SEDUCING MAARYA.
(1999, col, 107 minutes)
DATE: Friday November 2. TIME: 3:30 p.m.

SYNOPSIS: Two Indian sayings go as follows: 'a woman doesn't marry a husband, she marries a family', and, 'to be part of a family is to keep secrets'. Both are borne out in this story of one East Indian family in Montreal. An Indian widower finds Maarya, the "perfect" Indian girl for his Canadian-born musician son. After the hastily arranged marriage. He discovers that the home fires are not burning as warmly as they should. Ignorant of the fact that his son is gay, (lie father decides to teach him how to "seduce" and fall in love with his wife. He ends up failing in love with her himself. Before long he meets Maarya's brother, who has come from India to visit. He soon discovers that the "perfect Indian girl" is more "perfect" than she first seemed.

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Malaysian-bom Hunt Hoe, a Montreal director-producer, works in film and television. He produced and directed the 1996 half-hour documentary Journey of Strings, a half-hour documentary on stringed music from many countries, which was broadcast on the 'Bravo!' channel. His first feature "Foreign Ghosts" (1997) was shown in festivals around the world. He has also directed "Respect the Beat"(1999), a documentary on drum music from Japan and Africa.

CAST: Nandana Sen, the daughter of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, is a Harvard graduate who travels between Canada, USA, UK and India and calls the world her home. She has acted in a number of Italian, Canadian and Indian productions. Dr. Mohan Agashe is a distinguished actor of Indian stage and film, well-known for his roles in "Gandhi" and "Mississippi Masala". He is a professional psychiatrist and the Director of the National Film and Television Institute of India. Cas Anvar is a well-respected actor and artistic director of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park theatre company in Montreal.
His most recent films include 'Afterglow' and 'The Adventures of Marco Polo'.