The 17th annual New York Indian Film Festival ended on a high note Sunday with an awards ceremony, following the closing night film THIS IS MY SUNDAY. The week-long festival generated a lot of buzz after premiering 85 shorts, documentaries and feature films from the Indian subcontinent in Hindi, English and seven regional languages (Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali). The films, filmmakers and actors who took home top prizes are:
- Best Film – MUKTI BHAWAN (HOTEL SALVATION)
- Best Director – Konkona Sen Sharma (A DEATH IN THE GUNJ)
- Best Screenplay – P. Balachandran (KAMMATTIPADAM)
- Best Actor – K. Kaladharan (THE NARROW PATH)
- Best Actress – Konkona Sen Sharma (LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA)
- Best Documentary – AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN
- Best Short – AABA
In addition to film premieres, the festival featured sidebar programming such as Sibling Filmmakers (Deepa & Dilip Mehta), Priyanka Produces (VENTILATOR & SARVANN), Tribute to Om Puri, Mobile Bollywood, “Shoot a Short Film” workshop, industry panels (CAA’s Short Film Initiative), nightly networking events, red carpets and a gala. More than 40 filmmakers attended the festival and particpated in Q&A sessions after their films.
