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MIAAC Indian Film Festival opens in NY
November 19, 2009 By Brian Santhumayor, New York

New York, Nov 19, 2009: The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival (MIAAC) opened with a bang on Nov 11 in New York City with a gala film screening.Now in its ninth year, the 5-day festival included 47 screenings including 44 premieres of features, documentaries and short films from India, Canada, the UK and US. As every year, the MIAAC Film Festival once again set the stage for some of the most highly anticipated films of the year. Presented by the Indo-American Arts Council in collaboration with the Mahindra Group, MIAAC showcased the best of Indian cinema from India and the Diaspora.

The event kicked off in style with the opening night gala celebration featuring the November 11 night film 'Today's Special', a comedy written by and starring Aasif Mandvi ('The Daily Show') accompanied by Naseerudin Shah and author and actor Madhur Jaffrey. The guests mingled with an impressive number of stars that included Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Shyam Benegal, Deepti Naval, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Sudhir Mishra, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Aasif Mandvi, Madhur Jaffrey, Mira Nair, Suketu Mehta and a host of other filmmakers. There was a post-screening discussion with actors Aasif Mandvi, Madhur Jaffrey, producers Nimitt Mankad and Lillian LaSalle. The Gala Benefit dinner featured a live auction and live music from Siddhartha Khosla of Goldspot. Santosh Sivan's 'Taha' set in Kashmir, was the festival's centerpiece on Nov 13.

On Nov. 14, the TiE Tri-State in association with the Indo-American Arts Council and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan held a Film Industry and Director's reception. The event featured a number of stars that included Rahul Bose, Aasif Mandvi and others. The evening highlights included "The Business of Independent Filmmaking" which was a panel discussion with Rahul Bose, Pooja Kumar, Sudhir Mishra, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Shonali Bose and was moderated by Bhuvan Lall. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to mingle with the stars and get their perspective on independent filmmaking. The critically acclaimed Sa Dance Company gave a superb performance as they danced to catchy Bollywood numbers. The Sa Dance Company consists of 15 talented dancers who have been training for over 20 years in various forms of American and Indian dance such as Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Ballet, Hip-hop, Jazz, Garba, Bhangra, and Bollywood.

Other noteworthy selections included works that comment on Indian politics, such as 'Well Done Abba,' a comedy by veteran director Shyam Benegal and 'Gulaal' directed by Anurag Kashyap, representing the next generation of Indian directors. The festival highlights included Sudhir Mishra's 'Ride on Johnny' and Joseph Mathew Varghese in his feature film debut, 'Bombay Summer.'

MIAAC wrapped up five days of screenings and events at the weekend with the US premiere of Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's 'The Endless Wait (Antaheen).' The evening concluded with the awards ceremony, when Joseph Mathew-Varghese's 'Bombay Summer' was presented with the best film award and Lalit Vachani's 'The Salt Stories' was named the best documentary.

It was a wonderful experience taking part in this exciting film festival as well as meeting with many of the stars who have made a big impact in Art Films.