The 2016 Dallas/Fort Worth South Asian Film Festival presented 13 ground-breaking, sold-out screenings of shorts, documentaries and feature films during its three-day festival (Feb. 19th to the 21st) at the Perot Museum in downtown Dallas and the Angelika Film Center in Plano. More than 350 people attended the opening night film, red carpet and festivities at the Perot, followed by another 1200 cinephiles at the Angelika on Saturday and Sunday. Every film was either a Texas or U.S. premiere, and the festival’s closing night film, Hansal Mehta’s “Aligarh,” was the North American premiere. Ravi Kapoor’s “Miss India America” and Prashant Nair’s “Umrika” were the opening night and centerpiece films, respectively. The entire lineup of films, including trailers and synopses, is available on the festival’s web site: www.dfwsaff.com.
Categories included education programming, arts programming, youth programming, women’s programming, men’s programming, family programming and LGBT programming. The topics explored varied in scope from slave brides in Rajasthan to the effects of depression & mental illness on the South Asian community to the plight of the LGBTQ community in India.
“The responses we got from our audiences were overwhelmingly positive,” said founder and festival director Jitin Hingorani. “People thanked us for bringing this revolutionary programming to North Texas, and they said they are already excited for next year’s festival.”
The festival, produced by JINGO Media, a NYC & Dallas-based PR & events boutique firm, also presented networking events, after-parties and post-screening Q&A sessions with 14 filmmakers and actors in attendance from all over the world.
Celebrities who walked the red carpet included:
- Suraj Sharma (Umrika, Life of Pi, Homeland, Million Dollar Arm)
- Tiya Sircar (Miss India America, The Internship, Friends with Benefits, Vampire Diaries)
- Meera Simhan (Miss India America, Anger Management, Date Movie)
- Tanima Bhattacharya (Shackle)
- Viveck Vaswani (Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Pathar Ke Phool, Rough Book)
27 mainstream and South Asian brands supported the 2016 festival as sponsors and partners:
2016 Festival Sponsors:
- Wells Fargo
- Etihad Airways & Jet Airways
- Mercedes Benz of Plano
- Civitas
- Cambria Hotels & Suites
- The Container Store
- Shraman South Asian Museum
- Parish Episcopal School
- American India Foundation
- Milaap USA
Community Partners:
- Selig Polyscope Company
- Patrick O'Hara Salon
- U.S. India Chamber of Commerce DFW
- Dallas Video Fest
- Women in Film
- Indian Association of North Texas
- Women Entrepreneurs DFW
- Forever Rakhi
- World Affairs Council
Media Partners:
- Asian Variety Show (AVS TV)
- Radio Azad
- Radio Hot Pepper 1220 AM
- Karishma Radio
- Brown Girl Magazine
- Diya TV
- Desiplaza TV
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TV Asia
