The festival began in November 2001 as the Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival (IAAC). It was founded in response to the attacks of September 11, as a way to educate the community on Indian culture.[1] The first festival took place at the Imagin Asian Theatre. Subsequent festivals have been hosted by Tribeca Cinemas, The Walter Read Theater at The Lincoln Center, Asia Society, Aicon Gallery, Cantor Film Center at New York University, and SVA Theaters. The opening night ceremony of the 2011 festival took place at the Paris Theater.[2]
In 2007, the festival partnered with The Mahindra Group to help the festival grow and reach wider audiences. The festival also changed its name to The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival (MIAAC).[3]
In 2011, the festival was moved to May, instead of its traditional November date. India Abroad journalist Aseem Chhabra took over as festival director, and the festival name was changed to The New York Indian Film Festival.[5] In 2022, many Indian films will be a part of the festival.This includes Shoe Box, Boomba Ride (Assamese), My Mother’s Girlfriend and more.[6]
The Festival
Each year, the festival screens about 40 films from Indian filmmakers, or films relating to India or the Indian Diaspora. Throughout the festival, industry panels and discussions with filmmakers are held, with Q&A’s after the screenings. Frequent festival attendees include Mira Nair, Salman Rushdie, Padma Lakshmi, Shabana Azmi, and Deepa Mehta.
The festival will usually hold a retrospective to honor a prominent filmmaker, artist, or actor, and will screen a number of their most notable films. Past retrospectives have featured Mira Nair, Smita Patil, and Rabindranath Tagore. The 12th NYIFF will feature a retrospective on the Indian film director Shyam Benegal.[7]
Many films had their New York or world premiere at NYIFF, including:
The 2021 edition of the festival was held from June 4 to June 13, 2021. Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocol it was held in virtual format for the second year in succession.[8][9]
Number of films
58 films were screened which included featured, documentaries and shorts. Indian films in 15 languages including Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu were screened.[10]
The 2022 edition of the festival was held from May 7 to May 14, 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic it was held in virtual format for the third year in succession.[11][12]
Best Actress - Akshata Pandavapura for Where Is Pinki?[14]
Best Child Actor - Karan Dave for Habbadi
Best Screenplay- Where Is Pinki? (Pinki Eili?)
Best Short (Narrative) - Sudipto Roy for Tasher Ghawr
Best Documentary (Feature) - Ahimsa- Gandhi: The Power of the Powerless by Ramesh Sharma[15]
Best Documentary (Short) - Seva
Jury
The festival’s jury consists of 13 members who have worked in both the Indian and American film industry. The jury's votes are monitored and collected by KPMG.[16]
