Film

English Vinglish, a comedy directed by acclaimed director Gauri Shinde,follows a housewife Shashi as sheattempts to learn English to stopher husband and daughter from mocking her and gain some much-needed self respect. The beloved film superstar Sridevi shines as Shashi in a performance that the Time of India called "a master-class for actors." This female-directed, woman-centric film explores the roles of family, class, and gender in contemporary India. The film will be streamed on Vimeo, with introduction and Q&A by Silpa Mukherjee,

Join us for a virtual series of films based on the Malay folktales of a blood-sucking ghost born from a woman who dies in childbirth. The smash hit premiered in April 1957 and screened for nearly three months at the local Cathay cinemas. Its success spawned two other sequels in 2004 and 2019. It is also said to have launched the Pontianak genre in Singapore and Malaysia, with rival Shaw producing its own Pontianak trilogy.

Third in the series of schlocky films from the 50s. The first Pontianak film appeared in 1957 Singaporean Malay horror film directed by Indian film director B.N. Rao starring Maria Menado and M. Amin. Based on the Malay folktales of a blood-sucking ghost born from a woman who dies in childbirth. The smash hit premiered on 27 April 1957 and screened for almost three months at the local Cathay cinemas. Its success spawned two other sequels, Dendam Pontianak (Revenge of the Pontianak, 1957) and Sumpah Pontianak (Curse of the Pontianak, 1958).

Edo Avant-Garde reveals the untold story of the vital role Japanese artists of the Edo era (1603 – 1868) played in developing “modern art.” During the Edo era, Japan prospered in peaceful isolation from Western powers, while audacious artists innovated abstraction, minimalism, surrealism and the illusion of 3-D. Their originality is most striking in images of the natural world depicted with gold leaf on large-scale folding screens that anticipate 20th century installation art.

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Join us for our final film in our Hirokazu Koreeda virtual film series, "Shoplifters," with special lecture by Dr. Linda C. Ehrlich (author of "The Films of Koreeda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema"), and post-screening Q & A. To register, click here

Join us for the second film of our Hirokazu Koreeda series, "The Truth," with an introduction by Dr. Charles Exley and post-screening Q & A. To register, click here

The story of the Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta takes a trajectory very different from those of persecution and victimization we all have grown up watching movies about. The Jewish community of Calcutta was small but influential and prosperous, “a diaspora of hope.” Today just a handful of those Jews are left.
Virtual screening of Dwelling in Travelling, a documentary on Jewish Life in Calcutta, with Q&A with the director, Sobha Das Mollick, and Jael Silliman, author of Jewish Portraits, Indian Frames.
Part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA year-round programming.

7:00 PM: An introduction with Grand Prize winner Tokachi Tsuchiya and a screening of his film An Ant Strikes Back (2019)
9:00 PM A conversation with Tokachi Tsuchiya about his award winning film
All events will be screened live on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/event/227238
https://www.jdfa.pitt.edu/2020-screening-schedule

7:00 PM: An introduction with Honorable Mention winner Nanako Hirose and a screening of her film Book-Paper-Scissors (2019)
9:00 PM A conversation with Nanako Hirose about her award winning film
All events will be screened live on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/event/227238
https://www.jdfa.pitt.edu/2020-screening-schedule