Presented By:
The New York Times

Director :
Sudhir Mishra

Cast :
Kay Kay
Chitrangada Singh
Shiney Ahuja

Synopsis:
The late 1960s and early 1970s were turbulent times -- angst filled and strife scarred. It was the time of Vietnam, of flower power, of the Emergency and the rise of the Naxal movement in India. And a booming population of restless youth was eager to wage war against anything that curbed idealism.

HAZARON KHAWISHEIN AISI digs into a section of this crazy chapter of history through its three protagonists – Siddharth (Kaykay Menon), Geeta (Chitrangada Singh) and Vikram (Shiny Ahuja).

The three study in a prestigious Delhi college and come from different stratas of society. In the beginning, the three friends are carefree and desultory. But as they get out in the real world, they learn the ropes of survival.

Presented By:
Elrom

Director :
Mostafa Sarowar Faruky

Cast :
TBD

Synopsis:
The hit romantic-comedy about love and relationships in a time of globalization makes its North American debut after hit screenings at festivals in Rome, Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

Presented By:
South Asian Insider

Director :
Aparna Sen

Cast :
Shabana Azmi
Konkona Sen Sharma
Rahul Bose

Synopsis:
The narrative centers around the relationship of two sisters, one a successful professor (Shabana Azmi), the other a schizophrenic (Konkona Sen). The follow-up to Sen's hugely popular MR. AND MRS. IYER.

SPOTLIGHT SHORT & FEATURE (DOUBLE BILL) AT SAIFF

(2 films - 1 price)
Presented By: SAWLF (South Asian Women's Leadership Forum)

SAKHI PILA (BOY ODISSI DANCER) (2005) INDIA

Director:
Santosh Gour

Duration:
20 MINS

Synopsis:
The film is about SAKHI PILA i.e. boy temple dancers, which also traces the origin of Odissi dance through "Goti Pua" practice in ancient Orissa

Presented By:
TBA

Director :
Ruchi Narain

Cast :
Ram Kapoor
Shiny Ahuja

Synopsis:
Fresh, urban look at relationships, friendships and jet set life in globalized Mumbai. traces the lives of a group of five college friends and the twists and turns their fates take as they make their way through the world. like Dil Chahta Hai, a revelatory look at the lifestyle of Bombay's upper middle class youth.

(Tickets are for all films)
Presented By: Analog Digital International

GONE TO PAT (2005) INDIA

Director:
Mainak Bhaumik

Duration:
30 MINS

Synopsis:
A documentary that follows the Patuas, or 'Chitrakers,' nomadic people who live in the small village of Noya in India. Though originally Muslim, they now consider themselves neither Muslim nor Hindu. Instead, they are more clearly defined by art, then religion, performing musical narratives that have become famous all over the globe. The film transports the viewer to this picturesque region of India, which has garnered its own transcendent, mythological quality.

MANTHAN (2005) INDIA

Director:
K. Shalini

Duration:
30 MINS

Synopsis:
MANTHAN, The Churning, explores ideas of faith and skepticism, immortality, inner peace and religious tolerance within the spiritual landscape of the largest gathering of human beings on earth, the Maha Kumbha Mela.

9 MINS TO NIRVANA (2005) INDIA

Director:
Naren Multani

Duration:
10 MINS

Synopsis:
On vacation, sipping beer, introspection is the last thing you need.

BHARAT (2005) INDIA

Director:
Manan Pandit

Duration:
55 MINS

Synopsis:
The REAL India.

(Tickets are for all films)

INVISIBLE KASHMIR: THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE (2005) INDIA

Director:
Dilnaz Boga
Aliefya Vahanvaty

Duration:
55 MINS

Synopsis:
The documentary INVISIBLE KASHMIR: THE OTHER SIDE OF JANNAT(PARADISE) peeks into the lives of children from the Kashmir Valley who have grown up believing "... guns and grenades are normal; and that every Indian is a soldier and a Hindu, and subsequently anti-Kashmiri."

The documentary also presents the Kashmir situation from the viewpoint of journalists, NGOs and psychiatrists. It attempts to bring to the fore the reality beyond mainstream media reports and propaganda. It hopes that the urgency of the situation can be realized as far as the impace of their environment on the psyche of the children is concerned. Above all, the documentary is a salute to the hope that lives within every Kashmiri child that someday, they will be able to live sans the shadow of a gun.

WAITING (2005) INDIA

Director:
Atul Gupta

Duration:
39 MINS

Synopsis:
People are missing in Kahmir - boys and men picked up by security forces. And then they vanish. Where have they gone?

VOICES OF THE SIDIS (2005) INDIA

Director:
Beheroze Shroff

Duration:
26 MINS

Synopsis:
VOICES OF THE SIDIS: ANCESTRAL LINKS is an entertaining portrait of a Sidi (Afro-Indian) family in Bombay. The father worked for Bollywood films, the mothers grew up in royal courts and the daughter works in a lab and give facials.

(Tickets are for all films)
Presented By: First Flight USA

DISARM (2005) USA/IRAQ

Director:
Mary Wareham

Duration:
54 MINS

Synopsis:
Disarm spans a dozen countries to look at how, despite a global ban, millions of antipersonnel mines continue to claim victims daily in over eighty countries. Looking beyond landmines, Disarm offers a contemporary, intelligent and critical investigation into how weapons systems, war, and the way it is waged are being redefined in the twenty-first century with devastating consequences.

INDIAN WITCHHUNT (2005) INDIA/SINGAPORE

Director:
Rakhi Varma

Duration:
47 MINS

Synopsis:
Journalist Sohaila Kapoor investigates a brutal spate of witch-hunts that have taken place in a tribal belt of India. Are these cases of black magic or alibis for murder? Sohaila descends into the world of village witchcraft to find out.

THANKS (2005) INDIA

Director:
Devendra Balasaf

Duration:
9 MINS

Synopsis:
Four teenage boys on the way back from a film witness a woman being abducted. They're faced with a choice between taking dangerous action or turning the other cheek.

OUCH (2005) USA

Director:
Aron Gaudet

Duration:
7 MINS

Synopsis:
A young Indian woman dances with a spool of thread, as an ancient art form comes to life along her eyebrows. The origins of threading are unclear but the pain is all too real. This short documentary film, called OUCH!, beautifully shows the art form which has been passed down through generations of families in the Middle East and South Asia. Watch the threading artist move to the beat as she rips and tears her way to her greatest creation.

(Tickets are for all films)
Presented By: India Abroad & 3rd I

FALAK (2005) TAJIKISTAN

Director:
Najeeb Mirza

Duration:
14 MINS

Synopsis:
Inspired by Sufi poets such as Rumi and Omar Khayyam, three musicians in Tajikistan offer their interpretations of the musical style called Falak. From their homes in the beautiful Pamir Mountains of eastern Tajikistan to performances at a concert in Dushanbe, the film presents the musicians and their perspectives on Falak, in words and in song.

DADA JI (2005) INDIA

Director:
Sabina Shamdasani

Duration:
18 MINS

Synopsis:
Dada Ji has come to live with his daughter, her American husband and their "half-cooked" son. Now they all must find some common ground if they're to live under the same roof. Whoever said family was a cup of tea? Stars Kumar Pallana, of the 'The Royal Tenenbaums' and Steven Spielberg's 'The Terminal.'

DON'T FENCE ME IN (2005) BURMA

Director:
Ruth Gumnit

Duration:
30 MINS

Synopsis:
Chronicles the life of 70-year old freedom fighter Major Mary On in her quest to help the Karen people of Burma find self-determination and freedom under the country's military junta.

HARSH BEAUTY (2005) INDIA

Director:
Alexandra Zeka

Duration:
54 MINS

Synopsis:
HARSH BEAUTY is an hour long documentary that follows for a period of several years the lives of 3 Eunuchs in India. Considered the third gender, neither men nor women, the Eunuchs of India are a society rarely seen and often misunderstood. Without presenting an anthropological approach, HARSH BEAUTY creates intimate and personal accounts of their lives and struggles to be accepted for what they truly believe themselves to be.