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
• Mail
• 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