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"First Generation: a Labor of Love. There's a lot of Ishwar L. Maisuria in his feature-film debut First Generation.

His parents' east Vancouver house is used as a main location in this independent feature film about inter-generational strife in an immigrant family. His mom cooked for the crew, he wrote and directed the film and raised the production budget through bank loans and credit cards.

Although Ishwar belongs to an immigrant family like the one depicted in his movie, the story isn't autobiographical.

The parents and adult children in the film can't talk to one another, Ishwar says, he and his three siblings have a great relationship with their folks.

"This film is about how important it is to keep talking," says Ishwar.

Filmed in 16 millimeter, the film is rough-edged but heartfelt, with some affecting moments. It’s being shown Sunday afternoon at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival.

Ishwar says filming turned into a labor of love for most of the 40 people involved.

He got friends to score the movie with deferred agreements. The actors – drawn mainly from ethnic theatre groups – also agreed to deferred payments as did the crew.

B.C. Ferries wanted about $1,000 a day to give Ishwar and his crew the nod to film on a ferry. Their solution was to play tourist – they bought passage on the ferry, the crew lugged the gear on board and filmed a short scene without official permission.

"It’s got some rough edges, not unlike the characters and subject matter , but the spirit of the film comes through," he says.

Ishwar L. Maisuria will be participating in a filmmakers workshop on the trials of independent film-making at this weekend’s Vancouver Asian Film Festival. Ishwar got his training at the Vancouver Film School, and went from there to work as a production assistant at Cannell Films in North Vancouver. He struck out on his own, figuring it would take too long for him to work his way up the corporate hierarchy to doing his own films."

- "The Vancouver Province" Newspaper