Dekh Tamasha Dekh
Directed by Feroz Abbas Khan.
India, 2012, 108 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast: Satish Kaushik, Tanvi Azmi, Sudhir Pandey, Vinay Jain, Sharad Ponkshe, Ganesh Yadav, Apoorva Arora, Alok Rajwade.
Post-screening discussion with director Feroz Abbas Khan.

Trailer: http://youtu.be/zMVcOQdm_zM

The story revolves around the search for the religious identity of a poor man crushed under the weight of a politician’s hoarding. A social and political satire, the film explores the impossible India, where bizarre is normal.


About the Director: At the forefront of Indian theatre today, Feroz Abbas Khan has directed some of India's finest acting talent, both from stage and cinema.

From autobiographical one man show to two character plays to full scale musicals, his pioneering productions have traveled extensively in India and abroad. His plays have been staged to packed audiences and critical acclaim.

As the first Festival Director of the prestigious Prithvi Theatre, Feroz, along with the late Jennifer Kapoor spearheaded the International Prithvi Theatre Festival.

His English theatre production of 'Mahatma v/s Gandhi' created a sensation wherever it was staged. Major newspapers in India wrote laudatory editorials and The New York Times called it "The finest English play to emerge from India in a long time".

With 'Gandhi- My Father' he made his first foray into the arena of motion picture. It won Several National and International Awards.

Newsweek called it 'poignant and compelling'. Time out-London, hailed it as 'A worthy companion to Attenborough's Oscar epic'.

Bombay Movie
Directed by Alexandra Eaton.
USA 2013, 58 Minutes, English.
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz, Arjun Mathur
Post-screening discussion with director Alexandra Eaton and actor Arjun Mathur (Barah Anna).

Bombay Movie is the story of Raja Menon, an independent filmmaker living in the shadow of Bollywood. Inspired by his watchman to make a film about the city's overlooked working poor, Raja enlists a two foreign producers and a star cast to make the gritty realist film of his dreams.

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The Human Factor
Directed by Rudradeep Bhattacharjee.
India, 2012, 76 mins, English.
World Premiere.
Cast- The Lord Family.

This documentary investigates song and music in the context of the Indian filmic experience. Although singers, music directors, the lyricists are all publicly celebrated for their work and have attained almost legendary status in popular culture, many unseen - and uncredited - musicians make up the orchestras that played on those songs and the background scores. The Human Factor focuses closely in on the story of the Lords, a family of Parsi musicians whose contribution to Hindi film music parallels that of any of the great music directors or singers, yet is widely unknown. But the story of the Lords is not theirs alone, but represents thousands of other composers. This documentary is crucial to providing an obscure chapter in the history of Indian cinema, replete with rare archival material, which provides viewers with a subaltern history of Bollywood.


About the Director: Rudradeep Bhattacharjee was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, and obtained his postgraduate diploma in Film and Television Production from Xavier Institute of Communications, in Mumbai, where he has lived for the past twelve years working as an Independent Filmmaker. A self-described generalist, he does not have any hobbies.

The Only Real Game
Directed by Mirra Bank.
India, 2012, Documentary, 82 Minutes, English and Manipuri with subtitles.
World Premiere.
Post-screening discussion with director Mirra Bank.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwlGA9q2Xw

The movie explores the power of baseball for people in a troubled, distant place. The small, once princely state of Manipur in embattled northeast India, counters gun violence, poverty, corruption, drug traffic, and HIV/AIDS with its surprising passion for our National Pastime. Manipur, which shares a porous border with Burma, joined the Indian Union under pressure in 1949, triggering a corrosive separatist conflict that continues to this day. For decades baseball has delivered release from daily struggles and a dream for healing this wounded society, as well as a way to connect to the wider world. This dream moves toward reality when First Pitch, a small group of baseball-loving New Yorkers, and two Major League Baseball Envoy coaches, join Manipuri men, women and children to “Play Ball.”


About the Director: Mirra Bank directs film and theater. Her previous feature documentary, "Last Dance", was short-listed for an Academy Award. Her innovative nonfiction feature, "Nobody's Girls", was a PBS primetime special; and her groundbreaking indie feature "Enormous Changes" premiered at Sundance, followed by a critically praised theatrical release. Bank has been honored with awards and production support from, among others: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, NY State Council on the Arts, NY Foundation for the Arts, American Film Institute. Her films have premiered at festivals worldwide, including Edinburgh, NY Film Festival, Chicago, Seattle, Hawaii, AFI, Silverdocs, Final Frame, London, and Palm Springs.

Pune 52
Directed by Nikhil Mahajan.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 121 Minutes, Marathi with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Girish Kulkarni, Kiran Karmarkar, Sai Tamhankar, Sonali Kulkarni
Post-screening discussion with director Nikhil Mahajan.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HqGRZDbGrs

The life of a private detective undergoes a dramatic change when he takes up a case that is deeply personal and highly complex. Set in the year 1992, against the backdrop of the finance reform policy that spiraled the Indian middle class in a tizzy of consumerism, reforming everything, including their relationships, Pune 52 is a heartbreaking love story blended in a edge of the seat thriller.


About the Director: Nikhil Mahajan is a graduate in film direction from The International Film School Sydney, Australia, and comes from an academically inclined middle class family. Growing up on Bollywood cinema, making films was possibly the only thing that Nikhil could imagine himself doing. Pune 52 is Nikhil’s first film.

Saari Raat
Directed by Parimal Aloke.
India 2013, 23 Minutes, Hindi with English Subtitles.

This film is based on a story by the eminent Hindi author Kamtanath, "Saari Raat" is a conversation between a couple on the second night of their wedding when at the groom's behest they decide to honestly exchange confidences. What follows via the mountain-made-out-of-a-molehill situation is an affectionate satire on the chauvinism latently present in every male and an endearing portrait of a young, middle class, small town Indian mentality.

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B.A. Pass
Directed by Ajay Bahl.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 100 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
New York Premiere.
Cast- Shilpa Shukla, Rajesh Sharma, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Geeta Sharma, Shadab Kamal
Winner Best Film, Best Actor (Shadab Kamal), 12th Osian's Cinefan Film Festival.
Post-screening discussion with director Ajay Bahl and author Mohan Sikka.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8EKO-Sps0g

A young small town boy moves to Delhi to stay with his aunt and finish his college. Soon a mysterious married woman seduces him known to him as Sarika ‘Aunty’. Set amidst the neon-lit bylanes of Delhi’s Paharganj unfolds an erotic human drama between the two. A relationship based on lust, lies and deceit is forged. As the young boy gets more and more entrenched into his surroundings he discovers a city that thrives on corrupting even the most naive and innocent.


About the Director: Ajay Bahl grew up in the city of Delhi and was a state level cricketer in his teen years, disillusioned by the corruption in sport he meandered into many different vocations before chancing upon a book on filmmaking at a friend’s house. He is a high school drop-out and a self-taught filmmaker, he began his career in the advertising industry in the year 2005, always more interested in narrative fiction he started his film production company Tonga Talkies in the year 2010 and after reading Mohan Sikka’s short story titled “The Railway Aunty” in the anthology “Delhi Noir”- Harper Collins 2010, Ajay acquired rights to make it into a feature which is now titled “B.A Pass”. It is his first narrative feature.

Anumati
Directed by Gajendra Ahire.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 112 Minutes Marathi with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Vikram Gokhale, Neena Kulkarni, Reema Lagoo, Subodh Bhave, Sai Tamhankar.
Winner Best Actor (Vikram Gokhale), 60th National Film Awards.
Post-screening discussion with producer Nilesh Navalakha.

Anumati is the story of a retired teacher Ratnakar’s attempt to save his dying wife. Not ready to give up, Ratnakar is desperately trying to hold on to the world his wife Madhu has woven. In the face of adversities Ratnakar’s trauma of facing life without his life partner is unbearable… He is a symbol of undying will and positive spirit of fighting till the end...He finds himself in a corner, helplessly trapped between emotions and practicality, being forced against his wishes, to give up on his long-lasting partnership, a dilemma that only fate can solve. Will he give that fatal ‘Consent’...will he succumb to failure. Come watch this beautiful heart rendering journey of a lone man’s struggle to save his world, his wife.


About the Director: Gajendra Ahire is an Indian film maker and screenwriter. He is noted for his work in Marathi cinema, including a 2007 biopic about Vasudev Balwant Phadke and has also worked as a television screenwriter for such programs as Shrimaan-Shrimati.

Three Dates
Directed by Shubhra Prakash.
USA 2013, 13:11 minutes, English.
Ash is looking to go on a nice date, meet the right girl, but nobody believes he is Indian!
 
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To-Let
Directed by Spandan Banerjee.
60 mins, Colour, Hindi with English subtitles.
World Premiere.
Post-screening discussion with director Spandan Banerjee.

Six cats and a city in flux. TO LET is about spaces. Empty, Crowded, Real, Imagined, Urban, Liminal, Nostalgic. A film about moving, renting and living. About cities as they live elsewhere and inside the artist's head. A single man, a couple, a music band and the filmmaker try to understand what home means in the continuous cycle of migration and flux. All of them are at various stages of settling, moving, shifting as a part of their displaced city identities. What is home for those who only know their immediate urban reality? What is home when there is nowhere else to go? What is the identity of a 'tenant' to those who engage in a life of art living in a city in India? TO LET is about spaces, people, cats, and the stories woven around them. Stories that become a film, a song, a memory; as physical spaces replace themselves and addresses change houses.


About the Director: Spandan Banerjee drew cartoons, T- shirts, and ads, before doing what he always wanted to do, realize stories into film. After several awards and years in advertising, making own films under his alternative independent outfit OVERDOSE. He has produced and directed over 100 commissioned films and his independent fiction and documentary films have travelled across film festivals. His last film YOU DON'T BELONG also won various awards including the Special Jury at the National Film Awards. He now lives in Delhi and is now putting together a platform, OVERDOSE LOCAL to develop an independent film scene in a city with no defined film space. His latest film is a fiction on Delhi, CITY OF DARK. www.overdosefilms.com

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Much Ado About Knotting
Directed by Geetika Narang Abbasi and Anandana Kapur.
India, 2012, Documentary Film, 55 Minutes, English and Hindi.
New York Premiere.


Born into a society obsessed with marriages, a young girl, a not-so-young man and an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) couple are compelled by tradition to look for matches via classifieds, matchmaking bureaus and websites. Confronted with innumerable criteria that determine who is acceptable and who isn’t, they question themselves and their choices. As they introspect, the melee of the matchmaking industry continues. At every turn, there are service providers who are ready to snoop, style and solicit potentials on their behalf. People are searching for the ideal one endlessly and the oft-heard question is – When are you getting married? Much Ado About Knotting is a lighthearted chronicle of this very predicament that almost every Indian faces.


About the Director: Born and brought up in Delhi, India, Geetika Narang Abbasi pursued advertising after completing her graduation in English Literature from Delhi University. Soon, her love for films led her to the field of filmmaking. Having worked on various genres of filmmaking, from documentaries to TV commercials, she ventured into independent filmmaking with her first short fiction, the multiple award-winning Good Night (2008). Subsequently, she has edited and directed several documentaries that have been recognized and showcased nationally as well as internationally. Her next venture is a film about cross-border marriages between Indians and Pakistanis.

Anandana Kapur is an independent filmmaker and social scientist based out of New Delhi, India. She has previously worked in broadcast television and is a published author on Media, Art and Gender. As part of a cultural diversity initiative she holds lectures on Cinema and Culture for exchange students from US, Canada and Europe. Anandana is also a wiki-educator and her latest works include a group exhibition on Re-envisioning in Nicosia, Cyprus and the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary The Great Indian Jugaad (2009). Anandana likes to travel, photograph and collect folklore. She is currently working on a film on grass roots innovation in India.

Daadi
Directed by David Andrew Storel.
USA 2013, 18 Minutes, English

She was a star during Bollywood's Golden Age; now, she's an 87-year-old grandmother living in a senior home in Harlem. Daadi is the true story of magic and memory, and the difference between living and being alive.

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Shunyo Awnko
Directed by Goutam Ghose.
India, 2013, Feature Film, 128 Minutes, Bengali and Hindi with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Priyanshu Chatterjee, Konkona Sensharma, Priyanka Bose, Soumitra Chatterjee.
Post-screening discussion with director Goutam Ghose.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g3btyGndLw

Are these two tales of one country? Or, are there two countries -- distinct and different? Two Indias, one…confident, vibrant and growing. Where liberalism is the order of the day, where consumerism tells the last word, where the future shines bright. Another pushed to the margin. Poor, helpless, denied of even basic necessities of existence. The two ‘countries’ stare at each other. With hope and despair, belief and suspicion, joy and tears manifest in the faces of their people. Against this backdrop, we find six principal characters that every now and then recall their past memories, are bound by daily compulsions, yet have dreams of varying colours and shades. At the same time issues of insurgency, infiltration and proxy wars co-exist in tandem. The film, set in stark contrast through a maze of visual imagery, complex characters and changing landscapes, wakes us to a lofty realization -----“One whom you keep beneath will only tie you down … One whom you keep behind will also drag you backwards”.


About the Director: Goutam Ghose has made 13 feature films and over 30 documentaries and shorts. Made his first documentary – New Earth in 1973 followed by Hungry Autumn which won him the main award at the Oberhausen Film Festival. Has won 15 National Awards, 3 Filmfare Awards and many others. Won the Golden Peacock at IFFI 2010 for “Moner Manush. His International awards include the Silver Balloon Award at Nantes Film Festival, UNESCO Award – at Cannes Film Festival, Grand Prix - Golden Semurg at Tashkent, UNESCO Award at Venice, Fipresci Award, the Red Cross Award at Verna Film Festival and his last Bengali feature film Moner Manush (The Quest) had won the Golden Peacock award in IFFI, Goa in 2010. Also the only Indian to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award. Was awarded the Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006.

Shahid
Directed by Hansal Mehta.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 123 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
New York Premiere.
Cast- Raj Kumar Yadav, Prabhleen Sandhu, Baljinder Kaur, Tigmanshu Dhulia, KK Menon.
Post-screening discussion with director Hansal Mehta and actor RajKumar (Talaash, Kai Po Che).

Trailer: http://youtu.be/NiFEpIujrL4
             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsAlxHKVnWI

“Shahid” traces the true story of slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi. In the backdrop of communal violence that was unleashed on the city of Mumbai since 1993 we see a remarkable tale unfold. From attempting to become a terrorist to being wrongly imprisoned under a draconian anti-terrorism law to becoming a criminal lawyer Shahid traces the inspiring personal journey of a boy who became an unlikely messiah for human rights while following the rise of communal violence in India. The story of an impoverished Muslim struggling to come to terms with injustice, inequality and rising above his circumstances is an inspiring testament to the human spirit.


About the Director: Hansal made his debut with Jayate (Victory, 1998), a languid tale on the Indian judiciary, medical malpractice and ordinary human lives in the city of Bombay. This was followed by the dark, tragic and funny DilPe Mat Le Yaar (Don’t Take It To Heart, 2000), a film that reflected Hansal’s concern for the increasingly marginalized immigrants in the city of Bombay. This film (and Hansal) ran into trouble with intolerant political parties in Bombay because of an innocuous section of dialog. Shahid (2012) is the result of this soul-searching mission and a return to roots for Hansal. Shahid is a deeply personal story that reflects Hansal’s anger and concern towards religious/class based/racial intolerance around the world.

Sati
Directed by Aniruddha Chatterjee.
USA 2013, 7 Minutes, English.

A peek into a woman's mind as she's getting ready to be a Sati. Here, the illusion and the reality get blurred.

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Hansa
Directed by Manav Kaul.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 88 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
U.S. Premiere.
Cast- Kumud Mishra, Abhay Joshi, Trimala Adhikari, Bhushan Borgaonkar, Ghanshyam Lalsa, Ashish Pathode, Suraj Negi, Yogesh Kabadwal and Saurabh Nayyar.
Winner Audience and FIPRESCI Awards, 12th Osian's Cinefan Film Festival.
Post-screening discussion with director Manav Kaul.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgBu_Oz6iKM

The movie revolves around a little boy, Hansa and his sister, Cheeku. Their father has mysteriously disappeared while the mother is pregnant and about to deliver. Their father disappeared with outstanding loans and now it is left to young Cheeku has to prevent her house from getting sold and is at the receiving end of a powerful villager’s lecherous advances while little Hansa is too restless and distracted to pay attention to all the trouble his sister is facing. For Hansa his troubles revolve around a small red tennis ball which has got entangled in a huge inaccessible tree, a five rupee coin stolen from a local bully and all the travails of a boy and his closest friend Raku playing hookey from school and asking the time.


About the Director: Manav Kaul started his theatre career in Bhopal in the year 1994. He came to Mumbai in the year 2002 & along with a few friends formed “ARANYA Theatre Group” in 2004. The promise he showed as a young playwright with his first play ‘Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane’ in 2004 wasn’t misplaced. Manav is 37 years old & has written & directed 10 critically acclaimed plays in the last 8 years. His plays have been invited to most of the prestigious festivals in India & have been translated into English, Marathi & Bengali. Four of his plays have won awards at META (Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards).

Silvatein
Directed by Arati Raval Pandey
India 2013, 20 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.

Silvatein looks at a relationship and a city through the lens of love. Arati, who has been born and raised in Mumbai, or Bombay as she has always known it, sees the city changing at breakneck speed. The streets, the people and even the name. With the city, the people have changed too. As it is with relationships, even a city needs nurturing. As it is with a city, even a relationship needs the compassion of its people. The couple's predicament mirrors the predicament of a city that's trying to make peace with its varied shades. The film chooses to let the city be a silent spectator, not entering the home or even making its presence felt. But it is instrumental in the events of the story because it creates circumstances that lead to problems and is the reason there's the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Silvatein talks about the blemishes that form in relationships, with time. They may slowly fade and heal, but the hint of a wound will remain. May be it's not beautiful, but it is what will give the relationship its own, unique character.

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Fireflies
Directed by Sabal Singh Shekhawat.
India, 2012, 102 Minutes, Hindi & English.
World Premiere.
Cast- Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Rahul Khanna, Shivani Ghai, Aadya Bedi.
Post-screening discussion with director Sabal Shekhawat and actors Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Shivani Ghai.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qGbNRLyn6A

‘Fireflies’ is the story of two estranged brothers - Shiv and Rana. Shiv, a successful banker, lives in the superficial glitter of corporate Bombay. The younger brother, Rana, is a law school dropout who lives by the day. Though worldly experiences and illusions briefly illuminate the brothers’ journeys, a tragedy that befell them fifteen years earlier seems destined to repeat itself, just in new incarnations. Flames suddenly extinguish again, in an eerie heartbeat. The journey ahead echoing with voices and visions from the past, and the magic realism of the years gone by, beckons the brothers to find each other again. And the picture in the puzzle that was scattered so long ago. Fireflies come out in the night, just to light up the darkness. They live as long as the glow lasts. Even if it is a lifetime, being lived in a day.


About the Director: Born in Assam, the son of a tea planter, Sabal Singh Shekhawat, navigated the journey to India’s film capital – Bombay in the late 80s. Starting out with a brief stint as a copywriter at an advertising agency, he soon joined Shantanu Sheorey, at that time one of India’s most progressive and prolific photographers & television commercial directors. Four years later, in 1994 Sabal set up his own production company - ‘The Big Picture’. After 18 years of producing and directing numerous award-winning commercials, Sabal started ‘Wild Geese Pictures’ in 2011 – a feature film production company devoted to collaborating, financing and producing independent films of high-quality content and production standards.

Sikh Formaggio
Directed by Kate Wise.
Italy, USA 21 mins.

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Baavra Mann
Directed by Jaideep Varma.
India, 127 mins, Hindi with English subtitles.
World Premiere.
Cast- Sudhir Mishra.
Post-screening discussion with director Jaideep Varma.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsbJHABESjE

This documentary uses the life of filmmaker Sudhir Mishra and his varied work to throw light on the declining creative and cultural scene in India. Also, including interviews with people as diverse as Naseeruddin Shah, Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah, Jaideep Sahni, Pritish Nandy, Swanand Kirkire, Chitrangda Singh, Kaykay Menon, MJ Akbar, Vinod Dua and many more the film paints a picture of environments that haven't entirely fulfilled their potential.


About the Director: Jaideep Varma has made two feature films - Hulla (2008, fiction) and Leaving Home - the Life & Music of Indian Ocean (2010, non-fiction). The second opened the Goa International Film Festival in 2010 and won the National Award in 2011. Before that, he published a novel (Local) in 2005. He is also the creator of a Moneyball-like system in cricket called Impact Index, considered by some to be the best stats system in the game today. This is his second full-length documentary film.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro
Directed by Kundan Shah.
India, 1983, 132 mins, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast- Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah, Bhakti Barve, Satish Kaushik, Ashok Banthia, Neena Gupta.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csslHKrvzlk

Professional photographers Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra open a photo studio in the prestigious Haji Ali area in Mumbai, in the hopes of making enough money to sustain themselves. After a disastrous start, they are given some work by the editor of "Khabardar," a publication that exposes the scandalous lives of the rich and the famous. They accept it and start working with the editor, Shobha Sen, on a story to expose the dealings between an unscrupulous builder, Tarneja, and corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello. While working on their story, Sudhir and Vinod decide to enter a photography contest, taking photos all over the city. On developing their pictures, they notice a man shooting someone, and get caught up in a murder case that ends with them in prison. In the final scene, Vinod and Sudhir are shown several years later being released, still in their prison clothes. They turn to the camera and make a cut-throat gesture, signifying the death of justice and truth in an age of corruption.


About the Director: Kundan Shah studied direction at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, where he developed an interest in various expressions of comedy. He is instrumental in introducing slapstick humor into the Indian filmic experience, with his cult hit Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, and has worked in both film and television.

Dosa Hunt
A Film By Amrit Singh.
USA 2012, 22:38 Minutes, English

This is a short film by Amrit Singh featuring a diverse group of music-world friends -- Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Das Racist's Himanshu Suri and Ashok "Dapwell" Kondabolu, Yeasayer's Anand Wilder, Neon Indian's Alan Palomo, jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, and Stereogum's Executive Editor, Singh -- on a quest to find their hometown's best dosa. The delicious traditional South Indian crepe has earned this long-overdue cinematic closeup. But our our heroes' journey -- bantering in an Indian disco van, eating their way through the restaurants and grocery stores of Manhattan and Queens -- also explores the shared and respective cultures of this vibrant group of NYC artists in the wilds of their city. Dosa Hunt is a snapshot of a transitional generation in America's immigrant/art experience, in hot pursuit of good food.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7j1iBluLDM&feature=youtu.be

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Oonga
Directed by Devashish Makhija.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 98 Minutes, Hindi and Oriya with English subtitles.
World Premiere.
Cast- Alyy Khan, Anand Tiwari, Nandita Das, Priyanka Bose, Salim Kumar, Seema Biswas, Vipin Sharma.
Post-screening discussion with director Devashish Makhija.

Little Oonga missed his village school trip to the faraway big city Lohabad to see a play called ‘Ramayan’. Unable to handle the pressure of being the only kid around who has not seen the fantastic warrior-king ‘Rama’, Oonga runs away. He goes on a perilous journey across forest, river, mountains and roads – bigger than any he’s ever seen, and valleys lain to waste by the mining industry… until he reaches the large, cold, chaotic, blinding city. When he emerges from the play he believes he has become Rama! But he is now returning not to the warm confines of his little village, but to a battlefield where the ‘company’ will do anything to take the adivasi’s land away from them. Only, Oonga doesn’t know it yet.


About the Director: Devashish Makhija spends his life being driven to manic curiosity about little things. To distract himself from such insomnia-inducing questions he writes screenplays, stories, poetry, makes films, does graphic-art, stands on his head each morning, and sings songs to the Bombay pigeons each night.

Akashathinte Niram (Color of Sky)
Directed by Dr. Biju.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 117 Minutes, Malyalam with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Nedumudi Venu, Indrajith Sukumaran, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Amala Paul, Master Govardhan.
Post-screening discussion with director Dr. Biju.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPoX90MFHdQ

A 60-year-old man lives on an isolated island. He visits the nearby harbour in a motorboat once a month to sell handicrafts. A young burglar keeps tabs on him and one day jumps onto the motorboat and demands money. The old man remains calm and takes the motorboat towards his island where the young man remains trapped. He meets the people who live with the old man, a 7-year-old boy, a 20-year-old deaf and dumb lady and a middle-aged man with a stammer. The intruder confronts rare life situations for the first time, his concept about life changes, as he understands how nature blends with life. The film is the ‘color’ of life, of the wind, of the sea and nature.


About the Director: Dr. Biju debuted as Writer and Director with Saira (2005). It was the opening film in the section Cinema of the World at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2007. The film also selected to Indian panorama 2006. His second feature Raman – Travelogue of Invasion (2008) was officially selected at Cairo International Film Festival 2009 in the section “INCREDIBLE INDIA”. Dr.Biju served as jury member for India’s National film award 2013, 30th Fajr International film festival, Iran 2012 and International film festival Kerala 2011.Dr.Biju got Kerala state film award for best writing on cinema in 2011.

Khaana
Directed by Cary Sawhney.
USA, 8 mins.

About the Director: Cary Rajinder Sawhney is a nascent filmmaker, film programmer and writer who has worked at the British Film Institute and other international bodies. His writing includes acclaimed chapters on 1930s Indian actress Devika Rani, of Bombay Talkies and British Asian cinema. As a filmmaker his second short film ‘Looking For You’ was well received at 8 festivals internationally including being short listed for the New York Indian Film Festival Short Film Award. His latest short KHAANA won the Future Filmmaker Award at Palm Springs Short Film Festival and has been screened at 14 international festivals so far, including Kerala, Cleveland, and Athens (Ohio). As an emerging filmmaker Cary was selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus in February 2013.


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Special Screening

Jadoo
Directed by Amit Gupta.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 84 Minutes, English and Hindi.
U.S. Premiere.
Cast- Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Kulvinder Ghir, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey.
World Premiere and Closing Night film, Culinary Cinema section, 2013 Berlin International Film Festival.
Post-screening discussion with director Amit Gupta.

Two brothers, both wonderful chefs, fall out catastrophically. At the climax of their dispute they rip the family recipe book in half – one brother gets the starters and the other gets the main courses. They set up rival restaurants, across the road from each other, and spend the next twenty years trying to out-do each other. Neither brother will admit it but they both know they are not entirely successful in the ‘other half’ of the menu. It takes a daughter to reunite them. She is planning her marriage and is determined that they will both cook together. But can the men bury the hatchet?


About the Director: Amit directed Resistance starring Andrea Riseborough and Michael Sheen it was his debut feature film. Sharon Morgan won the BAFTA Cymru award for Best Actress and Amit has been nominated for the Best First Film award by the Writer's Guild of Great Britain. Amit’s last play, Campaign, was part of the epic Great Game at the Tricycle Theatre and was nominated for a 2010 Olivier Award. After the acclaimed run in London, The Great Game toured some of the most prestigious theatres in the US including: The Shakespeare in Washington, The Guthrie in Minneapolis, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Public in New York. In February 2010 the play was performed for The Pentagon. Amit's short film Love Story won the Verizon Peoples' Choice Award at the New York Indian Film Festival in 2007.

Garam Hawa
Directed by M.S. Sathyu.
India, 1973, 146 mins, Hindi, Urdu with English subtitles.
Cast: Balraj Sahni, Shaukat Azmi, Gita Siddharth, Farooque Shaikh.

Based on an unpublished Urdu short story by Ismat Chughtai and adapted for screen by Kaifi Azmi, who also wrote its lyrics, this film deals with the plight of a North Indian Muslim family, in the post-partition India of 1947, as the film's protagonist grapples with the dilemma of moving to Pakistan or not. The Mirzas, a Muslim family living in a large ancestral house and running a shoe manufacturing business in the city of Agra in the United Provinces of northern India (now Uttar Pradesh) is headed by two brothers; Salim, who guides the family business, and his elder brother Halim, who is engaged in politics and acts as a major leader in the provincial branch of the All India Muslim League, which led the demand for the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan.


About the Director: M.S. Sathyu a leading film director, stage designer and art director from India, and one of the patrons of Indian People's Theatre Association, otherwise known as IPTA. He received the Padma Shri in 1975, and currently focuses mainly on television and stage.

Investment
Directed by Ratnakar Matkari.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 122 Minutes, Marathi with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Praharsh Naik, Sanjay Mone, Sulabha Deshpande, Supriya Vinod, Tushar Dalvi.
Post-screening discussion with associate director Ganesh Matkari.
Winner Best Marathi Film, 60th National Film Awards.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtRE0H9CpZM

Investment is a realistic, socially relevant and hard hitting film for the urban audience that can identify with its characters and the nature of the issues dealt within. The protagonists are a couple striving for greater ambitions, eager to move into a higher class of society, but at the cost of their social values. Their 12 year old son is being nurtured to become a politician, as the couple believes politics offers lucrative opportunities of growth, power and finance. The bratty son believes in always getting what he wants and his shocking involvement in a crime brings forth the changing face of today's society and its uncertain future. It won The National Award for best Marathi Film in 2012.


About the Director: Ratnakar Ramkrushna Matkari is a Marathi writer, a movie and play producer/director, and a self-taught artist from Maharashtra, India.

Philippe Dilip Vists Mr.Pickles
Directed by Cyrus Cumming
USA, 5 mins.
A young cinephile oversteps his boundaries when Philippe Dilip, a washed up Bollywood actor, shows up at his deli one evening.


And

Aatma
Directed by Suparn Verma
India, 2013, Feature Film, 94 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles
New York Premiere.
Cast- Bipasha Basu, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Doyel Dhawan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Tillotama Shome, Shernaz Patel, Darshan Zariwala.
Post-screening discussion with director Suparn Verma.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pNmFaxQxdg

Aatma is the journey of a single mother Maya Verma who finally starts her life afresh with her six year old daughter Nia but as Maya starts to pick up the pieces of her life, strange things starts happening around her. Maya's six year old daughter Nia starts to speak to her dead father. Maya initially feels that she has created an imaginary father to fill the gap in her life but slowly Maya's life starts to fall apart and the reality gets darker till she starts to doubt her own sanity. Aatma is a psychological thriller set in a supernatural framework. It is about the inheritance of loss, a tableau of conflicting emotions played against a diabolic backdrop.


About the Director: Suparn is a writer and filmmaker who has previously been a senior producer with rediff.com. He has written a number of movies such as Chhal, Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai, Qayamat, Zameen, Janasheen, Karam, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena I directed Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena and Acid Factory. He also has a production company called The Dark Tower Entertainment which makes ad films and music videos.

Shunyo Awnko
Directed by Goutam Ghose.
India, 2013, Feature Film, 128 Minutes, Bengali and Hindi with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Priyanshu Chatterjee, Konkona Sensharma, Priyanka Bose, Soumitra Chatterjee.
Post-screening discussion with director Goutam Ghose.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g3btyGndLw

Are these two tales of one country? Or, are there two countries -- distinct and different? Two Indias, one…confident, vibrant and growing. Where liberalism is the order of the day, where consumerism tells the last word, where the future shines bright. Another pushed to the margin. Poor, helpless, denied of even basic necessities of existence. The two ‘countries’ stare at each other. With hope and despair, belief and suspicion, joy and tears manifest in the faces of their people. Against this backdrop, we find six principal characters that every now and then recall their past memories, are bound by daily compulsions, yet have dreams of varying colours and shades. At the same time issues of insurgency, infiltration and proxy wars co-exist in tandem. The film, set in stark contrast through a maze of visual imagery, complex characters and changing landscapes, wakes us to a lofty realization -----“One whom you keep beneath will only tie you down … One whom you keep behind will also drag you backwards”.


About the Director: Goutam Ghose has made 13 feature films and over 30 documentaries and shorts. Made his first documentary – New Earth in 1973 followed by Hungry Autumn which won him the main award at the Oberhausen Film Festival. Has won 15 National Awards, 3 Filmfare Awards and many others. Won the Golden Peacock at IFFI 2010 for “Moner Manush. His International awards include the Silver Balloon Award at Nantes Film Festival, UNESCO Award – at Cannes Film Festival, Grand Prix - Golden Semurg at Tashkent, UNESCO Award at Venice, Fipresci Award, the Red Cross Award at Verna Film Festival and his last Bengali feature film Moner Manush (The Quest) had won the Golden Peacock award in IFFI, Goa in 2010. Also the only Indian to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award. Was awarded the Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006.

Daadi
Directed by David Andrew Stoler.
USA, 18 mins.

and

When Hari Got Married
Directed by Tenzing Sonam, Ritu Sarin.
United Kingdom, India, Norway, Documentary, 2012, 75 Minutes, English with Foreign subtitles.
U.S. Premiere.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gGKt_ugLP0

When Hari, a small-town taxi driver, has an arranged marriage to a girl he has never met, the result is an intimate and humorous look at the changes taking place in India as modernity and globalization meet age-old traditions and customs.


About the Director: Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam have been making films on Tibetan subjects for more than 20 years. Through their work they have attempted to document, question, and reflect on, the issues of exile, cultural identity and political aspiration that confront the Tibetan diaspora. Working through their film company, White Crane Films, they have produced and directed several documentaries, including: The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche (1991); The Trials of Telo Rinpoche (1993); A Stranger in My Native Land (1997); and The Shadow Circus: The CIA in Tibet (1998). In 2005, they completed a dramatic feature film, Dreaming Lhasa, executive produced by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Gere.

NYIFF SPECIAL EVENT: CELL PHONE CINEMA-MOBILE BOLLYWOOD

1 minute Mobile Bollywood: Cell Phone Cinema shorts from students of New York University, under the supervision of Prof. Karl Bardosh, have been making Music Videos with their own interpretation of popular Bollywood sound tracks.

Biographical Note: Accumulating over 30 years of professional experience in Europe, Asia, Brazil, Hollywood and New York in all genres of film and television, Prof. Karl Bardosh of New York University has been an award-winning director, producer, writer, editor of features, shorts, television series and documentaries. Throughout these years Prof. Bardosh has been a trendsetting pioneer in many areas of film and television. In January, 2007, Prof. Bardosh had introduced Cell Phone Cinema in India by co-producing the first mobile short films with Sandeep Marwah, Executive Director of the Asian Academy of Film and Television, in Film City, Noida.

Directed by Nidhi Kathuria.
USA 2013, 9:40 minutes, English.

Jia loses all her money to bankruptcy and is being evicted from her apartment. She has lost her Grandmother who was the pillar of her strength. She walks away with a bag pack; ready to face the world. Jia is angry with God and with the world and that's a burden she carries in her heart. She has to let go of her house, her past and make a fresh start. She thinks she is ready for it. She is arrogant, hardened, and will play by her own terms. Yet, somewhere she craves for real love and acceptance. All by herself, she is now at the mercy of the world. Will the universe embrace her? Poverty makes you sometimes hope and wish harder. They say a poor person needs to trust the benevolence of the world is more than a rich man. She sees life passing her by. As people come and go, it symbolizes her hope about life. Like a matchstick flame, her hope also flickers, sometimes more than other times. It is memories of her grandmother that sustain her. Every time Jia lights up a matchstick, her memories of love, hope and nurturing around her grandmother become more prominent

and

Listen Amaya
Directed by Avinash Kumar Singh.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 108 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
New York Premiere.
Cast- Farooque Shaikh, Deepti Naval, Swara Bhaskar, Amala Akkineni, Siddhant Karnick, Vidya Bhushan, Viren Basoya.
Post-screening discussion with director Avinash Kumar Singh.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeHLyGV0jaA

Listen Amaya is a modern, young, contemporary film about relationships, family dynamics, about pre-conceptions and about priorities. Book a coffee, is an offbeat library cum coffee shop. It is owned and run by Leela Krishnamoorthy, a middle aged widow. She herself is as interesting and free spirited as the café she runs! Amaya, Leela’s only child is a firebrand 22 year-old writer; quick witted, confident and open-minded. "They adore each other as only a mother daughter can". Into this mix, is thrown Jayant Sinha. A 60 year old retired photographer, who continues his chosen profession as a hobby today. He is passionate about people and the memories they create; he is also a great friend to Amaya Krishnamoorthy, with whom he decides to co-author a coffee table book, titled "Memories of The Busy Bazaar". The Busy Bazaar as a title has its own story and adds a subtle but intriguing undercurrent to the narrative woven around it.


About the Director: Avinash started in Television in 1998, as a researcher. Albeit a very keen researcher! With a natural flair for writing, it led to many opportunities behind the camera(s) and then in front of the same. Being an anchor on channels such as the BBC and Star, whet his appetite, but also showed Avinash where his heart truly lay. Having seen both sides of the coin, Avinash then began to write and direct. Setting up a production house with his wife, along with a small but extremely talented group of individuals, Turtle on a Hammock Films grew in stature and capabilities with the work that came out of their stables, across channels such as Discovery and numerous other clients. Avinash's directorial debut, a fantastic drama, set in urban Delhi with a stellar cast is now released theatrically across India, to great critical and public acclaim.

Kalpana
Directed by Uday Shanker.
India, 1948, 160 mins, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast: Uday Shankar, Padmini, Usha Kiran, Amala Shankar, Lakshmi Kanta.

Part soap opera, ballet, and political treatise, Kalpana blends surrealism with the high art of Indian classical dance to tell a story loosely based on director Uday Shankar's own experiences trying to found a dance academy. The film opens with an earnest film director who pitches a screenplay to the owner of a production company. The producer rebuffs the director, claiming he is only interested in films that will net the highest possible box office rather than works with cultural integrity. The director begs him to at least hear him out, and thus the story of Kalpana begins to unfold. Kalpana centers on Udayan, a boy who, despite a difficult childhood, becomes a great dancer. Udayan dreams of opening a dance academy, but must overcome a series of professional challenges, including a crooked theatre promoter, and navigate the competing affections of two women, Uma and Kamini. Dance is used as the primary tool of expression throughout the film, lending Kalpana a unique style that is still unrivaled in Indian cinema.


About the Director: Uday Shankar studied under Sir William Rothstein in the Royal College of Art. A dancer by trade, he had a profound impact in the history of Indian dance. Known for liberating Indian dance from convention to create a pioneering style that was classical in spirit yet innovative in form, he incorporated western theatrical techniques to his classical training. In 1962, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama presented Shankar with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship award for lifetime achievement, its highest honor. Almost a decade later, in 1971, the Government of India presented Shankar with its second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. Kalpana is the only film Shankar directed.

Please Don’t Beat Me Sir
Directed by Shashwati Talukdar, P. Kerim Friedman.
India, 2011, Documentary, 75 Minutes, Hindi, Bhantu and Gujarati with English subtitles.
U.S. Premiere.
Post-screening discussion with director Shashwati Talukdar.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqC7eRql1K0

Over 60 million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as "criminals by birth." The Chhara of Ahmedabad, in Western India, is one of 198 such "Criminal Tribes." Declaring that they are "born actors," not "born criminals," a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater in their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality — a stigma internalized by their own grandparents. 'Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!' follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution.


About the Director: Shashwati Talukdar- Director/Producer/Editor, began her career as an assistant editor on one of Michael Moore's TV shows. She has worked for HBO, BBC, Lifetime, Sundance etc. Her films have screened at the Margaret Mead Festival, Berlin and the Whitney Biennial, and numerous art galleries around the world.

P. Kerim Friedman- Director/Producer/Camera is an associate professor at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, where he teaches linguistic and visual anthropology. He is a founding member of the group anthropology blog Savage Minds and a documentary filmmaker.

Filmistaan
Directed by Nitin Kakkar.
India, 2012, 117 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
New York Premiere.
Cast- Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt, Inaamulhaq.
Post-screening discussion with director Nitin Kakkar.
Winner Best Hindi Film, 60th National Film Awards.

This National Award winning movie is set in Mumbai where, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.


About the Director: Born in Mumbai to a photographer father in 1975, Nitin Kakkar grew up on a staple diet of Bollywood. After gaining experience as an assistant director for Hindi movies, Nitin Kakkar made his directorial debut with the award-winning short film BLACK FREEDOM (2004). Since then, he has worked on a number of television projects. ‘FILMISTAN’ is his debut Feature film. It received a Special Jury Mention during its World Premiere at the Busan International Film Festival and embarking on its international tour, the film won him Best Debut Director at the International Film Festival of Kerala and Jaipur International Film Festival.

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