DAY 5 NYIFF 2013 FILMS ON MAY 4 AT TRIBECA CINEMAS. BUY YOUR TIX ASAP.

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 10:00 am, Theatre 2 at Tribeca Cinemas.

Shunyo Awnko
Directed by Goutam Ghose.
India, 2013, Feature Film, 128 Minutes, Bengali and Hindi with English subtitles.
U. S. Premiere.
Cast- Priyanshu Chatterjee, Konkona Sensharma, Priyanka Bose, Soumitra Chatterjee.
Post-screening discussion with director Goutam Ghose.

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2g3btyGndLw

Are these two tales of one country? Or, are there two countries -- distinct and different? Two Indias, one…confident, vibrant and growing. Where liberalism is the order of the day, where consumerism tells the last word, where the future shines bright. Another pushed to the margin. Poor, helpless, denied of even basic necessities of existence. The two ‘countries’ stare at each other. With hope and despair, belief and suspicion, joy and tears manifest in the faces of their people. Against this backdrop, we find six principal characters that every now and then recall their past memories, are bound by daily compulsions, yet have dreams of varying colours and shades. At the same time issues of insurgency, infiltration and proxy wars co-exist in tandem. The film, set in stark contrast through a maze of visual imagery, complex characters and changing landscapes, wakes us to a lofty realization -----“One whom you keep beneath will only tie you down … One whom you keep behind will also drag you backwards”.

Closing Night Film, Saturday, May 4, 2013, 6:00 pm at Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

Filmistaan
Directed by Nitin Kakkar.
India, 2012, 117 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
New York Premiere.
Cast- Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt, Inaamulhaq.
Post-screening discussion with director Nitin Kakkar.
Winner Best Hindi Film, 60th National Film Awards.

This National Award winning movie is set in Mumbai where, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 12:00 noon, Theatre 1 at Tribeca Cinemas. Daadi Directed by David Andrew Stoler. USA, 18 mins. and When Hari Got Married Directed by Tenzing Sonam, Ritu Sarin. United Kingdom, India, Norway, Documentary, 2012, 75 Minutes, English with Foreign subtitles. U.S. Premiere. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=-gGKt_ugLP0 When Hari, a small-town taxi driver, has an arranged marriage to a girl he has never met, the result is an intimate and humorous look at the changes taking place in India as modernity and globalization meet age-old traditions and customs. NYIFF SPECIAL EVENT: CELL PHONE CINEMA-MOBILE BOLLYWOOD 1 minute Mobile Bollywood: Cell Phone Cinema shorts from students of New York University, under the supervision of Prof. Karl Bardosh, have been making Music Videos with their own interpretation of popular Bollywood sound tracks.



Saturday, May 4, 2013, 12:30 pm, Theatre 2 at Tribeca Cinemas. Romancing With Life Directed by Nidhi Kathuria. USA 2013, 9:40 minutes, English. Jia loses all her money to bankruptcy and is being evicted from her apartment. She has lost her Grandmother who was the pillar of her strength. She walks away with a bag pack; ready to face the world. Jia is angry with God and with the world and that's a burden she carries in her heart. She has to let go of her house, her past and make a fresh start. She thinks she is ready for it. She is arrogant, hardened, and will play by her own terms. Yet, somewhere she craves for real love and acceptance. All by herself, she is now at the mercy of the world. Will the universe embrace her? Poverty makes you sometimes hope and wish harder. They say a poor person needs to trust the benevolence of the world is more than a rich man. She sees life passing her by. As people come and go, it symbolizes her hope about life. Like a matchstick flame, her hope also flickers, sometimes more than other times. It is memories of her grandmother that sustain he r. Every time Jia lights up a matchstick, her memories of love, hope and nurturing around her grandmother become more prominent and Listen Amaya Directed by Avinash Kumar Singh. India, 2012, Feature Film, 108 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles. New York Premiere. Cast- Farooque Shaikh, Deepti Naval, Swara Bhaskar, Amala Akkineni, Siddhant Karnick, Vidya Bhushan, Viren Basoya. Post-screening discussion with director Avinash Kumar Singh. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=XeHLyGV0jaA Listen Amaya is a modern, young, contemporary film about relationships, family dynamics, about pre-conceptions and about priorities. Book a coffee, is an offbeat library cum coffee shop. It is owned and run by Leela Krishnamoorthy, a middle aged widow. She herself is as interesting and free spirited as the café she runs! Amaya, Leela’s only child is a firebrand 22 year-old writer; quick witted, confident and open-minded. "They adore each other as only a mother daughter can". Into this mix, is thrown Jayant Sinha. A 60 year old retired photographer, who continues his chosen profession as a hobby today. He is passionate about people and the memories they create; he is also a great friend to Amaya Krishnamoorthy, with whom he decides to co-author a coffee table book, titled "Memories of The Busy Bazaar". The Busy Bazaar as a title has its own story and adds a subtle but intriguing undercurrent to the narrative woven around it.

Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema,
Saturday, May 4, 2013, 2:45 pm,
Theatre 2 at Tribeca Cinemas.

Kalpana
Directed by Uday Shanker.
India, 1948, 160 mins, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast: Uday Shankar, Padmini, Usha Kiran, Amala Shankar, Lakshmi Kanta.

Part soap opera, ballet, and political treatise, Kalpana blends surrealism with the high art of Indian classical dance to tell a story loosely based on director Uday Shankar's own experiences trying to found a dance academy. The film opens with an earnest film director who pitches a screenplay to the owner of a production company. The producer rebuffs the director, claiming he is only interested in films that will net the highest possible box office rather than works with cultural integrity. The director begs him to at least hear him out, and thus the story of Kalpana begins to unfold. Kalpana centers on Udayan, a boy who, despite a difficult childhood, becomes a great dancer. Udayan dreams of opening a dance academy, but must overcome a series of professional challenges, including a crooked theatre promoter, and navigate the competing affections of two women, Uma and Kamini. Dance is used as the primary tool of expression throughout the film, lending Kalpana a uniq ue style that is still unrivaled in Indian cinema.

Human Rights Watch Film Festival,
Saturday, May 4, 2013, 3:00 pm, Theatre 1 at Tribeca Cinemas.

Please Don’t Beat Me Sir
Directed by Shashwati Talukdar, P. Kerim Friedman.
India, 2011, Documentary, 75 Minutes, Hindi, Bhantu and Gujarati with English subtitles.
U.S. Premiere.
Post-screening discussion with director Shashwati Talukdar.

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=DqC7eRql1K0

Over 60 million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as "criminals by birth." The Chhara of Ahmedabad, in Western India, is one of 198 such "Criminal Tribes." Declaring that they are "born actors," not "born criminals," a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater in their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality — a stigma internalized by their own grandparents. 'Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!' follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution.