South Asian International Film Festival to be held from Dec. 13-17

December 5, 2017

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NEW YORK – The South Asian International Film Festival presented by HBO will celebrate its 14th year, with screenings from December 13-17, at the Landmark Sunshine Theater at 143 East Houston Street in the East Village, of New York City.

The festival throws open its doors with the Opening Night World Premiere of ‘Long Live Brij Mohan’. The Centerpiece film is ‘Na Maloom Afraad 2’, while the New York premiere of ‘Ribbon’ will be the Closing Night feature, with cast and crew in attendance.

The world premiere of ‘Long Live Brij Mohan’, directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, is the story of Brij Mohan, a hosiery shop owner in a busy middle class market in Delhi. He is fed up of his ball-crusher wife and mounting debts. In a desperate attempt to escape his wretched life, he changes his appearance and adopts a new identity as Amar Sethi, but in the process, ends up committing a botched-up murder. He then runs oﬀ with his younger girlfriend, hopeful of making a new beginning. But instead, as luck would have it, he finds himself trapped in a web of his own karma.

‘Na Maloom Afraad 2’, directed by Nabeel Qureshi, is an upcoming sequel to the 2014 Pakistani hit thriller film Na Maloom Afraad. The leading cast returning to it will be Fahad Mustafa, Javed Sheikh, Mohsin Abbas Haider and Urwa Hocane, along with Hania Amir in the lead and Marina Khan in her debut performance. The film is hysterical a comedy of errors when an extravagant Sheikh arrives in Cape Town with his precious and infamous ‘Gold Pot’ – a toilet bowl made of gold. The Pot mistakenly finds its way to the three misfits -who call themselves Na Maloom Afraad- and are clueless about what to do with it. The movie unfolds as the South African police, smugglers and the Sheikh’s entourage start looking for the Gold Pot as the three misfits do their best to escape unscathed.

Ribbon, directed by Rakhee Sandilya, is the story of a young urban couple who are overwhelmed by their baby girl and discover that parenthood comes with its own challenges. And it takes more than just love to stick through all of life’s curveballs.

SAIFF 2017’s Feature Competition line-up includes the following highly-anticipated titles:

Mona Darling – Directed by Shashi Sudigala / India / 2017 / In Hindi (with English subtitles)
Narrative Feature / International Premiere / 111 mins.

In English We Say – Directed by Harish Vyas / India / 2017 / In Hindi (with English subtitles) Narrative Feature / World Premiere / 104 mins.

Half Widow – Directed by Danish Renzu / India / 2017 / In Urdu (with English subtitles)
Narrative Feature / World Premiere / 91 mins.

Maacher Jhol – Directed by Pratim D. Gupta / India / 2017 / In Bengali and French (with English subtitles). Narrative Feature / New York Premiere / 108 mins.

Code Name Abdul – Directed by Eshwar Gunturu / India / 2017 / In Hindi (with English subtitles), Narrative Feature / North American Premiere / 114 mins.

SAIFF 2017’s Feature Spectrum line-up includes the following highly-anticipated titles:

Azad – Directed by Rehan Sheikh / Pakistan / 2017 / In Urdu (with English subtitles)
Narrative Feature / World Premiere / 121 mins.

Coma Café – Directed by Avi Vasu / India / 2017 / In English and Hindi (with English subtitles) Narrative Feature / North Amercian Premiere / 104 mins.

SAIFF 2017’s Short Film & HBO Competitors line-up includes the following highly-anticipated titles:

Please Don’t Call The Cops – Directed by Kartikye Gupta / United States / 2017 / In Hindi (with English subtitles), Narrative Short / World Premiere / 15 mins.

Safeword (HBO Competitor) – Directed by Mukesh Vidyasagar / United States / 2017 / English Narrative Short / World Premiere / 3 mins.

Cobbler’s Dream (HBO Competitor) – Directed by Sydney Chandrasekara / Sri Lanka / 2017 / In Sinhalese (with English subtitles) Narrative Short / World Premiere / 15 mins.

Diwal’oween (HBO Competitor) – Directed by Shilpa Mankikar / United States / 2017 / English Narrative Short / World Premiere / 33 mins.

The Pits (HBO Competitor) – Directed by Shetu Modi / Canada / 2017 / English
Narrative Short / New York Premiere / 6 mins.

The Language of the Ball (HBO Competitor) – Directed by Ramón Rodríguez / United States / 2017 / English Narrative Short / New York Premiere / 9 mins.