The 21st annual New York-based New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) announced its full lineup featuring cinema from India, and the Indian Diaspora. Presented virtually for the second year in a row, the festival features 58 screenings (23 narrative features, 8 documentary features and 27 short films) from June 4-June 13.
“We aimed 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 15 languages spoken in India: Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, 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.
Many of the films being shown at the festival this year have played at Berlinale, Sundance Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival and Rotterdam International Film Festival, among others and won accolades. Nasir won the NETPAC Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and Sthalpuran won the Young Cinema Award at the Asian Pacific Screen Awards.
Watch the trailer for 2021 New York Indian Film Festival.
2021 New York Indian Film Festival Lineup
Feature Narratives
Awakash (Marathi), dir. Chittaranjan Giri, 77 mins, 2020
Biryaani (Malayalam), dir. Sajin Baabu, 96 mins, 2020
Blue Bird (Kannada), dir. Ganesh Hegde, 106 mins, 2020
Fire in the Mountains (Hindi), dir. Ajitpal Singh, 82 mins, 2020
First Night (Tamil), dir. Jack Prabhu, Santoshh KK, 106 mins, 2020
Freddie’s Piano (English), dir. Aakash Prabhakar, Sudharshan Narayanan, 110 mins, 2020
God on the Balcony (Assamese), dir. Biswajeet Bora, 89 mins, 2020
Habaddi (Marathi), dir. Nachiket Samant, 110 mins, 2020
House of Orange Trees (Malayalam), dir. Dr. Biju Damodaran, 110 mins, 2020
June (Marathi), dir. Vaibhav Khisti, Suhrud Godbole, 94 mins, 2020
Mail (Telugu), dir. Uday Gurrala, 116 mins, 2020
Nasir (Tamil), dir. Arun Karthick, 78 mins, 2019
Nazarband (Captive) (Hindi), dir. Suman Mukhopadhyay, 85 mins, 2020
Parallel Lines (Kayamai Kadakka) (Tamil), dir. Kiran R, 104 mins, 2020
Parcel (Bengali), dir. Indrasis Acharya, 123 mins, 2020
Pinki Elli? (Where’s Pinki?) (Kannada), dir. Prithvi Konanur, 108 mins, 2020
Searching for Happiness (Bengali) dir. Suman Ghosh, 63 mins, 2021
Songs for Rain (Boroxun) (Assamese), dir. Krrishna Kt. Borah, 86 mins, 2020
Sthalpuran (Marathi), dir. Akshay Indikar, 85 mins, 2020
The Chicken Curry (Koli Taal) (Kannada), dir. Abhilash Shetty, 84 mins, 2020
The Tenant (English, Hindi), dir. Sushrat Jain, 112 mins, 2020
The Knot (Uljhan) (Hindi), dir. Ashish Pant, 113 mins, 2020
Zollywood (Marathi), dir. Trushant Ingle, 95 mins, 2019
Feature Documentaries
Ahimsa Gandhi: The Power of the Powerless (English), dir. Ramesh Sharma, 92 mins, 2020
Borderlands (Punjabi, Bengali, Nepali, Manipuri), dir. Samarth Mahajan, 67 mins, 2021
Ghar Ka Pata (Home Address) (English, Hindi, Kashmiri), dir. Madhulika Jalali, 67 mins, 2020
Shut Up Sona (English, Hindi, Oriya), dir. Deepti Gupta, 85 mins. 2019
Talking Head (English, Bengali), dir. Spandan Banerjee, 94 mins, 2021
The Music of Satyajit Ray (English, Bengali), dir. Utpalendu Chakrabarty, 51 mins, 1984
The Space Between the Notes (English, Hindi), dir. Sumantra Ghosal, 52 mins, 2018
WOMB: Women of my Billions dir. Ajitesh Sharma (English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu), 103 mins, 2021
Short Narratives
Adhura (Unfinished) (Hindi), dir. Arjun Lal, 19 mins, 2020
Annual Day (Salana Jalsa) (Marathi), dir. Pratik Thakare, 30 mins, 2020
Appa’s Seasons (Tamil), dir. Radhika Prasidhha, 22 mins, 2020
B. Selvi & Daughters (Tamil), dir. Drishya, 25 mins, 2020
Checking Out (English), dir. Vick Krishna, 15 mins, 2020
Happy Birthday (Hindi), dir. Ajay Kishore Shaw, 20 mins, 2020
Khayali Pulao (Hindi), dir. Tarun Dudeja, 26 mins, 2020
Khisa (Pocket) (Marathi), dir. Raj Pritam More, 16 mins, 2020
Kurma (English, Hindi), dir. Ramsee Chand, 18 mins, 2020
Laali (Hindi), dir. Abhiroop Basu, 30 mins, 2020
Loose Long Shirt (English), dir. Mitali Joshi, 6 mins, 2020
My Brother (Mera Bhai) (Hindi), dir. Shreela Agarwal, 22 mins, 2020
Naap (Hindi), dir. Harshit Acharya, 18 mins, 2020
Now That We’ve Met (English), dir. Nitya Turaga, 5 mins, 2020
Pilibhit (Hindi), dir. Ashutosh Chaturvedi, Pankaj Mavchi, 23 mins, 2020
Pinni (Kannada), dir. Bhuvan Sathya, 20 mins, 2020
Sonsi (Shadow Bird) (Hindi) dir. Savita Singh, 26 mins, 2020
Sunday (Hindi), dir. Arun Fulara, 10 mins, 2020
Tasher Ghawr (English), dir. Sudipto Roy, 47 mins, 2020
The Miniaturist of Junagarh (Hindi, Urdu), dir. Kaushal Oza, 29 mins, 2020
Untouchability (Theetu) (Tamil), dir. Haresh Narayanan, 7 mins, 2020
Vulture (Xogun) (Assamese), dir. Utpal Borpujari, 16 mins, 2020
Short Documentaries
At the Altar of India’s Freedom – INA Veterans in Malaysia (English) dir. Choodie Shivaram, 30 mins, 2018
Baluji (English), dir. Cécile Embleton, 22 mins, 2020
Seva (English), dir. Rippin Sindher, 16 mins, 2019
The Hero Within (Hindi), dir. Stanley Hector, 7 mins, 2021
What’s Your Story? (English), dir. O.P. Srivastava, 51 mins, 2020
21st Annual New York Indian Film Festival Award Nominations
This year’s nominations were chosen by a prestigious panel of filmmakers and will be judged by artists and media professionals. The winners will be announced as part of the closing event on June 13, 2021.
Best Film
- Fire in the Mountains
- June
- Nasir
- Pinki Eli?/ Where is Pinki?
- Sthalpuran
Best Director
- Ajit Pal Singh (Fire in the Mountains)
- Akshay Indikar (Sthalpuran)
- Arun Karthik (Nasir)
- Krishna Kt. Borah (Songs for the Rain)
- Suman Mukhopadhaya (Nazarband)
Best Screenplay
- Biryaani
- Pinki Eli?/ Where is Pinki?
- The Chicken Curry/ Koli Taal
- The Knot/ Uljhan
Best Actor
- Deep Jyoti Kalita (Songs for the Rain)
- Harish Khanna (God on the Balcony)
- Siddharth Menon (June)
- Tanmay Dhanania (Nazarband)
- Vikas Kumar (The Knot/ Uljhan)
Best Actress
- Akshatha Pandavapura (Pinki Eli?/ Where is Pinki?)
- Ashwini Giri (Awakash)
- Indira Tiwari (Nazarband)
- Kani Kusruti (Biryanni)
- Vinamrata Rai (Fire in the Mountain)
Best Child Actor
- Aman S. Karkera (Blue Bird)
- Karan Dave (Habaddi)
- Neel Deshmukh (Sthalpuran)
- Porinandhi Jima Sultana (God on the Balcony)
- Rudraksh Jaiswal (The Tenant)
Best Short (Narrative)
- Annual Day
- B. Selvi & Daughters
- Tasher Ghawr
- Sonsi
- Sunday
- The Miniaturist of Junagardh
Best Short (Documentary)
- Baluji
- Seva
- The Hero Within
Best Documentary
- Ahimsa
- WOMB: Women of my Billion
- The Space Between the Notes
- Shut Up Sona
- Talking Head
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