Dishad Husain directs and stars in Viva Liberty, one of four shorts in the New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest at Middletown Township Public Library.

By TOM CHESEK

A couple of evenings a week at Neelam Exotic Indian Cuisine — located in the otherwise nondescript Village Mall on southbound Route 35 in Middletown — patrons turn out for a buffet night that’s proven to be a popular draw for folks throughout the greater Red Bank oRBit. Whether they’re just getting acquainted with an unfamiliar culinary experience or all-you-can-eat chowhounds looking for a recession-busting deal, they find the eclectic spread put out by Mr. Malhi and family a delightful introduction to the flavors of South Asia.

Not much more than a quarter-mile away, at the cool community resource that is the Middletown Township Public Library, a group of DIY directors and cinephiles with an indie jones have assembled the celluloid equivalent of a splendid buffet for the benefit of those who’ve heard good things about a new generation of South Asian filmmakers — but don’t particularly want to wade through hundreds of hours of Bollywood blockbusters to find a gem.

Presented under the banner of the New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest, the Monday evening menu of short films — each under thirty minutes long — is the second in a series hosted at the library’s Community Room. Organized by the Monmouth County-based Asian American Film and Theater Project, it’s a traveling sampler of fare from a larger annual event that unspools in September at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, and it begins at 6p with a selection of food and beverages catered by the nearby Neelam.

Central Jersey’s South Asian-American community has spawned a bone fide movie star in Freehold’s own Kal Penn, and if you’ve enjoyed his performances in the two Harold and Kumar cut-ups — or his impressive turn in the deeply felt The Namesake — you just might be attuned to the themes on display here. In these four films from the US, Canada and the UK, people struggle to maintain their identity as they strive to fit into the larger culture around them — with results that range from uplifting to uproarious.

Images from 1001 Auditions, Pria and Red Roses.

First on Monday’s bill is the 20-minute dark comedy short Viva Liberty, in which producer-director Dishad Husain stars as a British citizen whose Muslim background combines with various misunderstandings to land him in an American detention facility called Camp Liberty. If you have the notion that the makers of Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay may have seen this one on the festival circuit, you can have a rich and fulfilling career as a cynical Web-based entertainment correspondent.

In the 26-minute American short 1001 Auditions, producer Pooja Kumar stars as Meera, a struggling showbiz hopeful who “realizes her true karma” when she finds herself unable to break through in the big city. Arun Singh directs.

Director Theodore Bezaire won acclaim in filmmaker circles with Pria, a 12-minute sketch in which a teenage girl who’s self-conscious about her South Asian accent attempts to break the social ice by imitating lines from her favorite movies.

The final film on the program is a documentary co-directed (with Madhuri Mohindar) by Cinefest programmer Vaishali Sinha. A 17-minute study of South Asian women who work at or frequent a Queens beauty shop, Red Roses is “a sociological portrait of women negotiating between the crosscurrents of two cultures… an exploration of how most South Asian women who come to the United States via marriage and family obligations seek to assert their individuality and freedom.”

Admission to Monday’s event is free. The Middletown library main branch is located at 55 New Monmouth Road, between Route 35 and Tindall Road. For further info on events down at the biblioteque, drop in here.

Email this story