GENEROCITY "Philly's first South Asian film festival is debuting this August" 07.1.16
by Julie Zeglen
"South Asian films are about to have their moment in Philadelphia. [...] Mustard Seed will screen contemporary fiction and documentary films that “not only focus on themes specific to the South Asian experience but are also created by a predominantly South Asian crew and production team,” Cohen-Carroll said. “We are also committed to showing films from different countries, and balancing the distribution of countries represented." |Full article|
KAJAL MAGAZINE "The Mustard Seed Film Festival Is Bringing South Asia Back To Philly" 08.17.16
by Nadya Agrawal
"The South Asian population in Philadelphia has grown over 200% in the last decade, but looking at the art scene there you might not think it. For Natasha Cohen-Carroll and Hariprasad Kowtha, Philly inhabitants, this felt wrong. So they launched their own film festival to combat the lack. [...] They moved fast, and in the space of a few weeks they already booked three films. Then more followed. And more." |Full article|
DECENTERED "Mustard Seed Film Festival: Interview with Co-Founder Natasha Cohen-Carroll ’13" 08.17.16
Interview by Lydia Gingerich, Haverford College
"Many of the films explore what home means, whether it is a return home after several years of absence, a thought of leaving home to seek the unknown, or through an immigrant lens of leaving home or creating a new home. All the films have a very strong sense of place, to the point where the setting itself feels like its own character. The films evoke a questioning of identity, as the characters navigate these places, be it with a sense of longing, isolation, friendship, rejection, or courage. " |Full article|
THE AEROGRAM "A Philly First: Mustard Seed Film Festival Highlights South Asian Cinema" 08.18.16
by Pavani Yalamanchili
"Tomorrow kicks off the outdoor opening night of Mustard Seed Film Festival, Philadelphia’s first South Asian film festival, in a tunnel under the city’s Reading Viaduct. With 14 feature, short, and documentary films spread over two days at various locations across the city, in addition to panels, workshops, dance performances and food offerings, Mustard Seed aims to increase access to South Asian films and promote crosscultural exchange." |Full article|
KAJAL MAGAZINE "The Mustard Seed Film Festival Is A Home Away From Home" 08.26.16
by Medha
" This was the magic of Mustard Seed Film Festival. It presented alternatives to the typical mainstream South Asian films that tend to make the independent film theaters. Issues of mental health in higher education in India, the transgender identity in Sri Lanka, the struggles of the Black Somali population in Delhi — this film festival displayed an huge range of experiences of people in South Asia and its diaspora" |Full article|