We were overwhelmed by the response to our call for entries for FSA ’99, in terms of number, variety, as well as quality. Choosing 50 from among the 149 films entered was therefore a challenge for the selection panel, which viewed each of the entries and made its choices on the basis of overall excellence (but also giving some thought to thematic diversity and geographical spread). Of the 50 films being screened at FSA ’99, 43 are in competition, including five short films. 

Among the films being screened, 13 could be roughly classified as social commentary, 10 as reportage, 10 as profiles, six on women and children, five political/ historical, four ethnographic, and four’ others’. Country-wise, 33 films are from India, five from Bangladesh, five from Nepal, four from Pakistan and one from Sri Lanka. India is well represented at FSA ’99, for obvious reasons of size, economy and media evolution, but the selection panel was distressed that Pakistan and Sri Lanka in particular were not producing more non-fiction films. At the same time, it must be noted (and this applies beyond documentary films) that the key to being ‘Southasian’ does not lie in representing the nation-states; rather it is the populated regions of the Subcontinent that does so. Going by this ‘extra-national’ definition of Southasia, we find that the 50 films do a fairly good job of covering the landscape of the Subcontinent.