Valley of Saints is a

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Indian film in Kashmiri language directed by Musa Syeed. Syeed's directorial debut is a romantic film set in Dal lake,

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

, which also raises an environmental issue surrounding the lake. It won the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

World Dramatic Audience Award in 2012. It tied for the

Alfred P. Sloan Prize The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The prize is given to a feature film that focuses on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathemat ...

with the American film ''

Robot & Frank ''Robot & Frank'' is a 2012 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Jake Schreier from a screenplay by Christopher Ford. The film stars Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Peter Sarsgaard, James Marsden, and Liv Tyler. ''Robot & Fra ...

''.

Plot

In war-torn

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, a lakeside city is plunged into a military curfew. Stranded together on breathtaking Dal Lake. War and poverty force Gulzar, a young tourist boatman ('' shikarawala'') at Dal Lake, to run away from Kashmir with his best friend. But a military crackdown derails their escape, and they become trapped in Gulzar's lake village. Waiting for conditions to change, they discover a mysterious woman, Asifa, a scientist braving the curfew to research pollution levels in the lake. As Gulzar falls for her, rivalry and jealousy threaten his boyhood friendship and their plans of escape. Gulzar must choose between a new life and a new love. The first film set in the endangered lake communities of Kashmir, Valley of Saints blends fiction and documentary to bring audiences inside this unique world.

Development and production

The director of the film, Musa Syeed, grew up in US, where his father had migrated in the 1970s, after being a political prisoner in Kashmir. Sayeed visited Kashmir in 2009 and stayed for a year, living at a houseboat on Dal lake, gathering information and developing film ideas, eventually he set the film around the Dal lake, as an allegory for Kashmir. He first cast a local boatman, Gulzar Bhat, as the film's lead, followed by Mohammed Afzal and Neelofar Hamid, who play lead roles in the film. The film was shot during uprising of 2010, where much of the area was under curfew, and crew stayed on houseboats over the lake and script was changed to include scenes of curfew and violence, minimum crew was used to avoid attention. The film is scored by NY based indie alternative/rock band Zerobridge's Mubashir Mohi-ud-din,

J. P. Bowersock J. P. Bowersock is an American musician, guitarist, performer, and record producer based in New York City. He has worked with many musicians, including The Strokes, Ryan Adams, RZA, Julian Casablancas and Zerobridge Zerobridge was a New York-bas ...

, and also features songs like 'Nightingale's Lament (Gulzar Bhat)' rendering poetry of

Rasul Mir Rasul Mir (Kashmiri: ) also known as Rasul Mir Shahabadi, was a romantic poet of Kashmir in the 19th century. He was born at Doru Shahabad, a historic town in Anantnag district of Kashmir. He is often referred to as imām-e-ishqiya shairi (T ...

, and the song 'Boulevard' penned by Makhanlal Bekas.

Cast

* Mohammed Afzal as Afzal * Gulzar Ahmed Bhat as Gulzar * Neelofar Hamid as Asifa

Reception and recognition

The film opened at

2012 Sundance Film Festival The 2012 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 until January 29, 2012 in Park City, Utah. 64 short films were selected for the festival from 7,675 submissions, including 27 international shorts from 3,592 submissions. Non-competition ...

, where it won the Sundance Film Festival World Dramatic Audience Award and also the

, tied with the American film ''

''.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2088967, Valley of Saints
Valley of Saints, Official website
2012 films Kashmiri culture Films set in Jammu and Kashmir Kashmiri-language films Alfred P. Sloan Prize winners Kashmir conflict in films 2012 directorial debut films