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    NORTH AMERICAN Newsline                                                   MAY 02, 2025     |  The Indian Eye 22

                  New York Indian Film Festival

                    Marks 25th Anniversary with

                                       Powerhouse Lineup

                  NYIFF Pays Tribute to Shyam Benegal and Features Special Film on James Ivory

            OUR BUREAU

            New York, NY
                  he New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF),
                  the longest-running and most prestigious
            TU.S. festival dedicated to Indian indepen-
            dent cinema, returns for its milestone 25th edition
            from June 20–22, spotlighting bold new voices,
            storied auteurs, and urgent narratives from the In-
            dian subcontinent and its global diaspora.
                Screenings will take place at Manhattan’s Vil-
            lage East by Angelika, with tickets and full pro-
            gramming details now live at nyiff.us. All the films
            have English subtitles.
                The 2025 lineup includes 22 feature-length
            films—18 narratives and 4 documentaries—span-
            ning more than a dozen languages and regions.
            From Tamil and Odia to Assamese, Hindi, and
            Malayalam, the selection reflects both the diver-
            sity and the evolving language of Indian cinema.
            The festival program also includes 21 short narra-
            tive and documentary films.
            Opening Film Showcases Emerging Voices
                The festival opens with the East Coast pre-  stars Rasika Dugal (Delhi Crime, Mirzapur) and   li Bose and Nilesh Maniyar documenting physi-
            miere of The Fable, Raam Reddy’s visually ar-  Gulshan Devaiah (Hunterrr, Ulajh), who will be   cian-assisted suicide in Switzerland. Other stand-
            resting drama that debuted at the 2024 Berlina-  in attendance alongside the crew.         outs: Marching in the Dark (Marathi), on widows
            le. Starring Manoj Bajpayee, Priyanka Bose, and    Off-Screen Celebration at Chatti        of suicide-struck farmers; Renaissance Man, about
            Deepak Dobriyal, the film merges surrealism and   Following the closing night, the festival will   parliamentarian Vivek Tankha; and Turtle Walker,
            psychological tension against the Himalayan back-  host its official after-party at Chatti, a buzzy new   which follows a conservationist’s mission to pro-
            drop. Reddy, whose debut Thithi won the Golden   Manhattan hotspot by chef Regi Mathew. Known   tect India’s sea turtles.
            Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and an Indi-  for its contemporary twist on Kerala cuisine, the   Legacy and Looking Ahead
            an National Film Award, returns with what critics   venue offers an intimate setting to toast the future   “What began as a grassroots platform is now a
            have called a “lyrical, genre-defying triumph.” The   of Indian cinema.                    global stage for Indian independent cinema,” says
            Fable recently took home Best Film at the Leeds                                            Festival Director Aseem Chhabra. “This year’s
            International Film Festival.                    Honoring Master Storytellers: Shyam        lineup is one of our most powerful and wide-rang-
                With haunting performances and a stellar en-      Benegal and James Ivory
            semble including Tillotama Shome in a cameo,     The festival pays tribute to Shyam Benegal, a   ing to date. From deeply personal documentaries
                                                                                                       to regional narratives that rarely reach global au-
            The Fable sets the tone for a weekend of cinema   titan of Indian parallel cinema who passed away in   diences,  the  25th  edition  of  NYIFF  reflects  the
            that is as thought-provoking as it is emotionally   2024. NYIFF will screen a 4K restoration of Man-  evolving language of Indian cinema. We are espe-
            resonant.                                    than (1976), his landmark film about India’s White   cially proud to welcome back stalwarts like Gou-
                  Centerpiece and Closing Films          Revolution, restored by the Film Heritage Foun-  tam Ghose, Rima Das, Suman Ghosh and Nikhil
                         Bring Star Power                dation. The film premiered at the Cannes Classics   Mahajan, while also shining a spotlight on extraor-
                Kennedy, the noir thriller that bowed in   in 2024.                                    dinary new talent making their debut. And we are
                                                             Also, on the slate is An Arrested Moment, a
            Cannes’ Midnight Section, headlines as the cen-  short documentary from The Metropolitan Mu-  thrilled to have actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who
            terpiece. Anchored by Rahul Bhat’s intense lead   seum of Art, directed by Dev Benegal. The film   has won two NYIFF best actor trophies, attend
            performance—building on his recent acclaim for   explores Oscar-winner James Ivory’s enduring fas-  this year’s festival.”
            the series Black Warrant—the film is directed by   cination with Indian art and culture.      Adds Suman Gollamudi, Executive Director
            Anurag Kashyap, stars Sunny Leone and tackles                                              of the Indo-American Arts Council, which pres-
            corruption and inner demons.                          Documentaries Spotlight              ents NYIFF: “This festival has long been a space
                The  closing  night  film,  Little  Thomas,  is  a   Urgency and Humanity              where India’s cinematic legacy meets its most dar-
            coming-of-age dramedy set in 1990s Goa, mark-    NYIFF’s nonfiction programming includes A   ing futures. At 25, we are not just celebrating the
            ing the directorial debut of Kaushal Oza. The film   Fly on the Wall, a deeply personal film by Shona-  past—we are investing in what’s next.”

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