New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF)- Shorts C

Saturday May 11, 2019 @ 9:15 pm, Auditorium 3
Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave @ 12th Street, NYC

BEEBAK
2018 | India | 20 mins | Urdu, Hindi (with English subtitles)
Directed by – Shazia Iqbal
Cast - Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sarah Hashmi, Vipin Sharma, Sheeba Chadda, Sana Pathan

Synopsis: Fatin is an Architecture student from a lower middle class Muslim family, who goes for an interview to seek scholarship from a religious Education Trust, along with her father, Zaheer. During the interview, she gets reprimanded by the interviewing officer, Niyaz Sheikh for not following the religious tenets meant for women.
At the tomb below the trust office, she meets two young girls who are students at the local Madrassa. One of them, Rafiya has fixed notion of being a 'good girl' by following the set rules of the religion; the other, Shireen seeks freedom from the same. Fatin has to choose between reinforcing Niyaz's misogynist dogma and live with the burden of her own muddled morality or stand up for what feels right.
In the process, Shireen, who largely represents girls who are systematically indoctrinated into losing their identity, becomes a catalyst of change for Fatin.

Director: Shazia Iqbal has been working as a Production Designer/Art Director for more than ten years in the Indian film & Advertising industries. An Architecture graduate, she left a sheltered office job after being enticed by the idea of telling stories. She has studied “Directing for films” at MET film school, Ealing Studios, London. Her first feature script, CHAPLIN, was selected for the NFDC Directors Lab and Mumbai Mantra Screenwriters Lab. BEBAAK is her debut short.

Reviews:
https://asianmoviepulse.com/2019/03/short-film-review-bebaak-2018-by-shazia-iqbal/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/metoo-movement-shazia-iqbal-pens-open-letter-to-mami-questioning-motive-behind-dropping-her-short-film-bebaak-says-its-collateral-damage/articleshow/66297868.cms

and

DIFFICULT PEOPLE
2018 India | 19 mins | Hindi (with English subtitles)
Directed by – Sohil Vaidya
Cast: Abhay Mahajan, Chittaranjan Giri

Synopsis: Akash, an aspiring graffiti artist lives with his father, Sudhakar in an old building in Mumbai. Akash’s mother has recently demised. Apart from the demise of the most beloved person, Akash and his father Sudhakar has one more thing in common, stubbornness! While standing against his father's conventional approach, Akash struggles to find his creative expression in the vast liberating spaces of the Mumbai.

Director: Sohil Vaidya is a current graduate student in MFA Film Production Course at the University of Southern California where he is focusing on Writing and Directing. He has been awarded James Bridges Directing Scholarship and Edward Thomas Troutner Cinematography Scholarship for his achievements at USC. His last student fiction film ‘Geeta’; based on the issue of Modern Day Slavery, screened at multiple film festivals across the U.S and won awards. Currently, he is directing a feature film with seven other directors after getting selected for the feature film class at USC. Before coming to USC he made a documentary named ‘Diaries of Unknown’ which tells the story of 15 million homeless people without any document of existence, living across India who are not even recognized as a part of the population by the Indian government. Sohil is amongst the pioneers in starting a film festival in Pune for the underrepresented voices in Indian cinema called Smita Patil International Film Festival. Stanley Kubrick, P.T Anderson, Andrei Tarkovasky and Satyajit Ray are some of the directors who have deeply influenced him. He wants to keep learning about the craft of filmmaking while making films which are thought-provoking, visually compelling and important as content, in the future.

Social Media Links:
http://difficultpeoplethefilm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/difficultpeoplefilm/?ref=settings

Awards:
WorldFest-Houston (Apr 2019)
Houston, U S A
Remi Award Nomination
Jaipur International Film Festival (Jan 2019)
Jaipur, India
Best Actor
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA(DGA) (Dec 2018)
LOS ANGELES, U S A
BEST STUDENT FILM
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS(ASC) (Nov 2018)
LOS ANGELES, U S A
AWARDS
HERITAGE AWARD FINALIST

and
GADEHO (DONKEY)
2018 | India | 15 mins | Hindi
Directed by – Jai Sharma
Cast – Chandan Roy Sanyal, Vikrant Massey, Aakash Dabhade, Krishanoo Beniwal, Trupti Khamkar

Synopsis: This film is based on a folk story from Rajasthan, India; set in a small village that is stuck in time. The story unfolds the satirical journey of GORU (a naive washer man) who believes that MAATSA (the only teacher in the village) will be able to turn his donkey into a 'Man'.

Director: Jai Sharma

Social Media Links:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8226398/
https://www.facebook.com/Gadhedonkey/

Awards:
RAJASTHAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Jan 2019)
Jaipur, India - JURY AWARD- BEST ACTOR (VIKRANT MASSEY)

and
KUL GOV GAREM
2018 | India | 12 mins | Kashmiri (with English subtitles)
Directed by – Arif Mir
Cast: Nishant Pandey, Manzoor Ahmad Mir, Azaan Muzaffer

Synopsis: Fed up of being constantly chased away, a group of friends decide to take matters in their own hands. Set against the beautiful but troubled back drop of Kashmir, 'Kul Gov Garem' is a peek into the lives of these children, as they manage to find ways to keep living.