New York Indian Film Festival: Children spring a surprise

The festival scheduled to be held from June 4-13, will also celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, 125th birth anniversary of Netaji and the 100th birth anniversary of Satyajit Ray

New York Indian Film Festival: Children spring a surprise
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Garima Sadhwani

The New York Indian Film Festival is back with its 21st edition. The highlights of this year’s festival are centerpieces that celebrate Mahatma Gandhi, Satyajit Ray and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Ahimsa Gandhi: The Power of the Powerless directed by Ramesh Sharma focuses on how Gandhi’s message traveled across the world. The festival is hosting the US premiere of the film. The festival will also be showcasing The Music of Satyajit Ray, a documentary that celebrates 100 glorious years of the maestro. The last in the category is At the Altar of India’s Freedom – INA’s Veterans of Malaysia, which revolves around the life and times of Netaji and the members of his army.

Opening with a Kannada film, Where is Pinki (Pinki Elli) and closing with Ajitpal Singh’s Fire in the Mountains, this year's lineup has a total of 58 films- 31 features, and 27 shorts. Out of the 58 films that the festival will be showcasing, many will be premiering in the US. All of the films will be available to a US-based audience, while 20 of them will also be available in Canada and 11 will be available in India and globally.

What’s interesting is that the festival jury found something they didn’t know they were looking for- a lot many films revolving around children or having child protagonists. Festival Director Aseem Chhabra says, “Out of the nine awards we give out every year, this year’s ‘best child actor’ nominations were the toughest for us. We had to look at all the films, some of which are set in rural India and have local actors, and shortlist just five names, which was really challenging.”


There are films from 15 regional languages spoken in India that have been included in the festival, including Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Assamese, Bengali and Punjabi films. “It only makes sense to have a diverse lineup,” says Chhabra. He adds that subtitles have also made these films easier t access and comprehend.

With the growing popularity that films across different Indian languages enjoy on OTT streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, having such a lineup becomes a testimony to the diverse audience of the festival. Chhabra adds, “I get excited about films in different languages because I just get excited about good films.”

Interestingly, Chhabra points out that the festival never had to go seeking these films. He says, “We get a lot of interesting submissions, and when we travel, we stumble upon many beautiful films. And those that tell important stories.”

The festival will also be holding panels accompanying the films. This year, a lot of the panels will be language-based, such as one panel for the Tamil films, one for the Marathi films, etc. There’ll also be pre-recorded Q&A sessions. There will also be opening and closing night parties for invited guests in New York, and an awards function on June 13.

Chhabra points out that with the US going mask-free for those vaccinated, the crew had the chance to hold the festival offline. But this decision came very late into the planning of the festival, and the online edition doesn’t only make it accessible for all, but also opens it up to a global audience.

The only challenge the festival faced was that there weren’t a lot of movies made last year due to the pandemic, and so the number of submissions was low as compared to previous years.

But, “quality over quantity,” says Chhabra. The festival will be held virtually from June 4 to 13. Tickets are available at nyiff.moviesaints.com.

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