At an in-person press event at the Indian Consulate (3 East 64th St., New York, NY 10065) on April 19, 2022, the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), North America’s oldest and most prestigious festival which features cinema from India and the Indian Diaspora, will announce its full lineup for 2022. Now in its 22nd year, the festival celebrates independent, art house, alternate, and diaspora films with on-demand streaming offered by Shift72 from May 1-14, 2022. There will also be a closing night film screening and awards presentation at the Village East Cinemas, 181 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003 on May 14, 2022, starting at 4:30 p.m.
“For two years now, we have offered virtual streaming of films, providing filmmakers with even more outlets to showcase their work. We emerged stronger with a larger footprint as global audiences engaged with the films,” said Suman Gollamudi, IAAC Executive Director. “This year, we are excited to offer an in-person closing event and award ceremony on May 14 in New York.”
“We look forward to sparking a resonating dialogue about the ongoing impact of Indian culture on the world on the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence,” said Dr. Nirmal Mattoo, IAAC Chairman.
Presented by the Indo-American Arts Council, Inc. (IAAC), NYIFF celebrates alternative, independent cinema from the global Indian community and brings this rich collection of films to the New York audience. Presented virtually for the third year in a row, the festival will feature 60 screenings (18 feature narratives, six (6) documentaries and 36 short films). Key highlights from the lineup include:
A second centerpiece film – Faraz Ali’s Shoebox (Hindi) explores a young woman’s complex relationship with her father as the world around them changes drastically
First NYIFF screening of a Sanskrit-language film, with Bhagavadajjukam
Special children’s films screenings – Boomba Ride (Assamese) and Gandhi & Co. (Gujarati)
Unique documentary tributes to the late lyricist, poet and activist Kafi Azmi in the Kaifinama, and film critic and larger-than-life Bombay personality, Rashid Irani in If Memory Serves Me Right
A collection of shorts exploring LGBTQ stories set in India with Dal Bhat, Keep Punching, Kiss, Man & Wife, My Mother’s Girlfriend, Pariah and The Way We Are
Also, several well-known Indian film personalities will be featured in a wide array of works, including:
Abhishek Banerjee from Patal Lok (Mr. Lawyer)
Adarsh Gourav from The White Tiger (Kiss)
Dhritiman Chatterjee and Tinnu Anand (A Box of Cuban Cigars)
Jitendra Joshi and Vikram Gokhle (Godavari)
Kani Kusruti (Nishiddho/ Forbidden)
Lakshvir Saran from Fame Game (Mintgumari)
Manav Kaul and Amruta Subhash (The Way We Are)
Naseeruddin Shah (The Daughter)
Rituparna Sengupta (Mahishasur Marddini)
Tanmay Dhanania (Pariah and Nishiddho/ Forbidden)
“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 13 languages spoken in India: Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. All films will have English subtitles.”
“NYIFF’s mission is to provide filmmakers, actors and industry professionals a platform to showcase their work, as well as foster an environment where filmmakers exchange ideas and interact with discerning and diverse audiences, journalists and aficionados,” Chhabra added.
Each of these films along with the complete collection of NYIFF-recognized titles will be available for viewing starting May 7, 2022, at online.nyiff.us. Available for purchase starting April 19, 2022, the cost to view each film ranges from US$4.99 for feature films (narrative and documentaries) and US$0.99 for shorts. Some films will also be available for viewers outside the U.S.
Audiences outside the U.S., excluding India, can pay in their local currencies. In India, the cost will be Rs. 150 for features and Rs. 50 for shorts. Discounted festival passes will also be available.
Feature Narrative Films
Bhagavadajjukam (Sanskrit), dir. Yadu Vijayakrishnan, 101 mins., 2021
Boomba Ride (Assamese), dir. Biswajeet Bora, 76 mins., 2021
Burqa (Tamil), dir. Sarjun KM, 81 mins., 2021
Deid (Marathi), dir. Omkar Barve, 98 mins., 2022
Demons (Hindi), dir. Rohit Mittal, 96 mins., 2021
Gandhi & Co. (Gujarati), dir. Manish Saini, 101 mins., 2022
Godavari (Marathi), dir. Nikhil Mahajan, 113 mins., 2021
Jhini Bini Chadariya/ The Brittle Thread (Hindi), dir. Ritesh Sharma, 97 mins., 2021
Koli Esru (Kannada), dir. Champa P Shetty, 81 mins., 2022
Mahishasur Marddini (Bengali), dir. Ranjan Ghosh, 118 mins., 2022
Nishiddho/ Forbidden (Malayalam, Bengali), dir. Tara Ramanujan,124 mins. 2021
Once Upon a Time in Calcutta (Bengali), dir. Aditya Vikram Sengupta, 131 mins., 2021
Pedro (Kannada), dir. Natesh Hedge, 108 mins., 2021
Powai (Hindi), dir. Kuldip Patel, 126 mins., 2021
Shoebox (Hindi), dir. Faraz Ali, 98 mins., 2021
The Road to Kuthriyar (Tamil), dir. Bharat Mirle, 115 mins., 2021
Three-Legged Horse (Marathi), dir. Noopur Bora,123 mins., 2021
Waiting for Dawn/ Bhor Er Oppekha (Bengali), dir. Akash Sharma, 77 mins., 2021
Feature Documentaries
15 Seconds a Lifetime (Hindi, Marathi and English), dir. Divya Kharnare, 62 mins., 2021
If Memory Serves Me Right (English), dir. Rafeeq Ellias, 56 mins., 2021
Kaifinama (Urdu, English), dir. Sumatra Ghosal, 90 mins., 2019
Lords of Lockdown (English, Hindi), dir. Mihir Fadnavis, 120 mins., 2021
Taangh/ Longing (English, Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu), dir. Bani Singh, 100 minutes, 2021
The Beatles and India (English), dir. Ajoy Bose and Peter Compton, 96 mins., 2021
Short Narratives
7 Star Dinosor (sic.) Entertainment (Hindi), dir. Vaishali Naik, 20 mins., 2021
A Box of Cuban Cigars (English, Bengali, Hindi), dir. Soumadeep Sen, 21 mins., 2021
Arjun (Marathi), dir. Shivraj Waichal, 15 mins., 2020
Cheepatakadumpa (Hindi), dir. Devashish Makhija, 24 mins., 2021
Cycle (Hindi, Telugu, Oriya, Bengali), dir. Devashish Makhija, 20 mins., 2021
Dal Bhat (Gujarati), dir. Nemil Shah, 29 mins., 2021
Holiday (Hindi), dir. Rahul Nangia, 12 mins., 2020
Keep Punching (Hindi), dir. Kirnay Bhatt, 25 mins., 2020
Kiss (Hindi), dir. Varun Grover, 17 mins., 2021
Kopfkino (Malayalam, English), dir. Veena Bharati, 16 mins., 2021
Man & Wife (Bengali, English), dir. Rahul Roye, 9 mins., 2021
Mintgumri (Hindi), dir. Aakash Chhabra, 23 mins., 2021
Mr. Lawyer (Hindi), dir. Sumit Purohit, 23 mins., 2021
My Mother’s Girlfriend (Marathi), dir. Arun Fulara, 15 mins., 2021
Nafs Said (Hindi), dir. Huma Hussain, 13 mins., 2021
Overbridge (Kannada), dir. Nihar Kapoor and Amshu Chukki, 9 mins., 2020
Pariah (Hindi), dir. Nishant Roy Bombarde, 26 mins., 2021
Raavi (Punjabi), dir. Jasmine Kaur Roy, 14 mins., 2021
Smrisha (English, Malayalam), dir. Shilpa Krishnan Shukla, 30 mins., 2021
Succulent (Hindi, English), dir. Amrita Bagchi, 29 mins., 2021
Swarna (Telugu), dir. Anusha Rao, 29 mins., 2021
The Daughter (Hindi), dir. Soumyak Kanti Debiswas, 16 mins., 2022
The Silent Echo (Nepali), dir. Suman Sen, 15 mins., 2021
The Test (Hindi), dir. Shahnawaz Qadeer, 14 mins., 2020
The Way We Are/ Phir Kabhi (Hindi), dir. Nihit Bhave, 18 mins., 2021
There is No Other Way to Do This (English), dir. Mragendra Singh, 6 mins., 2022
Together (Hindi), dir. Azad Alam, 23 mins., 2021
Vanilla (Hindi), dir. Kanishka Deo, 11 mins., 2021
Short Documentaries
Aakhri Safar/ The Last Journey (Hindi), dir. Suraj Gunjal, 22 mins., 2021
Kicking Balls (Hindi), dir. Priyanka Singh, 36 mins., 2020
Listen With Your Heart (English), dir. Meghna Damani, 27 mins., 2022
Murmurs of the Jungle (Marathi, Hindi), dir. Sohil Vaidya, 20 mins., 2022
Reflections at 29 (English), dir. Tanmaya Shekhar, 6 mins., 2021
The Bat Man and Woman of India (English), dir. Emily Driscoll, 7 mins., 2021
The Flowers and the Gemstones (Tamil), dir. Sriram Raja, 23 mins., 2019
The Spirit of Ganga (English), dir. Natashja Rathore, 17 mins., 2022
More information and a full list of all films available at: online.nyiff.us
The 22nd Annual NYIFF Award Nominations
This year’s nominations were chosen by a prestigious panel of filmmakers and will be judged by artists, festival programmers, academics and media professionals. The winners will be announced as part of the closing event on May 14, 2022.
Best Film
Burqa
Godavari
Nishiddho/ Forbidden
Once Upon a Time in Calcutta
Shoebox
Best Director
Aditya Vikram Sengupta (Once Upon a Time in Calcutta)
Faraz Ali (Shoebox)
Natesh Hedge (Pedro)
Nikhil Mahajan (Godavari)
Noopur Bora (Three-Legged Horse)
Best Screenplay
Bhagavadajjukam
Demons
Waiting for Dawn/ Bhor Er Oppekha
Mahishasur Marddini
Powai
Best Actor
Gopal Hedge (Pedro)
Jitendra Joshi (Godavari)
Kalaiyarasan Harikrishnan (Burqa)
Muzaffar Khan (Jhini Bini Chadariya/ The Brittle Thread)
Tanmay Dhanania (Nishiddho/ Forbidden)
Best Actress
Aloknand Roy (Waiting for Dawn/ Bhor Er Oppekha)
Amrita Bagchi (Showbox)
Kaani Kusruti (Nishiddho/ Forbidden)
Mirna (Burqa)
Shreele
