By Mabel Pais

The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), North America’s prestigious festival featuring longest-running cinema from the global Indian community runs its 23rd edition, in person, May 11-14 in New York City.

This year’s festival lineup features 35 films that showcase the depth and range of contemporary Indian cinema, including cutting-edge dramas, documentaries, and shorts. The opening and other films will screen at Village East by Angelika, 181 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003. The closing night film screening, followed by the awards function will be held at SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011.

“As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in May, the New York Indian Film Festival provides an ideal opportunity for audiences to experience the best of Indian cinema and gain a deeper understanding of the rich cultural heritage of AAPI communities and appreciate the unique perspectives that they bring to the world of cinema,” said Suman Gollamudi, Executive Director.

Several well-known Indian film personalities will be featured in a wide array of works, including:

Opening Film, ‘Three Of Us’ leads Shefali Shah (DelhiCrime/Netflix), Jaideep Ahlawat (Pataal Lok/Prime Video) and Swanand Kirkire

Closing Film, ‘Goldfish’ leads Kalki Koechlin (Margarita with a Straw) and Deepti Naval 

Sharmila Tagore (Legendary Actress who worked in Satyajit Ray’s film, including The World of Apu), Manoj Bajpayee (Gangs of Wasseypur, Family Man, Satya, Aligarh) and Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi) in a special screening of Gulmohar. 

Adil Hussain (Life of Pi) and Namisha Sajayan in Footprints on Water.

Radhika Madan (Kuttey/Netflix) and Pooja Bhatt (Bombay Begums/Netflix) in Sanaa.

 Arjun Radhakrishnan in Vaat.

Prasenjit Chatterjee in Shesh Pata. 

Anupam Kher (The Big Sick, New Amsterdam and Hotel Mumbai), Danish Husain and Zarina Wahab in a narrative short Retake.

Rajit Kapoor in the narrative short Birha.

FILM SCHEDULE

For the complete film schedule, updates and more, visit nyiff.us.

Watch the Promo Video: youtu.be/rmLWJZ0tiN0

“We aim to truly underscore the NYIFF commitment to diversity and cultural representation in film,” said Aseem Chhabra, NYIFF Festival Director. “This year, we will feature films in ten languages spoken in India: Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Nagpuri, Punjabi, Tamil. All films will have English subtitles.”

TICKETS

Ticket prices are different for regular films, programs and opening & closing night films. Get more information at nyiff.us or eventbrite.com/cc/nyiff-2023-1992469.

2023 FILM LINEUP

Narrative Features 

Bandaa (Hindi), dir. Apoorv Singh Karki, 138 mins., 2023

Follower (Hindi, Kannada, Marathi), dir. Harshad Nalawade, 99 mins., 2022

Footprints on Water (English, Malayalam, Tamil, Polish), dir. Nathalia Syam, 110 mins., 2022

Goldfish (English) – Closing Night, Pushsan Kriplani, 101 mins., 2022

Gulmohar (Special screening) (Hindi), dir. Rahul Chittella, 132 mins., 2022

Mushroom (Bengali) dir. Samik Roy Choudhury, 64 mins., 2022

Opium (Hindi), dir. Aman Sachdeva, 75 mins., 2022

Pokhar ke Dunu Paar (Hindi), dir. Parth Saurabh, 104 mins., 2022

Sanaa (Hindi), dir. Sudhanshu Saria, 117 mins., 2022

Saudi Vellakka (Malayalam), dir. Tharun Moorthy, 134 mins., 2022

Hadinelentu (Seventeeners), dir. Prithvi Konanur, 122 mins., 2022

Shesh Pata (Bengali), dir. Atanu Ghosh, 120 mins., 2022

Siya (Hindi), dir. Manish Mundra,108 mins., 2022

Three of Us (Hindi) – Opening Night, dir. Avinash Arun Dhaware, 98 mins., 2021

Vaat (Marathi), dr. Miransha Naik, 75 mins., 2022

Documentary Features 

Call Me Dancer (Special screening) (Hindi, English), dir. Leslie Shampaine, 84 mins., 2022

Colonel Kalsi (English), dir. Geeta Gandbhir, Anand Kamalkar, 40 mins., 2022

To Kill a Tiger (Hindi, Nagpuri), dir. Nisha Pahuja, 125 mins., 2022

Urf (AKA) (Hindi), dir. Geetika Narag Abassi, 120 mins., 2022

Shorts

Shorts A – Narratives:

Retake, dir. Shweta Basu Prasad (Hindi), 28 mins., 2023

Running, dir. Arpita Mukherjee (English), 40 mins., 2022

One Small Visit, dir. Jo Chim (English), 30 mins., 2022

Outside Chance, dir. Michael Das (English), 11 mins., 2022

The Name, dir. Aaron Strand (English), 7 mins, 2022

Other Narrative Shorts (showing with features):

Birha – The Journey Back Home (showing with Vaat) (Punjabi), dir. Puneet Prakash Pandey, 25 mins., 2021

Chithi (showing with Mushroom) (Bengali), dir. Pubali Chaudhuri, 22 min., 2023

Little Wings (showing with Mushroom) (Tamil) dir. Nveen Mu, 21 mins., 2022

My Father’s Doctor (showing with Mushroom) (Kashmiri), dir. Danish Renzu, 18 mins., 2023

Preet (showing with Opium) (Hindi), dir. Jayesh Jaidka, 22 mins, 2022

Wagro (showing with Vaat) (Marathi), dir. Sainath Somnath Uskaikar, 10 mins., 2022

Shorts B – Documentaries: 

Basti, dir. Parinaz Jal (English, Hindi, Kannada), 36 mins., 2021

Gopi, dir. Nishanth Gurumurthy (Kannada), 14 mins., 2022

Letters to My Grandma, dir. Divya Hemant Kharnare (Marathi), 26 mins., 2023

Raat: Night Time in Small Town India, dir. Third Eye Offline (English), 34 mins., 2022

Other Documentary Shorts (showing with features):

Bring it to the People (showing with Colonel Kalsi) (English), dir. Luis Palomino, 35 mins., 2022

Kurosawa’s Grave (showing with Urf) (English) dir. Ben Lopez, 14 mins., 2021

The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF): 

NYIFF is the oldest, most prestigious film festival screening premieres of feature, documentary and short films made from, of, and about the Indian subcontinent in the independent, arthouse, alternate and diaspora genres. Learn more at nyiff.us.

Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC):

Learn more at iaac.us

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FILM FEST CELEBRATES 25 YEARS AND RETROSPECTIVE

By Mabel Pais

Join NYSJFF in celebrating its 25th Anniversary at the ASF – Center for Jewish History. This year’s Festival is hybrid, both in person May 7-11, as well as a new online platform, May 14-18, 2023.

This 25th edition of the NYSJFF is dedicated to Ike, Molly and Steven Elias. There’s an opening night special performance by Yasmin Levy!

The New York Sephardi Jewish Film Festival (NYSJFF) not only returns with outstanding films of all genres exploring the beauty, diversity, and vitality of Greater Sephardic Jewish communities’ culture and identity across the world, but also welcomes a new host and Artistic Director, the decorated filmmaker, writer, director, and Pomegranate Award recipient, Yemenite-Israeli born Na’ama Keha.

Carefully curated to delight cinema lovers of all ages and communities, the new line-up includes 14 films in theatre and 15 Festival favorites and web exclusives on the streaming platform. The fest offers a unique blend of independent films mixing various styles and origins, including critically acclaimed movies, World, US, and New York premières, and a retrospective of NYSJFF’s best films from the past 25 years.

To mark Israel’s 75th Anniversary, the Festival focuses on Israeli Sephardic themes and pays tribute to Ronit Elkabetz, the actress, filmmaker, and first Pomegranate Award Winner. Audiences will get to (re) discover her work and see — playing for the first time in North America — the 2022 documentary JE T’AIME RONIT ELKABETZ about her life and her use of fashion to make social statements.

FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP & MORE

For the complete film lineup, filmmaker appearances, updates and the highly anticipated names of this year’s Pomegranate Award Honorees! visit americansephardi.org/event/the-25th-new-york-sephardic-jewish-film-festival. The Pomegranate Award, sculpted by renowned Baghdad-born artist Oded Halahmy, recognizes extraordinary achievements in the arts. Past recipients include Albert Memmi, Enrico Macias, André Azoulay, Neta Elkayam, Lisa Azuelos, Saïd Ben Saïd, Elie Tahari, Caroline Aaron, Ema Shah, Sassoon Gabay, André Aciman, Amir Arison, and Lanie Kazan.

TICKETS

For tickets to individual films and all access film pass, visit nysjff.eventive.org/passes/buy/film_pass, for all access VIP pass, visit nysjff.eventive.org/passes/buy/vip_festival_pass.

For all access online pass, visit nysjff.eventive.org/passes/buy/allaccess_online

(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality)