From May 4-8, 2011, the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) presents the 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), the oldest and most prestigious Indian film festival in the country, with 25 feature films, documentaries, and shorts from and about the Indian subcontinent screening over five days. NYIFF features a mix of film screenings, discussions, industry panels, nightly parties, an awards ceremony, and gala red carpet events.
The U.S. premiere of Disney’s Do Dooni Chaar directed by Habib Faisal and starring Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, kicks off the New York Indian Film Festival with a star-studded Opening Night red carpet at the Paris Theatre in Manhattan, followed by a gala benefit dinner at the Jumeirah Essex House. H.E. Meera Shankar, India’s Ambassador to the United States, will deliver the welcome address. Film festival screenings will take place from May 5 through May 8 at Tribeca Cinemas, including the Centerpiece selection – the New York Premiere of Aparna Sen’s Iti Mrinalini , followed by an afterparty at Tribeca Bar. The Festival’s Closing night selection, the U.S. Premiere of Rituparno Ghosh’s Nauka Dubi, will screen at Asia Society followed by the annual awards ceremony and afterparty. In addition, the festival is hosting an exclusive celebrity-filled celebration honoring the 150th anniversary of the birth of India’s legendary Nobel Prize-winning artist and poet Rabinranath Tagore at Asia Society on May 8.
Making its U.S. Premiere...
Chay Yew’s appointment comes as Dennis Začek, VG’s Artistic Director of 34 years, retires from the post.
“We are extremely pleased and excited that Chay Yew has joined our company to continue the VG legacy that Dennis has developed over the past three decades,” said Board President Jeffrey Rappin. “He brings vast experience in new work development and, in partnership with Executive Director Jan Kallish, he will lead VG in bringing the best new work and artists to our stages. We are confident that our company is in good hands and that the mission of VG will be continued with Chay as artistic leader.”
“I’m excited and deeply honored to continue Dennis Začek’s vision in providing an artistic home for emerging and established theater artists in Chicago and around the country,” said Yew. “I plan to refine and amplify Victory Gardens’ mission of championing new plays and diversity as the mission remains close to my heart and everything I’ve done in American Theatre.”
Yew was the Founding Director of the Asian Theatre Workshop at the Mark Taper Forum and an Associate Artist, he also produced and presented several seasons at the Mark Taper Forum’s Taper Too. Some productions include Luis...
Rehana Mirza’s ‘Zameer & Preeti: A Love Story’ screens on May 6 at 3:30pm. copyright 2011 Rehana Mirza
Last year, Chakrabarti’s talents were on display in three films at the Festival. He created the score for Sundaram Tagor’s documentary The Poetics of Color: Natvar Bhavsar, and had roles in Claire McCarthy’s The Waiting City opposite Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton, and in Ajay Naidu’s Ashes.
The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), is the oldest and most prestigious Indian film festival in the country. NYIFF continues through May, 8, 2011 and tickets are available online at http://www.iaac.us/nyiff2011/
Friday, May 6, 2011, Tribeca Theater 1, 3:30pm
Chakrabarti plays a Muslim groom about to wed a Hindu bride in New Jersey in Rehana Mirza’s Zameer & Preeti: A Love Story. When the groom gets a case of cold feet, will the wedding become just another case of religious conflict? Buy Tickets
Actor Ajay Naidu’s directorial debut Ashes screens during the 6th Annual Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival on Sunday, May 15 at 5:30pm, at the Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Ave in Edgewood, PA. Faran Tahir, Samrat Chakrabarti, Firdous Bamji, Heather Burns, Maurice Carr and Piper Perabo are also featured in the Ashes cast.
The 6th Annual Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival, presented by the Silk Screen: Asian Arts and Cultural Organization, runs from May 11 -15, 2011.
Ajay Naidu is an award-winning actor, filmmaker, dancer, director, M.C., vocalist and writer. He has worked extensively in film, television and theater with more than 50 onscreen credits. He has appeared in the films Office Space, K-Pax, π, Requiem for a Dream, Bad Santa, The War Within, The Guru, Waterborne, The Loins of Punjab Presents, Where the River Runs Black, Vice Versa, Touch and Go and many more. When Naidu’s portrayal in SubUrbia as convenience store owner “Nazeer Choudhury” garnered him an Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Actor nod, his formidable competition included Roy Scheider and Sam Jackson. He can currently be seen in Ashes, his directorial debut in which he played the title character, served as writer and director. Ashes was nominated for Best Film, Screenplay and Director, after the film screened at New York’s MIAAC Film Festival in 2010; Naidu took home the prize for Best Actor at MIAAC and the London Asian Film Festival. Ashes also won...
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is sponsoring a fundraising event called Stand with Japan at the Washington Monument on March 24, 2011. Meet at the Sylvan Theater, 15th Street & Independence Avenue, SW at 6:30pm and join others who are gathering to reflect and participate in the walk around the Tidal Basin, where the cherry blossom trees, gifted to Washington, DC from Tokyo in 1912, have stood the test of time for 99 years. The relationship with Japan is at the heart of the Festival, and the evening of hope and perseverance occurs before the 16-day celebration begins on Saturday, March 26. All donations will go directly to the American Red Cross and their Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund.
A ful list of Festival participants and partners holding events to benefit the fund can be found at www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
Hotline: (877) 44-BLOOM