The film's Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney was formerly Head of Diversity at the British Film Institute and has always been fascinated by cultural difference and hybridity. What are the reference points that makes someone feel they belong to a culture, religion, or nation? Many of us people of immigrant descent slide seamlessly between cultures on a daily basis, often without even realizing it.
Inspired by the great humanist Director Satyajit Ray's films, Khaana explores the boundaries between the 'home' and the 'world'. The story is based on a poem by Anjum Malik, about a Pakistani woman who loves the British dish of fish and chips. Khaana depicts a young, orthodox Muslim woman and her husband, who live in East London, with his less orthodox mother. The young woman is clearly pregnant and through her preoccupation with food, we see not only her changing relationship with her husband, but also her engagement with her 'domestic' culture and the outside English world, both of which are part of her identity.
Khaana has recently won the renowned 'Future Filmmaker Award 2012' at the Palm Springs Short Film Festival 2012. It also received high praise and had it's South Asia Premiere at the Kerala Short Film Festival.
Cast: Ferena Wazeir, Rez Kempton, Gouri Kar, Matilda Crew, Paul Crew, Kristin Shury, Chenelle Shury, Cary Sawhney
Crew: Director- Cary Sawhney, Producer- Salim Esmail, 1st AD- Andy Whiteside, DOP- Chris Moon, Sound- Jennifer Annor, Line Producer- Satwant Gill, Editor / Titles- Andy Whiteside, Sound Editor- Jeet Thakrar, Music- Niraj Chag, Casting- Naman Ramchandran, Production Assistant- Liam Nolan, Makeup- Vanessa Pendergrest, Costume Design- Saba Zaman, Runner- Vidur Naurial.
A mystery romance drama set in London about Indian ideas of reincarnation. Actors include Gordon Warnecke (‘My Beautiful Laundrette’), Preeti Saul and Siddiqua Akhtar and music by Composer Niraj Chag. The film has been well received at several international film festivals including the East End Film Festival, Happy Soul Festival, Kerela Short Festival, Moonshine Cinema at the Wapping Project , MIAAC Film Festival New York and the River to River Film Festival Florence.
Following the very encouraging and positive feedback to this short film a feature length screenplay is now being developed, and we hope to be producing a feature version of ‘Looking For You’ in the near future.
Cast: Gordon Warnecke, Preeti Saul, Siddiqua Ahmed, Karen Fisher-Pollard
Crew: Director- Cary Sawhney, Producer- Salim Esmail, 1st AD- Andrew Whiteside, DOP- Eryk Hilderbrand, Line Producer- Denice James, Sound- Sam Nightingale, Initial Edit- Alistair McMeekin, Online Edit- Duncan Husband, Final Edit / Titles- Andy Whiteside, Sound Editor- Jeet Thakrar, Music- Niraj Chag with Vocals by Japjit Kaur, Casting Advice- Pravesh Kumar, Production Assistant- Liam Nolan, Hair & Makeup- Vanessa Pendergrest, Costume Design- Andrew Joslin, Runner- Onome James.
