The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) announced that the 13th annual New York Indian Film Festival, the oldest film festival for Indian cinema in North America, will take place April 30 to May 4 in New York City.

The opening-night red-carpet premiere will be held at a new opening venue for the Festival, the Skirball Center for Performing Arts. Festival screenings will take place throughout the week at Tribeca Cinemas, with the closing-night selection to be followed by the annual awards ceremony and after-party at the Skirball Center.

NYIFF’s selection committee, led by Festival director and film journalist Aseem Chhabra, will consider submissions for narrative and documentary features and shorts. In addition, this year marks the launch of a new award that will honor student-created short films (five minute or less). Through open, no-fee submissions from film schools, one student will be selected to receive a special award at the closing-night award ceremony.

NYIFF will also present industry panels exploring such topics as financing, distribution and production in an increasingly global market.
Since its founding in 2001, the Festival has provided first looks at such acclaimed films as Deepa Mehta's Oscar-nominated Water, Mira Nair's The Namesake, the Sundance Audience Award-winning Valley of Saints, the South by Southwest award-winning Kumare, and the New York premiere of Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire.

“I am thrilled to entertain, educate and challenge audiences with yet another year of fantastic independent films from every country in the Indian subcontinent as well as the global Indian diaspora," says Indo-American Arts Council executive director Aroon Shivdasani. Festival director Chhabra adds, "We are particularly excited about this year’s festival, since it marks 100 years of Indian cinema. As such, we are curating a series of recently restored classics from India, never seen before in this condition. There is no better place for these films to be showcased than at this year’s New York Indian Film Festival."

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