New York: Being in its 14th year, The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) held from May 5 – 10, 2014, commenced with grandeur. It is the oldest, most prestigious film festival screening premieres of feature, documentary and short films made from, of and about Indian subcontinent in the independent, art-house, alternate and diaspora genres. The festival is presented by The Indo-American Arts Council, which is a registered not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian and cross-cultural art forms in North America.
May 10, 2014, was the festival’s closing night, which was an extravaganza. It saw director Gurinder Chadha, Mr. Aseem Chhabra, Director, NYIFF, Rahul Bhatt, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Aparna Sen, Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Ambassador Vijay Nambiar in attendance.
The 14th Annual New York Indian Film Festival AWARDS are listed below.
Best Picture – Liar’s Dice
Best Director – Nagraj Manjule (Fandry)
Best Actor – Naseeruddin Shah (The Coffin Maker)
Best Actreess – Geetanjali Thapa (Liar’s Dice)
Best Documentary – Gulabi Gang
Best Screenplay – Ranjini Krishnan, P V Shajikumar, K R Manoj (Kanyaka Talkies Virgin Talkies)
Best Short – Blouse
May 10, 2014, was the closing night of the festival which screened ‘Goynar Baksho’, a Bengali film for the closing night of the festival. A post-screening discussion was held with director Aparna Sen. The venue for the opening and closing night of the festival was Skirball Center for Performing Arts, La Guardia Place at Washington Square Park, New York City. All other screenings, industry panel discussions and special events were held at Village East Cinema, 2nd Avenue at 12th Street, New York City. Much acclaimed film ‘Lakshmi’ directed by director Nagesh Kukunoor too was screened at the festival.
Talking about the festival’s connect with the Indian culture, President & Executive Director, NYIFF, Aroon Shivdasani says, “In its 14th year, with great pride and immense pleasure we at NYIFF are very ecstatic to showcase films from the Indian subcontinent, especially featuring and motivating regional cinema. Indian cinema is known for its diversity in various genres and it is great to see young parade of directors and actors showcasing their talent magnanimously. This initiative is also taken to educate and create awareness about Indian cinema amongst American citizens and to strike an Indian chord with them.”
On this occasion where films from the Indian sub-continent are showcased to merge cultures and societies, director Aparna Sen says, “This initiative is certainly a great platform for Indian cinema to showcase and bring forward the talent to NYIFF. It gives filmmakers, actors and the film fraternity an opportunity to feature their works by getting recognition at such festivals. The prerogative of this festival is to make American citizens comprehend the magnanimity of Indian cinema. This year the NYIFF will have young talent in abundance, showcasing their creativity in cinema. It is a great vehicle to showcase regional cinema from the Indian sub-continent.”
The film festival showcased 34 films and screened 23 narratives along with 11 documentaries which highlighted various cinemas of India’s different regions – Marathi, Bengali and 2 films from North East India. The festival’s Marathi films include “Postcard”, multiple-award winning film “Astu” and National Award Winning film “Fandry”. With this initiative, NYIFF featured regional cinema for the first time since its inception, giving it a pathway and motivating the need and significance of such cinema. Additionally, the festival covers cinemas from the neighboring South Asian countries – four films by Pakistani filmmakers, two from Sri Lanka – a feature and a documentary, and one from Nepal.
About the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF):
The New York Indian Film Festival is the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States. It is dedicated to showcasing, promoting and building an awareness of Independent, art house, alternate and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent. Our mission is to encourage filmmakers to tell their stories, to educate North America about them and their talent and to facilitate the making and distribution of these films. NYIFF boasts five days of premiere screenings of feature, documentary &short films, industry panels, special events, retrospectives, red carpet galas, an award ceremony, packed audiences and amazing media coverage.
About the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC):
The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian and cross-cultural art forms in North America. The IAAC supports all artistic disciplines in the classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues around the United States to broaden our collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding. Our focus is to work with artists and arts organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists and arts organizations from India to exhibit, perform and produce their works here.
For more details, please log on to: