NYIFF 2016

Tickets for all films: $15 general admission; $12 IAAC members

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.

Friday, May 13, 11am - 4 pm. Theater 5, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

Industry Panels

Distribution: traditional and creative
Film Distribution has traditionally been handled by big studios who plan a marketing strategy to distribute films in movie theatres either nationally or in specific areas followed by TV programs thru broadcast syndication, DVD, VOD. Today, with myriad filmmakers with smaller budgets jostling for space and visibility, as well as a definite recognition of Independent Cinema, numerous new creative distribution strategies are popping up on a daily basis: counter programming, internet release, digital distribution, four-walling, direct download, youtube, streaming, direct to video and several other out-of-the-box strategies designed to give filmmakers visibility and get their movies before audiences.

Shooting in New York State
Meet Jerry Stoeffhaas & Kathryn Fisher from the New York State Governor’s Office of Motion Picture & Television Development for a roundtable discussion of all things productive re: producing in New York State – tax credits, location scouting, finding stages and crew, and more. Whether you’re a first time filmmaker wondering where to start or a veteran producer looking to catch up on the latest, this informal face-to-face Q&A is an invaluable opportunity to Meet Team NY and hear firsthand about all the great things New York State has to offer.

Shooting in New York City
Join Jorge Hernandez, Director of Marketing, The Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment, as he discusses everything your production needs to know about making a film in New York City. Learn about incentives, discounts, location information and general permits with this brief presentation and Q&A.

Friday, May 13, 6:00pm. Theater 2, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

Khoya - New York Premiere
Directed by Sami Khan
Feature Narrative
India 2015, 1hr 22 min English
Cast: Rupak Ginn, Ravi Khanvikar, Rachel Wilson

Post screening Q&A with director Sami Khan and actor Rupak Ginn

Synopsis: When his adopted mother dies unexpectedly, Roger Moreau loses the last tie he has to his Canadian upbringing and identity. He decides to travel to India to find the birth family that gave him up for adoption more than two decades ago.When he steps off the plane into the crowded streets of Mumbai he is confronted by his own foreignness in a strange, new land. While eager to be reunited with his family, complications immediately threaten Rog’s search when a Catholic orphan- age reveals his adoption documents are forgeries. More desperate than ever, Rog sets out on a quest into Madhya Pradesh - the impoverished, rural heartland of India - to find the one local official who can help him solve the mystery surrounding his adoption.Rog’s journey takes him into the dark alleys, dusty roads and cramped train cars of India’s underclass as he tries to connect the threads of his own story. Rog is pushed to his physical and emotional breaking point, and forced to confront the ghosts and sinister forces haunting him - only then is he able to discover the truth.

About the Director:
Sami Khan

Sami is a New York City-based writer-director. KHOYA, Sami’s feature debut will have its World Premiere at the 2015 Mumbai Film Festival. The film, starring Rupak Ginn and produced by Karen Shaw, tells the story of a Canadian man traveling to India to solve the decades- old mystery surrounding his adoption. The film was a recipient of the Tribeca Film Institute’s All Access fellowship, was co-produced by the filmmakers behind Cannes’ award-winner THE LUNCHBOX and received financial backing from Spike Lee.Sami’s latest film is EXILES IN THE OUTFIELD: A STORY OF CUBAN BASEBALL – a documentary following the lives of four young Cuban baseball defectors who left their families behind in Cuba to pursue their dreams and a chance at Major League stardom. The doc is in production. Sami’s short films have screened at international film festivals around the world including the Toronto International Film Festival. He graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in film where his thesis film 75 EL CAMINO won faculty honors. In 2013 Sami was selected to participate in the Berlinale’s Talent Campus. In November 2015 Sami will begin the NBC/Universal Director’s Fellowship on the SyFy show 12 MONKEYS.

Friday, May 13, 6:15pm. Theater 3, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

Crime Is Punishment - International Premiere
Directed by M. Manikandan
Feature Narrative
India 2016, 1hr 37min 22 sec Tamil (w/English subtitles)

Post screening Q&A with actress Pooja Devariya

Synopsis: Ravi, a mild-mannered, hard-working bachelor, with a life-long tunnel vision problem and little in the bank, is on the brink of blindness, unless he can raise money for an immediate eye transplant. After exhausting all honest avenues for funding with no success, financial opportunity and ethical dilemma presents itself when he discovers the dead body of his young, female neighbor and her wealthy boss, who is desperate for Ravi’s silence, at the gory crime scene. Arguing that his needs justify it he decides to accept a modest bribe for his transplant, but soon becomes trapped in a cycle of medical, judicial and moral corruption, eventually becoming one of the police’s key witnesses and prime suspects in the girl’s murder.

About the Director:

M. Manikandan wrote, shot and directed the experimental short Wind in 2010, which caught the attention of stars Vetrimaaran and Dhanush, who decided to co-produce his feature debut, Kakka Muttai, the winner of the 2 National Awards. Eager not to be confined to family entertainers, Manikandan’s second feature, Kutrame Thandanai, is starkly different in tone and artistic treatment to his colourful debut, but just as technicallyadvanced and narratively gripping - containing his signature form of subtle social commentary as it relates to modern day Tamil culture. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI) and also played at the International Film Festival of Kerala 2015, and is continuing its global festival travels.

Friday, May 13, 6:30pm. Theater 4, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

A Far Afternoon - A painted saga by Krishen Khanna - North America Premiere
Directed by Sruti Harihara Subramanian
Documentary
India 2015, 1hr 11 min 9 sec English
Cast: Krishen Khanna, Ashvin Rajagopalan, Gayatri Sinha, A.Ramachandran, Ranjit Hoskote, Akbar Padamsee
2015 National Award Winner: Best Arts Cultural Film & Best Music

Post screening Q&A with director Sruti Harihara Subramanian

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nREli7mbAEw

Synopsis: In a career spanning over fifty years, Krishen Khanna has established himself as one of the most prolific and influential painters in the Indian art landscape.' A Far Afternoon' is a filmmaker’s attempt to memorialize the artistic process involved in the creation of the eponymous art work, and trace some of the influences of the artist.

About the director:

Sruti Harihara Subramanian is a graduate in Visual Communication from the University of Madras. Sruti has worked as assistant to actor/director Revathy in the tele film ‘Verrukku Neer’. She later assisted director Vikram K Kumar on the bilingual feature film Yaavarum Nalam (Tamil) and 13B (Hindi). She assisted director Vishnu Vardhan on a Telugu film 'Panjaa'. She was the assistant director for British pop icon MIA's music video 'Bird flu' and in Yuvan Shankar Raja's music video 'I'll be there for you'. A Far Afternoon' is Sruti's debut feature film. 'A Far Afternoon' is Sruti's debut feature film and has won the Best Art/Cultural film and the best Music for Non - Feature film at the 63rd National Film Awards.

Friday, May 13, 9:00pm Theater 2, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

Peace Haven -North America Premieres
Directed by Suman Ghosh
Feature Narrative
India, USA 2015, 1hr 17min Bengali (w/English subtitles)
Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Arun Mukhopadhyay, Poran Bandopadhay

Post screening Q&A with director Suman Ghosh

Trailer: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mdxqn

Synopsis: Peace Haven is the story of three septuagenarian friends who embark on a journey to build their very own mortuary. They begin their voyage after witnessing the cremation of another friend in his son’s absence. The dearth of proper mortuaries in their hometown means that his body cannot be preserved long enough for his son to travel back from the US and perform the funeral ceremony. In Hinduism, it is vital that the son or daughter conducts the last rites for their parents. The three friends then realize and worry that the absence of mortuaries may compromise their own death rites since their children also live abroad. As they contemplate their deaths, they discover that one morgue, called “Peace Haven”, preserves dead bodies for three days but that facility is typically reserved for VIPs, and their relatives, only. The friends undertake the task, both actual and allegorical, of preparing for their own deaths: they intend to build a “Peace Haven” for themselves.

About the director:

Suman Ghosh is a National Award winning Indian filmmaker. He has made 4 feature films and one documentary film. He received his film training at Cornell University in New York. His first feature film “Footsteps”, starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Nandita Das won 2 National Awards in 2008. It was shown at numerous film festivals including Vancouver, Karlovy Vary and IAAC New York. His second feature film “Dwando”, also starring Soumitra Chatterjee, was a part of the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa in 2009. His next feature film “Nobel Thief”, starring the Indian megastar Mithun Chakraborty was world premiered at the Busan IFF and was an official selection at the BFI, London Film festival. The film received the “Best Indian Film” award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2012. His latest feature film “Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights” has had a warm reception from critics and audiences all over the world. It was world premiered at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea and had its North American Premiere at the MoMA, NY. It won the “Outstanding International Feature Award” at the ReelWorld Film festival in Toronto. It is being distributed in North America by Global Film Initiative.

Friday, May 13, 9:15pm. Theater 3, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

The Threshold -New York Premiere
Directed by Pushan Kripalani
Feature Narrative
India 2016, 1 hr 17 mins Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Cast: Rajit Kapoor, Neena Gupta

Post screening Q&A with director Pushan Kripalani

Synopsis: The Threshold details one day in the life of a North Indian couple who have been married over two decades. On this day, the day after their newly married son- and the guests from his wedding party- have left, the wife informs her husband that she is leaving him. For good. Presented with this fait accompli, two people on the verge of an idyllic retirement are forced to confront the truth of their marriage, without the masks. Even as the couple tries to get to the heart of the matter, they find the big questions of their lives beyond their grasp. They are two people, isolated in a house in the hills, preparing for the harsh Himalayan winter, trying to find themselves one last time. This film was an opportunity to explore a corner of our world that never makes it onto screen. It was an opportunity to examine an existential crisis: The unraveling of the kind of Indian marriage all of us are familiar with. The people we don’t normally notice. The people who are always at the edges of the family photograph. Except we know these people. They are our aunts and uncles. They are our parents. They are our grandparents. We will become them.

About the Director:

Pushan Kripalani is a cinematographer and a theatre director. He graduated with a degree in English Literature and earned his Master's in Film and TV Production from the University of Bristol, with a specialization in Cinematography. He has worked on over thirty productions for the stage and for the radio, in capacities ranging from director to actor to designer, musician and producer. He is a founder member of the industrial theatre co. As cinematographer, he has filmed several features, as well as ads, documentaries and shorts, working with Shyam Benegal, Ram Madhvani and Zafar Hai, amongst others, as well as for National Geographic, Discovery and the BBC. He has directed six documentary shorts. He lives and works in Mumbai, India. The Threshold is his first feature film as director.

Friday, May 13, 9:30pm. Theater 4, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

Ka Bodyscape - New York Premiere
Directed by Jayan Cherian
Feature Narrative
India 2016, 1 hr 38 mins 44 sec Malayalam (w/English subtitles)
Cast: Naseera, Jason Chacko, Rajesh Kannan

Post screening Q&A with director Jayan Cherian

Trailer : https://youtu.be/LvrQyOpPDDU

Synopsis: Set in Kerala, India. Misogyny and homophobia have touched new heights in this ageing, middle-class dominated society where growing Hindu right-wing mobilization and predatory economic growth now erode both civil liberties and labor rights. In this bleak social scape, three young people, Haris, a free-spirited gay painter; Vishnu, a rural kabaddi player and Haris' object of desire; and their friend Sia, an activist who refuses to conform to dominant norms of femininity, struggle to find space and happiness. The film explores their quest for freedom and rebellion.

About the Director:

Jayan K Cherian, born in Kerala, India, graduated with honors from Hunter College, BA in Film and Creative Writing and an MFA from The City College of New York in filmmaking. Ka Bodyscapes (2016) is his second feature film, his first feature Papilio Buddha (2013), premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2014. He made several experimental documentaries and narrative shorts such as; Shape of the Shapeless (2010), Love in the Time of Foreclosure (2009), Hidden Things (2009), Soul of Solomon (2008), Capturing the Signs of God (2008), Holy Mass (2007), Tree of Life (2007), Simulacra the Reality of the Unreal (2007), The Inner Silence of the Tumult (2007), Hid-entity (2007), and Tandava the Dance of Dissolution (2006). His films screened at Berlin International Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, BFI London Lesbian Gay Film Festival, NARA International Film Festival, Rio-de-Janeiro international film festival, Kolkata International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and many other major festivals around the globe and won several awards.