Last month I finished work on my 3rd film, a documentary short entitled ‘the Decrepit’.

‘Filmed in the summer of 2011, ‘the Decrepit’ is a micro-budget project (less than $5k) that was made to provide an empowering voice to the people of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

Too often these people are taken out of context and made to look as though they are ‘human trash’ by broadcasters and filmmakers.

Hear what these people have to say in the context which they intended.

Shout out to Brad Dyck for helping out with the sound and to the Vancouver Police Department: Beat Enforcement Team.

A very special thank you and shout out to Constable S. Lail, without him, this project would not have been possible.

The film is free to watch and share, I hope everyone understands the underlying message of the film.

Thank you for your support.

mani

original post from;
http://www.warriorsreligion.com/media/thedecrepit

It was a long road, but the film is finally available on DVD!

Thanks to everyone who helped throughout the production process.

Major thanks goes out to Sandi Nijjar, my manager for the last 4 years, and Robin Mahal, my assistant director who took on duties outside her scope of practice much too often.

http://www.footstepsintogangland.com/dvd

Here is some teaser artwork for the DVD release;

Enjoy!

mani

It was my sincere honour to support the students and give them a private screening of the film. The film was showcased on December 6th, 2011 at the Richmond campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University. It was part of other screenings of my films and a Q&A/Guest speaker session. Read the original post here.

Shout out to Summer for the ongoing support.

Thank you to the students for the props and support, it was my pleasure being a part of your studies.

Best regards,

mani

One of my favourite things to do is reach out and awareness work for the youth.  My film career has blessed me with many opportunities to come out to events and help educate youth and the public about gangsterism, women’s rights, and other socially conscious issues.

A Warrior’s Religion provided me with such opportunities, and to my surprise, now this film, is doing the same.

Professor Jay Ruzesky reached out to me after using A Warrior’s Religion in his class.  He was hoping I could come down and do a Q&A for the class, which I jumped at the chance to do.  After going back for a couple of weeks, we decided this would be a good opportunity to showcase FIG.

FIG, still going through the film festival circuit had not been actively circulated for further theatrical and educational screenings, these students essentially got a ‘sneak peak’!

It was a great event, a very engaged crowd, and an awesome day all around.  I had missed the island, as it will always will feel like home for me.

The new VIU LEED Cowichan Campus was absolutely stunning!  Environmentally & aesthetically beautiful!

Shout out to Professor Jay Ruzesky for the awesome experience.  It was my sincere pleasure to work with VIU once again.

Thank you to the awesome questions, comments, and feedback from the students/public in attendance.

Thank you Vancouver Island University!

Looking forward to more opportunities to give back to the youth.

Best,

mani

Just wanted to thank everyone who made it out to the debut screening of FIG in Ontario at the FILMI Festival, now in its 12th year, on September 29th, 2011.

FIG was honoured as the opening night feature film!

Many thanks to the always and tirelessly working Dinesh Sachdev, who has been running this festival out of his own pockets since its inception 12 years ago.

My work coming out to FILMI has taken some time but it was worth the wait.  The small and intimate festival had an atmosphere of like-minded individuals there to celebrate the love for film.

Once again, a thanks and shout out to Dinesh Sachdev, and a shout out to a friend and actor from FIG, M.E. Lewis, who came out to support the film, thanks Mark!

Best,

mani

Hey all,

I had a chance to bring awareness about the gang issue to the Iranian community via Caravan TV.  It was a great opportunity and I thank Caravan TV for it.

Shout out to Anne Khan for a great experience.

Best,

mani

Surrey flim maker and Port Alberni son Mani Amar released his latest film – Footsteps into Gangland – last month. The movie chronicles gang life on the Lower Mailand, as well as the South Asian experience with sexual abuse and the foster care system.

Hello everyone,

It is always a pleasure when one can make news in their hometown.  I was elated to be contacted by Wawmeesh Hamilton of the Alberni Valley News Newspaper.

Wawmeesh and I talked in-depth of the precursors surrounding the gang issue.  A quick 15 minute interview became an hour long conversation.

I thank Alberni Valley News and Wawmeesh for the article.

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Alberni South Asian filmmaker chronicles gritty gang life

By Wawmeesh G. Hamilton – Alberni Valley News
Published: May 05, 2011 2:00 AM

A former Port Alberni resident’s new film takes a raw look at taboo subjects in South Asian culture, and if it generates controversy then people are thinking, its creator said.

Footsteps into Gangland by Mani Amar chronicles a day in the lives of South Asian characters whose lives are destroyed by gangs, the foster care system and sexual abuse.

The film opened in Surrey in April.

The movie’s main character is Himit, who moves from a small Vancouver Island town to Vancouver where he re-connects with his now crime-boss cousin who tries to recruit him.

The film’s other character is Mya, who has spent most of her life in foster care.

The opening scene depicts her being raped by her foster father, then partying and using drugs as an escape.

The film isn’t meant to be entertaining, nor does it sensationalize or exploit gang life.

Instead, it scrapes the dark sheen of gritty subjects that need to be exposed.

“I expect people to be disturbed and unnerved by what they see on screen,” Amar said.

“If some scenes make people look away then it’s something they need to see, hear and really think about.”

Some of Amar’s critics say that he is doing a disservice to the South Asian community and casting Sikh religion in a bad light.

Others say he’s stereotyping the South Asian community.

“The way things happen in my film is the way it happened in people’s real lives,” Amar said.

“And Bollywood stereotypes South Asian people—I’m being blunt and honest about what goes on in part of our community.”

Amar underwrote the film’s $75,000 price tag himself using “credit cards, paycheques and savings,” he said.

There’s no guarantee he’ll recoup his financial investment, but the movie may pay off in ways which are even more valuable.

“If this gives a girl the courage to talk about sexual abuse and seek justice,” Amar said.

“Or of it stops a guy from joining a gang then I saved a life and that’s worth going into debt for.”

Amar grew up in Port Alberni but can relate to some of the film’s content  because of his experiences while living on the Lower Mainland, he said.

But it chillingly hits home in another way as well.

“I know guys from Port Alberni who got involved in crime after moving here and their lives didn’t turn out so good,” he said.

reporter@albernivalleynews.com

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/albernivalleynews/news/121306749.html

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Shout out to Wawmeesh Hamilton for the support!

Best,

mani

Hey all,

I had a chance to sit down with Riaz Meghji of City TV’s Breakfast Television.  Riaz has been a great supporter of my work since I started my film career.

We had a chance to speak about Footsteps Into Gangland as well as the South Asian community, media, and what needs to be done in order to help stop the gang issue from continuing.

Shout out to Riaz Meghji for another great experience with City TV and the support.

Best,

mani

Hello everyone,

I was invited to speak on Global Television’s Morning News with Sophie Lui about my new film and the inspiration behind it.

Shout out to Sophie Lui for the wonderful opportunity and Steve Darling (who was absent on that day) for the ongoing support.

Best,

mani

p.s. …I meant to say ‘2nd time director‘, lol…

Hello everyone!

The Surrey Now has continued with the media attention that Footsteps Into Gangland is getting.

This great article was written by Matt Law, a great up & coming writer/photo-journalist.

The article was released online via The Surrey Now website and in hard copy today.

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Real events spur ‘Gangland’ film
Surrey filmmaker Mani Amar doesn’t pull any punches in his work
By Matt Law, Special to The Surrey Now
Published: March 18, 2011 10:29 AM

Mani Amar grew up in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island where a city bylaw made sure that every home had a tree in the front yard.

Amar only remembers one youth murder while living on the Island – unfortunately, he can’t say the same for Surrey.

His move to the mainland when he was 18 years old was a major change – something that helped inspire his passion for filmmaking and his latest production, Footsteps Into Gangland, a hour-and-a-half long movie about gangs in Vancouver.

He wrote the script when he was 23. At the time, he was working on a documentary about South Asian gang life, called A Warrior’s Religion, which won the best documentary award at the 2009 Sikh International Film Festival.

The self-trained filmmaker beat several BBC and CBS backed movies for the honour.

“It was me, my money and my handheld camera against the BBC and their $2-million documentaries. Good times,” Amar said.

Not bad for someone who started their career being forced to film family events because he was the youngest.

He thinks the message in the film won him the award as opposed to the high-tech equipment or training that others had.

Making hard-hitting movies isn’t a full-time job for the 29-year-old. He funds his movies by working as a graphic designer and as certified personal trainer, but creating awareness through film is his passion.

“Do you ever find something that you just feel right doing? When it came to doing social change and art it just felt right,” said Amar.

While his latest film isn’t a documentary, it is a fictional interpretation of real stories: murders, rapes and kidnappings that have happened in the Vancouver area.

“Everything I put in the film, from the dialogue to the events, is all based on true events, everything,” said Amar.

He researched newspaper articles, stories in the community and police files that had been made public – stories about real people whose lives had been changed forever by gangs.

“I took these stories of people that have been affected, I wanted to give them a voice, I wanted to empower them,” Amar said.

The film follows several young Indo-Canadians who find their lives destroyed by gangs and violence and abuse in their families.

He chose to shoot most of it in black and white because his focus was on the message not the colours and entertainment people see in Hollywood productions. Amar’s goal with all of his films is social change and making people aware of issues that matter.

It took him $75,000 and only one year to shoot and edit the film. It also put him into debt.

“One of my beliefs is if you save one life, you save the world. So if I touch that one life and I save them, which I think I have, then I’ve done my part and it’s worth getting in debt for.”

Despite Amar’s good intentions, his films have created controversy in the South Asian community.

Two weeks before the first media screening of Footsteps Into Gangland, he started receiving threatening phone calls. Some felt he was doing a disservice to the community and painting Indo-Canadians in a bad light.

But Amar was motivated to not shy away from the very real problems affecting youth.

“Anything worth doing is going to be difficult,” he said. “Youth get involved in this garbage and lose their lives, and hurt families. I originally tried to look for someone doing something positive and proactive, but it didn’t work out that way.”

Amar hopes his film will eventually be shown in high schools so he can reach more young people with his message.

He is critical of how kids act in the world, but he also sees hope for the future and remains passionate about helping youth.

“There is a shift happening in youth right now where that peace and love movement is starting to come not just from grassroots but it’s starting to come from everywhere,” said Amar.

The film is hard to watch at times and Amar admits it’s pretty intense. He pulls no punches in showing how harsh life can be for kids who get involved with gangs.

Footsteps Into Gangland is being shown March 21 to 23 at the Surrey Arts Centre. Show times are 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets cost $11.

To find out more about Amar and his films, visit www.footstepsintogangland.com.

© Copyright (c) Surrey Now

http://www.thenownewspaper.com/news/Real+events+spur+Gangland+film/4463594/story.html

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Shout out to Matt Law for helping bring awareness to this issue!

Best regards everyone,

mani