NYIFF 2016

Wednesday, May 11, 7:00pm. Theater 5, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.

Panelists:
Saeed Mirza, director "Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan"
Ruchika Oberoi, director "Island City"
Pushan Kripalani, director "The Threshold"
Aditya Bhattacharya, director "Raakh Redux"

Film festivals are an opportunity for filmmakers to share their latest works with a specialized audience before the films get wider play in theaters. At the New York Indian Film Festival we always balance our programming with latest works of renowned filmmakers as well as those by young first time directors.

This year, in addition to showcasing many films by first time young filmmakers we have also planned a special sidebar in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation of India. We are showing three first films by well-known masters.

The three films have been recently restored to their original format by NFDC. This program will give the audience the opportunity to revisit some of their favorite films or to discover the classics for the first time.

This panel is part of the Directors' First Films sidebar presented in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation.

GAMAN	ARVIND DESAI KI AJEEB DASTAAN	TILADAANAM

Sunday, May 8, 12.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.	Sunday, May 8, 6:30pm. Theater 4, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.	Wednesday, May 11, 9:30pm. Theater 4, Village East Cinema, 2nd Ave @ 12th street, NYC.
Gaman Directed by Muzaffar Ali Feature Narrative India 1978 Social, 114min, Hindi (w/English subtitles) Cast: Farooq Shaikh, Smita Patil, Jalal Agha, Nana Patekar, Gita Siddharth Trailer: http://www.cinemasofindia.com/# product/unknown/59564/gaman Synopsis: Gaman is a poem of the dispossessed of this country; of those who are forced by circumstances beyond their control to leave their families and their homes thereby destroying the social and cultural fabric of their environment themselves. It is the true story of a young man from U.P., Ghulam Hasan, who has little education, less land and no opportunity in his own village and has, therefore, to migrate to Bombay, leaving behind his old mother and young wife, Khairun. With his departure, life for these women comes to a standstill, the present is unbearable, the future uncertain. In the city Ghulam finds refuge with his friend from the village, Lallu Lal Tewari who is a taxi driver. About the Director Muzaffar Ali was born on October 21, 1944 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, British India. He is a director and writer, known for his stunning National Award winning Umrao Jaan (1981). The film went on to be a huge hit with songs that became as iconic as the actress Rekha and her portrayal of the famous Tawaif-Poetess Umrao Jaan Ada. He had a National winning debut with Gaman (1978). The film remains one of Hindi Cinema's most moving portrayals of an aspirational, ever-struggling young urban India. His filmography also includes the much acclaimed Anjuman (1984) and the yet to be finished Vinod Khanna - Dimple Kapadia starrer Zooni. His latest release Jaanesar (2015) tries to re-evoke the Umrao Jaan magic. He was awarded with Padma Shri in 2005.w him driving his taxi in the city of dreams.	Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan Directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza Feature Narrative India 1978, Drama, 110 min, Hindi (w/English subtitles) Cast: Dilip Dhawan, Anjali Paigankar, Shreeram Lagoo, Om Puri, Sulabha Deshpande, Rohini Hattangadi, Satish Shah Synopsis: Arvind Desai is the only son of a rich businessman who deals in luxury handicraft products. His feelings for his father are mixed. While he hates his dominating nature, he admires his power and lack of scruples. He has long discussions on art and politics with a Marxist friend. He is seeing his father’s secretary, Alice and sometimes he visits a prostitute, Fatima. His marriage is arranged to a girl form a high-class family much to Alice’s mother’s dismay, she realizes that Alice was nothing more than a passing fancy for Arvind. About the Director: Saeed Akthar Mirza was born on June 30, 1943 in Bombay, British India. He is a director and writer, known for Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989), Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Ata Hai (1980) and Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! (1984). He is one of the vociferous spokesmen of the New Cinema movement in India. After eight years in advertising, Saeed discovered that his heart was in feature films. He graduated in Direction from the Film and Television Institute of India in 1976 and Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan is his first film.	Tiladaanam (The Rite, a passion) Directed by K N T Sastry Feature Narrative India 2001, 89min Telugu (w/English subtitles) Cast: H. G. Dattatraya, Jaya Seal, Brahmaji, Thanikella, Bharani, Attili Lakshmi, AVS, Annapurna Synopsis: The film is a subtle inter-face of two different ideologies: of tradition and that of modern youth drawn towards extremism by a passion for serving the humanity. Subbaiah is a Brahmin living out of Tiladaanam, the meanest form of Brahmin duties. He ekes out his living in Hyderabad, by becoming a corpse-carrier, and earning very little. When the film opens he is told of the birth of a grandson. His daughter-in-law, Padma, is living with him, while his son has become a Naxalite. On the night the child is born, the son, Raghuram, makes a clandestine visit home. The anti-Naxalite squad enters Subhaiah’s house, and ransacks the little that he has. Raghuram escapes police firing and kills a policeman in the attack. Raghuram suggests that since he is not able to help the family, and since his father refuses to take any money, he ought to surrender to the police, so that Padma can live off the reward. The shock of his son’s surrender kills Subbaiah; Padma waits in vain for the reward. About the Director: K.N.T Sastry was born in 1948 in Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a director and writer, known for Kamli, (2006), Tiladaanam (2002) and Surabhi – Short Documentary (1999). The National award-winning film critic is also involved in documentary filmmaking. He scripted the award-winning Telugu film Daasi and documentary Ma Ooru and contributed to the Telugu section for the encyclopedia on Indian cinema brought out by The British Film Institute.