Agam Darshi and Patricia Issac are guiding the inaugural Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, a daylong event featuring shorts, music videos, and panels aimed at bridging the gap between South Asian talent and mainstream audiences while breaking stereotypes. The festival includes two afternoon blocks of shorts films and an evening feature film. Darshi, who has roles in television series and grew up in Canada, created and starred in a short film for the festival called Bollywood Beckons about a Canadian girl pursuing her dreams of Bollywood despite her family's wishes, though Darshi notes she herself does not identify with Bollywood.

1. Agam Darshi is a guiding light
behind the new film festival.
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo,
PNG, Vancouver Sun
Breaking down South Asian stereotypes
BY JOHN MACKIE, VANCOUVER SUN JUNE 26, 2010
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Where: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour
When: Today
Tickets: $5 to $40, Info: www.visaff.com
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The Indian film industry is the largest in the world, producing more than 1,000 features annually.
Metro Vancouver has a large South Asian population.
It would seem to be a natural fit to have a South Asian film festival -- and now we do.
Actors Agam Darshi and Patricia Issac are the guiding lights behind the inaugural Vancouver
International South Asian Film Festival, a daylong event which takes over the Vancity theatre today.
The festival's goal is to "bridge the gap between South Asian talent and mainstream audiences,"
along with "breaking the South Asian stereotype."
It aims to do so with shorts, music videos, a feature, a panel discussion and a closing gala.
The program is split into three, with two sets of shorts in the afternoon (1 to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 7:30
p.m.) and the feature Cooking With Stella at 7 p.m.

2. Darshi is excited by the lineup. Kavi is a 19-minute short that was nominated for an Oscar this spring.
It's set in India but was directed by an American.
"It's about a little boy who's a bricklayer, the poorest of the poor," she said. "[But] the little boy wants
to play cricket. It's a beautiful film, very poignant, I think people will love it."
Darshi wrote, produced and starred in another short about daring to dream, Bollywood Beckons.
"It's about a Canadian girl who wants to pursue her dream of going to Bollywood, but her family wants
her to just live a normal life," she explains. "It jumps back and forth between these Bollywood
fantasies that she has and the banal, mundane reality that she lives in."
Which raises the question, is Bollywood Beckons autobiographical?
Nope.
"I didn't ever dream of Bollywood," said Darshi, 30, who has roles in two TV series, Sanctuary and
Dan For Mayor.
"I appreciate it, and I totally understand why it exists and what audience they capture and all of that.
But I don't identify with it, to be honest.
"That's part of the reason I wanted to put this film festival together. I grew up in North America, and I
loved watching Hollywood movies and North American TV. I can totally appreciate Bollywood, but I
don't really identify with it. I wanted this film festival to be more North American, more reflective of
what South Asian people [here] probably want to see."
Bollywood Beckons is a comedy, as is Curry Powder, a short about a disastrous first date that plays
on "cultural misconceptions and stereotypes."
In between is Warrior's Religion, Mani Amar's half-hour documentary about gangs in the local South
Asian community.
"He basically went around town interviewing people, ex-gang members, current gang members," said
Darshi. "It's quite interesting; it has a unique perspective."
Darshi has a unique perspective. She was born in Birmingham, England, and moved to Montreal with
her parents when she was three. Her family bounced around Canada -- Montreal, Ottawa and
Calgary -- and she relocated to Vancouver seven years ago intending to be a photographer.
Her theatre professor at the University of Calgary thought she should give acting a try. So she got an
agent and started getting gigs right away.
"That was six years ago, and since then it's been a great run," she said. "I've done a lot of really cool
things."
Dashi's biggest blockbuster appearance was the sci-fithriller 2012. "That was a really great film," she

3. says. "I was killed in a big tidal wave, which was horrible, but it was neat."
Much of her acting on 2012 was done in front of a "green screen" the filmmakers filled in with digital
effects later. It was good practice for Sanctuary, which uses a lot of green screen.
"I really love it," she says of acting in front of a green screen.
"It's almost like doing theatre. You're on this big stage and you have another actor in front of you, and
maybe a couple of props. You have to imagine everything, and it's incredibly freeing."
jmackie@vancouversun.com
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