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1497 is proud to be the first South Asian Partner at the Sundance Film Festival! Join us at South Asian Lodge Friday January 20-Sunday, January 22, 2023 at The Shop Yoga Studio (1167 Woodside Avenue, Park City Utah).

 

South Asian Lodge will be open to the public for networking, screenings, and chai from 10am-10pm Saturday, January 21 and Sunday, January 22, except during the events below.

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Can't wait to see you there!

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Friday, January 20

 

7:30pm-10:30pm: Celebrating Revolutionary Art + Radical Imagination at Sundance

Opening night special event featuring a live music showcase, celebratory reception and dance party, spoken word performances, and more! Hosted by Tinsel, 1497 and Values Partnerships, this exciting gathering will celebrate select Sundance 2023 films, including Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, To Live and Die and Live and more, honor trailblazing voices in the community and culture and provide attendees with an unforgettable and culturally rich experience. The gathering will begin with a specially curated live program featuring live musical performances by special guests, spoken word interludes with artists performing historic work by Poet Nikki Giovanni, who is the subject of Going to Mars, and more. The night will close out with a celebratory reception and dance party with South Asian Lodge’s Music Curator DJ Rekha (Basement Bhangra). Doors will open at 6:45pm.

 

Saturday, January 21 

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10am-10:30am: Welcome to South Asian Lodge 

South Asian Lodge co-hosts 1497, Shruti Ganguly, and Tanya Selvaratnam are joined by Sundance Board Member Shripriya Mahesh to welcome everyone to the first ever South Asian Lodge at Sundance! Join us for inspiring remarks, a performance by Ganavya, and homemade chai.

 

10:30am-11:30:  Fireside Chat: Anaita Wali Zada & Samhita Mukhopadhyay

A conversation with actress Anaita Wali Zada (Fremont) and Samhita Mukhopadhyay (The Meteor, The Cut) on Zada’s current film and upcoming projects, the current situation in Afghanistan, and how her background as a refugee informs and influences her work.

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12pm-1pm: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop - ​​How We Stick With and Survive This Wild Business

Kinema and EgonZehnder sponsor this panel moderated by Helen Estabrook (Head of Global Film and Television at Condé Nast Entertainment, Producer Cat Person, Whiplash) and featuring Kishori Rajan (Viva Maude, Random Acts of Flyness), Priya Satiani (Partner/Manager & Producer, Entertainment 360), Meyash Prabhu (Agent, WME), and Vinay Singh (CEO, Archer Gray). They will share insights and advice on entering and finding sustainable careers in the entertainment business.

 

3pm-4pm: Creating with Pride: Queer South Asian Artists

Sundance Film Festival's Shari Frilot introduces this GLAAD-sponsored panel moderated by Anthony Allen Ramos (GLAAD) and featuring Nik Dodani (Atypical, Dear Evan Hansen), Nisha Ganatra (Late Night, Welcome to Chippendales), Fawzia Mirza (Signature Move, Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night), and Nani Sahra Walker (LA Times Studios), South Asian creatives who bring their LGBTQ+ perspectives to their work in Hollywood and beyond.

5:30pm-6pm: Rupi Kaur Performance

Performing her new spoken word pieces, poems from ‘home body,’ and the greatest hits from her iconic books ‘milk and honey’ and ‘the sun and her flowers,’ Rupi Kaur will reconnect us with each other and most importantly, ourselves.

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6pm-7pm: Bend It Like Beckham: 20 Years Later and Beyond

Sundance Programmer Sudeep Sharma introduces this in-depth conversation between the writer-director of Bend It Like Beckham, BAFTA-nominated acclaimed writer-director-producer Gurinder Chadha, and her longtime friend DJ Rekha (Basement Bhangra), a trailblazing musician and South Asian Lodge’s Music Curator, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the seminal film. 

 

8pm-10pm: Bend It Like Bhangra

Tunecore sponsors this celebration of South Asian cinematic excellence at a dance party featuring South Asian Lodge’s Music Curator DJ Rekha (Basement Bhangra).

 

Sunday, January 22 

 

10am-10:30am: Welcome to South Asian Lodge 

South Asian Lodge co-hosts 1497, Shruti Ganguly, and Tanya Selvaratnam welcome you to South Asian Lodge’s final day at Sundance Film Festival! Join us for inspiring remarks, music, and homemade chai.

 

10:30am-11:30am: Renegades Among Us 

A conversation between acclaimed poet Rupi Kaur (Poet and Narrator, Rise) and Queer Eye's Tan France moderated by Shruti Ganguly.

 

12pm-1pm: Black and South Asian Unity and Division, On Screen and Off 

Filmmaker and activist Nina Davuluri, the first South Asian Miss America, and New York Times Best-Selling Author and Filmmaker Austin Channing Brown introduce this Values Partnerships and Tinsel-sponsored conversation moderated by April Reign (#OscarsSoWhite) and featuring Lisa Cortés (Little Richard: I Am Everything, Invisible Beauty), Joseph Patel (Summer of Soul), Geeta Gandbhir (Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power), and Rishi Rajani (A Thousand and One, CEO, Hillman Grad).

 

2pm-3pm: Art & Democracy 

Friends of Democracy sponsors this timely panel moderated by Tanya Selvaratnam (Pop Culture Collaborative) and featuring Anurima Bhargava (Doc Society, Writing With Fire), Nelini Stamp (Working Families Party), and Monica Ramirez (Justice for Migrant Women, The Latinx House).

 

3pm-4pm: Joyland : From Censored to Sundance

A conversation with breakout hit film Joyland’s writer/director Saim Sadiq and producer Apoorva Charan moderated by Film Independent's Angela Lee.

 

4pm-5pm: Fireside Chat: Richie Mehta & Megha Kadakia

Richie Mehta (Poacher, Delhi Crime) and Megha Kadakia (The Tiger Hunter) engage in an unabashed and honest discussion around championing projects that matter, navigating "overnight" success, and determining what to make next.

 

5pm-6pm: Found in Translation: Pushing the Boundaries of Storytelling  

A conversation between Mridu Chandra (Becoming Cousteau), Uzma Hasan (Creature), Roopak Saluja (BANG BANG MediaCorp), and Priya Giri Desai (Lovesick, Prism) moderated by Pop Culture Collaborative's Rupa Balasubramanian.

 

6:15pm-7:15p: Polite Society Panel

A conversation with Polite Society's writer/director Nida Manzoor, actress Priya Kansara, and producers Olivier Kaempfer and John Pocock, moderated by Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Nisha Ganatra.

 

8pm-10pm: Big Brown Throwdown

Celebrate the end of South Asian Lodge with one last dance party with our Music Curator DJ Rekha (Basement Bhangra) and ZEEMUFFIN, featuring tunes from the South Asian Diaspora.