NYIFF – A Feast of Award-Winning Indian Films in New York
Anupam Kher, Anurag Kashyap, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and More!
Yes, it’s that time of the year when the long-awaited New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) lights up the city with a collection of the most buzzy festival finds as well as award-winning films not only in Hindi and English but a riot of regional languages. In fact, it is an empowering festival where many regional languages of India, from Tamil to Bengali to Marathi, can be enjoyed by all, thanks to subtitles. It is a chance to see a changing India and its diaspora through the lens of cinema.
The festival runs from June 20-22 but actually opens a day earlier with the North American premiere of the much-anticipated directorial debut of noted actor Anupam Kher, ‘Tanvi the Great’ which debuted at Cannes.
The festival takes place at Village East Angelika on 12th street in Manhattan and is a carousel of cinema – shorts, documentaries as well as narrative features. A galaxy of star talent is headed for the NYIFF including Anupam Kher, Anurag Kashyap, Rituparna Sengupta, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rahul Bhatt and Rasika Dugal. The must-see screenings are the opening film, ‘The Fable’, which stars Manoj Bajpayee, Priyanka Bose, and Deepak Dobriyal and showed at the 2004 Berlinale. ‘The Fable’ recently took home Best Film at the Leeds International Film Festival. The centerpiece film ‘Kennedy’ is a noir thriller by master director Anurag Kashyap and stars Rahul Bhatt and Sunny Leone. The closing film is the winsome ‘Little Thomas’, a coming-of-age dramedy set in 1990s Goa, marking the directorial debut of Kaushal Oza. The film stars Rasika Dugal and Gulshan Devaiah who will both be in attendance alongside the crew.
There are lots of films you’ll want to see – ‘The Ancient’ starring Sharmila Tagore and Rituparna Sengupta, directed by national award-winning director Suman Ghosh; ‘I am Not an Actor’ with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Chitrangada Satarupa, set in two cities, Mumbai and Frankfurt, and directed by Aditya Kripalani, who is based in Germany. There’s red carpets before the premiere of ‘Tanvi the Great’ and ‘Fable’ so you can get to see the star power up close. After most of the films there are Q and A’s with talent. So, check up the schedule at NYIFF site.
Selecting the films you want to see will be the hard part of a joyous task because there’s nothing like the sheer abundance of choices. There are close to 48 films so grab a few friends and visit India through that national pastime – watching cinema!
Imagine, it’s already the 25th year of the NYIFF – which shows time passes fast when you’re having fun.
I asked Aseem Chhabra, Festival Director of NYIFF, five rapid fire questions you might be curious about.
What is the special significance of NYIFF’s 25th year anniversary?
Twenty-five years is a major milestone for any institution or program. This anniversary gives us a chance to look back and realize how far we have come, from being the first Indian film festival in North America to a significant arts event, recognized in India and in the US.
How have the films changed over the years?
We started off as being a festival of films from the Indian Diaspora. But over time we have added more and more films from India and its different regions.
What are the special strengths of the films this year?
We are showing 48 films – narrative features, documentaries and shorts. We are proud of the fact that nine of our features are directed by first-time filmmakers. In fact, for a number of years now we hand out an award for the Best Debut Film. The jury for the award is made up of members of the Film Critics Circle of India.
If someone can see only a handful of films at the festival, which are the ones you’d recommend, the hidden gems which festival goers should be aware of?
This is tough since I like every film we have programmed! But if I could pick a few I would definitely mention these:
The Fable (Hindi)
Angmaal (Tamil)
Humans in the Loop (Hindi)
A Fly on the Wall (English)
Marching in the Dark (Marathi)
Riptide (Malayalam)
Village Rockstars 2 (Assamese)
The Other Side (Malayalam)
Manthan (Hindi/ Gujarati)
Pyre (Hindi)
Our three shorts programs – Shorts A, Shorts B and Shorts C are also very strong.
What is your perception of films from new South Asian filmmakers?
I am thrilled with some of the terrific films being made by our first time filmmakers. Both Marching in Dark by Kinshuk Surjan and Humans in the Loop by Aranya Sahay are brilliant.
More information at www.nyiff.com
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