India film fest draws attention

A film festival in India’s capital this week highlights many social and political themes of a rapidly changing Asia -- and offers a window into an Islamic world that’s rapidly gaining the international community’s attention.

The Osians-Cinefan Eighth Festival of Asian Cinema, running through Sunday in New Delhi, comes as India is still reeling from one of its worst terrorist attacks, in which almost 200 people were killed July 11. Despite the Bombay attacks, or perhaps partly because of them, interest in the festival’s Arabic section is particularly high this year, organizers said.

Among the festival’s most talked-about debuts is “Today and Tomorrow,” directed by Toronto-based Palestinian Izidore K. Musallam. Said to be the first feature film made in Saudi Arabia, it is described as a social drama and romantic comedy that poses questions about the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and the assertion of their identity.