Endangered Species: Syeed Offers Temperate Portrait of a Man and his Home Against an Oscillating Backdrop
Reflecting his background within the documentary realm, Musa Syeed’s first feature film encourages a verite approach to the characters as their lives unfold amidst changing times. Valley of Saints acts a balmy reflection on a young man’s life revolving the lake and its changing currents. The multiple prize winning Sundance title was shot on location in Kashmir during an actual military curfew allowing the film to unfold with a rare measure of authenticity. Syeed also has a personal stake in the film: his family was born in Kashmir with his father having been imprisoned for his participation in the independent movement. Such idiosyncratic components help to enrich the overall narrative tapestry of a film which could labeled feeble otherwise.
Gulzar (Gulzar Ahmed Bhat) who lives by the lake both literally and...
Reflecting his background within the documentary realm, Musa Syeed’s first feature film encourages a verite approach to the characters as their lives unfold amidst changing times. Valley of Saints acts a balmy reflection on a young man’s life revolving the lake and its changing currents. The multiple prize winning Sundance title was shot on location in Kashmir during an actual military curfew allowing the film to unfold with a rare measure of authenticity. Syeed also has a personal stake in the film: his family was born in Kashmir with his father having been imprisoned for his participation in the independent movement. Such idiosyncratic components help to enrich the overall narrative tapestry of a film which could labeled feeble otherwise.
Gulzar (Gulzar Ahmed Bhat) who lives by the lake both literally and...
- 1/9/2015
- by Amanda Yam
- IONCINEMA.com
The calm surface of Dal Lake hides a multitude of sins in the exquisite Valley of Saints, and director Musa Syeed captures its tranquil beauty amid the chaos of Kashmir. Boatman Gulzar (Gulzar Ahmed Bhat) has come to view the lake as a stagnant place, with few opportunities beyond ferrying tourists around in a shikara. He'd planned to leave quietly for Delhi with best friend Afzal (Mohammed Afzal Sofi) when political protests trigger a military curfew in Srinagar. For a week, there's no commerce or transportation — except on the lake, where Gulzar finds himself unmoored from routine. Checking on a luxury houseboat for an owner trapped inland, he meets Asifa (Neelofar Hamid), a Kashmiri from an American university who's documenting the environmental devasta...
- 1/7/2015
- Village Voice
Chicago – In its final days, the 48th Annual Chicago International Film Festival is poised to close with a glorious bang. Chicago native Robert Zemeckis (of “Back to the Future” and “Forrest Gump” fame) will return to the festival for the closing night screening of “Flight,” a thriller starring Denzel Washington. It’s Zemeckis’s first live-action feature since 2000’s “Cast Away.” Here are the highlights covering the remaining days of the festival, from October 18th to October 25th, 2012.
Zemeckis isn’t the only exciting guest scheduled to attend the festival in the days ahead. David O. Russell (“Three Kings,” “The Fighter”) will be on hand for the October 23rd screening of his widely celebrated dramedy, “The Silver Linings Playbook,” which has been singled out as a major awards season player, according to festival buzz. On the heels of his Guillermo del Toro-produced chiller, “The Orphanage,” filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona...
Zemeckis isn’t the only exciting guest scheduled to attend the festival in the days ahead. David O. Russell (“Three Kings,” “The Fighter”) will be on hand for the October 23rd screening of his widely celebrated dramedy, “The Silver Linings Playbook,” which has been singled out as a major awards season player, according to festival buzz. On the heels of his Guillermo del Toro-produced chiller, “The Orphanage,” filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona...
- 10/18/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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