The 2025 New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) will honor legendary Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal, celebrating his immense contribution to Indian parallel cinema.
As the longest-running Indian film festival in the United States, NYIFF will mark its silver jubilee from June 20–22 with a dynamic slate of films that highlight the evolving voice of Indian independent cinema.
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The festival will pay tribute to Benegal, who passed away in December 2024 at the age of 90, by screening a 4K restoration of his iconic 1976 film Manthan, recently showcased at Cannes Classics and restored by the Film Heritage Foundation.
Also Read: 10 Interesting Facts About Shyam Benegal
This milestone edition features 22 feature films (18 narratives and 4 documentaries) and 21 short films in over a dozen Indian languages, showcasing works by renowned artists such as Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, James Ivory, and Rasika Dugal.
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The festival opens with the East Coast premiere of The Fable, starring Manoj Bajpayee, Priyanka Bose, and Deepak Dobriyal, and closes with Little Thomas, a nostalgic coming-of-age dramedy set in 1990s Goa. Other highlights include Anurag Kashyap’s noir thriller Kennedy and I’m Not An Actor, a metafictional film starring Siddiqui.
The lineup also includes powerful documentaries like Marching in the Dark (about widows of suicide-affected farmers), Turtle Walker (on sea turtle conservation), and A Fly on the Wall, co-directed by Shonali Bose, which examines physician-assisted suicide in Switzerland.
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NYIFF will also celebrate Oscar-winning director James Ivory through the screening of An Arrested Moment, a documentary exploring his fascination with Indian art and culture.
Presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), NYIFF continues to be a vital platform for Indian filmmakers and global audiences, bridging tradition and innovation in cinema.
Festival Director Aseem Chhabra described the 2025 lineup as one of the most diverse yet, while IAAC Executive Director Suman Gollamudi emphasized NYIFF’s commitment to honoring cinematic legacies and supporting future storytellers.