Mahindra partners with Indo-American Arts Council for film festival

The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council festival, which will be held from November 7-11 at venues across Manhattan in the US, will showcase South Asian features, documentaries and shorts.

Mahindra Group vice chairman & MD Anand Mahindra says, “The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival is yet another way of strengthening our commitment to nurture the arts. With emphasis on cinema of and by the South Asian Diaspora, this festival has carved out a unique niche for itself and we are proud to be at the forefront of this international initiative.”

Adds noted filmmaker and member of IAAC’s advisory board Mira Nair, “The Indo-American Arts Council has given us a home for our work, our stories and our voices. It is a place for us to fly into the world. And like I always believe, if we don‘t tell our own stories, no one else will.”

The 50 films selected this year include stories that range from social issues to gritty suspense dramas. The festival kicks off with the screening of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’, the first Indian co-production by Sony Pictures. Others in the list include: Gandhi, My Father (directed by Feroze Abbas Khan), Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear and Dosar, and Pan Nalin’s Valley of Flowers.

For the 2007 MIAAC Film Festival, 50 films were selected including 12 world premieres, 11 US premieres and 15 New York premieres. The Festival includes films from several countries including India, Kuwait, France, United Kingdom, USA and Canada.

“We are struck by the sheer diversity of independent film in this year’s festival. The range of artistic expression this year – both directorial and in performances – gives a special quality to the films presented. The films truly uncover the aesthetic experimentation and complex storytelling that is at the heart of emerging independent filmmaking at the moment,” says festival director Pooja Kohli Taneja.

Other highlights include: the ‘AIDS JaaGo Project’ that presents four short dramatic films by cutting-edge Indian directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar that aim to dismantle myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS.