PRESS RELEASE - October 6, 2003, San Diego
TRADE OFFS, Katha Films, LLC
Contact:
Kirk Laughead–
forlaughter@hotmail.com,
www.TradeOffs-themovie.com
“USA PREMIERE FOR INDIE FEATURE FILM TRADE OFFS A SMASHING SUCCESS”
 San Diego, CA – October 6, 2003 - The independent film Trade Offs will
have two screening at the
Joan
B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice,
University of San
Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego,
CA 92110 Theatre on Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 4pm and 6pm. Filmed entirely on location in
San Diego, California, Trade Offs is the creation of first time writer/director and
San Diego resident Vikram Yashpal.
This screening follows
closely on the heels of its American debut at the San Diego Asian Film
Festival where it set attendance records playing to a sell out crowd and
garnering critical acclaim from those in attendance. “
We were very pleased with the turnout” said Marketing Director,
Kirk Laughead. “It was
mostly word of mouth and an aggressive Internet effort to let people know
about the festival screening. We
were also able to get some local press due to the fact that this was entirely
a San Diego based production. If we would have had 50 more seats, we could
have sold them very easily,” he added.
“It was a mixed emotion having to turn away 50
eager people at the door.”
“There is something
universal about this picture,” states Vikram Yashpal, the film’s director,
“I feel that this is very much an American film, had the characters been
from Kansas, the story still would have worked. I wanted to tell a story about the choices that
we face and how the decisions we make effects
our own lives as well as the lives of others.
I feel I have successfully captured that aspect of life in Trade
Offs.”
Apparently the audience
agrees with Yashpal. The manner
in which this film connected with its audience was evidenced by the warm
response to the film and the lively question and answer session that followed
the screening, with a majority of the audience remaining until well after
the film’s end to gain the perspective of its creator and cast.
The common interest is where the film will be heading now.
Per
Anup Sugunan, one of the principal actors in the film,
“Trade Offs is scheduled to screen in New York City, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, and Dallas, Texas in the next several weeks. We
are really looking forward to the New York Premiere November 8th at the
Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival because New York is a film distribution
capitol and this is the first chance that many of the distribution companies
will have to view the film,” He continues, “This is a great film and we
would like very much to share it with the public. We are scrambling to make sure that the word
gets out and are working very hard, within our limited budget, to let
people know about Trade Offs.”
Trade Offs is written and
directed by first-time director, Vikram Yashpal, a software engineer by
day and filmmaker by night and weekends.
“It is in the vein of the Indo-American crossover films such as
Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like
Beckham,” says Yashpal.
The film stars
Deypika Singh,
Miss San Diego
India 1998,
as Sapna. She and her husband Manu, played by
Rahul
Malhotra, have just moved to
America shortly
after their arranged marriage. With high hopes for a happy future, they
are quickly tempted by the excesses of American society. He, by the lure
of easy money in the stock market during the dot-com boom of the late
1990’s. She, by the passion brought on by her feelings of neglect as her
husband ignores her in his pursuit of a fast buck. When the bottom falls
out of the stock market and her dreams, she finds herself alone on a journey
of self discovery. The film features a fine supporting cast including
the very talented
Rita Rani, winner of the prestigious Filmi Award for her contributions in promoting positive images
for South Asians through film and
Anup Sugunan
(Master and Commander - the Far Side of the World).
SAN DIEGO SCREENING
Sunday, October
19, 2003
Two screenings:
4pm & 6pm
Location:
Univ. of San Diego
X hall theater
Cost: $6
Visit official site for more details
Cast & crew will attend this event
and conduct a Q&A session afterwards |
NEW YORK PREMIERE
3rd
Annual Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival
Saturday, Nov. 8th, 2003 -
9 pm
Location: Anthology
Film Archives
32 Second
Avenue (@
2nd Street)
New York
City,
New York,
USA
Cost: $15
Visit
www.iaac.us
for more details
Cast & crew will attend this event
and conduct a Q&A session afterwards |
EAST
COAST PREMIERE
5th Annual Asian Pacific Film Festival
of
Florida
Saturday, October 25,
2003
Location: Cinema
Paradiso Theater
503 SE 6th
Street
Fort
Lauderdale,
FL,
USA
Visit
www.apfff.org for more details
Cast & crew will
attend this event
and conduct a Q&A session afterwards |
TEXAS PREMIERE
2nd Annual
Dallas
South Asian Film Festival
Weekend of
Nov 15, 2003
Location:
TBA
Dallas,
TX,
USA
Visit
www.dsaff.org
for more details
Cast & crew will attend this event
and conduct a Q&A session afterwards |
Duration: 100 minutes –
Language: English – Genre: Drama/Comedy
ABOUT US
The film is produced
by fledgling production company Katha Films.
Katha is the Hindi word for story.
The goal is to tell stories with universal appeal through the medium
of film. Vikram Yashpal, Rahul
Malhotra,
and Atul Suri started Katha Films in 2001 in hopes of creating
a feature film. They recruited
producers Asit
Goel and Anup Sugunan to venture into the production phase.
Passionate people
holding 9 to 5 jobs shot the movie on weekends starting at 4am and ending around midnight from Independence Day to Labor Day 2002. Trade
Offs was shot entirely on location throughout
San Diego, CA. The World Premiere was in Toronto at the Filmi South Asian
Film Festival on August 9, 2003 where actress Rita Rani won her award.
You can view the
trailer and find more information on Trade Offs and Katha Films at their
website www.TradeOffs-themovie.com.
|
