V.I.P. Admission: $225 (Online Only) PLEASE NOTE: All Guests will receive a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Tax-Exempt Deduction Letter for your Taxes with your Purchase!
$225.00
Synopsis:
Over three days, in a small New Jersey town, five Indian-Americans and one Jewish Indophile participate in the first DESI IDOL, a Bollywood-style singing contest sponsored by a pork millionaire.
These six people are pitted against each other in a singing and dancing extravaganza presided over by the wily contest promoter Sudarsh Bokade, a man with a strong preference for Gipsy Kings music.
For seventy-two hours, armed with a song, these seven strangers are going to war.
About the Director:
Writer-director, Manish Acharya, is a multiple award winner from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film program. Along with a MFA in Film Directing, Manish also has degrees in Physics and Industrial Relations. Before NYU, he was the founding member of a successful software company that went public in 1998. At NYU, Manish directed three short films. His film “partner” (2001) won the Carl Lerner Award for a Film with Social Significance, as well as multiple awards for acting and editing. His latest film, “LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS,” was presented the Dennis Riese Award by NYU faculty, and has won the Best Feature Film award at the 65th Annual First Run Film Festival. Manish has been written about in the Wall Street Journal, CNN-IBN, The Telegraph, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Mid-Day, Mumbai Mirror, DNA, among others. Currently, Manish divides his time between Mumbai and New York.
2007 SAIFF - Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient:
Shabana Azmi has acted in over 100 films. She won the National Award for Best Actress for her debut film "Ankur" in 1974. Following that, she went on to win three more National Awards in a row for "Arth" in 1983, "Khandhar" in 1984, and "Paar" in 1985. In 1999, she won the National Award for "Godmother" thus becoming the only actor/actress to win five National Awards. She has also won every single award for acting in India, in many instances, more than thrice, such as the Filmfare award, B.F.J.A., etc.
Shabana has won the International Award for Best Actress - for Gulzar's "Libaas" in North Korea 1993, at the Taormina Arte Festival in Italy for Goutam Ghose's "Patang" in 1994, Chicago International Film Festival and Los Angeles Outfest for Deepa Mehta's "Fire" in 1996, and Reel World Toronto Film Festival's Award for Excellence 2005 for "Morning Raga." She has had retrospectives of her films at the prestigious George Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Film Institute in Washington, Pacific Cinematheque and Winnipeg Cinematheque. She is the only Asian actor ever to be honored with a retrospective of her films at the Lincoln Centre at the 40th New York Film Festival. Shabana has won international acclaim in John Schlesinger's "Madame Sousatzka" co-starring John Hurt and Hugh Grant and Roland Joffe's "City of Joy," co-starring Patrick Swayze. Other films include Channel 4's "Immaculate Conception," opposite James Wilby in "The Son of Pink Panther" by Blake Edward and Ismail Merchant's "In Custody."
Apart from being a highly respected actress, Shabana is also a committed social activist. Since 1989, she is a member of the National Integration Council headed by the Prime Minister of India; a member of National AIDS Commission (of India); and was nominated (in 1997) as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. UNFPA had appointed her as its goodwill Ambassador for India, and the Michigan University conferred (in 2002) on her the Martin Luther King Professorship award in recognition of her contribution to arts, culture and society. In 2006, Shabana became the first Indian to receive the prestigious International Gandhi Peace Prize, which was presented to her at the House of Commons in London, with the British Parliament in attendance.
In 2007, she will be the recipient of a’Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the 2007 South Asian International Film Festival as an essential role model and a person that has contributed to shaping South Asian cinema to what it is today.
Presented by: Continental Airlines
OPENING NIGHT
BUY TICKETS
OPENING NIGHT
Venue:
Ziegfeld Theater (141 West 54th Street)
Show Time:
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
General Admission:
$0.00
Official Opening Night VIP Reception (Included in VIP Ticket Purchase)
BUY TICKETS
Official Opening Night VIP Reception
Venue:
SPICE MARKET (403 West 13th Street / Corner of 9th Avenue)
Show Time:
10:00pm - 1:00am
V.I.P. Admission: (Includes) Official Private Afterparty with Cast & Crew, Full Premium Top-Shelf Open Bar, Appetizers
