SEDUCING MAARYA
feature film


Newport Beach International Film Festival
2000

Click Poster for TRAILER

SYNOPSIS:

A story of an East Indian family in Montreal.
A story of Forbidden Love.
A story of passion vs tradition.
A story of order in chaos and confusion.
A story of hope.
As the river of life flows...

LOCATION:

Montreal and River Ganga, India.

Click icon for still photos!
maarya link


ONE NIGHT in BANGKOK...
The story...
bangkok link


INSIDE HUNT HOE
Interview
voice interview

 

REVIEWS:

"... Captivating and enticing- alluring audiences with its taboo subjects..."
Lehka Shankar, Bangkok Post

"Seducing Maarya overflows with exotic heat..."
"Seducing Maarya is a Canadian film, and it comes with a boiling emotion that you don't often seen in homegrown cinema. Boy, does it boil. It practically overflows with an exotic heat...
Director-writer Hoe sometimes fills the screen with scenes of transcendent beauty... Seducing Maarya has a visceral power that stays with you after it's over. There is something about her you cannot easily dismiss, a texture that Hoe has inserted into the material that gives it a power beyond its humble style and disharmonic reactions. Seducing Maarya is a film that sets out to be provocative and somehow, despite itself, succeeds."
Jay Stone, Ottawa Citizen

"...An engaging feature with intriguing characters... the taboos are handled tastefully... the actors make us believe each fulfils a need of the other."
Marke Andrews, National Post & Vancouver Sun

"...Applause for the way it handles the complex storyline that manages to be dramatic, comedic and sensual, told with a visual flair despite its minuscule budget..."
Stephen Cooke, Halifax Herald

"...Not since Like Water for Chocolate has food played such a key role in seduction..."
T.S.Warren, Ottawa X Press

*** (Three stars)"The film is richly textured and features a bevy of fine performances... spectacular photography..."
Bill Brownstein, The Gazette, Montréal

"...director Hunt Hoe manages to incorporate intelligent dialogue with well-framed shots and excellent acting in this dramatic slice of Indian life in Montreal. Sexual diversity- even perversity- takes on new meaning, and family values are stretched to the breaking point..."
Daniel C.Tsang, Orange County Weekly

"...one of the most interesting and surprising features [at the festival]."
Tempo News, Taos, New Mexico

"Un film tout précieux car unique dans notre cinématographie...."
Luc Perreault, La Presse, Montréal

"...a sizzling film."
Madhu Jain, India Today

"I enjoyed SEDUCING MAARYA very much- shattering preconceptions about the family, the libido as being the arbiter of action, the quagmire of allegiance to things such as homeland, religion, family, all being echoes, or microcosms of the others... the innuendoes of cuisine..."
Steve Seid, Pacific Film Archive

"...a blend of humour and tragedy that breaks thru' the cultural, religious, sexual taboos that bind us..."
Wendy Wellington, Ashiana, Toronto

"...Hunt Hoe's film is for a sophisticated audience..."
Pratik Joshi, The Tribune, India

"An emotional epic with stellar performances of great complexity and range... Hoe treats the collision between old world values and new world sensibilities with equal measure of tragedy and comedy. Full of warmth, grace, passion and great cinematic beauty, this is an timely film which is ultimately a story about hope..."
Ken Anderlini, Vancouver International Film Festival

"Fascinating... an extremely satisfying adult drama about the basis of all human sales, seduction, jealousy and violence..."
Hawaii International Film Festival

"...A meditation of passion and seduction that will completely take you over, spin you around and have you rethinking the norms of falling in love."
Independent Movie Reviewer, U.S. Citizen

"A deceptively serious but eventually quite funny family sex comedy... beautifully drawn characters and an increasingly crazy story of forbidden loves and cultural taboos make this independent film an unforgettable melodramatic farce..."
Ray Murray, Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

"Framing powerful performances with wonderfully expressive cinematography, Seducing Maarya delves into the dangerous secrets and desires which can suck a family into chaos..."
The New Festival, New York

"Seducing Maarya is the kind of low-budget but fascinating film that could build a cult following... It veers wildly between melodrama, social documentary and farce. An ethnic movie informed by a gay sensibility, taking forbidden love as its theme and explores it from just about every angle... I laughed until I cried."
Pat Donnelly, The Gazette, Montréal

"A Rich & Exotic Affair-'Seducing Maarya' is a low budget film with a big budget feel."
Francine Grimaldi, Radio Canada

"...One of the most provocative films, which showcases Nandana Sen in her first fleshed-out role and a profound performance by Dr.Mohan Agashe..."
Janet Fine, Indian Express

"...This is a film about crossing boundaries- personal, cultural & sexual- which in the hands of Hunt Hoe, we are assured of unusual turns and twists and dramatic visual images in the narration of this new-style morality tale."
Gautam Hooja, Hindustan Times

"...among the film's many strengths are its vibrant soundtrack, a compelling story, strong performances, and a mood/ sensibility that is refreshingly different..."
Jeff Miller, Utica College, USA

TECHNICAL INFO:

107 minutes Colour, 35 mm 1:85

LANGUAGE:

English

CAST & CREW:

Cast:

Nandana Sen, Cas Anvar, Vijay Metha, Ryan Hollyman
and featuring
Dr.Mohan Agashe

Crew:

  • Director of Photography Michael Wees
  • Art Director Xavier Georges
  • Editors Phyllis Lewis & Hunt Hoe
  • Sound Michel Zabitsky
  • Music Janet Lumb & Dino Giancola
  • Line Producer Daniel Ferguson

WRITTEN, PRODUCED and DIRECTED by HUNT HOE

FESTIVALS:

  • Festival Des Filmes du Monde Montréal
  • Vancouver International Film Festival
  • Hawaii International Film Festival
  • Cairo International Film Festival
  • India International Film Festival
  • Local Heroes Film Festival, Edmonton
  • Kerala International Film Festival, India
  • Newport Beach International Film Festival*
  • Taos Talking Pictures, New Mexico
  • Bermuda International Film Festival
  • Minneapolis/St-Paul International Film Festival**
  • Atlanta International Film Festival
  • New York New Festival
  • San Francisco Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival
  • "Staring at the Sun" Festival, Berkeley
  • Vancouver Asian Heritage Festival
  • Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
  • Festival Imagination xiii de Montréal
  • Bangkok International Film Festival
  • Les Rendezvous du Cinéma Québecois
  • Turino International Film Festival, Italy
  • Indo-American Film Festival, NYC

*Best Director
**Closing Gala

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:

SODEC (Societe Developpement des Entreprises Culturelles)

Canada Council

TMN- The Movie Network

DISTRIBUTION:

CANADA (FRENCH) K-Films Amerique

USA/ CANADA Home Video distribution- Vanguard Cinema

For Distribution Info, Contact HuntMovies at:
CONTACT (Anti spam measure- insert "AT"symbol) HUNTMOVIES.COM


***

SEDUCING MAARYA CD soundtrack available at selected locations

Return to HomePage

A Foreign Ghosts Production Presentation.