The Film Desk Supports ‘Zero Bridge’

It’s been a long time coming for Zero Bridge, but the feature debut of Tariq Tapa has finally found a home in the U.S. with The Film Desk. The film, which first premiered in Venice in 2008 and had it’s U.S. premiere at Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival in 2009, will open at New York’s Film Forum on February 16, 2011 and will follow with a limited national release.

Gist: A nominee for Gotham’s “Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You” Award, is a portrait of contemporary daily life in the Indian-occupied city of Srinigar, Kashmir, told through the eyes of a teen pickpocket. A chance encounter with one of his victims upends the young man’s escape plans and builds into tenacious account of an unlikely friendship in an exotic, yet harsh, environment.

Worth Noting: Remarkably, this is the first dramatic narrative feature film about Srinigar and was shot entirely on location with many non-professional, first-time actors performing in the native tongue of Kashmiri. Tapa says that after visiting Kashmir every summer as a child, he realized he was obsessed with the region and that it was the perfect setting for a story with the theme of “the weight of the past on present behaviour.”

Do We Care?: Sure, it’s an interesting peak into a region most North Americans know little about and it was nominated for a pair of Independent Spirit Awards including the “Someone To Watch” Award.