Get your tickets now! NYIFF, the longest-running, most prestigious Indian film festival in the country, announces its 2012 line-up of films, including the opening night film, centerpiece film, and sidebar festival.
Opening Night Film – Bedabrata Pain’s CHITTAGONG: Set in the turbulence of the 1930s British India, Chittagong is a true story of a 14-year-old boy, Jhunku, and of his journey to find where he belongs. For the first time in Indian history, the British army is defeated by a ragtag army of schoolboys and their teacher, Masterda. Called a traitor by his peers, and let down by a man he trusts, Jhunku impulsively joins the movement. As his world is turned upside down, Jhunku is forced to confront his self-doubts. As the leaders of the movement are progressively caught or killed, Jhunku battles against seemingly insurmountable odds to win a victory of his own. The film is a brilliant, poignant action-drama, made more so by the fact that it is true. Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Barry John and Delzad Hiwale.
Centerpiece Film – Tribute to the Late Great Dev Anand through HUM DONO RANGEEN: Hum Dono Rangeen was restored and colorized using Legend Film’s proprietary colorization process. The process has consistently been lauded as the highest quality color conversion technology in the world and has been used extensively on Hollywood feature films over the past 10 years. Hum Dono Rangeen was one of the latest colorization projects using the technology and it is considered light years ahead of Mugal e Azam in the quality of its color, artistry and overall design. The colorization of Hum Dono Rangeen was executed by Jagan Mohan at Goldstone Technologies, a technology licensee of Legend Films under the collaborative eye of Legend Films engineers and technicians. It lives as the finest example of Bollywood colorization that exists today.
Sidebar Festival – Shyam Benegal Retrospective followed by a post-screening discussion with director: Mamoo (1994), Sardari Begum (1996), and Zubeidaa (2001) - the first such programming of Benegal’s trilogy based on scripts by renowned critic, journalist, and filmmaker Khalid Mohamed. All three films are Mohamed’s personal stories about his mother, grandmother, aunt, and grandaunt. Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934, Hyderabad) is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films, Ankur (1973), Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976) and Bhumika (1977), he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the “middle cinema” in India. He has expressed dislike of the term, preferring his work to be called New or Alternate cinema. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991. On 8 August 2007, Benegal was awarded the highest award in Indian cinema for lifetime achievement, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2005. He has won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi seven times.
“To commemorate the one hundredth year of Indian cinema, our 2012 line-up celebrates all that NYIFF finds inspiring about great films – depth, character study, ingenious plots, and riveting messages,” says Aroon Shivdasani, Executive Director of the Indo-American Arts Council, the non-profit organization responsible for organizing the New York Indian Film Festival. “These movies have already won National Awards in India, at Cannes, Sundance, and the Berlin Film Festivals. We are proud to share our entire schedule with New York cinephiles.” For more information about NYIFF and to see the entire film schedule, please visit: www.iaac.us/NYIFF2012/ |
