The 14th annual New York Indian Film Festival is back with 34 screenings May 5 - 10
Kick starting off May 5 at the Skirball Center for Performing Arts, NYC, the opening night will commence with all the pomp and ceremony of an elaborate red carpet gala with celebrities in attendance followed by the screening of Anurag Kashyap's film "Ugly". The film, themed around corruption, indifference and systemic violence, revolves around the disappearance of the 10-year-old daughter of an aspiring actor.
The opening night celebrations will also include a post screening session with Anurag Kashyap and lead actor Rahul Bhatt moderated by NYIFF Director Aseem Chhabra followed by a gala benefit dinner.
To purchase tix: NYIFF2014/opening_celebration
The festival which runs May 5 - 10th will feature 34 screening with 23 narratives and 11 documentaries respectively.
Nagesh Kukunoor's intrepid film 'Lakshmi' based on child prostitution and human trafficking will be one of the special features of the festival. The film ran into trouble with the censor board in India over its content and missed the January 17 premiere this year. However, later at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and garnered much critical acclaim.
The 14th annual New York Indian Film Festival is special this year for its award winning line-up. The recently concluded National Film Awards in India, country’s prominent film award ceremony, gave away winning trophies to many films that are scheduled to screen at NYIFF.
On April 16th, the 61st National Film Awards saw Marathi film 'Fandry' fetch in two awards: Best Debut Film of a Director and Best Child Artist. 'Fandry' deals with the story of an untouchable boy who falls in love with a girl of the upper class. The film received rave reviews in India and won many awards at various film festivals. 'Liar's Dice,' another prominent movie claimed its share by winning the Best Actress and the Best Cinematography Award. Marathi Film 'Astu' won Best Supporting Actress and Best Dialogues Award. In the non-feature film category, 'Rangbhoomi' bagged the top spot. The Best English Language Film Award went to 'The Coffin Maker.' Madhuri Dixit's movie 'Gulabi Gang' won the Best Film on Social Issues Award.
NYIFF 2013's selection, 'Shahid,' won the Best Actor Award for Rajkumar Rao and Best Director for Hansal Mehta. Along with that, NYIFF recently organized a special pre-festival screening of 'Ship of Theseus' which won Best Feature Film and the Best Supporting Actress award shared with 'Astu'.
Apart from the Indian diaspora movies, films from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal are also listed. Pakistan's first entry in the Foreign Language category at the Oscars, Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi's 'Zinda Bhaag' follows three young men desperate to get on the fast track to success in an eye-opening glimpse of modern Pakistan. Four films by Pakistani filmmakers, two from Sri Lanka - a feature and a documentary, and one from Nepal will feature in the festival.
The festival will also celebrate 20 years of Gurinder Chadda's film 'Bhaji on the Beach' with a post screening discussion with the renowned director herself.
The festival closes on May 10 with Aparna Sen’s 'Goynar Baksho'. Based on Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay's famous tale of three generations of women and their changing position in society, the film is noted as one of Aparna Sen’s finest works in Bengali Cinema.
The festival will conclude with an awards ceremony and after party.
The 14th annual NYIFF is not one to be missed so make sure you grap your festival pass and tickets by clicking: NYIFF2014/tickets
NOTE:
Regular Tickets:
General Admission- $15
IAAC members, Filmmakers- $ 12
Center-piece Screening & After party:
General Admission- $25
IAAC Members, Filmmakers- $20
Festival Pass:
General Admission- $300
IAAC Members-$250
(Includes all Regular Screenings and Special Events, Centerpiece and Closing Night screenings & parties. Does not include Opening Night.) |
