For the first time in South by Southwest® (SXSW®) history, an innovative initiative to highlight, recognize, and appreciate South Asians from the seven countries – India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives – as well as accomplished members of the diaspora, will be unveiled at the FIRST-EVER SOUTH ASIAN HOUSE (SAH) at SXSW in March 2023.
Brainchild of veteran producers, curators, and programmers Rohi Mirza Pandya (Box Office Guru Media & Desipina), Monika Samtani (Ms. Media & The Fem Word), Jitin Hingorani (Jingo Media & DFW South Asian Film Festival), and Kirtana Banskota (Banskota Productions & Nepal America Film Society), SAH will showcase programming around film/television, dance/music, technology, business, fashion, comedy, and climate change from a South Asian world view. The two days of plenaries, sessions, panel discussions, workshops, art exhibits, book launches, music concerts, and more will take place during the first weekend of SXSW, March 11 and 12, in the iconic 4th Street neighborhood of downtown Austin, just blocks from the Austin Convention Center event headquarters.
“We are thrilled to be commissioned to curate the first-ever South Asian House in the 37-year-history of this iconic film, tech, and music festival that is now in the global spotlight,” proclaimed the curatorial team of Mirza Pandya, Samtani, Hingorani, and Banskota. “Our subcontinent is rich in history, art, culture, and science, and we want the thousands of expected attendees at SXSW to experience our contributions to the world first-hand. Never has South Asia been represented on such a massive scale at an A-list festival.”
