Festival Guide | 23rd Filmi: Toronto's South Asian Film Festival Dec 6-7 2025

Sunday, September 29th, 2013 – 6:30PM

Toronto Premiere

Ahluwalia+Abbasi: Unplugged on the Upper East Side

Director – Punam Kumar Gill

Length: 7 Minutes

Canada

Q&A with Director Punam Kumar Gill, Singer Kiran Ahluwalia and Musician Rez Abbasi

Industry Panel:

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

Magic Lantern Theatres Carlton Cinema – 20 Carlton St, Toronto, ON M5B 2H5

In the Carlton Lobby

1:00 PM – Growing up as South Asian Artist

Panel Will Include from, New York, Singer Kiran Ahluwalia and Musician Rez Abbasi and Calgary filmmaker Punam Kumar Gill

Admission is Free

3:00 PM – Documentary Filmmaking: The challenges in 2013 and the future

Panel will include filmmakers Punam Kumar Gill, Mad Tatter, Ash Varma, Senthil Vinu

Ahluwalia+Abbasi: Unplugged on the Upper East Side

Film synopsis and logline: Kiran Ahluwalia invites you into her Upper East Side apartment. In this intimate video portrait, the Juno-winning Indian songstress allows viewers a rare glimpse into her life in New York City, shared with her husband and jazz guitarist, Rez Abbasi. A one-woman crew (director Punam Kumar Gill) films the entire sequence, achieving a level of comfort and vulnerability which reveals much about Kiran and Rez. Includes a raw and soulful jam session between these two artists in love.

TRAILER: http://tinyurl.com/mpvpdr9

Awards 2013 AMPIA Awards, Finalist “Best Cross-Platform Production”

Twitter

@PunamArts

Directors’ Bio:

Punam Kumar Gill is a self-taught, award-winning independent filmmaker who produces short films with a big heart. Her films are like layered portraits, and to date, she has captured her own dad, Ramesh Kumar – a monk-like man who taught a neighborhood of new immigrants in Edmonton how to drive, Vikram Vij – an iconic Indian fusion chef in Vancouver, Amrita Singh – an Indian jewelery designer in New York, and most recently, JUNO-winning Indian folk musician, Kiran Ahluwalia and her husband Rez Abbasi– a celebrated Pakistani-American Jazz artist. Her films have received official selection from film festivals in Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, and most recently, Kerala and Delhi, India. She has won the the Ming Short Film Festival, the ‘Audience Favorite Award’ of the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, a finalist in the Radio-Canada International Competition, and received 2 AMPIA Award nominations. She has been a jury member for both Canada Council for the Arts and Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Category: Festival Guide

Filmi Docs: Ahluwalia+Abbasi: Unplugged on the Upper East Side