Utpal Borpujari / New Delhi
After being forced to postpone the physical edition of the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, its organisers, the Indo-American Arts Council, has announced that it would now be held virtually from July 24 to 30.
For the landmark 20th edition of the festival, the festival has announced a collaboration with the Movie Saints platform (www.moviesaints.com) to stream the films online.
The week-long festival will stream over 40 films – feature length narratives, shorts and documentaries – in various languages including Assamese, Bengali, Haryanvi, Hindi, English, Ladakhi, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali and Tamil. The names of the selected films would be announced closer to the festival dates.
“Unlike in the past when the New York Indian Film Festival program could only be experienced in Manhattan, ‘NYIFF 2020: Virtual Edition’ will offer many films to audiences across North America. Some films will also have a global reach,” IAAC said.
The NYIFF is the oldest Indian film event in North America, and over the years, it has held New York premieres of a wide range of films, including Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, Slumdog Millionaire, Shahid, Fandry, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Gangs of Wasseypur.
NYIFF was launched in the fall of 2001 as a response to the September 11th terror attacks on the city’s landmark buildings. The idea was to encourage New Yorkers to come back to theaters and enjoy films as a community activity.