WASHINGTON, DC: Renowned filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Geethu Mohandas, and Aparna Sen will have their latest film projects prominently featured as the opening, centerpiece, and closing night screenings, respectively, at the 14th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) this May.

Kashyap's 'Ugly' will be the Opening Night Gala film, screening on May 5 at one of the several New York City theaters playing host for the prestigious film festival, the oldest US-based showcase of Indian filmmaking talent.

'Ugly', starring Ronit Roy ('Student of the Year'), is "a sensational tale of corruption, indifference, and systemic violence that begins when a 10-year-old daughter of an aspiring actor disappears" says promos of the film.

The film was showcased last year at the Cannes Film Festival, the biggest and most prestigious film festival in the world, as part of its Cannes Directors' Fortnight showcase. Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur' – a two-part, five-hour crime epic that received rave reviews last year – was the closing film at the 2013 NYIFF. Kashyap will also participate in a post-screening conversation, which will then be followed by the opening night gala event.

"We are thrilled to be opening this year's New York Indian Film Festival with Anurag Kashyap new film, Ugly," said festival director Aseem Chhabra. "Anurag has been in the forefront of India's growing indie film movement, always pushing the boundaries and inspiring the new generation of filmmakers."

Mohandas is a Malayalee actress, and is directing for the first time with 'Liar's Dice'. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, of 'Talaash' and 'The Lunchbox' fame, as a character also named Nawazuddin, a free-spirited Army deserter who helps a young woman and her young daughter find the former's long-lost husband. The film was screened as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it was warmly received.

Finally, Sen is perhaps best known for making her screen debut as an actress in 'Three Daughters', the 1961 film by Academy Award winner Satyajit Ray. Her latest directorial venture is the film 'Goynar Baksho', which is "a refreshing and vibrant take on acclaimed Bengali novelist Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay's famous tale of three generations of women and their changing position in society, as seen in relation to an inherited box of jewels."

The NYIFF is put on by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), which will release the festival's full lineup of films in exactly one week's time, on April 8.