New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) will pay tribute to two Indian film icons – Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi Kapoor, during the 2018 edition of the largest diaspora festival taking place from May 7 till 12.

This year’s festival will open with the premiering of Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi film Nude and end with the biopic of Omar Saeed Sheikh, Omerta directed by veteran director Hansal Mehta.

According to an official press release, this years star attraction for the festival will be a Konkani film titled Juze directed by Miransha Naik.

The festival is yet to announce its full line up but has revealed that Shahi Kapoor starring Shakespeare Wallah and Heat and Dust – bothdirected by this year’s Academy Award-winning director James Ivory will be screened as a tribute to the actor who passed away last year.

As a tribute to Bollywood’s maiden woman superstar Sridevi, who passed away in Dubai last month, the festival will screen English Vinglish, which shows the determination of an Indian housewife who travels to the United States and defies oddities of an alien society to prove herself and the family that she deserves dignity that was denied.

The festival will also screenAutobiography Of A Princess, starring New York author and chef Madhur Jaffrey, as part of its Merchant-Ivory Retrospective.

“NYIFF is known around the world for its top-notch, out-of-the-box programming, and this year is no different,” said founder Aroon Shivdasani. “The New York audience is sophisticated, well-traveled, educated and discerning; as such, our content reflects what we think will resonate with the cinephiles of this cosmopolitan city and will keep them coming back for more.”

Opening Night Film NUDE Synopsis:

After her husband abandons her and her 12-year-old son for another woman, Yamuna is left with no choice but to move to Mumbai for survival. The job she finds is to be a nude model at an art school. She does everything to fulfill her dream to help her son lead a successful life in the future. But fearing society, she keeps her profession a secret. Watch NUDE trailer HERE.

Closing Night Film OMERTA Synopsis:

Omertà is a mind-numbing and cerebral take at this complex paradox of Omar Saeed Sheikh, played by Rajkumar Rao. Omertà is the code of silence, punishable by death if violated. The secrets of the real Omar will go with him to his grave; this Omertà is a look at trying to understand the mind of a man who is out of touch with the world. A man who lives two lives, a man who has a wife and child, but no friends except those who further his needs.

The film posits the question of what it means to be a fundamentalist, why does someone pick up a gun with the intent of killing in return for an afterlife in Paradise. Unapologetic in its approach, it lays down the bare facts and the facts alone and leaves the viewer with a sense of awe, disgust, hate, surprise and lets them examine the ramifications of these events in their lives today.

Centerpiece Film JUZE Synopsis:
Boribmol, a village in Goa with a large immigrant population, is ruled by an abusive, thuggish bully, Juze, known as the ‘Slum Landlord.’ His appetite for violent intimidation keeps his immigrant workforce submissive, even when his roving eye extends to their women. Santosh, a 16-year-old boy, is not intimidated.  His determination to continue with his classes remains constant, in spite of regular beatings from Juze.  As events build to a breaking point, Santosh’s passive resistance evolves into determination to confront Juze and finally achieve freedom from fear. Watch JUZE trailer HERE.