Eastern Influence

His lightly accented, radio-smooth voice and surprisingly cheeky sense of humor is best-known in Pittsburgh from his Sunday night show on WDUQ-FM (90.5), "Music from India." But, he's also been an engineer, an acclaimed painter and a filmmaker, whose last movie, "The Journey," just screened on the Independent Film Channel.

When the funding didn't come through on his latest film project, the moment seemed to call for reflection and soul searching. Instead, Saluja jumped headfirst into another longtime dream -- Pittsburgh's first Asian-American film festival, dubbed the Silk Screen Festival. It starts this weekend at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' theaters in Oakland, Regent Square and Downtown.

"Asia, particularly China and India, are in our future, as Lou Dobbs will remind you (on CNN) every night," Saluja says. "So ... what we should do is start learning about each other. Let's find ways to support each other so it'll be good for all of us. How do we do that? Well, there are business angles, there are political things that can be done. But, when we need to know about a people, we need cultural exchanges."

Film, being the most accessible of the arts, is a good place to start.

"Just open your mind to accepting that the majority of the people may look dark," Saluja says. "They may speak a different language, and may have different ways of handling situations. And different backgrounds -- shooting in front of the Taj Mahal as opposed to New York again and again."

There are distinct Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean enclaves in the Pittsburgh area -- though there's little that brings them together, or puts them front and center. Silk Screen is intended to be a coming-out party for those Asian communities.

"You go to Boston, New York, San Francisco, you find Asian activities," Saluja says. "Movies, restaurants, concerts. We hardly do anything in Pittsburgh. But look around you, and there's Asians everywhere. They're doctors, engineers, they own compaines. They're generally affluent and educated. I'm the only poor Indian in Pittsburgh!"

Saluja came to Pittsburgh in 1971 to work as an engineer, and he's embraced Pittsburgh as his home. But it's his connections overseas, particularly in the film world, that make Silk Screen possible.

"I'm from India, I've been here for 30-some years since I had hair on my head, this is my home, these are the two cultures I love," Saluja says. "I'm proud and happy to be here. ... Being an artist, being a filmmaker, people will take my calls. Through three or four degrees of separation, I can get to most of these (film) people. I've been to most of the Asian festivals, I've shown my movie, I've been on their (Asian) TV -- so it was logical that I should shut up and do it myself."

Oscar-nominated producer Jim Schamus ("Brokeback Mountain") is helping out on the festival's advisory board. Plans for future Silk Screens are already being discussed, before the house lights have gone down on the first movie. It's a volunteer staff this year, but support from foundations, individuals and corporations is trickling in.

They hope a successful festival will convince others to jump in next year. Plans are in the works to add more live music, dance and literary events to future Silk Screens. With a little help from the state, there's even tentative plans for a traveling Silk Screen festival that could go Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Erie.

"My plan is to make this among the best Asian festivals in the world," Saluja says. "That's how Sundance and Telluride got started."

Festival lineup

Red Carpet Gala: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 9-Over-9th Gallery and Rooftop Patio, 121 Ninth St., Downtown. $50. Black tie or ethnic dress encouraged.

"Man Push Cart" (USA, 2005): 7:30 p.m. Friday (followed by cast Q&A) and 9:15 p.m. May 19, Harris Theater. A former Pakistani rock singer struggles to make a living in Manhattan, but his harsh, humiliating life is brightened by the arrival of a young Spanish woman selling newspapers on his street.

"Buffalo Boy" (France/Belgium/Vietnam, 2005): 7:30 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Melwood Screening Room. A coming-of-age story about a teenager in Vietnam who makes an epic journey from innocence to knowledge.

"Amu" (India/USA, 2004): 8 p.m. Friday, Regent Square Theater, followed by director and cast Q&A. A 21-year-old Indian-American woman returns to India to visit her family. But, the more she learns about her own mysterious origins, the more she learns about a horrific genocide that happened 20 years ago.

"Gilaneh" (Iran, 2005): 9:30 p.m. Friday, Harris; 4 p.m. May 20, Melwood Screening Room. During the Iran-Iraq war, a villager has to send her son to war, and accompany her daughter to Tehran to find her son-in-law, a deserter. Fifteen years later, we meet her again.

"Slow Jam King" (USA, 2004): 9:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Monday, Melwood Screening Room. JoJo, a Filipino-American who thinks he's a gangsta-pimp, carjacks a mysterious traveling perfume salesman. They hit the road and travel through the underbelly of Nashville's country music scene.

"Journey From the Fall" (Thailand/USA, 2005): 5 p.m. Saturday, Regent Square. Long Nguyen stays in Vietnam to fight for his country while sending his wife, Mai, on a fishing boat to America. As Saigon falls under communist rule, Long is captured and sent to a "re-education camp."

"The Motel" (USA, 2005): 5 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. May 19, Melwood Screening Room. A chubby 13-year-old Asian-American has to clean motel sheets for his monstrous mother. Things change when hard-drinking, girl-crazy Sam shows up.

"Punching at the Sun" (USA, 2006): 6 p.m. Saturday (followed by director Q&A) and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Harris. A young immigrant teenager is gunned down in a Queens family convenience store. As his close-knit family struggles to deal with the loss, his brother becomes filled with rage.

"Arahan Janpun" (South Korea, 2004): 7 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday and 9:30 p.m. May 19, Melwood Screening Room. Modern-day action-comedy sends up cliches of kung fu action flicks.

"Mapado" (South Korea, 2004): 9 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. May 19 and 9:30 p.m. May 20, Harris. This comic tale begins with two friends' fishing trip to Mapo Island, where they discover five elderly women who've apparently not seen a man in years.

"Electric Shadows" (China, 2005): 9 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Monday, Regent Square. Charming tale of a small-town cinema in China, and the effect it has on the lives of a boy and girl.

"Cell Phone" (China, 2003): 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Tuesday, Regent Square. The top domestically produced film in China in 2003, this film depicts a love triangle threatened by one man's intemperate use of his cell phone.

"It's Only Talk" (Japan, 2005): 3 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Harris. Manic-depressive Yuko struggles to relate to her assrted friends and acquaintances.

"Eve and the Fire Horse" (Canada, 2005): 5 p.m. Sunday (followed by producer Q&A) and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Regent Square. A 9-year-old with an overactive imagination was born in the year of the Fire Horse, notorious for producing the most troublesome children."Yek Shab (One Night)" (Iran, 2005): 6 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Harris. A young woman is kicked out of her house in Tehran by her mother. She wanders the city, meeting three very different men.

"Quiet Summer" (Japan, 2005): 7 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. May 18, Melwood Screening Room. A young man returns to Taiwan to bury his mother's ashes. On his journey, he meets people who change his life.

"La Visa Loca" (Philippines, 2005): 8 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m. May 20, Melwood Screening Room. A young Filippino man has a dream -- a U.S. visa. To reach it, he embarks upon many disastrously comical schemes.

"Being Cyrus" (India, 2005): 7:30 p.m. May 18 and 9:30 p.m. May 20, Regent Square. Part psychological drama, part old-fashioned comedy, the story centers on a dysfunctional family who opens its home to an eccentric stranger.

"Grain in Ear" (Philippines, 2005): 8 p.m. May 18 and 7 p.m. May 20, Harris. An illicit love affair, a corrupted cop and poisoned kimchi intersect in this labyrinthine tale of love gone wrong.

"Iqbal" (India, 2005): 9:15 p.m. May 18 and 4 p.m. May 20, Regent Square. An 18-year-old, deaf-and-dumb boy in India dreams of playing cricket for the national team and won't let anything get in his way.

"Red Doors" (USA, 2005): 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. May 19, Regent Square. A disconnected Chinese-American family struggles to find love and happiness, as the father decides to become a monk, and his three daughters make unpredictable choices in love.

"Water" (Canada, 2005): 7 p.m. May 20, Regent Square. In India, widows are shunned, taken to live apart from society in "widow houses," but three women stand up and defty this system.

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