Like many film festivals during the pandemic, Indie Meme is going virtual this year. The Austin-based festival is in its sixth year and is focused on bringing “socially relevant” film from South Asian countries to American audiences. Programming director Sweta Rajesh says its virtual format this year is actually allowing the festival to reach more people than ever before.
“We’ve opened it to the entire United States. Now, everyone can access the film festival from wherever they are.”
“So when we bring socially relevant cinema – let’s say we’re talking about women becoming independent or how important education is – I think that’s relevant in every country. It’s not particular for India or Pakistan or any of those countries; it’s relevant everywhere. So when people watch films from there, they can sort of relate to it. Also, I think it gives them an opportunity to understand those countries where those people come from, what they do culturally and to understand their backgrounds.”
“I think cinema is a great way to spread the word about other cultures and other countries and languages and so many other things.”
“We have some amazing cinema. In fact, the Oscar entry from Pakistan is at our festival this year and it’s doing its U.S. premiere. We have a film from Nepal that was also the Oscar entry this year.”
Indie Meme is running over two weekends: April 16-18 and April 23-25. Tickets are available to those who buy a membership, or they can also be purchased for individual films.
