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11th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL May 4-8, 2011 DOCUMENTARY @ NYIFF

Bhopali Thursday, May 5, 2011, Tribeca Theater 1, 9.00 pm. Directed by Max Carlson USA, 2011, 89 minutes, English, New York Premiere Cast- Noam Chomsky, Satinath Sarangi, Sanjay Verma, Rajan Sharma, Hazra Bee In 1984 a Union Carbide factory gas leak contaminated and killed thousands in Bhopal, India. Their suffering continues today: a father battles to save his dying daughter; a school rehabilitates children with birth abnormalities; a 25-year-old whose 9 family members perished, copes with pain and death. Fueled by their suffering, the community fights against the American corporation responsible for the continued tragedy. BHOPALI is a feature DOCUMENTARY about the survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster. Today, the suffering continues, prompting victims to fight for justice against Union Carbide, the American corporation responsible. Winner Audience Award, Slamdance Film Festival, 2011 Winner Grand Jury Best Documentay Award, Slamdance Film Festival, 2011 Van Maximilian Carlson, born November 1984, is a Los Angeles-based director, editor, and cinematographer who has worked on numerous projects including DOCUMENTARY, commercials, trailers, and several original dramatic films. His directorial works have received numerous awards, such as a “Special Jury Award” at the 40th Annual USA Film Festival, the “Most Promising Director Award” at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, and the “Best Director Award” at the Toronto International Teen Movie Festival for a short film he completed while in high school. He directed and shot ‘Dissociative’ (2008), which went on to win a “Best thriller Award.” His film, ‘Ninth November Night’ (2004), was considered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences DOCUMENTARY Screening Committee to be “one of the outstanding DOCUMENTARY of 2004.” His editorial work has also been recognized and awarded three Promax/ BDA awards and one Key Art nomination. With: 136 Directed by Ajay Naidu USA, 2004, 6 minutes, English, New York Premiere A music video set to the music of the Midival Punditz.   Friday, May 6, 2011, Tribeca Theater 1, 9.00 pm, You Don't Belong (DOCUMENTARY) Directed by Spandan Banerjee India, 2011, 75 minutes, Bengali (with English subtitles), US Premiere Cast- Arun Chakraborty Paban Das is a baul singer living in France singing songs of wandering minstrels. Arun Chakraborty is a poet living a quietly content life in a hamlet of West Bengal. Bhoomi is a band from Kolkata, popular for their renditions of folk tunes. Prabuddha Banerjee is a musician with a history of protest music. Paraspathor is an erstwhile band left with memories of their popular songs and lost fame. Disparate characters who are bound together by a filmmaker's search for the elusive author of a song, popular in collective memory as a traditional folk song. What follows is a long self-reflexive journey into the world of folk, a journey, which nudges established ideas of home, nostalgia, belonging, and authorship as the film explores deeper into the song that serves for a metaphor of the contemporary fragmented times. Travelling across remembered lands and forgotten histories following the unseen path of migration that music takes, You Don't Belong asks some important questions about the encounter between art and mass production, creation and ownership in a country rich with myriad folk and oral traditions. Spandan Banerjee is an independent filmmaker based in Delhi, India. Under his alternative outfit Overdose Films he directs DOCUMENTARY, narrative films as well as directs and produces commissioned film projects. His earlier films 'Beware Dogs' (Doc/45mins/2007) and 'The Fiction' (Fiction/45mins/2008) have premiered and screened at various film festivals across the world. His other interests include designing, photography, cartooning and food. He is currently developing his new music DOCUMENTARY 'Night Songs' and scripting two feature film projects. With: Poshak Directed by Iram Parveen Bilal Pakistan, 2010, 12 minutes, New York Premiere Uninspired writer, Dua Tariq, realizes that the search for uninhibited creativity and her true self requires freedom from society's harsh judgments and facades. Her inner soul must be lured out to fulfill her manifestation.   Saturday, May 7, 2011, Tribeca Theater 2, 9.30 pm The Bengali Detective (DOCUMENTARY) Directed by Phil Cox UK, 2011, 75 minutes, English, Hindi Bengali (with English subtitles) New York Premiere Cast- Rajesh Ji, Minnie, Gaurav, Dibindu, Ramesh, Deepti Co-produced with award-winning filmmaker Annie Sundberg from Break Thru Films (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, The Devil Came on Horseback), this originally styled DOCUMENTARY provides an entertaining yet poignant look at modern India. What happens when people lose trust in the authorities? In India – a new wave of private detective agencies are answering the call. Poisonings, adultery, fraud, bridal purity, and the occasional murder – such are the day-to-day investigations of Kolkata's Bengali Detective - Rajesh Ji. The Bengali Detective follows the intrepid, dance-obsessed gumshoe and his motley band of helpers on unpredictable raids and corkscrew investigations, exposing the secrets, fears, and covert lives of today's middle-class Indian society with a cheeky mix of fly-on-the-wall surveillance and Bangla-pop wiggle. Philip Cox has been the head of the award winning Native Voice Films since 1998. His last feature doc 'We Are The Indians' aired on Channel 4/ MORE4 to critical acclaim, winning three festival awards and a cinema release. He has won and has been for seven international awards for his reportage and DOCUMENTARY work, including the Roy Peck award, and the Royal Television Society award. Phil was born in London on July 31, 1974. With: The Professionals Directed by Oniket Alam Bangladesh, 2010, 13 minutes, New York Premiere What happens when Joshim (Aref Syed), a simple mill worker, comes face to face with the doctor whose negligence crippled him for life? and Topi Directed by Arjun Rihan India, 2009, 6 minutes, New York Premiere Amidst the turbulent partition of India circa 1947, a young Hindu boy has a chance encounter with a stranger   Made In India Friday, May 6, 2011, Tribeca Theater 1, 3.00 pm. Directed by Rebecca Haimowitz & Vaishali Sinha USA/India, 2010, 97 Minutes, English and Hindi, New York Premiere ‘Made in India’ shows the physical, moral, and emotional risks that middle-class Westerners and poorIndianwomen take when they sign a surrogacy contract.Lisa and BrianSwitzer of SanAntonio are an infertile American couple who have exhausted all other expensive and painful options of getting pregnant. Still, Lisa is determined not to give up on her dream of having children. After considerable soul-searching, the Switzers contact a California-based reproductive outsourcing business. Meanwhile in Mumbai we meet Aalia, the cheerful young mother of three who is contracted to carry the Switzers’ baby for a price. The film’s two directors, American Rebecca Haimowitz and Indian Vaishali Sinha, go beyond sensationalist headlines to explore global issues of reproductive rights and social justice. Weaving together the Switzers’ and Aalia’s stories with interviews involving fertility experts and hospital administrators, they depict decisions made by families in crisis who look toward reproductive technology as a panacea. As might be expected when such divergent cultures converge, there are unforeseen complications. Winner Grand Jury Award for Best DOCUMENTARY Feature, Florida Film Festival 2011 Winner Jury Award for Best DOCUMENTARY Feature Award, San Francisco Intl Asian American Film Festival, 2011 Winner Jury Award for Best DOCUMENTARY Feature at Magnolia Independent Film Festival, 2011 Rebecca Haimowitz received her Master's degree in Filmmaking from Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she also worked as a screenwriting instructor. Vaishali Sinha worked for non-profit organizations in India that promote women’s voices and studied film at the New School University in New York. Originally from Mumbai, she now lives in Brooklyn.   Saturday, May 7, 2011, Tribeca Theater 2, 12.30 pm, Holy Kitchen (DOCUMENTARY) Directed by Vikas Khanna USA, 2011, 43 Minutes, English, World Premiere The Holy Kitchens film series is an attempt to tie together the meaning of food in religion with the real world experience of sharing food in a spiritual context. At any given time somewhere on Earth, people are gathering to share food in the name of God. This is spiritual sustenance, meant to bring us closer together and closer to the Creator. It brings the community together into a sense of shared identity and purpose. This is the story of the Holy Kitchens. Karma to Nirvana is the second Film in the Holy Kitchen Series - it explores the food sharing traditions of Hinduism. The life and stories of Lord Krishna, - who is recognized as the eighth avatar of Vishnu or as the Supreme Being, is the starting point for the exploration of the ties between sharing food and spiritual bonds. However one sees or defines Lord Krishna, the sharing of food and the concept of service to one’s fellow man is tightly woven into the principles of karma as he set them forth in the Bhagavad-Gita. This is also where he set forth his belief in nonviolence and the importance of restraining the destructive passions which would be adopted so famously by the world’s greatest civil rights leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the film Chef Vikas Khanna takes us on a journey to Kerela – to the ashram of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, as well as ISKCON – Food relief foundation in India and the UK headquarters to learn more about the present day food sharing practices and rituals. Everyday devotees distribute hundreds of thousands of meals free of charge in the name of God as an offering, - as a way of sharing God’s Love with others. ISKCON’s Mid-day meal program provides free meals to children in schools in India thereby helping them get an education and ensuring a brighter future for them as well as for India. According to the Bhagavad-Gita – “Sharing food is the highest form of Karma”. It is this selfless service to others that eventually leads us to the path to higher spirituality and thus to Nirvana. With: Kosu Directed by Saro Varjabedia USA/ India, 2009, 22 minutes, New York Premiere An American, who volunteers with an Indian orphanage, disrupts the status quo, provoking the couple running it to work through their emotional scars. and Autumn Meanderings Directed by: Archana Vallabhaneni USA, 2011, 22 minutes, New York Premiere ‘Autumn Meanderings’ is a story about three teenage siblings, who take off on a camping trip, and discover life's complexities and in a way, each other too, in the process. Floyd, Mason and Emory are the siblings who have a history of getting along well with each other, go on an annual camping trip. As this is a turning point in each of their lives, each one of them has an urgent need to be camping or be far away from the trip altogether. The youngest one, Emory, gets lost in the woods - causing even more unrest.   11th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL May 4-8, 2011 SPONSORS   INDUSTRY SPONSORS   MEDIA SPONSORS Community Sponsor   EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS NYU Whistling Woods       GIFT BAG DONORS

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