NYIFF2017-SCREENING SCHEDULE

Festival Pass: $250 general admission; $200 IAAC members.
Includes all regular screenings and special events, Centerpiece and Closing Night screenings & parties.
Does not include Opening Night & Shoot-a-Short Workshop.

Friday May 5th & Saturday May 6th 2017. 10 am – 5 pm both days.Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave & 12th Street, NYC.

Shoot a Short

Shoot A Short is a Short film making workshop conducted by three time National Award winning filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni. The workshop primarily aims at guiding film enthusiasts and beginners to make short films. The workshop focusses on the process of translating an idea to a complete short film . Writing a screenplay for a short film, cast and crew management, the concept of mise-en-scene, dealing with actors, editing and sound design, and the core idea behind film making are some of the primary areas of the workshop. The three stages of film making such as pre-production, production and post production are explained thoroughly. The workshop opens up the various possibilities of the Short Film medium.

About the Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni studied film-making at the Film and Television Institute of India where he specialised in direction. His diploma film Girni (The Grinding Machine) won the presidents gold medal for best short film and best direction in the year 2005. His short documentary Three of Us was premiered in Berlinale 2008. His first feature film Valu (The Wild Bull) along with the other two films, Vihir (The Well) and Deool (A Temple) were premiered in Rotterdam 2008, 2010 and 2012 respectively. These films were extremely successful with critics as well as audiences. Vihir (The Well) was selected at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 2010. He has directed short films among which Gaarud (The Spell) and Vilay (Dissolution) have been selected in the short film festivals of Oberhausen and Clermont Ferrand. He also produced Masala (Spices) (Released in April 2012) Pune-52 (Released in January 2013) and Jaun dya na Balasaheb (Released in October 2016). Umesh's films have won several awards at the New York Indian Film Festival(NYIFF).

Friday, May 5, 6.00 pm. Theater 2, Village East, NYC.

Trapped
New York City Premiere
2017 | India | 105 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Vikramaditya Motwane
Cast - Rajkummar Rao, Geetanjali Thapa, Khushboo Upadhyay

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJaj39jI-qk

Synopsis: A man gets stuck in an empty high rise without food, water or electricity.

About the Director: Vikramaditya Motwane is a writer, director and producer (unfortunately not always in that order) and a partner in Phantom Films with Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena. His directorial debut Udaan was selected to compete in the 'Un Certain Regard’ category at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He followed it up with Lootera, a big-budget Bollywood period romance in 2013. His latest directorial venture, Trapped, is a survival thriller that stars Rajkummar Rao.

Friday, May 5, 6.15 pm. Theater 3, Village East, NYC.

Colours of Innocence
New York City Premiere
2016 | India | 86 mins | Bengali (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Manas Mukul Pal
Cast - Nur Islam, Samiul Alam, Sneha Biswas, Shakuntala Barua, Sikha Saha, Moumita Bhaduri, Pradip Dhar, Pinky Banerjee, Jiban Adhikary Sourajyoti Adhikary
Winner Silver Lotus for Best Child Actors (National Awards, 2017)

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Knf6K9Cmsf0

Synopsis: Chhotu and Gopal are two brothers of a tender age. Their childhood in their village is disrupted when their father meets with an accident. Circumstances force Gopal to mature rather quickly. He becomes more responsible and starts selling wares to earn a little money for home. Meanwhile, Chhotu comes to learn of the grand Janmastomi (Lord Krishna’s Birthday) feast at the Seth’s house. He is overcome by excitement at the thought of a possible invitation!To ensure that it arrives, Chhotu gives the grandma from the affluent Seth’s house with palmyras. When his brother Gopal discovers this scheme, he is furious: he had plans to sell the palmyra to earn some cash for their mother. The brothers fight over this but Chhotu is still hopeful that they will be invited to the grand feast. He starts counting the hours!

About the Director: Manas Mukul Pal was born in 1987 in Basirhat, West Bengal. He started acting and directing plays in his school days. After graduation, he joined a professional theatre group in Kolkata. His interest in cinema brought him to assist a few, renowned Bengali film directors. Sahaj Paather Gappo (Colours Of Innocence) is Manas Mukul Pal’s debut film.

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Azaad (short)
2016 | India | 30 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Rahul V. Chittella
Cast - Atul Kulkarni, Sakshi Tanwar, Siddharth Menon, Nandu Madhav

Synopsis: Set against the socio-political backdrop of present day India, Azaad unfolds the story of a dysfunctional relationship between a father and his son, within 48 hours of the father going missing. Azaad is presented by prolific filmmaker, Mira Nair, and has been written and directed by her long-time associate, Rahul V. Chittella. It features the National Award-winning actor Atul Kulkarni (Hey Ram, Chandni Bar, Rang De Basanti) playing the lead along with Sakshi Tanwar (Dangal), Siddharth Menon (Peddlers, Happy Journey) and Nandu Madhav (Harishchandrachi Factory)

About the Director: Rahul V. Chittella is an independent producer and director based out of Mumbai, India. In 2009, he was the director and executive producer for the Global Lives Project, India. He then worked with the United Nations Documentary Program at the United Nations headquarters, New York City. In 2010, after having written and directed a few short films and music videos at his film school, Rahul directed his thesis short film titled Muted, which was screened at international film festivals. He was awarded the Media Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar in India for his contribution to projects that have used media for social change. Since 2010, Rahul has worked with the prolific filmmaker, Mira Nair, as her creative associate and producing partner in India on projects like The Reluctant Fundamentalist, God Room (part of Words with Gods), and Nafas. The Reluctant Fundamentalist premiered as the opening film for the 69th Venice International Film Festival, and at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Rahul is the writer and director of his debut short film titled Azaad which is being presented by Mira Nair and features acclaimed actors Atul Kulkarni, Sakshi Tanwar, Siddharth Menon and Nandu Madhav.

Friday, May 5, 6.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East, NYC.

Western Ghats
US Premiere
2016 | India | 99 mins | Tamil (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Lenin Bharathi
Cast - Antony, Gayathri Krishna, Abu Valayankulam

Post-screening discussion w/Lenin Bharathi

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/210158602

Synopsis: Rangasamy (Antony) is one of many “sons of the soil”. Hailing from a long line of laborers who live on the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu he yearns to own a piece of land and make a living by farming it himself, instead of toiling in the spice plantations of others forever. After years of dedicated labor and service to the local communist party, led by the passionate Chaako (Abu Valayankulam), who advocates on behalf of the laborers, Rangasamy is finally in a position to purchase his own land. However, buying land is only half the battle for the poor like him – prospering from it amidst the corrupt dealings of the wealthy, the party and globalization is the far greater struggle, as Rangasamy soon learns.

About the Director: Lenin Bharathi was born in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu. His father, a friend to internationally renowned music director Illaiyaraaja, had lifelong dreams of becoming a director, so he moved his family to Chennai when Lenin was 11 years old with the hopes of breaking into the industry, however he was not able to. In fact, Lenin credits his inspiration to get into cinema to his father. After completing his bachelor’s degree Lenin went in search of experience in film. After working small roles on many films he worked as a Co-Director on notable Tamil features Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, Naan Mahaan Alla and Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai and wrote the story for the hit romantic drama Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer. Merku Thodarchi Malai (Western Ghats) is his first film as a director.

Friday, May 5, 9.00 pm. Theater 2 Village East, NYC.

Kammatipaadam
New York City Premiere
2016 | India | 173 mins | Malayalam (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Rajeev Ravi
Cast - Dulquer Salmaan, Vinayakan, Shaun Romy

Trailer: https://youtu.be/ywlmRvHFhC0

Synopsis: Kammatipaadam tells a story of the transformation of a city from its lush green serene past, through bloodshed and violence is tuned into a concrete jungle. Krishnan, a security officer in Mumbai, receives a call from his childhood friend Ganga. Ganga is in danger and needs Krishnan's help. Krishnan, who returns to the city of Cochin, recalls his past and how manipulative forces used and discarded true inhabitants of Cochin city, according to their greedy needs. The innocent friendship of a middle-class Hindu boy ‘Krishnan’ with a Dalit boy ‘Ganga’ and his family, forms the crux of the movie. Krishnan along with Ganga are exposed to violence at a very small age. Inspired by the heroics and manliness of Ganga’s elder brother Balettan, Krishnan and his gang indulge in unlawful activities as they grow up. Krishnan turns into a complete ou law by murdering a policeman during his adolescence. Balettan argues with his grandfather over his deeds and complains about his forefather’s ideologies being useless. The film urges to question the false images of development which trivialized traditional values and beliefs held by Dalits, thus creating a disoriented generation from the Dalit community, who were maneuvered to violence by the rich.

About the Director: Rajeev Ravi is an alumni of Film and Television Institute of India-Pune.He debuted as an independent cinematographer with the film Chandni Bar (2001) directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. Rajeev has collaborated with Anurag Kashyap on several commercial and art films. Rajeev won the 2010 Filmfare Award for Best Cinematography for Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D. In 2013, he won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography for Liar's Dice directed by Geetu Mohandas. Rajeev made his directorial debut was the Malayalam Film Annayum Rasoolum (2013), followed by Njan Steve Lopez in 2014. Kammatipaadam, his third directorial venture was released on 20 May 2016

Friday, May 5, 9.15 pm. Theater 3, Village East, NYC.

Shorts D - Life, Death & Tragedies

Flight of Hope
New York City Premiere
2016 | U S A | 12 mins | English
Directed By: Vinay Pujara
Cast: Hesh Sarmalkar, Amy Mendoza

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/187777026

Synopsis: Malick is a man who has hunchback, despite being physically challenged he doesn't give up & collects empty water bottles & soda cans to support his daughter Amy. Amy is 9 yrs old in school & life of Malick. Being a single parent he works extra hard to give the best education & life for his daughter.

About the Director: Vinay Pujara is an India born filmmaker has worked as an Assistant Director in Mumbai. After taking classes at NYU's filmmaking school as well as others, he has since completed seven short films. His company "Sun Om Productions Inc." is quickly outputting content with strong themes. Vinay has valued his films in the sense of being fearless pieces that tell a story from a view that is not often seen.

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The Masked Murderer
World Premiere
2016 | U S A | 13 mins | English
Directed By: Devansh Agarwal
Cast: Tia Link, Eddie Pendergraft

Synopsis: An unassuming detective comes to interview a grieving woman regarding her boyfriend's death but little does he realize what he is getting into when he enters her home.

About the Director: Devansh Agarwal is a filmmaker from Kolkata, India, currently based in New York. He has recently graduated from New York University with a double major in Film & TV and Economics and also just completed his thesis project, The Masked Murderer, a 12-minute thriller shot in a single take. Alongside working as a freelance editor and production assistant, Devansh is developing his next short film due for production in January of 2017.

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Vaarasa
2016 | India | 15 mins
US Premiere
Directed by - Shreyas Chougule
Cast - Mahendra Walunj, Rachana Kakade, Samiksha, Kishor Waghmare

Synopsis: Rahul Pagare, a young poor Dalit boy, after the demise of his father as a sewage worker, fails to find a respectable job to support the family financially. He finds himself stuck between his sister Sheetal’s anger for not being bothered of family’s financial problems on one side, and his own ideals on the other. Ultimately, Rahul finds himself in a spot of making the final call, as he struggles with his belief in Ambedkar’s call of ‘Educate, Organize, Agitate’.

About the Director: Shreyas Chougule is an Actor, writer, director and theater enthusiast. He has done experimental and commercial theater in Pune for 5 years after which he has studied Film-Making from Seamedu school of Media, Pune. He has written four short films and directed one.

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The School Bag
New York City Premiere
2016 | India | 15 mins | Urdu (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Dheeraj Jindal
Cast: Rasika Dugal, Sartaaj Kakkar

Synopsis: The bond between a mother and her son is indeed a special one. It was the same between Farooq and his Mother. They reside in the small town of Peshawar, Pakistan. Farooq, a child with a simple demand, wants a new school bag on his birthday. But his mother, who in spite of her love and affection seems to be unfazed by her child’s plea. Unknown to Farooq, there is something waiting for him on his birthday.

About the Director: Dheeraj Jindal, at a very young age got attached to questions. Questions about the measures of good and bad, the society and its inequalities. Questions that hit the prism of curiosity but got lost in its colors. Not too enthusiastic in academics, he soon got introduced to his favorite quote “traveling is the best way to get educated.” He travelled, observed and looked for his answers, and soon a sheer coincidence introduced him to an art of telling stories, filmmaking. He first entered the film scene around seven years back as an associate director, after his formal training in Master’s degree specialized in film making, and very soon he moved on to directing films independently and got a number of social, commercial, corporate and documentary films to his credit, that won awards, and more importantly, hearts of his audience.

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Bubbles
World Premiere
2016 | India | 17 mins | Marathi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Harshad Nalawade
Cast: Sayalee Phatak, Hesh Sarmalkar

Synopsis: Every possibility in life occurs in different realities of the parallel worlds. Samarth, a working class citizen, visits his family every weekend. However, there are different versions of Samarth, and each one has a different kind of relationship with the family.

About the Director: Harshad Nalawade is a writer, director and actor, known for A Return Gift (2016), Trivikrama (2013) and Bubbles (2016). He is an independent filmmaker and also worked as an Assistant Director on ad films and a Hindi feature film. He also works as an editor for Non-fiction web content. He is the co-editor of I Am Offended, a documentary film based on the Indian Stand-up comedy scenario and the rising intolerance. It released on YouTube.

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Aarsa
World Premiere
2016 | India | 18 mins | English
Cast: Aditi Bhagwat, Manav Chauhan, Charudatta Bhagwat, Parthaa Akerkar, Suhita Thatte

Synopsis: The story of Raju, an unnoticed dance studio caretaker whose love for a beautiful dance instructor ignites his journey of self identity

About the Director: Kawa Hatef was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1983 during the Soviet Invasion. In 1986 he and his family immigrated to California as refugees. He received his BA in Film & Digital Media Studies at UC Santa Cruz ('07). Kawa has worn many hats in the film world, mostly as an editor on short films, assistant editor on award winning documentaries (Watcher of the Sky) and even as the producer of the off-Broadway play (Wish I had a Sylvia Plath). Recently Kawa traveled to Afghanistan to develop and shoot his short film For Honor, and to Mumbai, India where he made the short film aarsa. His experiences as an “outsider” influence many of his stories. He has a great love for nature and history and is incredibly passionate about telling stories about those often neglected and hopes to always tell interesting stories, about interesting people, in an interesting way.

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Aaba
US PREMIERE
2017 | India | 21 mins | Apatani (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Amar Kaushik
Cast - Dani Randa, Dani Chunya, Dani Sunku
Winner Silver Lotus, Best Short Film (National Awards, 2017), Special Prize of Generation KPlus International Jury for Best Short Film (Berlinale)

Synopsis: Aaba (Grandfather) is set in a remote village of Arunachal Pradesh in North East India. An orphan girl staying with her grandparents comes across the news of her grandfather being in the advanced stages of lung cancer and would probably survive just a few weeks. With not much to do, the grandfather spends rest of his days revisiting his personal possessions and digging his own grave. But then life has its own surprises...

About the Director: Born in 1983 in Uttar Pradesh, India. Amar Kaushik grew up between Kanpur with his grandparents and the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, where his father worked in the government’s forest department. He completed his graduation in Science with the aim to join the Indian Air Force, only to slowly realize that it wasn’t his real calling. Amar’s fondness for travel, made him take up a job in marketing in a firm that sold holidays and tours. Now, selling involved telling stories and all the storytelling inevitably led him to Mumbai.
With no contact in the film industry, Amar spent the next 9 years making his way up the ladder from being an assistant director to associate director to a second unit director, while working with some of the best minds in Bollywood.

In 2016, Amar made his first short film Aaba based on a true story that he had heard from his mother as a child while growing up in Arunachal Pradesh. Amar is currently working towards his first feature film.

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Kajal
World Premiere
2016 | India | 21 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Paakhi A. Tyrewala
Cast: Salony Luthra, Sunil Palwal

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/210652640
Password - kohltrailer

Synopsis: Like all elements, humans have a saturation point. What happens when a woman -- constantly bullied by a boss, harassed by strangers and abused by husband -- finds an abandoned package one night?

A package that holds an answer to all her demons.
Kajal captures a turning point in the life of a woman, in a world claimed by men

About the Director: Born to a linguistics lecturer and a journalist, Paakhi A. Tyrewala has worked behind the camera as well as in front of it. She has been part of the Indian film Industry as an actor and writer.

With Kajal, she starts her journey as a filmmaker. Her next project is Pahuna (The Little Visitors), the first feature film to be shot in the local language of Sikkim.

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Amber
2017 | USA | 30 mins | English
Directed by - Aftab Asghar
Cast - Marc Goodman, Andrew Platner, Ena Wagner, Natalie O'Brocki, Tejash Natali, Jim Cigno, Priscilla Hopkins, Anand Natrajan

Synopsis: When you move into a new home, you never know who has lived there before. Danny and his wife Grace are going to find out. Determined to hold his family together, Danny moves his wife and special needs daughter into an apartment. The stress is too much for Grace and, on the verge of a panic attack, she reveals something dangerous from her past that could hurt them all. Danny keeps a level head about her haunting past, but their daughter is the one in real danger now.

About the Director: Aftab moved to New York from New Delhi in 2008, He graduated in Masters of Arts in Cinema and Media Studies from Pune, India and proceeded to work in a fast, upscale storytelling environment in Mumbai. He began his professional career as an intern with McCann Ericsson, India. Passionate about storytelling, the move to Ad filmmaking was a natural fit, he started assisting pioneer Ad film maker Prahlad Kakkar and then worked for Foot Candle films. With encouragement from friends and family Aftab started his own New York based boutique post production company called Senses Films. Some of his recently produced films include Unfreedom which is a contemporary thriller about a society torn apart by political, religious, and sexual turmoil set in New York and New Delhi. Recently, He also produced a documentary “Guns and Guitars” a musical travelogue, this musical quest brings to light the positive influence of music emanating from the youth living in the Northeast region of India, which is crippled by state and non state violence for the last half a century. He has also edited/produced feature films such as Code Name Abdul, Where are you Sophia?, Margaret, The Brief-Case, Batter Up, Love Lies and Seeta. Aside from films, he has worked in commercials and music videos for Walt Disney, Sony, Cossette Communications, Devito Verdi, & MTV.

Friday, May 5, 9.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East, NYC.

Kingdom of Clay Subjects
2016 | Bangladesh | 88 mins | Bengali (w/ English subtitles)
88 minutes | India 2016 | Feature Narrative
Directed by - Imtiaz (Bijon)Ahmed
Cast - Sheuly Aktar, Mahmudur Anindo, Iqbal Hossain, Rokeya Prachy, Reekita Nondine Shimu, Jayanto Chattopadhyay, Tanim Tanvir, Abdullah Rana

Post-screening discussion w/Director Imtiaz Bijon Ahmed

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/165636223

Synopsis: Set in rural Bangladesh, 10-year-old Jamal is robbed of his innocence when his childhood friend and everyday playmate is forced to become a child bride. With new insight about social norms, Jamal begins to notice his surroundings and realizes his need for a social identity. His search puts his mother into risk, as she has a past she is forced to hide. Faced with the dilemma of losing his mother, Jamal stands up to social oppression to find that all is not lost.

About the Director: Bijon is the first Bangladeshi Film Production/Directing MFA- graduate from the prestigious Film, Television, and Theatre Department of University of California, Los Angeles. His debut feature film Kingdom of Clay Subjects has had its World Premiered at 42nd Seattle International Film Festival and has won the Best Film Award at 7th Chicago South Asian Film Festival, was also an official selection at 27th Cinequest Film & VR Festival. He has received numerous awards for his filmmaking including Motion Picture Association of America Awards, Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Production fellowship, Dorothy Arzner Memorial Awards, and The Nancy Richardson Fund. Bijon’s documentary proposal Beyond the Waves won the Colors of Asia competition at Tokyo Docs.