NYIFF (New York Indian Film Festival) has been around for 12 years, screening films and connecting the network of actors and filmmakers. Festival which was founded by Aroon Shivdasani and the Indo-American Arts Council have been responsible for screening almost 40 films per year, including features films, shorts, documentaries, and animated films. Films such as Monsoon Wedding(2001), Water(2005), Bride and Prejudice(2004), Born into Brothels(2005), The Namesake(2006), Slumdog Millionaire(2008), Gulaal(2009), The Japanese Wife(2010), Shor in the City(2010), Iti Mrinalini(2011), Do Dooni Chaar(2011) had world premiere at the festival. With such merit, one didn’t expect less from this year’s line up.

This year, NYIFF had quite a mix in the bag, from bilingual features such as Sujay Dahake’s Shala to emotion evoking documentaries such as oscar wining Saving Face by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. The 12th Annual New York Indian Film Festival opened on May 23rd at Paris Theater with opening night red carpet screening of Bedabrata Pain’s Chittagong. Film which revolves around the actual events of India’s Chittagong Uprising injected the moviegoers with right amount of patriotism. On May 25, Rituparno Ghosh had world premiere for his film Chitrangada at Tribeca Cinemas. This was second time that film director Rituparno Gosh appeared in front of the screen, playing the role of a choreographer, who plans to stage the dance drama Chitrangada on the occasion of Rabindranath’s 150th birth anniversary.

The festival also featured more than 50 features, documentaries, and short films over a span of five days from May 23-27 at the Tribeca Cinemas in Lower Manhattan. The event  attracted some of the most high profile celebrities, media, and guests. Anurag Kashyap‘s Gangs of Wasseypur closed the festival on May 27 at NYU’s Skirball Theater. The night ended with awards ceremony and closing night reception, sponsored by Wells Fargo. The winners as follows:

One-minute Cell Phone Film Award – LOVE LOST by Caroline Cantone, NYU student.

Audience Choice Award, presented by Mela’s Pooja Kohli – LET’S BE OUT, THE SUN IS SHINING by Bornilla Chatterjee. 

Best Short Film Award, presented by director Bedabrata Pain – BOMBAY SNOW by Chinmay Dalvi 

Best Documentary, presented by UB Group Brand Ambassador and former Miss India Pooja Batra – SAVING FACE by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (also won the Oscar for Best Doc)

Best Screenplay, presented by author Suketu Mehta – Avinash Deshpande for SHALA

Best Young Actor Award, presented by director Prashant Nair – Mohammad Samad for GATTU 

Best Actress, presented by director Dev Benegal – Tannishtha Chatterjee for DEKH INDIAN CIRCUS

Best Actor, presented by director Aishwarya.R.Dhanush – Nawazuddin Siddiqui for DEKH INDIAN CIRCUS

Best Director, presented by director Anurag Kashyap – Sujay Dahake for SHALA 

Best Film, presented by Rahul Baig of Wells Fargo – GATTU by Rajan Khosa

Special Contribution to Indian Cinema Award presented to actor/director Rituparno Ghosh 

Lifetime Achievement Award presented to director Shyam Benegal