New York: As Indian filmmakers in the United States take on the world stage, an Indian American film festival has also made a mark for itself in the cultural landscape of New York City.
Now in its fifth year, the Indo-American Arts Council festival opened on Wednesday. The film festival has become a major desi cultural event in New York as thousands thronged New York?s Lincoln Center.
The crowd included many well-known Indian Americans like director Mira Nair, actors Madhur Jaffrey and Kumar Pallana, and author Shashi Tharoor.
"It?s a wonderful gathering and a huge boon to independent filmmaking," Mira Nair said.
The festival opened with Deepa Mehta?s film Water, a project dogged by controversy. It has been five years in the making and had to be shot in Sri Lanka with a new cast after fundamentalist groups stopped the filming in Varanasi.
The movie opened at the Toronto Film Festival recently. Those at the IAAC opening night were excited at the prospect of finally watching it. Mehta said that she was also looking forward to its screening as the film meant a lot to her.
The IAAC festival expanded its court this year and presented a platform to independent films from India. The festival also a held a screening of an American animation film based on the Ramayana.
The celebrity-packed opening night was the perfect hangout for people interested in diaspora films.
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