NEW YORK: The 14th Annual New York International Film Festival, the foremost film festival in the US dedicated to celebrating south Asian cinematic work, has announced the full lineup of 34 films it will showcase at this year’s five day-long event.
The festival will feature three films in Marathi, one in Bengali, two in languages from the Indian northeast, and a number of films from countries neighboring India. Four films to be screened at the festival originate from Pakistan, while two are from Sri Lanka and another is from Nepal. In total the festival, which runs from May 5-10 in Manhattan, will screen 34 films – 23 narrative works, and 11 documentaries.
The three Marathi films scheduled to be showcased at the NYIFF are Postcard, Astu, and Fandry. The latter comes with a slew of awards already in tow, including the Grand Jury prize from the 2013 Mumbai Film Festival. The film is about a Dalit (low-caste) boy in India, who falls for a girl of a higher caste, and the complications that ensue from such a romance. The film has been heavily praised by the US press, with The Hollywood Reporter calling it "explosive" and NYIFF director Aseem Chhabra calling it the best Indian film of 2013.
Among the notable documentaries screening this year is Karan Bali's An American in Madras, which tells the true story of American-born filmmaker Ellis R. Dungan's 15 year-long stay in India. Born in 1909, Dungan left Barton, Ohio to visit India in 1935 for what was originally intended to be just a six-month trip. Instead, he spent over a decade on the subcontinent, developing technologies for the Tamil film industry and leaving an undeniable mark on Tollywood, despite not knowing a single word of the local language.
One of the Pakistani films that will be shown is Zinda Bhaag, which has generated an incredible amount of interest already. Starring screen legend Naseeruddin Shah (Monsoon Wedding), the film is notable for being Pakistan's first-ever submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (it did not garner a nomination last year, however). The film follows the travels of three men, each of whom has their own unique experience coming to terms with the modernity of 21st century Pakistan.
Other films set to screen at the festival will include the acting talents of performers like Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Ek Tha Tiger), Sendhil Ramamurthy (NBC's "Heroes"), and non-Indian actors like Justin Bartha (Doug from The Hangover trilogy).
As reported earlier, the NYIFF will showcase Anurag Kashyap's Ugly as its Opening Night Gala film, Geethu Mohandas's Liar's Dice, and Aparna Sen's Goynar Baksho, a Bengali film based on a story by novelist Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay.
The full lineup for this year's festival can be viewed below:
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION UGLY
Directed by Anurag Kashyap
India 2014, Feature Film, 128 minutes, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Cast – Rahul Bhatt, Abir Goswami, Sandesh Jhadev, Siddhant Kapoor.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION GOYNAR BAKSHO
Directed by Aparna Sen
India, 2013, Feature Film, 141 minutes, Bengali (with English subtitles)
Cast – Konkona Sen Sharma, Moushumi Chatterjee, Saswata Chaterjee, Paran Banerjee
CENTERPIECE SELECTION LIAR’S DICE
Directed by Geethu Mohandas
India 2014, Feature Film, 104 minutes, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Cast – Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta
Acceptance
Directed by Ryan Matthew Chan
Feature Film, 51 minutes, English
Cast- Vinesh Nagrani, Ethan Song, Ann Mayo-Smith, Nathan Hartono, Pierre Cassini and Clay Burell
WORLD PREMIERE AT NYIFF 2014
Art=(Love)2
Directed by Mumtaz Hussein
2012, Feature Film, 90 minutes, English
Amka and The Three Golden Rules
Directed by Babar Ahmed
USA, 2014, Feature Film, 80 minutes, Mongolian (with English Subtitles)
Cast – Genzorig Telmen, Dashnyam Maralgua, Hereltogoo Chuluunbaatar
An American In Madras
Directed by Karan Bali
2013, Documentary, 80 minutes, English, Tamil, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa (Sniffer)
Directed by Budhadeb Dasgupta
India, 2013, Feature, 132 Mins, Hindi (with English Subtitles)
Cast – Nawazuddin Siddique, Pankaj Tripathy, Niharika Singh
Apur Panchali
Directed by Kaushik Gnguly
India, 2014, Feature Film, 97 minutes, Bengali (with English subtitles)
Cast- Ardhendu Banerjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Gaurav Chakraborty
As the River Flows (Ekhon Nodir Xipare)
Directed by Bidyut Kokoty
India, 2013, Feature Film, 97 minutes, Assamese (with English subtitles)
Cast – Victor Banerjee, Sanjay Suri, Raj Zutshi, Nakul Vaid, Naved Aslam and Ms. Bidita Bag
Astu
Directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar
India, 2013, Feature Film, 123 minutes, Marathi (with English subtitles)
Cast – Dr. Mohan Agashe, Iravati Harshe, Milind Soman, Amruta Subhash, Devika Daftardar
Auctions House
Directed by Ed Owles
United Kingdom, 2013, Documentary, 85 minutes, Bengali, Hindi, Bhojpuri and English (with English Subtitles)
Cast- Anwer, Arshad
Bhaji on the Beach
Directed by Gurinder Chadha
United Kingdom, 1994, Feature Film, 101 minutes, Hindi, English & Punjabi (with English subtitles)
Cast: Kim Vithana, Jimmi Harkishin , Sarita Khuraja, Akbar Kurtha, Zohra Segal
Brahmin Bulls
Directed by Mahesh Pailoor
U.S.A, 2013, Feature Film, 115 minutes, English
Cast – Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Cassidy Freeman, Justin Bartha
Faith Connections
Directed by Pan Nalin
India/France 2013, Documentary, 117 minutes, Hindi (with English Subtitles)
Cast- Kishan Tiwari, Hatha Yogi Baba, Vivekanandji, Umeshji, Mamta Devi
Fandry
Directed by Nagraj Manjule
India 2014, Feature Film, 103 minutes, Marathi (with English subtitles)
Cast– Kishor Kadam, Chhaya Kadam, Somnath Avghade, Suraj Pawar Payeshari
Gulabi Gang
Directed by Nishtha Jain
India/Norway/Denmark, 2012, Documentary Feature Film, 96 minutes, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Cast – Sampat Devi Pal, Suman Singh, Chuhan Hemlata, Patel, Jaiprakash
I Am Offended
Directed by Jaideep Varma
India, 2014, Documentary, 99 minutes, English and some Hindi (with English subtitles)
Lakshmi
Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor
India, 2014, Feature Film, 115 minutes, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Cast – Monali Thakur, Shifaali Shah, Ram Kapoor
Mrs. Scooter
Directed by Shiladitya Moulik
India, 2014, Feature Film, 96 minutes, Language Hindi with English Subtitles
Cast – Anjali Patil, Satyakam Anand
Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka (With You, Without You)
Directed by Prasanna Vithanage
Sri Lanka/India, 2014, Feature Film, 90 minutes, Sinhala/Tamil (with English subtitles)
Cast – Shyam Fernando , Anjali Patil, Wasantha Moragoda, Maheshwarie Ratnam
Post Card
Directed by Gajjendra Ahirey
India, 2013, Feature Film, 125 minutes, Marathi (with English subtitles)
Cast – Dilip Prabhawalkar, Girish Kulkarni, Kishor Kadam, Subodh Bhave, Vaibhav Mangale
Rangbhoomi
Directed by Kamal Swaroop
India, 2013, Documentary Feature Film, 80 minutes, Hindi (with English subtites)
Cast – Dada Saheb Phalke, Kamal Swarrop
Shesher Kobita
Directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay
India, 2013, Feature Film, 123 minutes, Bengali with (English Subtitles)
Cast – Rahul Bose , Konkona Sen Sharma, Swastika Mukherjee, Debdut Ghosh, Tulika Basu
Songs of the Blue Hills
Directed by Utpal Borpujari
India, Documentary, 96 minutes, English and Nagamese (with English subtitles)
Cast –Guru Sademmeren Longkumer, Lipokmar Tzudir, Lamtsala Sangtam
WORLD PREMIERE AT NYIFF 2014
Sound Check
Directed by Neela Venkatraman
India, 2011, Documentary Feature Film, 52 minutes, English
Cast – Dhruv Ghanekar, members of the bands Advaita, Agam, Indian Ocean, MotherJane
Sulemani Keeda
Directed by Amit V Masurkar
India, USA 2013, Feature Film, 89 minutes, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Cast- Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev, Karan Mirchandani, Krishna Bisht, Rukshana Tabassum
The Coffin Maker
Directed by Veena Bakshi,
India 2013, Feature Film, 120 minutes, English
Cast- Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Randeep Hooda, Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal, Anand Tiwari, Benjamin Gilani, DenzilSmith, Yadu Sankalia, Amit Sial, Shilpa Shukla
The Unseen Sequence
Directed by Sumantra Ghosal
India, 2013, Documentary Feature Film, 98 minutes, Language English
Cast – Malavika Sarukkai
Tropical Amsterdam
Directed by Alexa Oona Schulz
Sri Lanka/Germany, 2013, Documentary Feature Film, 52 minutes, Language English
Cast – Deloraine Brohier, Jean Arasanayagam
with
Waiting for Manu
Directed by Francois Caillaud, Dan Chen, Thomas A. Morgan
USA/Nepal. 2013, Documentary, 40 minutes, Language English
Cast: Pushpa Basnet
Virgin Talkies
Directed by K.R Manoj
India, 2013, Feature Film, 1 hour 55 minutes, Malyalam (with English Subtitles)
Cast – Murali Gopy, Lena Kumar, Alencier Ley, Indrans
Zinda Bhag
Directed by Farjad Nabi and Meenu Gaur
Pakistan 2013, Feature Film, 115 minutes, Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu (with English Subtitles)
Cast: Amna Ilyas, Naseeruddin Shah |
