New York, NY [March 25th, 2008]: The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) is proud to announce MIAAC 2008 - the premiere festival of innovative and independent Indian and Diaspora films in the U.S. The Eighth annual festival will be held from November 5-9, 2008. The MIAAC Film Festival is the premiere South Asian Film Festival in the U.S. Somi Roy has been appointed as Festival Director and will act as chief programmer of the Festival. Bringing 2 decades of film programming experience, he will play a critical curatorial and ambassadorial role for the Festival by building inroads and awareness in the international film and cultural community.
  
The Festival’s mission is to provide filmmakers with unique platforms to expand audiences for their works and to broaden access points for the general public to experience the power of Indian independent and Diaspora film. With a solid lineup of filmmakers and actors this 5 day festival includes film screenings, discussions, special events, and galas for both opening and closing nights.

Somi has curated film and media exhibitions for The Asia Society, the Museum of Modern Art, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and for Public Television. “I look forward to working closely with the MIAAC team to build on their past successes and to increase the outreach and appreciation of Indian cinema. Together, we can shape an exciting future for the MIAAC Film Festival’s new initiatives,” says Somi.

Talking about the appointment of Somi Roy, Aroon Shivdasani, Executive Director, Indo-American Arts Council, says “Having helped shape the Festival at its inception, Somi brings a shared passion and an understanding of our core values. He will be the artistic voice of the Festival’s film programming and will continue to shape the creative aspects of the Festival as it grows. He will work to increase our presence in the international film community.”

The MIAAC Film Festival is currently accepting submissions. The deadline for all submissions is July 15, 2008. Films may be submitted in either of the following two categories:

• Diaspora Films: Films made by filmmakers of South Asian origin living in the U.S.; or projects by non-South Asians with South Asian content, cast or crew.
    
• Independent Films: Projects from the Indian Subcontinent with a unique voice/message and considered Independent by the industry.

The First Annual IAAC Film Festival held in 2001 was heralded by the godfather of Indian Diaspora films, the late Ismail Merchant and the Merchant-Ivory team. Hailed as "innovative, bold, and daring" the IAAC Film Festival was the first Indian film festival to take place in New York City, appearing on the scene right in the aftermath of 9/11, and introducing New Yorkers to films and artists from South Asia they may never have seen before. Over the years the Festival has featured films by leading Indian filmmakers like Mira Nair, Ismail Merchant, Deepa Mehta, Gurinder Chaddha, Nagesh Kukunoor as well as other upcoming filmmakers such as Shonali Bose, Nisha Ganatra, Smriti Mundhra and Ali Kazimi. Films premiered at the MIAAC Film Festival have been showcased at various Film Festivals including Tribeca, Berlin, Rotterdam, Cannes, IFFLA, Directors' Fortnight and India Now at MOMA, Mumbai International Film Festival, IFP Market and many more. For more information, please visit www.iaac.us

About The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC)
The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting, showcasing and building an awareness of Indian artists in the performing, literary, visual, and folk arts. Founded in 1998, its focus is to help artists and art organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists from India to exhibit, perform and produce their work here. The IAAC also supports all the artistic disciplines in classical, fusion, folk, and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India, working cooperatively with individuals and organizations around the United States to broaden collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources, and funding.

The IAAC is committed to building an awareness of Indian artistic disciplines in North America, and does so through a wide, variety of activities and events, including their successful and acclaimed annual Film Festival. For further information, please visit www.iaac.us

About the Mahindra Group:
The US $6.7 billion Mahindra Group is among the top 10 industrial houses in India. Mahindra is the market leader in multi-utility vehicles in India It made a milestone entry into the passenger car segment with the Logan. Mahindra & Mahindra is the only Indian company among the top tractor brands in the world.

The Group has a leading presence in key sectors of the Indian economy, including the financial services, trade, retail and logistics, automotive components, after-market, information technology and infrastructure development. Mahindra is now poised to make an entry in the two-wheeler segment.

Mahindra's Farm Equipment Sector has recently won the Japan Quality Medal, the only tractor company worldwide to be bestowed this honour. It also holds the distinction of being the only tractor company worldwide to win the Deming Prize. The US based Reputation Institute recently ranked Mahindra among the top 10 Indian companies in its Global 200: The World's Best Corporate Reputation list. For further information, please visit www.mahindra.com

Mahindra is also one of only four Indian companies to receive an A+ rating from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for its first Sustainability Report.