A film about the honour killing of a Maple Ridge woman is playing close to her home town.
The International South Asian Film Festival (iSAFF) will be screening Dear Jassi in Surrey. It's a story with all the romance and tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and will play at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Landmark Cinemas in Guildford.
The film was produced by Tarsem Singh, who made his mark with visually impactful music videos for the likes of REM, and the horror film The Cell featuring Jennifer Lopez.
He tells the story of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, who graduated from Pitt Meadows secondary in 1993. She was murdered in June 2000 in an alleged honour killing. She had secretly married rickshaw driver Sukwinder Singh Sidhu, known as Mithu, against her family’s wishes. The couple was attacked while in India, with Jassi stabbed to death, and Mithu surviving the attack. After, he went into hiding.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival a year ago, and won a prestigious award, the Platform Award, which included a $20,000 cash prize.
Jassi’s mother, Malkit Kaur Sidhu and uncle Surgit Singh Badesha, who lived in Maple Ridge, were extradited to India in 2019 to face trial for ordering the killing.
More information is available at isaff.ca
