“We are excited and honored to kick off the weeklong festival with Sujoy Ghosh’s first feature film,” said Shilen Amin, SAIFF President. “SAIFF’s continuing mission is to discover new artists and provide an international platform to emerging independent South Asian filmmakers to showcase their creativity. Sujoy is exceptionally skilled in storytelling and brings the latest in Bollywood’s foray into special effects, establishing never before seen practices in its film production history! Aladin will offer audiences a chance to see how films have changed and what is still to come out of our beloved film industry.”

The festival will close with Paresh Mokashi’s directorial debut Harishchandrachi Factory at The Imaginasian Theater at 8:00 PM on November 3, 2009. This is also the North American premiere of the Film Federation of India’s official “Oscar” entry for the 2010 Academy Awards in the foreign film category. It is only the second Marathi film after ‘Shwaas’ (2004) to be selected for the Oscars.

This film depicts the true story of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke’s quest to create India’s first full-length feature film, “Raja Harishchandra”. Released in 1913, ‘Raja Harishchandra’ was a big hit and the starting point for the emergence of the biggest film industry in the world today (Bollywood). This is also the directorial debut of noteworthy theater director and actor, Paresh Mokashi, whose critically acclaimed and appreciated works are known as experimentations in vivid yet atypical humor. Mokashi started writing the script in 2005 and finished it after only three months. “For me, the inspiration to make the film was Phalke himself. Learning about how he made the film and what he went through prompted me to base the movie on the subject,” he said.

The film won the Academy Award nomination against a field of fifteen other movies, including ‘New York’ and ‘Delhi 6’. The film has Nandu Mahadev and Vibhavari Deshpande playing Phalke and his wife. The other members of the cast include Mohit Gokhale, Atharva Karve, Dilip Joglekar and Pravin Tarde. The film has already won several awards, including for best director, best film and best art direction at the 46th Maharashtra State Film Awards, and also for best director at the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) held earlier this year.

About SAIFF:

The South Asian International Film Festival is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting established and emerging artists from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. With a focus on dynamic, visionary independent cinema, SAIFF aims to bring communities together to support these artists and unite in celebration of a common spirit. The new, state-of-the-art SVA Theater in New York City will be this year’s host venue

Alternative Theatre Venue: The Paris Theatre 4 West 58th Street, (between 5th and 6th Avenue) New York NY 10019 (212) 688-3800 www.theparistheatre.com Nearby Subway Stops: F at 57th Street and N,R,W at 5th Avenue

For more information, visit: www.saiff.org