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14th annual DC South Asian Film Festival held in Rockville
The festival's highlight was an array of Indian films on contemporary issues and evolving socio-cultural values.
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Staff Reporter - Sun, 07, Sep 2025
- 03:03 EDT
- 66
Poster of DC South Asian Film Festival / Courtesy Manku
The 14th Annual DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF) was organized from Sept. 5 to 7 in Rockville, a Maryland suburb of Washington, DC, seeking to showcase the diverse and complex narratives of the South Asian diaspora.
The festival featured 54 film screenings, masterclasses led by top directors and actors and enthralling discussions about cinema.
It kicked off with a red-carpet welcome to actors Shishir Sharma, Chitrangada Satarupa, and directors Vinod Kapri, Jayajose Raj, Reshmi Mitra, among others.
The first day witnessed the screening of 'Main Actor Nahin Hoon',starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Chitrangada Satarupa. Post-screening, a discussion with the film's director Aditya Kripalani, producer Shweta Chhabria, and leading-lady Chitrangada Satarupa was also organized.
The closing night of the three-day festival featured the 2024 Vinod Kapri film, 'Pyre', narrating the poignant story of an elderly couple grappling with isolation and the aftermath of their son's migration to the plains.
Among other noted screenings was the showcasing of a 4k-restored version of the 1976 Shyam Bengal classic, 'Manthan', presenting the legendary filmmaker to the next generation.
Director Reshmi Mitra, a key highlight of the festival, narrated the experience of shooting a film in the USA and also discussed her upcoming multi-starrer movie featuring Arjun Rampal, Arbaaz Khan and Sushmita Sen.
ALSO READ: 14th annual DC South Asian Film Festival returns with 54 films from 12 countries
Apart from film screenings, the festival also featured sessions by Director Aditya Kripalani and filmmaker Hariharan Krishnan.
Chennai based veteran director, Hariharan, talked about his journey of shooting nine feature films and around 350 short films and documentaries and described the feat as a product of love and passion for cinema.
He noted, "People trusted me, they have invested lakhs and lakhs of rupees in my film and they trusted me that Hariharan will give a film on time within budget and with a proper storyline."
Talking about what the audience can expect to learn from his masterclass, the director said, "The audience should be expecting to know what independent cinema is in an Indian context. See, indie cinema means something in America, but in India it means something else altogether. So what is that independent cinema and the second aspect of it, what does it make to be different as a South Indian filmmaker and as a Bombay filmmaker?"
Festival organizers Manoj Singh and Geeta Singh highlighted the 14 years of growth that the festival has witnessed. Noting the growth of the festival over the years, Geeta Singh said, "we've been growing by leaps and bounds every year and mostly people, mostly filmmakers, want to present the films with us."
Highlighting the change in the reception of the festival, she added, "Initially it was difficult for us to get films, so a lot of things have changed, but the audiences, they appreciate the work and that is what is important."
Manoj Singh pointed out the evolution of cinema over the years, he noted, "every year there's a new story. So every year you get a different theme and every year you meet different directors, actors, different audiences, a lot of course some of them are patrons and they follow us and are very grateful to them."
He continued, "Technology is changing, the environment is changing and all these stories talk about it. They reflect what's going on in society. Change is constant."
Organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, DCSAFF has grown into one of the premier South Asian cultural showcases in the U.S., bridging communities through stories that transcend borders.
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