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NORTH AmERIcAN Newsline OCTOBER 15, 2021 | The Indian Eye 40

7th annual dfw Saff & 3rd annual

nyc Saff announce marquee lineup for

Back-to-Back, in-person festivals in october

our Bureau World premiere of Rajaram
Rajendran’s sci-fi thriller RANI
New York, NY RANI RANI, starring indepen-
resented by Toyota Motor dent cinema queen Tannishtha
North America for the sec- Chatterjee in the titular, TRI-
Pond time, the 7th annual PLE roles.
Dallas/Fort Worth South Asian The grande dame of Indian
Film Festival (DFW SAFF) and cinema, Farrukh Jaffar (of GU-
the 3rd annual New York City LABO SITABO and PEEPLI
South Asian Film Festival (NYC LIVE fame), takes on Bolly-
SAFF), produced by Texas, New wood’s patriarchy in the North
York and India-based media con- American Premiere of Sandeep
glomerate, JINGO Ventures, Kumar’s MEHRUNISA.
will showcase an identical lineup One of Mindy Kaling’s fa-
of 23 finely-curated shorts, doc- vorite films of the year is Sujata
umentaries and feature films in Day’s Indo-American, model
downtown Dallas and Manhat- minority satire DEFINITION
tan during consecutive weekends our online programming during to growing our support of the PLEASE, having its Dallas and
in October. the 2020 lockdown was so suc- South Asian community in Dal- NYC premieres at our festivals.
“Typically, we host our Dallas cessful and attracted an astound- las and New York City.” International festival pre-
festival in the spring and our New ing number of cinephiles across The opening, centerpiece and miere of Abhiroop Basu’s short
York festival in the fall,” said Fes- North America.” closing nights films at DFW SAFF film, LAALI, starring Pankaj
tivals Founder and Director Ji- “After the incredible success & NYC SAFF are Geeta Malik’s Tripathi as a lonely, Calcutta
tin Hingorani, “but because of of our partnership with DFW comedy INDIA SWEET AND laundryman who finds solace in
the ongoing pandemic and the SAFF and NYC SAFF in 2019, SPICES, Gaurav Madan’s dra- an unclaimed red dress left be-
travel restrictions around it, we we are excited to partner with ma BARAH BY BARAH and hind by a customer.
decided to host both festivals Jitin and his team once again,” Ajitesh Sharma’s documentary Faraz Arif Ansari’s lesbian
back-to-back in the fall, so that said Kelsey Charles, sponsorship WOMB (Women Of My Billion). short SHEER QORMA, star-
we can highlight the same set integration, integrated market- The festivals boast FOUR ring Shabana Azmi, Divya Dut-
of films and fly in the same tal- ing operations, Toyota Motor world premieres, EIGHT North ta and Swara Bhaskar, as part of
ent for both festivals. We’ve also North America. “At Toyota, we American premieres and 11 Tex- the festival’s LBGTQIA+ pro-
added a virtual festival, after our celebrate cultural diversity in all as/NYC premieres. Highlights gramming. Ansari and Dutta will
two physical festivals, because that we do, and we look forward over the THREE days include: be in attendance.

ribeca Film Festival darling, ooraj, the last remaining death photogra- OMB is a heart-warming watch
TINDIA SWEETS AND SPIC- Spher at the burning banks of Manikarni- Wexploring the socio-political is-
ES, celebrates a young woman’s ka, is going through troubled times like old sues faced by women of today’s India.
coming-of-age, set against a lov- Kashi. The ancient town is being demolished The documentary feature highlights
ingly-framed glimpse of the life of to build modern beautified pathways. The the monumental journey through Sri-
an Indian-American family. death photographer is out of work because of shti Bakshi’s lens, her interaction with
Directed by Geeta Malik and the fancy smartphones with exquisite cameras. over 85,000 women over more than 100
starring Sophia Ali, Manisha Koi- He stands at the crossroads - either he contin- workshops she conducted in schools,
rala, Adil Hussain and Deepti ues seeking dummies to click or he looks for villages and institutions on her walk
Gupta. greener pastures beyond the singed banks of from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
Varanasi to secure a better future for his family.

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