The “friendly man at Cinequest” ^[1] had pointed me to Amal ^[2], after inquiring which country I am from. An Indian movie (actually Canadian, set in India) at Cinequest was a pleasant surprise. Also, it was a very useful input for me when I was wondering which movies to watch at the festival. To top it all, this was probably the best I watched in these few days.

Saturday night at Cinequest was busy as expected. I went along with my wife to California Theater. After some trouble navigating our way through Downtown, we reached the end of a long line waiting outside.

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We made our entry just 10 minutes before the screening and were blown away by the grandeur of California Theater. It was reminiscent of a different age.

The surprises for the day were still not over. There was a small change introduced to the program — 2 ‘Bollywood’ dance items preceding the movie. The audience heartily cheered the amateurish performances.

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Coming to the movie finally, it was a wonderful drama with a dose of philosophy and some suspense too thrown in. Wonderfully acted and directed, it featured some leading arthouse names in key supporting roles. Amal ^[5] also opens the 26th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival ^[6], March 21-23 in San Jose. So, catch it there if you missed it at Cinequest.

The screening was followed by a nice Q&A session with the young filmmaker, Richie Mehta.

[Picture Courtesy: Cinequest]