12th Annual New York Indian Film Festival Nominees

The 12th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), which runs from May 23 to 27 at the Tribeca Cinemas in Lower Manhattan, showcases more than 50 features, documentaries, and short films over a span of five days. The festival kicked off with an opening night red carpet screening of Bedabrata Pain’s CHITTAGONG on May 23 at the Paris Theater, followed by a VIP gala dinner at the Essex House Ballroom. Tonight, Rituparno Ghosh’s CHITRANGADA, the centerpiece film will have its world premiere at Tribeca Cinemas. On Sunday, May 27, 2012, Anurag Kashyap’s GANGS OF WASSEYPUR closes the festival at NYU’s Skirball Theater, followed by an awards ceremony and closing night party, sponsored by Wells Fargo.

“And the nominees for the 12th annual NYIFF are…”
BEST FILM 
Aadukalam
Chitrangada
Chittagong
Gattu
Shala

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM 
Big in Bollywood
Inshallah Football
Kumare
Saving Face
Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret

BEST SCREENPLAY
Pooja Desai, Anvita Dutt, Rajesh Narasimhan, Ashish Patil (Mujshe Fraaandship Karoge)
Avinash Deshpande (Shala)
Rituparno Ghosh (Chitrangada)
Vetri Maaran (Aadukalam)
Bedabrata Pain, Shonali Bose (Chittagong)

BEST DIRECTOR
Sujay Dahake (Shala)
Rituparno Ghosh (Chitrangada)
Vetri Maaran (Aadukalam)
Prashant Nair (Delhi in a Day)
Bedabrata Pain (Chittagong)

BEST YOUNG ACTOR
Sihle Dlamini (Lucky)
Dilzad Hiwale (Bubble Gum)
Dilzad Hiwale (Chittagong)
Ashuman Joshi(Shala)
Ketaki Mategaonkar (Shala)
Mohd Samad (Gattu)

THE BEST SHORTS
Aashpordha
Bombay Snow
Dilli Dreams
Do Pahar
Silent Waters

BEST ACTOR
Manoj Bajpayee (Chittagong)
Dhanush (Aadukalam)
Ankur Khanna (Abosheshey)
Nana Patekar (Shagird)
Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Dekh Indian Circus)
Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Chittagong)

BEST ACTRESS
Jayashree Basavaraj (Lucky)
Priyanka Bose (Gangor)
Tannishtha Chatterjee (Dekh Indian Circus)
Anjali Patil (Delhi in a Day)
Lipica Shah (Let’s Be Out, The Sun Is Shining)

The independent jury who votes for their favorite nominees in each category are: Parag Amladi, Ashish Avikunthak, Dev Benegal, Jerry Carlson, Tejaswini Ganti, Udayan Gupta, Poorna Jagannathan, Kavey Kaul, Joseph Mathew, Myrna Moncayo-Iyengar, Claus Mueller, Muriel (Mike) Peters, Zenobia Shroff, and Nilita Vachani. The awards are audited by KPMG, and the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony following the closing night film on May 27.

For more information about the entire schedule, please visithttp://www.iaac.us/NYIFF2012/.

About the Indo-American Arts Council: The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered not-for-profit arts organization passionately dedicated to showcasing, building awareness, and celebrating artists of Indian origin in the performing, visual and literary arts. Annual festivals of art, dance, play writing and film are scheduled through the year, with several special events and book launches. For further information please visitwww.iaac.us. NYIFF was born in the aftermath of 9/11 in response to Mayor Giuliani’s call to New Yorkers to help rebuild a limping city. The First Annual film Festival opened its doors with Film Diaspora Godfather Ismail Merchant and closed with New York’s favorite Indian filmmaker Mira Nair.