Festival of Lights

Play trailer

Festival of Lights

Released Nov 9, 2012

1h 42m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

8%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

An immigrant family moves to Queens and rediscovers their Guyanese heritage.

Mark Olsen

Los Angeles Times

The travel-heavy third act, which leapfrogs a host of key plot points, risibly defies logic and clarity as the film barrels toward its forced and sentimental conclusion.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 9, 2012

Full Review

Ronnie Scheib

Variety

Somewhere in her switch from documaking to fiction filmmaking, Shundell Prasad seems to have lost touch with clarity.

Nov 8, 2012

Full Review

John DeFore

The Hollywood Reporter

Universal themes aren't enough to buoy unimaginative drama.

Nov 7, 2012

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

A contrived soap opera of cliché and predictability.

Aug 6, 2019

Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

A vivid portrait of the troubled journey of a mother and daughter who flee Guyana and try to set up new lives in America.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 8, 2012

Full Review

Eric Monder

Film Journal International

Interesting drama about an Indo-Guyanese teenager suffers from amateurish acting and writing.

Nov 5, 2012

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

It's actually a pretty good movie for an indy movie about a unique subject matter, location and culture. The over-all plot isn't really predictable, some of the performances and scenes are quite lovely, and it actually has some decent star power in the form of Mistri and Quinn. You genuinely worry about the protagonists. And despite the rather harsh professional reviews, I don't think one should underestimate the importance and benefit of seeing a story set in a culture that very rarely, if ever, gets any limelight shown on it at all. The imagery from and in Guyana are wonderful in their own right. Well, worth a watch. And again, unlike many, genuinely bad indy movies, this one actually has a storyline and acting that let you finish the whole thing and engage in the story. A nice first narrative effort from the director.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Shundell Prasad

Director

Melinda Shankar

Reshma

Aidan Quinn

Adem

Ritu Singh Pande

Meena

Stephen Hadeed Jr.

Ravin

Nandanie Dudhnath

Asha

The Golden Dream

89%

86%

The Golden Dream

Watchlist

Paradise: Love

77%

69%

Paradise: Love

Watchlist

The Pirogue

79%

53%

The Pirogue

Watchlist

People v. the State of Illusion

20%

86%

People v. the State of Illusion

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

An immigrant family moves to Queens and rediscovers their Guyanese heritage.

Director: Shundell Prasad
Producer: Shundell Prasad, Graziano Bruni
Screenwriter: Shundell Prasad
Distributor: Truly Indie
Production Co: Major Motion Pictures Ltd.
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 9, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 8, 2017
Runtime: 1h 42m