Filmi 23!
Filmi Toronto’s South Asian Film Festival – 23 Years!
December 6th – 7th, 2025
Stay tuned for some great films!
21st Filmi: Toronto’s South Asian film festival
Harbourfront Centre
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The Green room
A nervous comic’s night spirals into chaos when his jokes are stolen, his girlfriend kicks him out of her apartment, and a call from home delivers devastating news just as he’s about to take the stage
Director Biography – Shashank Banawalikar Subhash
Born in Mumbai and raised in Bangalore, Shashank is a multidisciplinary artist whose journey spans architecture, Art, stand-up comedy, and filmmaking. His early experiments with mixed media art fostered a strong visual instinct, which later merged seamlessly with his narrative pursuits.
While studying architecture, Shashank discovered a deep passion for comedy, performing stand-up by night while navigating design projects by day. When the pandemic paused live performances, he shifted to filmmaking, using the camera as his new canvas. This transition led him to Toronto, where he formally trained as a filmmaker and began refining his voice as a writer-director.
His short film “Dosa”, a sharp Crime-comedy, earned awards and recognition on the international festival circuit, establishing him as a filmmaker with a distinct point of view. His Upcoming film, “The Green Room”, is an ambitious single-take short film that blends theatre, stand-up, and cinema. With this project, Shashank pushes the creative limits of short-form storytelling, experimenting with real-time narrative, precise choreography, and emotional pacing to explore themes of identity, vulnerability, and performance.
Now based in Toronto, Shashank continues to balance his work as a filmmaker with performing stand-up comedy. Across mediums, his goal remains the same: to tell honest, layered, and visually compelling stories with humor and heart.
Director Statement
As a first-generation immigrant, filmmaker, painter, and stand-up comedian, I’ve spent a lot of time balancing performance and vulnerability and figuring out what it means to be seen. The Green Room captures those moments, minutes before showtime, when nerves, anticipation, and self-doubt collide. Designed to feel like a single continuous take, the film lets you experience the energy, tension, and humor of life on stage, drawn from moments I’ve lived both on and off the comedy stage.
23rd Filmi: Toronto's South Asian Film Festival Dec 6-7 2025 
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