Writer and Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Prakash Raj, Shreya Reddy
US Premiere

Clearly the film where the prolific director Priyadarshan reaches his creative pinnacle, Kanchivaram is one of the rare film experiences you simply should not miss. Priyadarshan describes this one as his "dream project" and a "true achievement": "I always do films for others but this is for me...to satisfy my emotions and feelings."

With exquisite visuals and the usual Priyadarshan touch, Kanchivaram tells the story of a common man caught in the conflict between one's adopted ideals and individual dreams. Prakash Raj plays Venkatam, a master weaver who creates the first spark of a revolution, and his performance is a stunner. The audience is taken on a journey, which on one level is the life of a weaver but also goes through the lifespan of an ideology.

Writer and Director: Mohan Krishna Indraganti
US Premiere

Based on the classic short story Doshagunam (The Disease) by the famous Telugu writer, Chalam, the shoestring budgeted Grahanam has won eleven major awards including the Indian National Award for Best Debut Director.

Beautifully scripted and crafted, along with a stellar performance by Jayalalitha, Grahanam addresses and explores the consequences of blind belief and faith, and the complex way in which female sexuality is controlled in a patriarchal society. 

Director: Bappaditya Bandyopadhyay
US Premiere

Our Time (Kaal) tackles the very relevant problem of human trafficking. The film documents the lives of four women - a music student, an illegal immigrant, a sister of a prostitute and a young widow - trapped in this insidious world. Betrayed in love and by their family members, they are forced into new lives in the city where their dreams must change. Things take a dramatic turn when a European woman, herself a victim of trafficking, begins sharing their apartment. Our Time is a fascinating, impassioned, multilayered look at lives torn asunder by the forces of globalization.

Director/Producer: Bipin Nadkarni
East Coast Premiere

When 11-year-old Bunty's parents go separate ways, his world revolves around his mother, Aatyabai (his caretaker), and paintings, flowers and butterflies. He accepts the bitter past of his parents and is content meeting his father once a month.

But with time, Bunty's world changes. Both his parents find new companions and resettle in life. Bunty is unable to accept another man in his mother's life, or come to terms with another woman in his father's world. Which of the two worlds would he choose? Which world does he belong to?  

Director: Biju Vishwanath
US Premiere

Parwaaz meaning 'flight' is based on an Urdu poem of Abha Iyengar, who appears in the film. The film evokes the poet's need for self-expression and self-realization. As the poet waits for a new life; she hears the call of a distant shore. As she waits to be ferried across time and space, her thoughts race back to her childhood and her dreams as a young woman. Then her funeral pyre is lit, and her journey continues with the promise of a new freedom.

Director: Biju Vishwanath
US Premiere

Sojourn/Seal is the second in a series of film-poems based on the work of poet Celia de Fréine. 
The rugged landscape of Connemara, in the west of Ireland, provides the setting for this film, which charts a day in the life of a young woman. Dawn sees her full of hope, but as the day evolves, she is faced with many challenges. Though haunted by her past and dreams of her future, she is still hopeful at the end of the day.

Writer & Director: Jonathan Lisecki
Cast: Sarita Choudhury, Sam Rockwell, Kerry Washington, Samantha Buck
NJ Premiere

This winner of the 2008 Spirit of Slamdance Award and the Arizona Film Festival Merit Award is a darkly comic look at an actress auditioning for Middle Eastern roles in a post-9/11 culture. Sarita is up for the coveted part of an Iraqi rape victim's ghost in a new film. No one has seen the script or knows whether it's a serious drama or a cheap horror movie, but everyone seems to think it's perfect for her, including her best friend, her manager, and her ex. Will she be the Woman in Burka?

Writer & Director: Enamul Karim Nirjhar
US Premiere

In Dhaka, the introverted Malik lives alone in his derelict ancestral mansion, now hemmed in by high-rise apartment buildings. Real estate dealer Rafique pesters him daily to demolish his property, making him lucrative offers. The old man is in a quandary, because he is unable to maintain his sprawling premises.
Things take a sudden twist when Ruba, his only child, returns from the US to live with him. Also, Soleman, a repentant murderer serving Mr. Mallik, gets into trouble with the local toughs. Ruba finds a suitor in her cousin Asif and a friend in Kislu, a middle-aged neighbor. The story progresses through a complex array of people and their intentions, where Ruba seeks a man who doesn't play a man, Kislu walks in the clouds of love for the Ruba, and Rafique tries to keep a balance between the toughs and his profits. 

Director: Brahmanand Singh
East Coast Premiere

Featuring: Asha Bhosle, Gulzar, Shammi Kapoor, Bhupinder, Manna Dey, Rishi Kapoor, Pyarelal, Ameen Sayani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vishal Bharadwaj, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Usha Uthup, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Kavita Krishnamurthy, and many others - over 40 eminent personalities from the industry, who remember Pancham with fondness and humor and unequivocally vouch for his genius and largesse as a human being.

One of the most versatile composers the Hindi Film Music Industry had ever seen, RD Burman brought about a revolution in the popular music of its time almost single-handedly. This is a never-before incisive look into the composer's reflective artistry and buoyant-but-also-lonely inner being. You will hear many untold and told stories by the most talented people from the film industry, not to mention his evergreen songs. 

Writer and Director: Shamim Sharif
Cast: Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth, Parvin Dabas, Nandana Sen
East Coast Premiere

Set in 1950's South Africa, when apartheid is just beginning, this is a story of two women, one free-spirited and the other a young traditional wife and mother, and their unexpected attraction that changes the lives of both women forever. 

In a system that divides white from black and women from men, what chance is there for an unexpected love to survive? The World Unseen transports the viewer to a vibrant, colorful world and evokes questions that are universal. 

Writer and Director: Richie Mehta
Cast: Nasiruddin Shah, Roshan Seth, Seema Biswas, Rupinder Nagra, Koel Purie
East Coast Premiere

A festival favorite with heart-warming performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Roshan Seth, Amal has been described as a modern day fable, which attempts to seek the meaning of success, and how the meaning of success can change from person to person. 

Filmed on location in New Delhi, this film, both emotional and poetic at times, will touch your heart and make you see the world in a different perspective.

Writer and Director: Jamil Dehlavi
Cast: Kevin Collins, Raza Jaffrey (best Actor, Kara Film Festival)
East Coast Premiere

Loosely based on the Daniel Pearl assassination case, Infinite Justice is a bold and taut thriller about two men caught in the most dramatic conflict of our times, the war on terror. UK based French-Pakistani Independent film director Dehlavi tries to explore the very complex issue of terrorism impartially from various perspectives, A slick production, the film deftly goes back and forth in time, through continents and creates a complex and multilayered narrative, which efficiently reflects the complex issues at the core of the war on terrorism.

Director: Zia Mohajerjasbi
NJ Premiere

Manoj is about the life and remarkable success of Indian-born standup comedian, Manoj Krishnamurthy. Manoj's clever use of South Asian stereotypes has led to a growing fan base across the United States and has placed him on the edge of greater stardom. However, this begs the following question: What happens in America when you'll do whatever it takes for a laugh? Interviews with fans, fellow comedians, and a comedy club manager give us insight into the impact of Manoj's comedy. MANOJ examines race and self-representation in standup comedy and the cost of uncritical, exploitative art.

Director: Eva Mulvad and Anja Al-Erhayem
East Coast Premiere

The immensely inspiring story of the campaign of Malalai Zoya - a 28 year-old Afghan woman, armed with only a strong voice and a fierce loyalty to her homeland, who overcomes entrenched views and death threats to help bring democracy to Afghanistan.

The film follows the last 10 days of campaign of Zoya, running in the country's first democratic parliamentary elections in 35 years. The elections represented a special milestone for Afghan women, who had endured second-class citizenry their entire lives.

Director: Rosemary Rawcliffe
NJ Premiere

An extraordinary film about the brave women of Tibet, and an inspiring document of one of the greatest movements of nonviolent resistance in modern history - when 15,000 unarmed Tibetan women took to the streets to oppose the violent occupation of Tibet. The film, for the first time in history, interviews those handful women who survived everything - these being the last generation of women left to share the story of the Tibetan women's uprising and to impart their cultural legacy. Breathlessly beautiful and thought-provoking, along with rare photographs, footage and interviews of the spirited and tough women as well as an extended interview of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama the film is an incredible compilation of little known stories and accounts of courage and compassion. 

Director/Screenwriter: Amyn Kaderali
Cast: Samrat Chakrabarti, Rebecca Hazelwood, Gerry Bednob, Jaleel White
NJ Premiere

Amir is a "relationship termination specialist," providing "dumping services" for disgruntled daters. In other words, he is a heartbreaker. Though Amir claims he is "just the messenger," the job has made him hard-hearted and as a result, he is the last bachelor in his group of friends. So much so that his best friend no longer wants him to be the Best Man at his wedding because he wants someone with "better relationship karma." Let down, Amir teams up with his attractive cousin Zara to fool his friends into believing he is capable of a relationship. Over time, Amir starts to soften from Zara's influence and perhaps even begins to develop…feelings? An undercurrent of sexual tension develops between them as the charade comes dangerously close to going too far.

Director: Beate Arnestad
US Premiere

An exceedingly rare, inside look at an organization that most of the world has blacklisted as a terrorist group, the film offers important insights into the recently re-ignited conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Twenty-four-year-olds Dharsika and Puhalchudar have been living and fighting side-by-side for seven years as part of LTTE's elite force, the Black Tigers, as suicide bombers. Their story is told through cinema verité footage, newsreel footage, and interviews with the women and Dharsika's mother. 

Director: Amit Gupta
East Coast Premiere

A young girl asks her father, "Why do you love Mummy?"
As the man considers this question, the memories of his first sighting of his future wife reveal the depth and complexity of his love for her, and forces him to consider another simple question: Is there anything he wouldn't do for the woman he loves? In answering this question, he reveals something deeper about his own true nature.

Writer and Director: Soumitra Ranade
US Premiere

Indian filmmaker Soumitra Ranade (director of Jajantaram Mamantaram) grew up in Kabul as a teenager. 26 after leaving the country, he returns to post 9/11 Afghanistan to revisit the definitive years of his youth. In a country devastated by war, he rediscovers its beauty through his memories and encounters with its people. The film takes us on a hopeful journey through the past and present of a country that has yet to see lasting peace

The film is a search for the other Afghanistan the Western media chooses to ignore and a tribute to the Afghan spirit.

Director: Heather Tenzer

A Bangladeshi woman living in Astoria, NY writes a letter to her brother back home in Dhaka about the challenges of being a Muslim immigrant in New York City. 

Director: Dr Biju
US Premiere

For the young, talented and spirited prodigy of the Fourth Estate, Saira, an interview with Khasim Abbas, the prominent leader of the terrorist group Al Jihadi was a challenge. And she did meet it well. But much before the euphoria of the event settled down, the storm took off. The storm that shook an otherwise peaceful existence of Saira and her famous musician father. Needless to say, for them life was never the same again. This vivid expression of how two innocent lives got entangled in the web of cruel fate was the 2007 CannesFilm Festival Opening Film in India.

Director: Leena Jayaswal
NJ Premiere

Crossing Lines is about an Indian American woman's struggle to stay connected to India after the loss of her father.  Like most second-generation ethnic Americans, Indira Somani has struggled with identity issues, since her parents migrated to the U.S. in the 1960s.  Being born and brought up in the U.S. Indira led an American life, but at home, her world was Indian because of her father's immense love for India and Indian culture.   This film takes you on a journey to India, where Indira visits her father's extended family for the first time after his death.  The film explores how Indira tries to stay connected to Indian culture and her extended family, despite the loss of her father.  It is the story of how one daughter pays tribute to her father in all that he's taught her about India, Indian culture and family.