NYC South Asian Film Festival

Our friends over at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival are doing some amazing work. Let’s show our support by attending their big launch event on Thursday!

To commemorate Pakistan & India’s Independence Days (Aug 14th and 15th, respectively), we would like to share a ONE-MINUTE short film called AZAAD (FREEDOM), which is a collaboration between Texas & NYC filmmakers. We just love the sentiment... From the Filmakers: Azaad (Freedom) is a short film commemorating the conscious birth of Pakistan & India. Borrowing from a long tradition of Sufi-Urdu poetry, the piece attempts to capture the confusion and revelation of the decoloni...zing mind, one that must both experience a conscious death while working to give rise to something pure; a process that we are collectively experiencing to this day. On the bridge between man-made marvel and natural wonder, the Sufi stands and contemplates, honoring the past and accepting the future. *Directed by Yasir Masood *Edited by Harris Ansari *Written & Performed by Aman Soni *1st AC Zoya Khan Happy Independence Day, brothers & sisters!!!

Our first shipment of KN-95 masks reached the grateful doctors & nurses at the RWJ University Hospital New Brunswick, where our friend Dr. Kusum A H Punjabi & her colleagues have been fighting the pandemic on the frontline since DAY ONE! For those of you who participated in WATCH A FILM, SAVE A LIFE through ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia, please PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK NOW! Because of your support of our 7-week-long online film festival, ... we are able to make this difference in the lives of our #medicalworkers. Seeing these images, makes it all completely worth it!!! #dfwsaff #nycsaff #watchafilmsavealife #onlinefilmfestival #escapistcinema #southasian #independentfilms #pivot

AND THAT'S A WRAP! 19 shorts, 5 features, 1 documentary, 7 weekends, thousands of unique visitors, hundreds of donated surgical masks and 2 exhausted film enthu...siasts later, ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia, the first ever online film festival co-presented by sister festivals DFW South Asian Film Festival & NYC South Asian Film Festival, comes to a HAPPY end (please see the photo gallery of our weekly programming below)! Ambica & I want to thank EVERYONE who was involved, from our filmmakers to our sponsors to our global audience to our moderators to our media partners to our community partners to our performers to our live streaming platform, so we've tagged everyone who played a role in making this project a HUGE success! It truly does take a village!!! *Our goal was simple: we wanted to provide a cinematic escape for people who were stuck in lockdown and pre-occupied with the virus, the medical workers, the racial injustice, the protests, the looting, the President, the lives lost and ALL the other issues that have plagued our thoughts and dreams since mid-March. We hope we made even a little bit of a difference in people's lives! **Also found out TODAY that our little online-film-festival-that-could has been recognized with a "Media Innovator Award" by Corporate Vision Magazine for MOST INNOVATIVE PANDEMIC PIVOT OF 2020! #cherryontop #icingonthecake So, until next year...stay safe, be healthy & PLEASE WEAR A MASK!!!

Dream Q&A session! Thanks Anubhav Sinha, Neena Gupta, Taapsee Pannu & Viveck Vaswani for the most engaging conversation about #Bollywood icon #RishiKapoor, afte...r the screening of Mulk, the closing night film of the 7-weekend-long ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia online film festival! Whew, taking a BIG breath...#untilnextyear See more

For closing night of ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia, we present a tribute to #RishiKapoor with one of his last films, Mulk, on Saturday, June 27th from 7 to 10 pm CST!

ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia, an online film festival co-presented by sister festivals DFW South Asian Film Festival & NYC South Asian Film Festival is p...rominently profiled in the Business Standard Weekend Edition in an article about the rise of virtual screenings during the #pandemic. As we approach the LAST weekend of our 7-weekend-long series, we hope you will ALL join us for the #NorthAmerican premiere of Anubhav Sinha's, MULK, which is also our tribute to Bollywood icon #RishiKapoorji! The post-screening Q&A will feature actors Neena Gupta & Taapsee Pannu & will be moderated by Viveck Vaswani. Register: https://www.onlinefest.us/courses/18155/webinars/9238. #escapistcinema #onlinefest #dfwsaff #nycsaff #mulk #rishikapoor #taapseepannu #neenagupta #anubhavsinha #viveckvaswani

FREE for the next 24 hours for audiences all over the world!!! Our Finding Happiness programming for ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia, co-presented by sist...er festivals DFW South Asian Film Festival & NYC South Asian Film Festival is now on-demand for FREE until Monday at noon (Central Standard Time)! Here’s what it includes: *Sushant Singh Rajput tribute by media partner AVS - Asian Variety Show *World Premiere of Anupam Kher’s short film THE CITY AND A GIRL *NYC & Texas premieres of feature film THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT *World Premiere of Swapna Maini’s short film GANGA: RIVER ETERNAL *Q&A with #AnupamKher, Sacha Dhawan & #LynseyMiller, moderated by Rajeev Masand Register here: https://www.onlinefest.us/courses/18155/webinars/10935 HAPPY FATHER’S TO ALL THE AMAZING FATHERS IN THE WORLD!!! #seeyouatourmovies

We have just added a short film to this weekend’s lineup of ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia...proud of announce the #WORLDPREMIERE of Anupam Kher’s THE CITY... AND A GIRL, as part of our Finding Happiness programming. *We’ll also screen a tribute to the life & legacy of Sushant Singh Rajput, courtesy of our media partner AVS - Asian Variety Show. Don’t miss it! Register @ https://www.onlinefest.us/courses/18155/webinars/9237.

Join actor extraordinaire Anupam Kher as he discusses his film THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT, the lockdown in India, nepotism in Bollywood & playing Sushant Singh Ra...jput’s father in M.S. Dhoni, all part of his Q&A with Indian film critic Rajeev Masand for Escapist Cinema of South Asia. The programming will be available to audiences around the world for 24 hours on-demand from Saturday evening to Sunday evening (U.S. time). Register here: https://www.onlinefest.us/courses/18155/webinars/9237 See more

*ATTENTION Indian Classical Dancers & Dance Enthusiasts: Announcing the WORLD PREMIERE of Swapna Maini's GANGA: RIVER ETERNAL at this weekend's ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia, with music by Sai Ganesh Nagpal. Check out the incredible "making of" segment below of this short film, a dance & musical ode to the #GangesRiver! BEYOND STUNNING!!! Register: https://www.onlinefest.us/courses/18155/webinars/9237

ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia's special Saturday night live screening, followed by 24 hours on demand, for anyone in the world to access. See post below & share!

Do you have your spot reserved for tonight’s comedy programming at ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia starting at 7 pm CST? It’s not too late! Watch A Film,... Save A Life @ https://www.onlinefest.us/courses/18155/webinars/8820 #escapistcinema #dfwsaff #nycsaff #onlinefilmfestival #americanhasi #auamed #forbiddentikkamasala #mojimasala #radiomirchi #watchafilmsavealife