| For immediate release |
| MAHINDRA INDO-AMERICAN ARTS COUNCIL (MIAAC) FILM FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 11-15, 2009 |
 |
|
MIAAC, NEW YORK’S INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL Special Programming Includes a Spotlight on Kashmir, Evening with Mira Nair, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta’s Kahani Movement and the Best of Contemporary Bengali Cinema Celebrities Attending Include Aasif Mandvi, Mira Nair, Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen, Shabana Azmi, Farhan Akhtar, Shyam Benegal, Deepti Naval, Manisha Koirala and Anurag Kashyap Complete program and ticket info at www.miaacfilmfest.org October 8th, 2009, New York, NY -- The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival, New York City’s Indian film festival, is proud to announce the complete program for the 2009 festival to be held from November 11-15. Now in its ninth year, the festival will have 47 screenings including 44 premieres of features, documentaries and shorts. Since its founding in 2001, MIAAC has established itself as the premiere Indian film festival in the United States, introducing audiences to films such as Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire,” Mira Nair’s “The Namesake” and “Monsoon Wedding”; Deepa Mehta’s “Water” and Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride & Prejudice.” This year’s selection continues to celebrate the Festival’s tradition for excellence and diversity with powerful performances and new cinematic expression by cutting-edge Indian directors. Regular public screenings will be at the Quad Cinema, with special screenings at the Paris Theatre, Walter Reade Theater, the National Museum of the American Indian, and NYU's Cantor Center. A complete program listing is online at www.miaacfilmfest.org. The 2009 MIAAC Film Festival is setting the stage for some of the most highly anticipated films of the year. The festival includes films from India, Canada, the UK and the United States. The November 11th opening night film is “Today’s Special,” a comedy written by and starring Aasif Mandvi (“The Daily Show”) accompanied by renowned Indian actor Naseerudin Shah and author and actor Madhur Jaffrey. Santosh Sivan's “Tahaan” set in Kashmir, is the prestigious Festival Centerpiece on November 13th. The festival’s closing night on November 15th packs a bang with “Antaheen – The Endless Wait” starring two film luminaries discovered by Satyajit Ray - Sharmila Tagore and Aparna Sen – both of whom will attend the festival. Other noteworthy selections include works that comment in vastly different ways on Indian politics, such as “Well Done Abba,” a comedy by veteran director Shyam Benegal, and the disturbing “Gulaal” directed by Anurag Kashyap, representing the next generation of talented Indian directors. Another new talent in this year's selections is Raja Menon who directs the towering Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah in his “Barah Anna” (or “Shortchanged”). Other well-established directors in the festival include Sudhir Mishra’s “Ride On Johnny” and Joseph Mathew-Varghese, who deftly brings the lovely Tannishtha Chaterjee (of Brick Lane fame) back to the screen in his impressive feature film debut, “Bombay Summer.” Women filmmakers make an impressive showing, from screen actor Deepti Naval's directorial debut “Two Paise For Sunshine, Four Annas for Rain,” an atmospheric ode to Bollywood musicals with star Manisha Koirala in an unusual love affair with a gay man. Naval says, “New York is special for me as I grew up here and hence I am excited about the NY premiere of my film at the MIAAC film festival. I feel blessed to have worked with fine actors such as Manisha Koirala and Rajat Kapoor in my first film and I am introducing my nephew who plays a key role.” Other films include Smita Bhide's “The Blue Tower,” a deliciously dark thriller from London that won the 2008 Raindance Award; and Tracey Jackson's “Lucky Ducks,” her courageous documentary about her own privileged Upper East Side life and family. Jackson says, “I am thrilled to be a part of MIAAC as it is an Asian festival that has premiered so many important films over the years. I like to think of myself as a South Asian filmmaker as so much of my work has taken place there. My film is about a mother’s love, a daughters struggles and how they ultimately find their way back to each other.” Other festival highlights include a focus on Kashmir in film, an evening with Mira Nair and KahaniMovement.com, a filmmaker shorts competition, and a celebration of contemporary Bengali cinema. MIAAC's star guest list includes supporters and fans Sharmila Tagore, Farhan Ahktar, Manisha Koirala, Tannishtha Chaterjee, Rahul Bose, Shabana Azmi, Deepti Naval, Naseeruddin Shah, Madhur Jaffrey, Aasif Mandvi, Mira Nair, Javed Akhtar, Shyam Benegal, Buddhadeb Das Gupta, and Sudhir Mishra. For a complete lineup and ticket information please visit www.miaacfilmfest.org. About the Indo-American Arts Council: The 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 information, please visit About the Mahindra Group The US $6.3 billion Mahindra Group is among the top 10 industrial houses in India. Mahindra is the market leader in multi-utility vehicles in India. It made a milestone entry into the passenger car segment with the Logan. Mahindra & Mahindra is the only Indian company among the top tractor brands in the world. The Group has a leading presence in key sectors of the Indian economy, including the financial services, trade, retail and logistics, automotive components, after-market, information technology and infrastructure development. Mahindra has made an entry in the two-wheeler segment which will see the company emerge as a full-range player with a presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry. The Mahindra Group recently expanded its IT portfolio when Tech Mahindra acquired the leading global business and information technology services company, Satyam Computer Services. The company is now known as Mahindra Satyam. Mahindra's Farm Equipment Sector is the proud recipient of the Japan Quality Medal, the only tractor company worldwide to be bestowed this honour. It also holds the distinction of being the only tractor company worldwide to win the Deming Prize. The US based Reputation Institute recently ranked Mahindra among the top 10 Indian companies in its Global 200: The World's Best Corporate Reputations list. Mahindra is also one of the few Indian companies to receive an A+ GRI checked rating for its first Sustainability Report for the year 2007-08. Press Contacts: Peepul PR |