WHY AFIA ?

Early this year I bumped into my friend Rima Kohli at Prithivi Theatre, Juhu, Mumbai. It is always fun to meet Rima who I always remember for the wonderful time I had with her in DC and New York. The hours we spent walking around Manhattan discovering the city were full of stories. Rima for me is this amazing energetic girl who is travelling across the world working on various NGO projects. I am always jealous of the kind of work she does and the places she goes to. Currently she is working with women in AFGANISTHAN.

So meeting her for me is always a pleasurable experience as I listen to her stories and imagine myself doing all those amazing thins some day. Meeting her was unexpected. I did not know she was back from New York and currently in Mumbai. After the exclamation of joy and hugs Rima started to talk.... and this time it was another story...

For two hours I was listening to her speech less, I could see a film unfold in front of my eyes. That night I could not sleep. This was a story that was exciting. Next day I called her. I told her I want to make a film inspired from her story and for that I needed to meet her again. I needed more details. She said YES!

Thus AFIA was born. AFIA in Arabic means vigour, vitality, Divine protection and fire.

AFIA is the story of a girl who returns from her training in Switzerland and starts working in the NGO sector. She discovers hugs misappropriation of funds and to her horror discovers everyone around her right to the white boss in Switzerland is connected.

A huge amount of money comes in every year from across the world into this sector. A large chunk of it however never reaches its destination. This film talks about an area that not too many people are aware of but pretty common. This flm asks for accountability.

AFIA will be shot in MUMBAI and DELHI. After “TERE BIN” in “BAS EK PAL” Mithoon and I will once again work together.

COME JOIN US AND BE A PART OF "AFIA"

Onir in Symbiosis Pune to present Abhimanyu

Guys here's your chance to catch up with Onir and get to see some nice short films. Here's the official announcement

Aarohi Film Society, a non commercial organization for the promotion of cinema and talent, was established in June 2007. A registered organization with a member base of more than 500 filmmakers, it is headed by 7 core founding members.

Aarohi Youth Empowerment Campaign "The Showcase"

Aarohi Film Society aims to empower youth through cinema. To generate awareness on the social issues prevailing in our society, we have designed a screening program called 'The Showcase', where short films based on social issues will be screened in colleges, film clubs and schools across India.Thus, striving to make the youth understand their responsibilities towards the society.

Along with the screening of short fims of Aarohi, we will discuss the series of short films to be directed by renowned and critically acclaimed director, Onir. One such film is 'Abhimanyu'.

"Abhimanyu"

Abhimanyu is the story of a child abuse survivor inspired by the true story of Harish Iyer and his struggle to reclaim his own shattered identity after 11 long years of abuse.

In India, one out of every five girls and one out of ten boys face some form of physical or psychological abuse. Sadly, most of these incidents are never reported and innocent victims are forced to suffer in silence. The brave few that do come forward are woefully underserved by a society that prefers to look away and a legal system that doesn’t care.

Aarohi and Onir believe that independent cinema exists to give a voice to those working against the tide and outside the system. ABHIMANYU is one of five short films directed by Onir to tackle important issues ignored by mainstream Indian cinema. The idea is to release each film for educational/awareness/festival purposes and eventually compile all five short films into one release for general audiences.

Students will also get an opportunity to interact with Film Director Onir. At the same time, Onir will also be discussing with students, his new series of short films, the thought behind the entire cause and the opportunity/methodology of becoming a co producer of the film.

Venue: Symbiosis, Pune

1) Viman Nagar Campus

Time : 3:30 pm onwards

2) Knowledge Village, Lavale Campus

Time: 6:30 pm Onwards

Schedule: for both the campus:

• Felicitation of Guests.
• Introduction of the Chief Guest, Onir and a brief on Onir's series of Shorts.
• Brief of Aarohi and ‘The Showcase’- Youth Empowerment Campaign.
• Screening of films and interaction with the film makers, if present.
• Post Aarohi Screenings, Onir and the series of shorts is reintroduced briefly followed by Abhimanyu AV screening, and Onir Speaks - Details about 'Abhimanyu', the complete series, the AV, the opportunity of becoming a co producer and student Interaction on the overall issue.

Films to be screened:

Name Of The Movie	Duration
Ad Films
NACO	39 secs
The Chair	31 secs
Tiger	58 secs
Short Films
Pistuyla	14 mins 57 secs
The Candy Man	10 mins 19 secs
Cheque Of Death	3 mins 15 secs
Kaun Azaad Hua	3 mins 2 secs
Animations
Influenche	4 min, 42 secs
Kya Farkh Padta Hai	5 min, 53 secs
Dolly And Me	50 secs
Fuel And Duel	2 mins, 40 secs

Campus 1 -
Total shorts screenings time - 45 minutes.
Event begins 3:30 pm.
Ends 5:15 pm

We travel to Campus 2 - 5:30pm to 6:15pm

Campus 2 -
Total shorts screenings time - 45 minutes.
Event begins 6:45 pm.
Ends 8:30 pm