned-robbers, Stealing Vows by Bobby Brown Singh, and closed with an unstinting critique of patriarchy through the genre of horror, In Flamesby Zarrar Kahn. The 13th edition SAFFM presented an eclectic collection of films with engaging themes and aesthetic inventiveness. 

Many films screened in-cinema were followed by thought-provoking discussions with the directors, engaging the audiences in meaningful conversations. These discussions enabled the viewers to understand the artistic techniques deployed by the filmmakers and the larger socio-political themes and contexts the films were situated in. Discussions of films such as The World is Family by Anand Patwardhan, Land of My Dreams by Nausheen Khan, Dear Jassi by Tarsem Singh, Colonel Kalsi by Anand Kamlakar and Geeta Gambhir, and Mum Singh by Karan Singh, stood out for their engagement between the audiences and the directors. Some stunning and impactful in-cinema films that left the audiences utterly awestruck included fiction features Tiger Stripes by Amanda Nell Eu, Sthal by Jayanta Somalkar, short fiction films Kashmir Kaete by Arif Bashir and Nocturnal Burger by Reema Sengupta, amongst others. 

The festival closed with an award ceremony where films were judged across four categories: Best Feature Film, Best Short Fiction, Best Feature Documentary, and Best Short Documentary. The awards also had Runner-Up and Special Mention as subcategories. In Flames won the Best Feature Film Award, while Esperanza by Shruti Parekh bagged the Best Short Fiction Award. Chardi Kala: An Ode to Resilience, which is about the 2020 farmer protests in India, was the winner of the Best Feature Documentary. Best Short Documentary went to the brave and riveting documentary about young minority Hindu women in Sindh, The Losing Side by Jawad Sharif. 

This year, SAFFM also introduced the category of the festival award, Le Choix Du Festival. This unequivocally went to the unsparing Dear Jassi which tells the real life story of a couple who struggled to be together in an extremely divisive society characterized by violence, casteism, classism and patriarchy. 

The 13th edition of SAFFM was held from 24th May to 2nd June, 2024 in collaboration with La Cinémathèque Québécoise, and the J.A. DeSève Cinema, Concordia University. As enthusiastic moviegoers filed in and out of the theaters, the atmosphere buzzed with words of appreciation expressing wonder and awe. Crowds milled in long queues outside these venues in anticipation before all films. Our red carpet and the SAFFM banner garnered enormous attention as people posed for the camera and provided glowing reviews of the films and the festival!