2016 is the year of our collective voice in support of women power and girls’ rising against all injustices of orthodox patriarchy in a ‘most populous, culturally and economically vibrant country like India. The release of Soojit Sirkar’s Pink that questions the age-old parameters of a patriarchal mindset defining the character of women in urban India is followed by the screening of We Will Rise documentary celebrating the International Day of Girls at the White House.

The upcoming screening of Indian American filmmaker Nyna Pais Caputi’s Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls at the 19^th Annual United Nations Association Film Festival will continue the movement against gender violence, infanticide, sex-trafficking, dowry deaths, gang rapes and bride buying.

Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls is one of the 60 films and documentaries to be screened from October 30 to 30 at the United Nations Association Film Festival 2016 in California. Directed by Nyna Pais Caputi from the San Francisco Bay Area Indian community, the film examines the condition of an endangered class of girls and women from different walks of life. (Watch the trailer below)

In this thought-provoking documentary, filmmaker Nyna Pais Caputi seeks to explore what led to the elimination of 50 million of girls from India’s population in the last century. She traces the cultural origins of crimes against women in India through interviews of social activists and gender experts from various organizations. She also shares the inspirational stories of brave survivors and the unnerving realities that they have undergone.

Born in India, Nyna Pais Caputi traveled to the United States in 2002 to pursue filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. Then she settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. She dons several hats: a filmmaker, a blogger, a startup founder, a crusader of gender equality and a speaker on expat life. Nyna has worked on many award-winning short films including Desi Confused by America, Gentle Lovers, and Able.

She is at the helm of the Global Walk for India’s Missing Girls, an international awareness campaign which she founded in San Francisco in 2010. This campaign has been conducted in 25 cities and five countries to gather support against male chauvinism and genocide of women.

The Expat Woman is one of the initiatives by Indian American filmmaker Nyna Pais Caputi. A recipient of the ‘Woman of the Year 2015’ title from California State Assembly, she launched this online platform for women who have moved to USA from different parts of the world. The Expat Woman strives to help expat women with various aspects of life in USA.

Nyna Pais Caputi not only produced, edited and fundraised for her latest feature-length documentary films but also went extra miles to interview the representatives of several non-profit organizations in India and USA, including Maitri, Global Girl Power, Bal Ghar Orphanage, Navjyoti India Foundation, and Empower People, on gender discrimination and violence against women.

Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls voices Nyna Pais Caputi’s message, “Unless immediate concrete actions are taken, India’s girls will become an endangered species. By 2020 there will be 20 percent more men than women.”

The film will be screened on October 22 at the 19^th Annual United Nations Association Film Festival in Palo Alto, California. Nyna Pais Caputi herself will attend the screening for a panel discussion. 

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Undeniably, the Sikh community is known for unconditional service to the mankind. The Sikh do always come forward to help those in need. In 2015, a group of Punjabi NRIs extended the community kitchen service beyond temple premises to provide around 14000 refugees with daily food in the conflict-torn regions of Syria.

Their interest is not limited to serving the needy and the hungry. They also care about the environment, the planet and Mother Nature. It is evident from the submission of thought-provoking films on the future of earth and environment by young Sikh filmmakers to the SikhNet Youth Online Film Festival 2016.

‘Mother Earth – Mata Dharat’ was this year’s theme of the SikhNet Youth Online Film Festival, an exclusively digital media based platform for young filmmakers from the Sikh community worldwide. It is also a launch pad for filmmaking aspirants having potential. Initiated in 2006, it has turned many promising young directors’ lenses to socio-economic issues, socio-political affairs, humanitarianism and likes.

Young Sikh filmmakers from India, the United States and Kenya submitted their films on nature and environment to the 11^th annual Youth Online Film Festival. Sixteen films were divided into three groups: Juniors (11-17 age group), Intermediate (18-28 age group) and Senior (aging above 28). Out of the 16 submissions, five films became winners of the festival.

The five films shortlisted for cash prize and certificate are Sangraand, Selfless Shade, and Bute da Prasad in the Intermediate group, Paani Pita in the Junior category, and The 5 R’s of Eco-Sikhism in the Senior category. Each of these winning films highlights various environmental issues that threat the existence of life on earth, and focuses on possible solutions to protect environment.

The boy on a trip to India from USA in Amrita Kaur Bhasin’s film ‘Paani Pita’

15-year-old Amrita Kaur Bhasin is the only Sikh filmmaker from the Indian American community to have won the winning title for her film Paani Pita in the 2016 SikhNet Youth Online Film Festival. This young Indian American girl from California drew on the festival theme through the story of young boy’s travel from USA to India in order to learn about environmental issues in his community.

The protagonist in Amrita Kaur Bhasin’s film Paani Pita learns about the impact of environmental issues in USA. Then he makes a trip to India for the same purpose. Over time, the boy concludes that environment pollution is common between both nations, USA and India, and accepts that preserving environment to protect earth is also his responsibility. Thus the film spreads the message that it is every individual’s responsibility to care for environment, earth and nature.

I drew ideas for this movie from my last trip to India. In addition, everybody in my community has been making an effort to conserve water because of the California drought. I wanted to make a movie that combined local issues with greater issues. – Amrita Kaur Bhasin

The three winning films in the Intermediate section of the 11^th annual SikhNet Youth Online Film Festival are from the Indian state of Punjab. 24-year-old Sukhmanjot Singh’s Sangraand, 21-year-old Junwar Raj Singh’s Bute Da Prasad, and Selfless Shade by Raj Angad and Hardeep Singh voice more or less the same message about environment preservation through different stories.

The 5 R’s of Eco-Sikhism by Dilraj Singh, Bhavanraj Singh and Jaskirat Kaur from Nairobi in Kenya is the only winning film on this theme in the Senior section of the film festival this year. This short documentary film highlights five secrets of environment preservation: Reuse, Recycle, Reduce, Restore and Respect.

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Eminent Indian actress Konkona Sen Sharma, who is best known for her powerhouse performance in the reel, is all set to appear under the garb of a filmmaker at Toronto International Film Festival 2016 in September. Her directorial debut, A Death in the Gunj, will premiere in a special section of Toronto Film Festival, a 10-day extravaganza from September 8 to 18.

Konkona’s first directorial feature film, A Death in the Gunj, is an intriguing story of five individuals on a family vacation. It traces the journey of their interpersonal relationships which fall apart in the event of a sudden death after some moments of harmony and joy. The trailer which has already stirred curiosity about the film in India and abroad gives the impression that the narrative is a distinct departure from usual storytelling techniques.

Konkona Sen Sharma won the ‘Best Actress’ title for her titular role in Kadambari, a biopic on Rabindranath Tagore’s relationship with his sister-in-law, at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival 2015.

The upcoming premiere of A Death in the Gunj at TIFF 2016 is a most awaited event for the Indians in Toronto because of its impressive cast that includes Tilottama Shome, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Tanuja, Jim Sarbh and Vikrant Massey. The film seems to be a standout watch also for Jim Sarbh who earned kudos from film critics for playing a merciless terrorist in Neerja.

The script of Konkona’s A Death in the Gunj was developed at the National Film Development Corporation of India’s (NFDC) Script Lab in 2014. It was selected out of 80 entries. However, the National Award-winning actress was initiated into filmmaking with a short film Naamkoron (Naming Ceremony).

Toronto International Film Festival 2016 will also screen Lion starring Dev Patel, Nawazuddin Sddique, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Nicole Kidman. Directed by Garth Davis, the film is adapted from a non-fiction book titled ‘A Long Way Home.’ Lion depicts the story of a young man who finds his long-lost parents and reunites with them using Google Earth.

Indian American filmmaker Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe, a biopic on Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi, is another attraction of TIFF 2016.

Konkona is back to Toronto Film Festival where Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar starring her in a lead role premiered in 2015 and not only unnerved the audience but also earned rave reviews from critics for its documentary-style narrative, intriguing story and overwhelming climax.

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Mother Teresa, who breathed her last in 1997, will be conferred on sainthood on September 4 in Vatican City, Italy. Indian’s first Nobel Laureate in Peace, she was the mother of orphans and foundlings. A film festival on Mother Teresa’s glorious life and noble teachings will be held in 50 countries including India to mark her canonization in September 2016.

Kolkata is the first to host the Mother Teresa International Film Festival for three days commencing on August 26 since Kolkata was the epicenter of Mother Teresa’s worldwide philanthropic work for street children. After its inauguration in Kolkata, the film festival will travel across India and then around the world for the next 6 months.

Organized by the World Catholic Association for Communication’s India Chapter, the film festival will be screening a repertoire of 20 movies including feature films and documentaries based on the enlightening, inspirational stories of Mother Teresa’s life. The list of films for screening has not been finalized yet. It will include two films for world premieres.

Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Indore, Udaipur, Ranchi, Patna and Guwahati are other Indian cities to hold the Mother Teresa International Film Festival. The film festival will make rounds of 50 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Italy, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Memories of Mother and Love Till It Hurts are the two films selected for world premieres during the fourth edition of the Mother Teresa film festival. The former is directed by a filmmaker from London and the latter is made by Pauline Sisters.

Most of the movies to be screened are documentaries either based on or inspired by the eventful life of the Roman Catholic Nun who spent her life in India from 1929 till her last breath in 1997. Making of a Saint and In the Name of God’s Poor are the most remarkable documentaries on her. Charlie Chaplin’s daughter Geraldine played Mother Teresa in both.

Apart from the films on Mother Teresa, the film festival will also screen few movies like My Karma, a Bengali film, which embody her noble teachings.

The organizers of the festival have reportedly decided on the screening of Mother Teresa: The Legacy by the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker duo: Ann and Jeannette Petrie. The film chronicles Mother Teresa’s philanthropic journey from Kolkata to the rest of the world, through a number of interviews and video footages. Mother Teresa: The Legacy was screened on the occasion of her beatification in Rome in 2003.

Mother Teresa is a true embodiment of selfless service and charity to the poor worldwide. The objective of the Mother Teresa International Film Festival is to awaken and inspire people the world over with her noble teachings and deeds. – Sunil Lucas, the festival director

Also Check World’s Oldest Photo Studio in Kolkata

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The festival de Cannes 2016 has started rolling out the red carpet for its inauguration on May 11. A short film from the regional cinema of India, not multibillion Hindi film industry, is the sole official Indian entry on the list of 18 films in the ‘Cinéfondation’ category of the international French Riviera.

Gudh (meaning Nest) by Saurav Rai, a young filmmaker from Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal, is the only Indian film to represent India at the 69^th Cannes Film Festival this year. Gudh is a short autobiographical film.

Gudh is a memoir of my childhood in a very raw and bold form. It also depicts my relationship with my parents and grandparents. My individual style of filmmaking is not pleasing to anyone. – Saurav Rai, an alumnus of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata.

Saurav Rai is the fourth SRFTI alumnus to travel to the international Cannes Film Festival. He is currently busy shooting for a travelogue in New Delhi. The last three Bengali films by SRFTI alumni – Tridib Poddar, Anirban Dutta and Raka Dutta – to have represented Indian Cinema at the Cannes were Khonj, Tetris and Chinese Whispers in 2002, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

There are many contemporary Bengali films on unconventional subjects, which are traveling to international film festivals like New York Indian Film Festival for premiere. The Cannes 2016 has selected only one film from Bengal, while NYIFF 2016 will screen seven Bengali films in May. – IndianEagle

Born in Mangwa, a small village in Darjeeling district of Bengal, the 29-year-old Saurav Rai has depicted his childhood as a tale of two places – Darjeeling in India and Kathmandu in Nepal – with hints of the Gorkhaland movement for independent statehood of Darjeeling in the background. Gudh in Nepali language depicts how the political upheaval in demand for a separate state affected his childhood.

The selection of Gudh as India’s official entry to the 69^th Cannes Film Festival is not his first international achievement. Saurabh Rai’s previous short film Monsoon Rains had traveled to the Munich Film Festival in 2014. He aspires to bring alive the untold stories of rural India on celluloid for a global audience.

Saurav Rai admits being influenced by the Satyajit Ray films and Mrinal Sen films from the golden era of Bengali Cinema and Indian Cinema at large. He likes watching popular art films by late Rituparno Ghosh from the next generation of Bengali filmmakers. Whenever he is accused of defying the grammar of filmmaking in his narrative technique of Gudh, he refers to his grandfather who used to compare him with Einstein as a stupid child.

Saurav along with his sound designer Ankita Purkayastha will leave for the 69^th Cannes Film Festival on May 10. The jury of the Festival De Cannes 2016 selected Gudh short film out of the 2300 films from film schools across the world.

Travel Beats is a fast-growing news portal for Indians and NRIs by IndianEagle, a leading international travel organization. It publishes the latest news about travel, aviation, culture, humanity and entertainment from India and USA.

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One of the most awaited New York City events in May; New York Indian Film Festival 2016 has unveiled its list of Indian films along with the schedule of screenings from May 7 to May 14. The festival celebrates regional cinemas of India including Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English through screening of short films, documentaries and feature films from different genres of cinema like independent, art house, offbeat and alternate.

Interestingly, the schedule of NYIFF 2016 features six Bengali films by National Film Award winners including Aparna Sen, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherjee and Sumon Ghosh from Kolkata. Here is why these Bengali films are worth watching:

Cinemawala by Kaushik Ganguly

Cinemawala on the NYIFF 2016 schedule of screenings is one of the few films awaited by Indians in New York. Kaushik Ganguly depicts the changing world of a retired film exhibitor from a small town in Bengal and his unhappy relationship with his only son who sells pirated DVDs of films. The protagonist owns a movie theatre which stops operating due to lack of digital technology and does not like his son’s aberrant business.

One of the finest Indian filmmakers, Kaushik Ganguly is known for his award-winning unconventional movies like Shabdo, Arekti Premer Galpo and Chotoder Chobi.

• Date: May 9
• Time: 9:30 PM
• Venue: Village East Cinema

 Arshinagar by Aparna Sen

Bengalis in New York will also watch Arshinagar by Aparna Sen at the 16^th New York Indian Film Festival. The film depicts a rivalry-ridden world of two real estate business enemies from two different communities. They are at loggerheads over their interest in Arshinagar Slum which they want to evacuate to make space for luxury apartments and shopping malls. Their business battle gradually becomes a personal tragedy for them. Arshinagar by Aparna Sen has a stellar cast of Waheeda Rehman, Kaushik Sen, Roopa Ganguly, Jisshu Sengupta, Kamaleswar Mukherjee and Paran Bandhyopadhyay.

Aparna Sen who started her acting career with Oscar-winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray shot to fame in filmmaking when her Mr. and Mrs. Iyer won the National Film Award. She was felicitated with a Special Achievement Award at Washington DC South Asian Film Festival in 2015.

• Date: May 11
• Time: 6:15 PM
• Venue: Village East Cinema

Rajkahini by Srijit Mukherjee

Rajkahini tells how the border between Bengal and East Pakistan affects the lives of inmates of a brothel during the partition of India in 1947. When the sex workers are forced to vacate the building since it falls on the boundary between India and East Pakistan, they take up guns to fight back for the sake of their existence. Finally, the house becomes an inferno engulfing the brave women fighters under their own roof and in their own land, while the story of Rani Padmini of Chittorgarh is narrated in background. The cast of Rajkahini includes leading Bengali actors like Rituparna Sengupta, Koushik Sen, Saswata Chatterjee and Abir Chatterjee.

Srijit Mukherjee is one of the eminent Bengali filmmakers in Indian Cinema. His directorial debut Autograph was a critical and commercial success (2010). He has won six National Film Awards.

• Date: May 11
• Time: 9:15 PM
• Venue: Village East Cinema

Peace Haven by Sumon Ghosh

Among the Bengali films on the lineup of screenings for New York Indian Film Festival 2016, Peace Heaven is an unconventional story of three septuagenarian friends who decide to build their own mortuaries. The cremation of a friend in his son’s friend moves them to build proper mortuaries for themselves in their hometown so that their dead bodies can be preserved for last rites by their children who live abroad. They contemplate a morgue “Peace Haven” for themselves. The film casts veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee in one of the lead roles.

Suman Ghosh is one of the National Film Award winning directors in Bengali Cinema. A graduate of Cornell University from New York, he debuted into filmmaking with Footsteps which won two National Film Awards in 2012.

• Date: May 13
• Time: 9 PM
• Venue: Village East Cinema

Shaheb Bibi Golaam by Pratim Dasgupta 

The list of films for New York Indian film Festival 2016 include another Bengali film Shaheb Bibi Golaam by Pratim Dasgupta. It is a poignant story of a middle-class Hindu housewife, a middle-aged Anglo-Indian man, and a Muslim taxi driver. They live in different worlds, which collide on a winder afternoon in Kolkata.

Pratim Dasgupta, a journalist critic, debuted as a filmmaker with Paanch Adhyay which was premiered at New York’s South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF). Shaheb Bibi Golam stars Anjan Dutt, Swastika Mukherjee and Ritwick Chakrabarty.

• Date: May 9
• Time: 6 PM
• Venue: Village East Cinema

City of Dark by Spandan Banerjee

One of the Bengali films on the lineup of screenings at NYIFF 2016, City of Dark tells the story of two car journeys for six days and six nights in the city of Delhi. It shows how two characters – one is a struggling actor and the other is lonesome – fall in love due to accidental meetings during their journeys, which unfolds the dark side of the city.

Spandan Banerjee is a National Award winning filmmaker and founder of Overdose Films. Some of his films like Beware Dogs, To-Let, You Don’t Belong and English India have traveled to international film festivals. City of Dark stars Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, an eminent Bengali actor.

• Date: May 8
• Time: 9:30 PM
• Venue: Village East Cinema

The NYIFF 2016 schedule features screening of Bardroy Baretto’s Nachom-ia Kumpasar as the opening film, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Highway as the centerpiece film and Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh as the closing film. Check Details of Opening, Centerpiece and Closing Films.    

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The month of May is awaiting the inauguration of New York Indian Film Festival 2016, one of the most exciting New York events for Indians in the United States. Scheduled to continue from May 7 to 14, NYIFF has started rolling out the red carpet for actors and filmmakers from India as well as the USA.

The festival authority has not yet published the list of films for screening at NYIFF 2016 which Indians in New York and other cities are curious about. However, Bardroy Baretto’s Nachom-ia Kumpasar (Let’s Dance to the Rhythm) is the film to be screened on the opening night of New York Indian Film Festival. It depicts the bygone eras of Goan music in the Konkani region of India.

A tribute to the generation of Goan musicians in the 1960s and 70s, Let’s Dance to the Rhythm is a tragic love story with an emotional narrative about the past glory of Jazz music outside the popular Hindi cinema of Bombay (now Mumbai).

It is a cinematic celebration of music and love or love for music. With screening of Let’s Dance to the Rhythm, the opening night of the festival is sure to be the most entertaining of all New York City events in May. – Aseem Chhabra, Director of the New York Indian Film Festival.

“All is well if the end is well.” The maxim seems to be true about the closing night of the cultural extravaganza as the Indian community in New York will watch Aligarh, a critically acclaimed film by Hansal Mehta. Aligarh was recently released in India amidst controversial circumstances.

Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh starring Manoj Bajpayee in the lead is a biopic on the real life story of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who was a professor of Marathi language at Aligarh Muslim University in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He was a published poet too. Some of his colleagues conspired against him and got him suspended under the pretext of his sexual orientation.

Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Highway will be screened as centerpiece film at the New York Indian Film Festival 2016. It is a Marathi film set on the Mumbai-Pune highway, which depicts the eventful journey of characters from different walks of life. They discover and confront their unknown selves during the journey which ends up being an unexpected one. Highway marks the Marathi debut of Bollywood artists: Huma Qureshi, Tisca Chopra and Amit Trivedi. It also casts Renuka Sahane and Girish Kulkarni.

Among the New York City events in May, NYIFF 2016 will be a most glittering gala with the presence of eminent celebrities such as filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, filmmaker Hansal Mehta, actress Aparna Sen, author Salman Rushdie, cookbook writer Madhur Jaffrey, actor Naseruddin Shah, filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni and singer Rekha Bhardwaj. Arun Singh, Indian Ambassador to the US, is also on the list of guests at the New York Indian Film Festival.

The 16^th edition of NYIFF will screen some of the Indian movies which won the 63^rd National Film Awards this year. NYIFF 2016 is all set to be bigger than the 15^th edition in 2015 in number of days and films as well as in variety of languages and themes. Three theatres including Skirballl Centre for Performing Arts and Village East Cinemas in New York City will hold screenings for 8 days from May 7 to 14.

The fourth theatre will host judges, guests and board members for interesting panel discussions on different topics including LGBT, regional language cinema, animation films, popular film culture, filmmaking in New York, etc. There will be a panel discussion on the evergreen films by yesteryear filmmakers such as Bimal Roy and Basu Bhattacharya in Indian Cinema, too.

Renowned filmmaker Mira Nair is one of the emcees to give the welcome address at the 16^th New York Indian Film Festival 2016. 

Check Details Bollywood Exhibition in Washington DC

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The Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, a three-day cultural extravaganza, came to an end with the award ceremony, yesterday. The most engaging Washington DC event concluded with lots of happy notes for the Indian films which stole the show with a mixed audience of Americans and Indian Americans. Inaugurated by Frank Islam, a renowned Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist, the DCSAFF 2015 awarded some of the Indian films, their directors and actors in different categories. Indian Eagle lists the winners of the Washington DCSAFF 2015 below:

A moment of pride for the Bengali community at home and abroad! Kadambari starring the National Award winning actress Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead won the Best Film Award at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival yesterday. Directed by renowned filmmaker Suman Ghosh, Kadambari is a take on the indefinable relationship of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and his elder sister-in-law within the confines of the Jorasanko Thakurbari in Kolkata.

Titled after the Bard of Bengal’s sister-in-law, Kadambari, who was his muse, the film is the first celluloid adaptation of the stories interpreting and misinterpreting the relationship of an artist and his muse. Kadambari was screened at the Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival 2015 in June and elicited a mixed response from the audience in Hyderabad, India. Filmmaker Suman Ghosh is an Economics professor at Florida Atlantic University.

Of the Indian films screened at the 4^th Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, Chaitanya Tamhane won the Best Director Award for his debut film Court. The National Award winning Marathi film, Court is India’s official submission for the Oscars 2016 in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Based on a real life story, it is a critical commentary on the Indian judicial system and how it affects the lives of common men. The first premiere of Court was held at the 71^st Venice International Film Festival 2014. It has been felicitated with awards and honors at 18 international film festivals across the globe.

Rough Book by actor-director Ananth Mahadevan is awarded in the Best Story category at the DCSAFF 2015. Rough Book, a slice of life, highlights some critical issues with the contemporary education system in India through the eyes of a physics teacher. The protagonist is essayed by critically acclaimed actress Tannishtha Chatterjee whose Angry Indian Goddesses was the first runner up at the recently held Toronto International Film Festival.

The Washington DC South Asian Film Festival felicitated eminent actor-director Aparna Sen with a Special Achievement Award. The opening night of this prestigious Washington DC event saw screening of her Saari Raat (All Night Along) starring her daughter Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead. The film depicts how a stormy night changes the life of a newly married couple during a vacation. Saari Raat was first premiered at the New York Indian Film Festival 2015. Aparna Sen is one of the few who worked with legendary Satyajit Ray in Indian Cinema.

Kishor Kadam, who played the protagonist in search of his biological family after the character was picked as a foundling from the street and brought up by a poor family in the Marathi film Partu, won the Best Actor award. Partu is directed by Indian-American filmmaker Nitin Adsul. Partu was titled the Best Film in the audience award category.

However, it is Konkona Sen Sharma who stole the show at the Washington DC South Asian Film Fest this year. She won the crown of the Best Actress for her title role in Kadambari.

Check List of Indian Films Screened at Washington DCSAFF 2015

We at Indian Eagle congratulate the winners of the 4^th Washington DC South Asian Film Festival and rejoice in their success!

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Breathless waiting for the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF) will come to an end this September 25. DCSAFF is one of the popular South Asian film festivals in North America. One of the most exciting Washington DC events for Indian Americans, the film fest screens some of the best thought-provoking films in alternative cinema from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Held annually in the heart of America’s Capitol, DCSAFF has a lineup of full-length feature films and short films on contemporary subjects by Indian and Indian American filmmakers this year.

The Washington DC South Asian Film Festival will hold a special screening of Chitrangada by the late director Rituparno Ghosh, and Das Capital by the late cinematographer Rajan Kothari as a tribute to them, on the opening day. The who’s who of the film fest includes director Aparna Sen, director Suman Ghosh, actor Konkona Sen Sharma, and actor Raima Sen from the Bengali film industry of Kolkata. Indian-American filmmakers such as Ravi Kapoor, Rucha Humnabadkar and Nitin Adsul will be in attendance to make DCSAFF 2015 one of the most glittering events in Washing DC this weekend.

Indian Eagle handpicks seven films from the list of the DC South Asian Film Fest 2015 and reasons why each of them is a must watch for Indian Americans.

Saari Raat by Aparna Sen

The opening night of the DC South Asian Film Festival will see the screening of Saari Raat (All Night Along), a Hindi feature film by Aparna Sen from Kolkata. Actor-director Aparna Sen adapted a three-act play by Badal Sarkar, a legendary Bengali playwright, into Saari Raat as a tribute to him. Starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Anjan Dutt and Rittwik Chakraborty, the film depicts the story of a couple who gets caught in a storm and seeks shelter in a stranger’s house for the night during a vacation. Aparna Sen’s Saari Raat was premiered at the New York Indian Film Festival in May 2015.

• Date: September 25
• Time: 7 PM
• Venue: Rio, Theatre 10

Rough Book by Ananth Mahadevan

Rough Book by actor-director Ananth Mahadevan will be screened on the closing night of the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival. Rough Book is a critical take on the contemporary education system in modern India. The film pinpoints the gaps in the existing education system, which the protagonist who is a school teacher of Physics, protests against for the sake of her students. Rough Book stars Joy Sengupta, Ram Kapoor and Tannishtha Chatterjee, whose Parched and Angry Indian Goddesses were premiered at Toronto International Film Festival last week.

• Date: September 27
• Time: 3 PM
• Venue: AMC

Partu by Nitin Adsul

Partu by Indian-American filmmaker Nitin Adsul is a must watch Marathi film with English subtitles, which makes the DC South Asian Film Festival 2015 one of the most promising Washington DC events this weekend. Partu is the soul-stirring story of a boy’s journey in quest of his biological identity. The boy, a foundling, was picked from the streets of Midwest India and brought up by a poor family. When he grew up, he was gripped by a curiosity about his biological family, which set him on an endless journey to no destination. Filmmaker Nitin S. Adsul won the Best Director Award for his feature length documentary Kundalini at New York International Film Festival in 2010.

• Date: September 26
• Time: 6 PM
• Venue: AMC

Miss India America by Ravi Kapoor

Miss India America is an English film by actor-director Ravi Kapoor based in Los Angeles. Miss India America is a hilarious take on the aspirations of an Indian-American girl in Orange County. When the protagonist steps into the world of Indian American beauty pageants, her drive to win takes her out of the cocoon and sets her on an eventful ride. Born in England, filmmaker Ravi Kapoor is a British American of Indian heritage.

• Date: September 26
• Time: 3 PM
• Venue: Rio, AMC

For Here or To Go by Rucha Humnabadkar

For Here or To Go is a reality drama with comic overtones by Rucha Humnabadkar from the team of Many Cups of Chai Films in San Francisco. The film depicts a common story of many Indian Americans and their cultural displacement. According to the director, For Here or To Go is a contemporary urban comedy revolving around the loneliness and struggle of a white-collar immigrant in the Silicon Valley. It also reveals how ambitious young techies from India grapple with America’s byzantine immigration process.

• Date: September 26
• Time: 12 PM
• Venue: AMC

The Otherside by Venugopal Nakshathram

The Washington DC South Asian Film Festival will also screen The Otherside, a short film in Telugu with English subtitles, by Venugopal Nakshathram. A reason for the Telugu-speaking Indian Americans to cheer! The Otherside portrays the suffering of parents whose children live abroad. Based on one of the stories by Gaur Bairagi, a noted Bengali writer, the film sensitively depicts the mental agony of parents longing for the company of their children in the old age. A fulltime IT professional, Venugopal Nakshathram came into prominence when his documentary A Snake & Hidden Ladders on unemployment, an aftereffect of the recession, in northern VA USA, made a stir.

• Date: September 26
• Time: 12 PM
• Venue: AMC

Interior Café Night by Adhiraj Bose

Interior Café Night, a Hindi short film starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Basu Prasad and Shernaz Patel, is a must watch on the closing day of the South Asian Film Festival in Washington DC. Directed by Adhiraj Bose, Interior Café Night explores two different stories – one of an elderly couple and the other of a young couple – on one night at a café in Kolkata. The ageless affection of the elderly couple and the unfulfilled love of the impulsive young couple are delicately juxtaposed in the script. Adhiraj Bose is a 23-year old filmmaker and screenwriter from Kolkata, India.

• Date: September 27
• Time: 3 PM
• Venue: AMC

The Friday and Saturday nights of the Washington DC South Asian Film Fest will rock with karaoke. Vijai Nathan, a well-known stand-up comedian, will bring the house down during the award ceremony on the closing night of the event. Besides screening of films, acting and script writing workshops will be held at the festival venue, Courtyard Marriott in Gaithersburg.

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The 15th annual New York Indian Film Festival which kicked off promisingly on May 4 ended up announcing the winners of the year 2015, yesterday. NYIFF is one of the prestigious New York City events. The 15th edition of this South Asian Film Fest in the United States screened 50 feature films, short films and documentaries of South Asian filmmakers and actors.

The winners of the New York Indian Film Festival 2015 are Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Labour of Love, Shonali Bose’s Margarita with a Straw, Vibha Bakshi’s Daughters of Mother India, Manoj Nitharwal’s Seek & Hide, and Haramkhor.

Filmmaker Aditya Vikram Sengupta bagged three awards for his directorial Labour of Love in the Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay categories at the 15th NYIFF. Labour of Love is a take on how marriage that unifies two souls into one entity has been reduced to a mere event under pressure of a spiraling recession.

Margarita with a Straw by Indian American filmmaker Shonali Bose fetched the Best Actress award to Kalki Koechlin, who played the protagonist, a victim of cerebral palsy with aspirations to live life beyond limits and pent-up sexual desires. Margarita with a Straw depicting the journey of a differently abled woman’s self-discovery was the opening movie at the New York Indian Film Festival 2015.

Indian American journalist cum filmmaker Vibha Bakshi won the Best Documentary Film award for her Daughters of Mother India. The documentary, a journey in quest of gender equality for women through the aftermath of the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical intern in Delhi in 2012, is honored with the National Film Award 2015 for Best Film on Social Issues. Vibha Bakshi has the documentaries – Terror at Home, and Too Hot Not to Handle to her credit.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui bagged the Best Actor award for his dynamite performance in Haramkhor produced by Anurag Kashyap. The story of the movie, based in Gujarat, revolves around a school teacher and one of his students. Nawazuddin Siddiqui played the school teacher in this relationship story.

The festival was graced by a galaxy of glitterati such as Vishal Bhardwaj, Hansal Mehta, Shonali Bose, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Vibha Bakshi, Mohan Agashe, Anant Mahadevan, and Kalki Koechlin at Paris Theatre in New York City.

About NYIFF

The New York Indian Film Festival is the most prestigious South Indian Film Fest in the USA, hosting premiers of feature films, short films and documentaries about and from in the Indian Subcontinent. It promotes Indian Cinema in the American media, connects with the Indian diaspora in New York and adds to the cultural diversity of the USA.

About Indian Eagle

Indian Eagle Travel is a leading USA based international organization promoting Indian destinations & cultural heritage through interesting stories on Travel Beats and inspiring Indian Americans & American tourists to visit India.

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