| Invitation |
| Press Release |
| Schedule |
| Reviews |
| G5A Film Society launches New York Indian Film Festival (2016), India Chapter starting June 21, 2016 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
Mumbai, June 21, 2016: In a first of its kind partnership, G5A Film Society launches the New York Indian Film Festival (2016), India Chapter with Sai Estate Consultants Pvt. Ltd. as the Presenting Partner. Starting today, the festival will bring content from an international diaspora festival closer home to our audiences and to the film community at large. For a month - from June 21 to July 21, 2016, the festival will screen an interesting range of handpicked New York premieres including 5 features, 4 documentaries and 4 shorts at the G5A Foundation Center, Mahalaxmi. Anuradha Parikh, Founder Director and CEO says, “We are very excited to bring to our audiences a special mix of contemporary Indian Independent cinema by showcasing highlights of the NYIFF 2016 through its India Chapter. We thank the NYIFF team Aroon Shivdasani and Aseem Chhabra for making this possible. Through initiatives like this, our Film Society hopes to support and encourage this cinema and build an audience that is sensitive and committed. This will in turn build an ecosystem that is robust and sustainable. ” The inaugural evening will commence with the screening of the Marathi movie Highway Ek Selfie Aarpar (Winner – Best Film, NYIFF 2016) directed by Umesh Vinayak kulkarni featuring Girish Kulkarni, Tisca Chopra, Renuka Shahane, Huma Qureshi and Mukta Barve. Says Aroon Shivdasani, Executive & Artistic Director, Indo–American Arts Council (IAAC), "I am delighted that the G5A Film Society is partnering with NYIFF 2016 to present these pertinent, wonderful Independent films to the Mumbai public. Many of these films are not accessible to people outside festival screenings. This partnership enables Mumbai film aficionados to view cinema that they may never have experienced without this event. NYIFF has a passionate mission to give Independent, arthouse, alternate filmmakers a platform to tell their stories, and these films received amazing accolades at our recent festival in New York." Through this India Chapter, film lovers can expect a wonderful mix of varied forms, styles, themes and concerns that are extremely relevant and important to today’s context. The 5 features are hand picked - Umesh Kulkarni's very modern Highway - Ek Selfie AarPar with its interesting inter-lacing of urban stories on a Highway, Velutha Rathrikal, is an interpretation of White Nights but in the alternate sexuality space, while The Threshold explores relationships and residual memories and Kadambari which explores the very controversial story of Rabindranath Tagore's relationship with his sister-in- law and the circumstances leading to her tragic end. Pawan Kumar’s U Turn is an edge of seat thriller when a reporter investigating mundanities like traffic violations gets caught up in a bizarre series of murders. Out of the 4 documentaries, 3 revolve around people from the arts - Life in Metaphors on Girish Kasaravalli, A Far Afternoon on artist Krishna Kumar and For the Love of A Man which interestingly treads the hysteria that precedes a Rajnikant release in Tamil Nadu and through this Fan-Dom it reflects the socio-economic structure of the society. The 4th documentary is Cities of Sleep which is a near Eliotian ode to the Delhi street-dwellers and in a macrocosm it’s a reflection on the socio-economic dynamics of a society that sleep can unravel! It is also the Winner of the Best Documentary at NYIFF 2016. The ShortScape showcases 2 filmmakers - Nishant Roy Bombarde's Daaravtha which explores sexual awakenings in a young adolescent - except that they are in the trans-sexual space (it also won the Best Short at NYIFF2016) and Devashish Makhija's 3 very short shorts - Agli Baar, Absent and El ' Aiyechi - all hugely popular in the online forums. Both the filmmakers will also be available for a dialogue with the audience. General day donor passes available at www.bookmyshow.com season and student donor passes available at the venue: G5A Laxmi Mills Estate, Shakti Mills Lane, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai – 400 011 For the entire schedule with films synopsis, visit: www.g5a.org/calendar.aspx About the G5A Film Society: The G5A Film Society was started in November 2014 and is a member of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI). The G5A Film Society aims to reinforce a community of filmmakers, film technicians, film afficionados committed to creating a CinemaScape that is unfettered by populist expectations, and rich and varied in the stories told. About G5A: The G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture is a not-for-profit organization, that supports contemporary art and culture, good governance, and sustainability. At G5A, we believe that art and culture have the power to ignite change for the better – by challenging people to think critically, creatively, and courageously. Through a series of diverse programs and projects we are committed to nurturing a vibrant, safe, and inclusive platform that encourages the creative and just – in thought and expression. In doing so, our endeavor is to enrich people’s lives, rebuild resilient and responsible communities, and strengthen the cultural fabric of our community and city. For more details, visit: Website: www.g5a.org Facebook: facebook.com/g5afoundation Twitter: twitter.com/g5afoundation For media enquiries, please contact: Rajashree Menon Head – Communications & Development Email ID: rajashree@g5a.org Contact no.: +91-9821792068 About the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC): The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian Sub-Continental and cross-cultural art forms in North America. The IAAC supports all artistic disciplines in the classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues around the United States to broaden our collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding. Our focus is to work with artists and arts organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists and arts organizations from the Indian Sub-Continent to exhibit, perform and produce their works here. About the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF): The New York Indian Film Festival is the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States. It is dedicated to showcasing, promoting and building an awareness of Independent, art house and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent. Our mission is to encourage filmmakers to tell their stories, to educate North America about them and their talent and to facilitate the making and distribution of these films. NYIFF boasts eight days of premiere screenings of feature, documentary & short films, industry panels, special events, retrospectives, red carpet galas, an award ceremony, packed audiences and amazing media coverage. |