I Am - Opening Night Selection

Harris Theater: May 6th @ 7:00PM OPENING NIGHT FILM

Passes not accepted on Opening/Closing Night. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of start time to ensure availability of seating. Film schedule and Q & A's are subject to change.

[Film Contains Sexual Content]
2010/India/Director: Onir/95 minutes
Cast: Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Sanjay Suri, Purab Kohli
Language: English and Hindi with subtitles
Festivals and Awards: Silver Lion (Best Director), UNICEF Award. Official Selection/Opening Film: Winner of I-VIEW 2010s Engendered Award for Outstanding Contribution. Official Selection: Vancouver International Film Festival (Canadian Premier) Oct. 2010 
“I Am” is about people with fractured lives held together by unbroken dreams. Indian auteur, Onir, once again shatters cliches and pushes boundaries in I Am. Funded through social networking, I Am has become known as India’s first true indie film. Like the characters that inhabit it, I Am asserts its authenticity through unflinching storytelling and a truly independent spirit.
With a narrative that is multi-layered and visually arresting, I Am is a meditation on darker often unexplored themes in Indian society: child abuse, criminalization of homosexuality, single motherhood and the ever looming issue of political and social unrest in the Kashmir. Expertly woven together, the stories of Afia, Megha, Abimanhyu, and Omar tell the untold struggles of ordinary people whose voices often go unheard. Afia (Nandita Das) trusts no man after a bitter divorce. This does not, however, end her desire to experience motherhood. After much should searching, and through true-to-life philosophical debates with her friend Megha, Afia resolves to become a mother through artificial insemination. Her very private decision seems to have very public consequences as the issues of single motherhood and insemination vs. adoption are laid bare.
Yet Afia’s dear friend Megha (Juhi Chawla) has her own story to tell. The question “can you go home again?” is answered with an elegant ambivalence in Megha’s chapter. A successful businesswoman, Megha, returns to her childhood home of Sringar in the Kashmir many decades after being part of forced evacuation. While staying with her friend Rubina, the stark contrast between the women’s lives and the opportunities each has been afforded is all too apparent. The brutal beauty of people going about their daily lives under the near-constant threat of violence is highlighted with touching poignancy in Megha’s story.
Abhimanyu (Sanjay Suri) is an up and coming doctor living a “fast” and carefree existence. Yet, his lack of attachment, we discover, is likely due to a very real childhood trauma. Destructive and painful memories are frequently revisited upon him in the form of surreal, recurring nightmares. While official statistics are unreliable, it is believed that over half of all children in India suffer abuse. Abhimanyu’s story illuminates the effects on those children as adults and also examines what happens when an abuse victim decides to speak up in a culture where such things are simply not discussed.
The final, devastating chapter belongs to Omar (Rahul Bose). Ostensibly based on a true story, the significance of the criminalization of homosexuality in India is brought to life through Omar’s story. Working as a hustler, Omar is picked up by Jai (Purab Kohli) in a bar. When the couple is spotted by a corrupt cop, the episode unfolds into a shocking confrontation presented in unflinching manner.