15th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL May 4 - 9, 2015
REVIEWS
jamuura.com NYIFF 2015: ‘Margarita With A Straw’ To Open The Festival This Year By:Yash Thakur
After winning acclaim across festivals including the NETPAC award at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, Shonali Bose’s
“Margarita With a Straw” will open the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) on May 4th, organizers announced
The film, starring Kalki Koechlin in the lead role, centers around a young woman with cerebral palsy and has been receiving rave reviews for its treatment of a sensitive topic and performances by its actors. Earlier, Bose’s “Amu” played at NYIFF in 2005. Bose will participate in a Q&A with NYIFF director Aseem Chhabra following the screening at the Paris Theater in Gotham.
NYIFF also announced special screenings of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare trilogy: ‘Maqbool’ (Macbeth), ‘Omkara’ (Othello) and ‘Haider’ (Hamlet). Mr. Bhardwaj will also take part in post-screening discussions on his films.
Other special events this year include the South Asian Film Lab (SAFL) which is a group of writers, filmmakers and actors committed to developing and encouraging stories by and about South Asians in the United States. The lab functions as a collaborative workshop environment, as well as a resource and talent pool to support the emerging independent voices of South Asian and South Asian-American cinema.