NYIFF2017-SCREENING SCHEDULE

Festival Pass: $250 general admission; $200 IAAC members.
Includes all regular screenings and special events, Centerpiece and Closing Night screenings & parties.
Does not include Opening Night & Shoot-a-Short Workshop.

Saturday, May 6, 12 noon, Theater 4, Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave @ 12th Street, NYC.

Escaping Agra
2016 | U S A, India | 23 mins | English
Directed By: Pallavi Somusetty

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/chandifilms/agratrailer

Synopsis: Naveen Bhat was trapped in India on summer vacation after their parents took away their passport upon discovering Naveen’s gender and sexual orientation. Indian-born but raised in the United States, Naveen just wants to get back home to life as a UC Davis student, but their parents have other plans for their offspring. As Naveen battles their parents in court, they finds surprising acceptance within the Indian legal system, as the country’s supreme court recognizes transgender people as a legal third gender. Escaping Agra follows Naveen’s journey as they make their way home to California and pieces their life back together. At the heart of Naveen’s story is an exploration of the idea that gender identity and sexual orientation are fundamental to the right of self-determination, dignity and freedom of individuals. In Naveen’s case, their self-determination has forged a new path, but they discover they may never escape the trauma of their past.

Please note: Naveen, whose gender is non-binary, uses they/them pronouns

About the Director: Pallavi Somusetty is an Oakland-based documentary filmmaker covering issues that affect marginalized and lesser-known communities. She is passionate about covering stories on health, the environment, women, LGBT, youth/education, and international issues, as well as issues affecting Asian and South Asian communities.

In the last twelve years her career has seen her reporting for a community newspaper in Silicon Valley, videotaping product users at a New York City ad agency, and producing short-form educational documentaries about a transformational high school approach that makes education accessible for all students.

She earned a Master of Journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

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Sent Away Boys
World Premiere
2016 | India | 40 mins | Punjabi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Harjant Gill

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMsBAEGl-1c

Synopsis: What happens to families in the absence of sons? What happens to land in the absence of farmers? What happens to communities in the absence of men? Sent Away Boys weaves together testaments of individual ambitions and family biographies from Punjab, India to chronicle the gradual transformation of agrarian landscape and patriarchal traditions through ongoing transnational migration. As the promise of a secure future in agriculture grows increasingly uncertain for young men across the region, escaping India to join the low-wage labor in countries like Canada and USA becomes their sole aspiration. In rural Punjab, being a successful man now entails leaving their village, traveling abroad, and sending money home. Through interviews with men preparing to undertake often risky journeys and women awaiting the return of their sons, brothers and husbands, Sent Away Boys shows how the decision to emigrate implicate the entire family and the larger community.

About the Director: Harjant Gill is an assistant professor of anthropology at Towson University, Maryland. He received his PhD from American University. His research examines the intersections of masculinity, modernity, transnational migration and popular culture in India. Gill is also an award-winning filmmaker and has made several ethnographic films that have screened at film festivals, academic conferences and on television networks worldwide including BBC, Doordarshan (Indian National TV) and PBS. His film includes Roots of Love which looks at the changing significance of hair and turban among Sikh men in India and Mardistan (Macholand) which explores Indian manhood focusing on issues of sexual violence, son preference and homophobia. He is currently filming his forthcoming film, Sent Away Boys focusing on how provincial communities are transformed by the exodus of young men giving up farming to seek a better future abroad, funded by Wenner-Gren Foundation and Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship. Gill is an alum of Point Foundation (2006-11). He has also served on the board of directors of Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA) and co-directed the SVA Film & Media Festival (2012-14). His website is www.TilotamaProductions.com

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The Love Commandos
World Premiere
2016 | India | 52 mins | English
Directed By: Miriam Lyons
Cast: CK Nath

Synopsis: Imagine you're 21, in India and in love. The law says you have the right to marry the person of your choice but your parents say you don’t. To avoid a forced marriage to someone else, you decide to elope. Your parents call the police. Rather than upholding the law, the police side with your parents who threaten to kill you. Who do you call? -The Love Commandos.

The Love Commandos rescue young women from being murdered by their families and help them marry the men they truly love. Enraged by India’s failure to protect lovers and emboldened to do so themselves, what started as a group of friends is rapidly becoming a national movement.
This is their story..

About the Director: Miriam is a passionate, perceptive and experienced Shooting Producer/Director. Over the last ten years, she has made factual television programmes about a wide range of subjects – from love and loss to sex and death to protest and democracy.
Miriam’s directorial debut came in 2005 with MISH KIDS for Channel 4. A series of short documentaries about religious teenagers struggling with their identity, it won Pick of the Day in The Guardian. Three years later, she was named one of Broadcast’s Hot Shot Directors.

In 2010, she directed a unique television event THE PEOPLE SPEAK for History which received four out of five stars in Time Out and was co-produced and co-directed by Colin Firth. Since then, Miriam has directed programs for a range of broadcasters including BBC1, BBC3, Channel 5 and National Geographic. Miriam also produces documentary-style digital content across the public, private and charitable sectors. In 2013, she won nine awards including Gold at Eurobest, Silver at Cannes and a Silver British Arrow for BAD PRESS, a commercial she produced with CHI & PARTNERS for the Princes Trust. The Love Commandos is her first independently co-produced documentary film.

Saturday, May 6, 12.15 pm. Theater 3, Village East NYC.

A Tongue Untied
2017 | India | 95 mins | Urdu
Directed by:Gautam Pemmaraju
Cast: Khalid Ahmed, Wahab Andaleeb, Sardar Asar, Sajiz Azam, Mustafa Ali Baig, Audesh Rani Bawa, Shyam Benegal, Abdus Sattar Dalvi, Naseemuddin Farees, Aslam Farshori, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Pushkar Gosavi, Mohammed Himayatullah, Mujtaba Hussain, Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, Altaf Hyder.

Synopsis: A Tongue Untied: The Story of Dakhani is a film about humor and satire in Dakhani - a vernacular form of Urdu spoken across the Deccan region. Remember the much-loved routines of the Hindi film comic Mehmood? Beyond his antics and other popular caricatures of the quintessential ‘Hyderabadi’, there is so much more than just funny accents and comic sketches. Parodied and poorly regarded for centuries, Dakhani’s glorious history and rich legacy has been largely ignored. This film takes a close look at the continuing tradition of mazihiya shayri, or humor-satire performance poetry. From the early poets of the modern era such as Nazeer ‘Dahqani’, the badshah of Dakhani mazihiya shayri Sulaiman Khateeb, to the contemporary ones today including the seniors Mohd. Himayatullah and Ghouse ‘Khamakha’, the film looks at the wide range of humourists and satirists. Including extensive travels across the Deccan plateau, interviews and conversations with poets, mushaira (poetry show) organisers, litterateurs, Sufi scholars, historians, linguists, actors, film directors, lyricists, playwrights, amongst others, the film also simultaneously uncovers the history of the language and of a composite culture. From early mystical compositions of Sufi settlers of the 14th century, ornate fantasy tales by court poets, to romantic artistic creations of the sultans of the Deccan of the 15 & 16th centuries, the film traces the journey of the language over time till its precipitous fall in the early 18th century. The language is a marker of a great, rich mixed culture or mili-jhuli tehzeeb as it is commonly known; one that reveals the depth and beauty of syncretic Indo-Muslim traditions of central and south India. This is the story of a land, a people and their beloved language. This is the story of Dakhani.

About the Director: Gautam Pemmaraju is a Mumbai based writer and filmmaker working in history, literature and art. With extensive publications in these areas, he retains a special interest in the cultural history of Hyderabad and the Deccan. He has worked as an independent filmmaker with a wide variety of non-profits, broadcast networks, commercial clients and others creating advertisements, short films, music videos and documentaries over two decades. His first independent feature documentary film titled A Tongue Untied: The Story of Dakhani on the vernacular satire & humor poetry of the region is near completion and will start screening in the summer of 2017.

Saturday, May 6, 12.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave @ 12th Street, NYC.

Free Screening courtesy Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

Poorna
New York City Premiere
Directed by Rahul Bose
2017 | India | 104 min | Hindi (w/ English subtitles) | Feature Narrative
Cast - Aditi Inamdar, Rahul Bose, S. Mariya

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRoowtgZCeU

Synopsis:Poorna(13), who comes from a poor tribal family of agricultural laborers in a village in Telangana, spends most of her time with her older cousin, Priya. Rather than being allowed to study, the two girls spend their days sweeping the school grounds as their parents haven’t been able to pay their fees.

Priya suggests that the two of them run away and apply to a government run social welfare residential school but Priya’s father catches the girls during their attempt to escape. The older Priya is then married off, while Poorna’s father eventually agrees to send Poorna to a social welfare school for a year so he can find her a husband in the meantime.

Praveen Kumar, is a compassionate but no-nonsense IPS officer whose own beginnings were very humble. He now applies for and becomes, the Secretary of Social Welfare. Praveen kicks off many innovative projects at the social welfare schools. One day the students are taken to Bhongir for rock climbing lessons, and Poorna and Anand (17), clearly emerge as frontrunners in this class. A number of students are shortlisted for the expedition, and are sent to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute at Darjeeling to prepare.

There the top two candidates, Poorna and Anand are selected for Operation Everest. Meanwhile, Priya, pregnant with twins, dies during childbirth. Poorna goes through an emotional breakdown, but eventually decides to climb anyway. Praveen tries to convince Poorna that it is best if she turns around and comes back, but Poorna insists on continuing. Her mind overcomes her body, and through a combination of pride, courage and willpower, she ultimately becomes the youngest girl ever to summit Everest.

Poorna and Anand have created a renewed world of self-esteem and hope. Praveen's sabbatical from the IPS is over and he greets Poorna in uniform, as both realize life will never be the same again for them.

About the Director: Described as the ‘Indian art house icon’, by TIME magazine, Rahul Bose won the Best Actor award at the Singapore Film Festival in 2000 for his performance in Split Wide Open. Having started his directorial career on the stage with the path breaking Seascape With Sharks and Dancer in 1996, Rahul ‘s film debut as both, a writer and director was Everybody Say’s I’m Fine! in 2002, for which at the Palm Springs Festival he was awarded the runner-up prize, the John Schlesinger award for Best Debut Director. Formed in 2006, his NGO, ‘The Foundation’, works with children from underserved areas of India, and his second NGO, HEAL works with survivors of child sexual abuse. In 2009, he was voted the Indian Youth Icon of the Year - Social Justice. In 2010, he was awarded the Green Globe award for his work on climate change. In 2012 he was awarded NDTV’s Celebrity Sports Activist of the Year. In the same year, on India’s Independence Day, Rahul was conferred the Lt. Governor’s Commendation Award for Services to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 2013 he was awarded the Hakim Khan Sur award for his work towards National Integration by the Maharana of Mewar Foundation. In 2014, Rahul was named on the prestigious Executive Council of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs' National Foundation for Communal Harmony. In 2015 he was named GQ's Philanthropist of the Year. A former international rugby player, Rahul represented India for eleven years, retiring from the Indian team in 2009. A prolific speaker, he has lectured on leadership, gender equality and Indian cinema at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, MIT, Columbia and Cornell University amongst others.

Saturday, May 6, 3.00 pm. Theater 2, Village East, NYC.

Kasaav (Turtle)
US Premiere
2016 | India | 104 mins | Marathi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukthankar
Cast - Irawati Harshe, Alok Rajwade, Kishor Kadam, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Devika Daftardar, Santosh Redkar, Omkar Ghadi

Post-screening discussion w/Directors Sunil Sukthankar, Sumitra Bhave & Dr Mohan Agashe

Trailer: https://youtu.be/HfuQU8iVsks

Synopsis: Janaki, a divorcee trying to find meaning of life in sea-turtle conservation project run in a coastal village; during her travels she accidentally meets an anonymous young man Manav who has escaped from the hospital where he was in for attempted suicide. Janaki tries to create a non-judgmental, non-intrusive, warm atmosphere to help him bloom. Janaki herself, her driver-assistant Yadu, conservationist Dattabhau, servant Bablya and street-kid Parshu become the vulnerable young Manav's support system.

About the Directors: Sumitra Bhave, a social scientist-researcher turned to filmmaking with Sunil Sukthankar in 1985. They have directed 14 feature films like Doghi, Vastupurush, Devrai, Nital, Bewaqt Barish, Gho Mala Asala Hawa, Ek Cup Chya, Mor Dekhane Jungle Mein, Samhita & Astu; more than 50 short films, 5 TV serials and telefilms. Feeling the urge to independently and artistically express the socially important subjects the director duo also became producers. Under the banner of Vichitra Nirmitee they have produced & directed short films Pani, Chakori, Laha and feature films Zindagi Zindabad, 10th F, Badha and Ha Bharat Maza.

Their films have received 6 International Awards, 11 National Awards, several National level awards, more than 45 State awards and several State level awards. Sumitrta Bhave is recipient of Chitra Ratna Puraskar and Kamdhenu Award for literary contribution.

Saturday, May 6, 3.15 pm. Theater 3, Village East, NYC.

Documentary Shorts
OM: Old Man
World Premiere
2016 | India | 30 mins | English
Directed By: Geetha J & Ian McDonald

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/210529621
https://vimeo.com/210530298

Synopsis: OM is a code for male Amateur Radio / Ham operators. OM: OLD MAN explores the enclosed world of VU2JN, an elderly Ham from South India, set against the sights and sounds of an election campaign.

OM: Old Man is about passion, achievement, memories and loss. A restrained portraiture of a teacher and one of the senior most hams in India and a home-brew ham at that, OM is also a salutation to a youthful passion for an old form of technology that keeps the old as much as the young engaged with the world.

M reveals to us this world of the original social media geeks and their scientific hobby while surprising us with the highly global nature of the lives of people in a corner of India much before globalization and at the same time invoking a sense of time and mortality.

Man, science and politics intersect signifying not just the private and public but also the world within and world beyond, as post cards and airwaves take us to distant lands, long before the Internet. Distinct soundscape with recollections and demonstrations, CQs - coded call outs, call signs, high frequencies, interferences, Morse code, hums and crackling voices in the band collide with the election slogans and songs and we get a hint of the drama of the man’s life and the country’s life behind the memories, behind the technology, behind the rhetoric of utopian slogans.

About the Directors: Old Man is a short documentary from long-time collaborators Geetha J and Ian McDonald. Their latest work as a producer-director team was their multi-award winning debut feature documentary on young blind chess players of India, Algorithms. After her first film Woman with a Video Camera, a development award from Göteborg Film Festival and the Berlin Talent Campus, journalist turned filmmaker Geetha founded AkamPuram to tell untold stories.

A sociologist and documentary filmmaker noted for his seemingly effortless ‘way of seeing’, Ian McDonald is engaged in theory and practice, using a primarily observational mode to make documentaries with a difference on art and sport, especially the ‘outsiders’. Adamant that the short form is not just for new or young filmmakers, they continue to work across fiction and nonfiction, short and long form.

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Sakharam
World Premiere
2016 | India | 19 mins | Marathi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Sarthak Bhasin

Trailer: https://youtu.be/mwKCtSn1DwU

Synopsis: Set in a tiny, tribal village of rural Maharashtra (India), this non-fiction film documents the life of Sakharam Mangya Bhagat. Water is in severe scarcity in Sakharam’s village. So, Sakharam has devised an ingenious solution to this grave water problem- He keeps three wives.

About the Director: Sarthak Bhasin is a third year Film Direction student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII, Pune). He pursued his graduation in Economics from Delhi University and his post-graduation in Mass Communication from AJK MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia. He has also acted in two Bollywood feature films namely Percept Picture Company’s MP3 (2005) and UTV Motion Picture Company’s Aagey Se Right (2007). His previous student films at FTII, Pune have been the official selections at various film festivals in India and abroad. Directing films is his passion and he intends to continue doing it for the rest of his life.

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Fact/Fiction
US Premiere
2016 | India | 12 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Asim Waqif

Synopsis: This is a fictional autobiography. One day I was reading a newspaper article about how the police had gunned down 20 smugglers in a forest in Southern India. The police was celebrating this as a major breakthrough, however a few days later it emerged that some of the alleged smugglers had been picked up from a bus and others from a nearby village and they had been brought to the site of the incident and deliberately gunned down. This got me thinking about what were the things in my life that would work against me if the State ever decided to prosecute me.

This film is based on objects, places and people associated with me. The interviews all talk of real incidents that happened in my life but the footage has been edited such that it looks as if I am part of some nefarious activities.

About the Director: Delhi-based Asim Waqif studied architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi and was visiting faculty there from 2005-2011. After initially working as an art-director for film and television he later started making independent video and documentaries before moving to a dedicated art-practice in 2010.
His recent projects have attempted a crossover between architecture, art and design, with a strong contextual reference to contemporary urban-design and the politics of occupying/intervening/using public spaces. Some of his projects have developed within abandoned and derelict buildings in the city that act like hidden activity-spaces for marginalized people.

Concerns of ecology and anthropology often weave through his work and he has done extensive research on vernacular systems of ecological management, especially with respect to water, waste and architecture. His artworks often employ manual processes that are deliberately painstaking and laborious while the products themselves are often temporary. He has worked in sculpture, site-specific public installation, video, photography, and more recently with large-scale interactive installations that combine traditional and new media technologies.

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Facing the Mountain
US Premiere
2016 | India | 21 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Ross Harrison

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/187638314

Synopsis: Coping with extremes is part of life for people across the Himalayas. But in June 2013, at Kedarnath, a sacred Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in northern India, conditions fatefully aligned to produce an unprecedented disaster. Thousands of pilgrims and locals were faced with a once-in-a-generation catastrophe and thousands of lives were lost. Through the words of survivors, local elders and new visitors, we are shown a portrait of a place where the events of 2013 have become part of a larger story; one of resilience, of faith, and of eternal change.

About the Directors: Ross Harrison is a British filmmaker whose passion for documentaries began with filming wildlife in his grandfather's woodland when he was 14. Since then, filmmaking has led him to explore diverse subjects ranging from rainforest conservation to education inequality and tribal land rights. The process continues to excite him with its possibilities for storytelling and as a catalyst for social change.

Vaibhav Kaul is an emotionally driven, socially committed mountain geographer from India. His academic interests range from glaciology to ethnology. He wants to use visual and audiovisual media to communicate his research to non-academic audiences, especially those whose work can have a direct positive impact on the ground.

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Life on the Ganges
New York City Premiere
2016 | India | 10 mins | English
Directed By: Indira Somani

Synopsis: Varanasi, India is one of the holiest cities, located in the northeastern part of the country. People from all over India, even the world, travel to Varanasi to bathe in the Ganges River to wash away their sins and purify their souls. Along the river embankment are boatmen who row tourists up and down the Ganges during Dev Diwali, a festival celebrated 15 days after the national holiday of Diwali. The boat rides are part of the spiritual experience on this holy day, and the film introduces the audience to the river, this auspicious event, and one particular boatman, whose main source of strength and survival comes from the Ganges.

About the Directors: Indira S. Somani, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Media, Journalism and Film at Howard University, Washington, D.C. Somani studies effects of satellite television on the Indian diaspora, specifically the generation of the Asian Indians who migrated to the U.S. between 1960 and 1972, and their media habits. She has been published in the Journal of Communication Inquiry, International Communication Research Journal, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, and the Asian Journal of Communication. For the fall of 2011, Somani was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship to study the Western influence of Indian programming in India. Somani is also an award winning independent producer and director of documentaries about how Asian Indians maintain and preserve their cultural identity. Her most recent production is Crossing Lines, a personal essay documentary about her struggle to stay connected to India after the loss of her father. The film has won numerous awards, screened in film festivals nationally and internationally, screened on PBS affiliates, and has also been distributed to more than 100 university libraries in the U.S. through New Day films.

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The Red Box
World Premiere
2016 | India | 13 mins | Malayalam (w/ English subtitles)
Directed By: Pius Scaria Pottamkulam

Synopsis: Letters, part of communication and culture. Will the post, post persons and Chemanna Petti embrace oblivion? World's largest tapal network engaging. 5.5 lakh employees- Government of india Post is anxious over the survival of their sentimental Chemanna Petti.

About the Directors: Pius Scaria Pottamkulam (60) from Kanjirappally - Kottayam Dist. (Place of Letter, Latex and Lake) Kerala State - a Rubber Planter/Businessman since 1978 kept his love towards films and did his debut documentary - "Chemanna Petti" in 2016. He was engaged in drama writing, directing and acting in his school-college days, won several prizes 1978 he started his rubber business at Calcutta and associated number of cultural programs there. After reaching Kerala in 1990, active in watching good films and dramas, planned to make a documentary.

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Weapons of War: Women of Bastar
2016 | India | 22 mins | English/Hindi.
Directed by - Maya Mirchandani

Synopsis: NDTV travels to India’s tribal heartland – Bastar – where women have become collateral damage of a bloody conflict between Maoist insurgents and the state. Weapons of war exposes the ugly reality of brutal sexual abuse that Bastar’s impoverished tribal women are subjected to, and the intimidation of those who try to bring them justice.

About the Director: Maya Mirchandani is a senior journalist, with over two decades of reporting experience for NDTV. She has received a B.A in History and post graduate diplomas in Mass Communications and World Politics. Maya's award winning reportage has focused on identity politics and conflict both within and outside India. She has reported extensively from Kashmir, survived suicide bomb blasts in Sri Lanka, civil war in Sierra Leone, and reported from New York on 9/11 and its immediate aftermath in the United States for Indian viewers. Amongst her passions are Music and the Arts. In fact, using the soft power of creativity is an invaluable tool of communication- one Maya wishes governments and politicians around the world would use more effectively.

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Farewell Goddess
World Premiere
2016 | India | 5 mins | English
Directed By: Amit Agarwal

Synopsis: Durga Puja is the largest street festival in the world. It is celebrated with great fervor in the city of Kolkata, India which has a population of over 15 million. At the end of the 4 day long celebrations, thousands of clay idols of the goddess Durga and accompanying Gods are immersed ceremonially in the river Ganga. This process which was a symbolic farewell to the Goddess and in practical terms returning the clay back to its source has become a massive fiasco in recent times. The idols are quickly fished out of the river and taken away in dump trucks and treated like garbage. While this is a cause for environmental concern in itself, the shocking images of this process are swept under the carpet in India. To me these images constitute an insult to a divine entity and the way people tolerate this casually to justify a grand celebration every year is the most damning proof of how we have become disconnected with nature at a fundamental level. If we are willing to treat our Gods in such a shoddy manner does the environment ever stand a chance? This is the searing question my very short documentary asks in a very effective manner.

About the Directors: Amit Agarwal spent his formative years in Kolkata, India. After an MBA from a premier business school in India he worked in the agricultural sector in Africa, India and Europe for over 10 years and decided to pursue his passion for cinema. He assisted (delete- Mr) Girish Kasaravalli, the master Indian filmmaker on his acclaimed National Award Winning feature film Kurmawatara (The Tortoise, An Incarnation). He was the associate director to (delete- Mr) Kasaravalli on a documentary based on the films of ( delete - Mr) Adoor Gopalakrishnan called Images/Reflections. His first short film Ek Khaas Aadmi (A Special Man 2015) premiered on NDTV Prime Channel.

His feature film script A Long Tunnel was selected for the prestigious NFDC Directors lab in 2014. He pursues “Film Evangelism” at mostlycinema.com and gives public lectures on Indian Cinema.

Saturday, May 6, 3.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East, NYC.

Sameer (World Premiere)
2017 | India | 131 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Dakxinkumar Bajrange
Cast - Zeeshan Mohammed Ayyub, Subrat Dutta, Anjali Patil, Chinmay Mandlekar , Seema Biswas, Manoj Shah, Alok Gagdekar, Master Shubham Bajrange

Post-screening discussion w/Director Dakxinkumar Bajrange

Trailer: https://youtu.be/tHT-XFK5U3Q

Synopsis: The film discusses politics of perception by gripping narratives of economy of violence. When one after another serial bomb blasts shakes southern city of Hyderabad, a special ATS team lead by officer Desai to track down suspect Yasin Darji behind the blast. Once team reaches to the tip off location they arrests the accuse and take him to special branch in Ahmedabad of further investigation only to find out that they actually have got a wrong person and the guy they have arrested is Sameer. Now this error needs to fix and the higher authorities instead of leaving him, scot-free decides to send him as mole and bargain his freedom. Now Sameer must act as mole in sync with ATS and find Yasin Darj before he strikes again and kills many more innocent people. ATS also joins other hand also gets in touch with journalist and activist Alia Irade . From here the chase begins to catch Yasin by Sameer, Desai and Alia. Will they able to stop him and save innocent lives or again Yasin will be two steps ahead of them to take his final revenge from the state?

About the Directors: Dakxinkumar Bajrange is an award winning filmmaker, playwright, director and an activist from the Chhara De-notified Tribes. As a Filmmaker, he directed 87 fiction and non-fiction films on various developmental and political issues of India. He is also a recipient of ‘Jeevika 2005’ South Asia Award for his film on Snake Charmers. He is a recipient of Ford Foundation International Fellowship, National Award titled “Mahatma Gandhi Best Creative Writing on Human Rights" by NHRC, Rajiv Gandhi Arts Fellowship and Bhasha Fellowship to study art forms of DNTs. He is artistic director at the Budhan Theatre and has written and Directed 11 plays and Supervised 46 Theatre Productions of Budhan Theatre and performed more than 700 shows in different part of India. His academic articles appeared in number of national and international journals.

Friday May 5th & Saturday May 6th 2017. 10 am – 5 pm both days.Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave & 12th Street, NYC.

Shoot a Short
Directed by: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

Shoot A Short is a Short film making workshop conducted by three time National Award winning filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni. The workshop primarily aims at guiding film enthusiasts and beginners to make short films. The workshop focusses on the process of translating an idea to a complete short film . Writing a screenplay for a short film, cast and crew management, the concept of mise-en-scene, dealing with actors, editing and sound design, and the core idea behind film making are some of the primary areas of the workshop. The three stages of film making such as pre-production, production and post production are explained thoroughly. The workshop opens up the various possibilities of the Short Film medium.

About the Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni studied film-making at the Film and Television Institute of India where he specialised in direction. His diploma film Girni (The Grinding Machine) won the presidents gold medal for best short film and best direction in the year 2005. His short documentary Three of Us was premiered in Berlinale 2008. His first feature film Valu (The Wild Bull) along with the other two films, Vihir (The Well) and Deool (A Temple) were premiered in Rotterdam 2008, 2010 and 2012 respectively. These films were extremely successful with critics as well as audiences. Vihir (The Well) was selected at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 2010. He has directed short films among which Gaarud (The Spell) and Vilay (Dissolution) have been selected in the short film festivals of Oberhausen and Clermont Ferrand. He also produced Masala (Spices) (Released in April 2012) Pune-52 (Released in January 2013) and Jaun dya na Balasaheb (Released in October 2016). Umesh's films have won several awards at the New York Indian Film Festival(NYIFF).

Saturday, May 6, 6.00 pm. Theater 2 Village East, NYC.

Hotel Salvation (Mukti Bhawan)
New York City Premiere
2016 | India | 99 mins | Hindi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Shubhashish Bhutiani
Cast - Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh
Winner XXlIIrd PRIX "ENRICO FULCHIGNONI" Award (Venice Film Festival), Critics Choice Award at France's Vesoul International Film Festival. Special Mention/ Jury Award Shubhashish Bhuitiani, for film and actor Adil Hussain (National Awards)

Post-screening discussion w/Actor Adil Hussain

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Que1V8IEcEU&t=34s

Synopsis: An ominous dream convinces 77 - year - old Dayanand Kumar that his end could be near. He takes the news to his son Rajiv, knowing he wants to breathe his last in the holy city of Varanasi and end the cycle of rebirth, by attaining salvation. Being the dutiful son he is, Rajiv, is left with no choice but to drop everything and make the journey with his stubborn father. Daya and Rajiv check into Mukti Bhawan(Hotel Salvation) in Varanasi, a guesthouse devoted to people to die there. But as the days go by, Rajiv struggles to juggle his responsibilities back home, while Daya starts to bloom in the hotel. Rajiv gives his father a shot at salvation but as family bonds are tested, he finds himself torn, not knowing what he must do to keep his life together.

About the Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani grew up in a small Himalayan town in lndia and attended Woodstock School, Mussoorie. And specialized in Direction as an undergraduate from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2013. Shubhashish’s first directorial feature film, Mukti Bhawan-Hotel Salvati n World Premiere was held at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival 2016. He was honored with the XXlIIrd PRIX "ENRICO FULCHIGNONI" Award and UNESCO Gandhi Medal 2016 for the film. Mukti Bhawan has been invited to reputed festivals like Busan International Film Festival, 2016, DIFF 2016, Dubai, GIFF2017, Sweden, Berlinale EFM and Vesoul Film Festival, France where it won the Critics Choice Award. The film is now scheduled to travel at International Festivals across the globe and theatrical release in India and other countries from April 2017. His thesis film at SVA, titled Kush had its World Premiere at the Venice International Film Fest val 2013, where it won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film. Kush was also shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2014 and won over 25 International Awards, including the prestigious National Award by the President of India in 2013. Shubhashish was also Nominated and Finalist for the Financial Times/ Oppenheimer Funds as Emerging Voices in Cinema for Asia Pacific 2015. And Forbes India recognized him in 30 under 30 list in January 2017 for his achievements as a writer-director.

DOUBLE BILL : Sibling Filmmakers Sidebar

Anatomy of Violence by Deepa Mehta + Mostly Sunny by Dilip Mehta
Saturday, May 6, 6.15 pm. Theater 3, Village East Cinema, NYC.

Anatomy of Violence
(Siblings Sidebar)
US Premiere
2016 | India | 93 mins | English, Hindi, Punjabi (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Deepa Mehta
Cast - Vansh Bhardwaj, Tia Bhatia, Janki Bisht, Seema Biswas, Mukti Das, Suman Jha, Ramanjit Kaur, Debina Rakshit, Mahesh Saini, Jagjeet Sandhu, Zorawar Shukla, Davinder Singh

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/187563037

Synopsis: Anatomy Of Violence mixes fiction and fact in an improvised exploration of the events leading up to, and following, the notorious gang rape of a young woman by six men in a moving bus in New Delhi, December 16th 2012.

About the Director: Deepa Mehta is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker whose work is celebrated on an international scale. Her emotionally resonating, award-winning films have played every major film festival, and been sold and distributed around the globe. She is best known for her elemental trilogy: Earth, Fire, Water, the final film of which received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. Other films include, Bollywood/ Hollywood, Heaven on Earth, and the epic adaptation of Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie’s two-time booker prize winning novel. Her work challenges traditions and stereotypes and is always daring, fearless and provocative. It is this spirit that saturated her last film, Beeba Boys, and now her latest work, Anatomy of Violence.

and

Saturday, May 6, 9.15 pm. Theater 3, Village East, NYC.

Mostly Sunny
(Siblings Sidebar)
New York City Premiere
2016 | India | 84 min | Hindi, English (with English subtitles)
Directed by - Dilip Mehta
Cast - Sunny Leone, Daniel Weber, Sundeep Vohra, Kiran Bedi, Marci Hirsch, Raj Nayak

Post-screening discussion w/Director Deepa & Dilip Mehta

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1mGaA7UdX4

Synopsis: Mostly Sunny, a feature documentary that tells the bizarre life-trajectory of Sunny Leone (Karanjit Kaur Vohra), an Indo-Canadian-American born into a conservative Sikh family who at 18 eschewed traditionalism and her parents wishes and transformed into a raging porn star and who for the past few years has been pursuing her dreams of stardom as a Bollywood actress in hyper-conservative India.

About the Director: Dilip Mehta divides his life between India and Canada; living and working in both New Delhi and Toronto. He is a filmmaker with a long and distinguished career as a photojournalist. His provocative five-year photographic coverage of the Bhopal tragedy won him numerous prizes including the World Press and Overseas Press Awards. His photographs have been published in The New York Times, Le Figaro, Newsweek, National Geographic, Geo, Stern, and The London Sunday Times. His photographic portraits of Indian prime ministers (including Indira Gandhi) have been covers of Time and Newsweek. His other films include Cooking with Stella and The Forgotten Woman.

Saturday, May 6, 6.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East, NYC.

The Argumentative Indian
US Premiere
Documentary | 2017 | India, USA | 60 mins | English, Bengali (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Suman Ghosh
Cast - Amartya Sen and Kaushik Basu.

Post-screening discussion w/Director Suman Ghoshh & Kaushik Basu

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/208968760

Synopsis: This documentary traces the life and work of India's Renaissance man and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest living intellectuals of the world, the film explores his formative years and their influence on his views of the world - both past and present. Shot over a period of 15 years, the film is structured as a free flowing conversation between Professor Sen and his student and Cornell economics professor, Kaushik Basu. Through the conversation, the narrative takes us from his childhood days in Shantiniketan (West Bengal), to his college in Calcutta and his academic career in the USA and UK, where he was the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University. We learn about the intellectual roots of his views on Social Choice Theory, Development Economics, on Philosophy and the current rise of nationalism in the world as embodied by Donald Trump and the Hindutva wave in India. Views from other eminent scholars, Paul Samuelson, Kenneth Arrow, Sugata Bose, Timothy Scanlon and former Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh enrich our understanding of the world of Amartya Sen in the film.

About the Director: Suman Ghosh is a National Award winning Indian filmmaker. He has made 6 feature films and one documentary film. He had his film training at Cornell University in New York. His first feature film Footsteps, starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Nandita Das won 2 National Awards in 2008. It was shown at numerous film festivals including Vancouver, Karlovy Vary and IAAC New York. His second feature film Dwando, also starring Soumitra Chatterjee, was a part of the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa in 2009. His next feature film Nobel Thief, starring the Indian megastar Mithun Chakraborty was world premiered at the Busan IFF and was an official selection at the BFI, London Film festival. The film received the "Best Indian Film" award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2012. His next feature film Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights has had a warm reception from critics and audiences all over the world. It was world premiered at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea and had its North American Premiere at the MoMA, NY. It won the "Outstanding International Feature Award" at the ReelWorld Film festival in Toronto. It is being distributed in North America by Global Film Initiative. His next feature film Kadambari starring Konkona SenSharma and Parambrata Chatterjee. It is based on the life of Rabindranath Tagore and his controversial relationship with his sister-in-law Kadambari Devi. It was screened at several film festivals worldwide and received the Best Feature Film Award and the Best Actress for Konkona Sensharma at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival in 2015. His latest released film Peace Haven world premiered at Busan IFF and was an official selection at MAMI and NYIFF.

Saturday, May 6, 9.00 pm. Theater 2, Village East, NYC.

Ondu Motteya Kathe
World Premiere
2017 | India | 123 mins | Kannada (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Raj B Shetty
Cast - Raj B Shetty, Amrutha Naik, Shreya Anchan, Shailashree Mulki, Prakash Thuminad, Usha Bhandary, Vishwanath Asaigoli

Post-screening discussion Producer Pawan Kumar

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yHwxtL6ZqOc

Synopsis: Bald men are often made a butt of jokes, sometimes amongst friends and sometimes by random strangers. Is not having hair on the head such a big reason to be judged and made fun off?

Ondu Motteya Kathe (Egghead) is simple tale of a young bald man trying to find his soulmate, who would see the person he is and not the shine up his forehead. And in this journey of finding his true love, he discovers more about himself. Not only does he have a shiny head, he also has a dark spot in his heart. Will he find the girl of his dreams? Will he make his heart shine brighter than his head?

A funny film with everyday characters and their real emotions. A struggle to be truly loved and not laughed at.

About the Director: Raj B Shetty, a former Radio Jockey, Ad-maker & now a feature film director based in Mangalore is a curious observer & has an eye for detail.

He worked as an RJ in Big & Red FM in Mangalore. Later he quit RJ'ing & started doing audio stories which craved him to say stories visually too. So he started his journey into the visual medium with a 3.5 minutes short film called Sumne Namagyake. Slowly he gained some grip in the craft of film-making which made him to go for a 20min duration short film called 5 letters which was acclaimed in social media. Ondhu Motteya Kathe is his first feature.

Saturday, May 6, 9.30 pm. Theater 4, Village East, NYC.

One Goat’s Mercy Petition (Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu)
2017 | India | 125 mins | Tamil (w/ English subtitles)
Directed by - Suresh Sangaiah
Cast - Vidharth, Raveena S. Ravi, George, Arumugam S, K.G. Mohan

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/210051422

Synopsis: Days after their wedding, Ramamurthy (Vidhaarth) and Seetha (Raveena Ravi) gather the young and old of their village of Naduvapatti for a holy pilgrimage. They must sacrifice a goat carefully raised by Rama’s no-nonsense grandmother, to fulfill her vow made to their family deity. But when Rama takes the wheel of the truck, carrying all their guests, and fatally runs over a young man, the people of Naduvapatti are torn on if they should hide the body and continue on their way, as a means of protecting the newlyweds, or suffer the consequences of reporting it to the police - even though there are no witnesses besides themselves, their goat, and God.

About the Director: Born and raised in the small village of Rajapalyam, Tamil Nadu, where the story of One Goat’s Mercy Petition is actually based, director Suresh Sangaiah joined the team of National Award winning director M. Manikandan soon after arriving in Chennai. After approximately 5 years working as a writer, associate director and assistant director on Manikandan’s projects, including the global phenomenon Kakaa Muttai, Suresh impressed Eros with his unique story and narration style. As observed by the producers on the project, despite his relatively short frame of experience Suresh “knows his aesthetic sense, has the ability to bring the performance out of his actors in a very quick way and is great at on the spot improvisations; all these things are expected of a more experienced director, not a debutante”.