The 7th annual DFW South Asian Film Festival and the 3rd annual NYC South Asian Film Festival, both presented by Toyota Motor North America, hosted back-to-back, in-person film festivals these past two weekends in October. More than 2000 cinephiles watched 23 shorts, documentaries and feature films that made their world, international or Texas/NYC premieres at the curated, sister festivals, produced by JINGO Ventures, an events management and PR company with offices in Texas, New York and India.
“We are elated that people came back to the theaters, where all COVID guidelines were followed, and experienced the magic of the movies the way it was intended,” said Founder and Festivals Director Jitin Hingorani. “Our eclectic and thought-provoking programming clearly resonated with our audiences, as they left feeling engaged, entertained and inspired.”
DFW South Asian Film Festival Winners:
Best Feature – RANI RANI RANI by Rajaram Rajendran
Best Actor – Sachin Bhatt for SAVING CHINTU
Best Actress – Sophia Ali for INDIA SWEETS & SPICES
Best Director – Gaurav Madan for BARAH BY BARAH
Best Short – KHISA by Raj More
Best Long Form Short – KEEP PUNCHING by Kirnay Bhatt
Best of Fest:
Film – SHEER QORMA by Faraz Arif Ansari
Actor – Divya Datta for SHEER QORMA
*Esteemed Jury: Rupak Ginn, Mindy Raymond Benson, Arshad Khan, Mahesh Pailoor, Viveck Vaswani and Sandeep Modi
NYC South Asian Film Festival Winners:
Best Feature – MEHRUNISA by Sandeep Kumar
Best Actor – Ritesh Rajan for DEFINITION PLEASE
Best Actress – Late Farrukh Jaffar for MEHRUNISA
Best Director – Geeta Malik for INDIA SWEETS & SPICES
Best Short – BAREFOOT EMPRESS by Vikas Khanna
Best Long Form Short – LAALI by Abhiroop Das
Best of Fest:
Director – Faraz Arif Ansari for SHEER QORMA
Actor – Divya Dutta for SHEER QORMA
Social Impact Award – WOMB by Ajitesh Sharma and
produced by Apoorva Bakshi & Juliet Blake
Lifetime Achievement Award – Asha Puthli
for her contributions to music & film
*Esteemed Jury: Katy Drake Bettner, Dylan Mohan Gray, Aroon Shivdasani, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla, Anjul Nigam and Cynthia Kane
VIRTUAL SAFF, the online component of the sister festivals presented by Toyota Motor North America and supported by AARP, is taking place through Sunday, October, 31, 2021, for audiences all over North America on the Movie Saints platform. The digital festival showcases 10 feature films, four documentaries and 21 short films. To watch, click HERE
