MIAAC 2010
It’s that time of the year again when you get to see diverse and thought-provoking cinema from South Asia at the 2010 Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival. This festival, under its Director Aroon Shivdasani and curator Somi Roy, has been bringing an eclectic, surprising mix of South Asian based cinema from different parts of the world – and you never know which film will turn out to be the next big hit or major award-winner. After all, ‘Namesake’, ‘Water’ and even ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ first opened here, almost six months before their general release.
This year’s festival has a lot of intriguing possibilities including Aparna Sen’s ‘The Japanese Wife’, an emotional love story across the oceans, starring Rahul Bose, Raima Sen and the Japanese actress Chigasu Takaku.
Then there are films which have a history behind them: ‘Noise’ (Shor) first saw the light of day as a short film and actually won the Best Short Film Award at the MIACC Festival. Created by NRIs Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, the film has now evolved into a gritty feature about Mumbai starring Tusshar Kapoor, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Nikhil Dwivedi.
‘Memories in March’, directed by Sanjoy Nag and starring Rituparno Ghosh, Deepti Naval, Raima Sen and Pradeep Rai is a powerful story about relationships set in Kolkata.
For fans of the excellent Seema Biswas, there is a real treat in store with ‘Cooking with Stella’, in which she plays a wily cook working with Canadian expats in Delhi, and has quite an enrichment plan of her own. The film also stars Lisa Ray and is written by Deepa Mehta and directed by her brother Dilip Mehta.
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata all seem covered and this time there is a special Chalo Chennai Section with a spotlight on the South with films like Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavanan’ starring Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Prithviraj. If you saw the Hindi version (and who didn’t?), then it should be fun to see the Tamil version and compare the two. ‘Achamundu!Achamundu!’ (I am Scared!) is a chilling thriller set in the US, directed by Arun Vaidyanathan.
There are also lots of small gems in the short films being shown at the festival. One of them is ‘The Poetics of color: Natvar Bhavsar’, a documentary about the noted artist made by the art historian and gallerist Sundaram Tagore.
MIAAC 2010 – Filmindia
For those interested in the nitty gritty of cinema and how the scene is changing, there is FILMINDIA, a series of panel discussions on film production in India, with a special session on music in the Indian film industry. It should be quite an eye-opener to hear from Indian and US entertainment companies on how they are collaborating to reach a global audience, and what the future holds for Bollywood, and Indian cinema in general.
MIAAC – Smita Patil Remembered
What is commendable about the festival is that it covers not only the present and future but also remembers the rich past of Indian cinema. Few can forget the impact of the wonderful Smita Patil on Indian cinema, and this is a rare opportunity to catch several of her films at ‘Bhumika: The Roles of Smita Patil’ on opening night at the Walter Reade theater of Lincoln Center, where an exhibition of photographs will also be featured. This rare retrospective is presented by MIAAC in collaboration with Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Smita Patil Foundation.
New York audiences are now quite used to hobnobbing with celebrities and at this festival, star spotting should be quite an active sport, with a galaxy of cinema movers and shakers including Mani Ratnam, Ketan Mehta, Rituparno Ghosh, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Ekta Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Tannishtha Chatterjeee, and Seema Biswas, along with all the New York celebrities like Salman Rushdie, Mira Nair and Padma Lakshmi.
Lots of after-parties, Q and A’s and also a gala dinner with the stars at the Metropolitan Pavilion – enough to satiate the most avid and hungry film fan. So clear the decks, put real life aside as reel life takes over from Nov 10-14!
You can find all the details and schedule of films at the MIAAC site
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