NY Indian FF Awards

After five days of red carpet screenings, industry panels, and networking parties, the 12th annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) ended on a high note Sunday night with the world premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s GANGS OF WASSEYPUR, which just days before had received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The screening was followed by an awards ceremony and closing night reception, sponsored by Wells Fargo. The winners of the NYIFF 2012 Jury Awards are:

• One-minute Cell Phone Film Award – LOVE LOST by Caroline Cantone, NYU student
• Audience Choice Award, presented by Mela’s Pooja Kohli – LET’S BE OUT, THE SUN IS SHINING by Bornilla Chatterjee
• Best Short Film Award, presented by director Bedabrata Pain – BOMBAY SNOW by Chinmay Dalvi
• Best Documentary, presented by UB Group Brand Ambassador and former Miss India Pooja Batra – SAVING FACE by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (also won the Oscar for Best Doc)
• Best Screenplay, presented by author Suketu Mehta – Avinash Deshpande for SHALA
• Best Young Actor Award, presented by director Prashant Nair – Mohammad Samad for GATTU
• Best Actress, presented by director Dev Benegal – Tannishtha Chatterjee for DEKH INDIAN CIRCUS
• Best Actor, presented by director Aishwarya.R.Dhanush – Nawazuddin Siddiqui for DEKH INDIAN CIRCUS
• Best Director, presented by director Anurag Kashyap – Sujay Dahake for SHALA
• Best Film, presented by Rahul Baig of Wells Fargo – GATTU by Rajan Khosa
• Special Contribution to Indian Cinema Award presented to actor/director Rituparno Ghosh
• Lifetime Achievement Award presented to director Shyam Benegal

The Festival’s sponsoring organization, the Indo-American Arts Council is a registered not-for-profit arts organization passionately dedicated to showcasing, building awareness, and celebrating artists of Indian origin in the performing, visual and literary arts. Annual festivals of art, dance, play writing and film are scheduled through the year, with several special events and book launches. For further information visit www.iaac.us.

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