DALLAS (DIYA TV) — Festivities for the second annual Dallas Fort Worth South Asian Film Festival are just around the corner. The event will run three days beginning Feb. 19, showcasing 13 short films, features and documentaries which are making their Texas and North American premieres at the festival.
Last year’s festival was a smashing success, according to Jitin Hingorani, media principal and CEO of Jingo Media, a Dallas and New York City-based public relations and events management firm which produces the festival — the 2015 show was sold out four days before opening night, however a last-minute and highly uncharacteristic Texas snow storm left many doubting how healthy attendance would be. Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, the show still garnered a capacity crowd, filling 90% of the theaters for the duration.
Dallas Fort Worth has the fifth-largest media market in the country, and several who are curious to learn more about the South Asian culture, Hingorani told Diya TV during a discussion Thursday. During last year’s festival, approximately 16% of attendees were non-South Asian, a number which is anticipated to grow even higher with this weekend’s festival: 25%. In total, there will be 1,500 movie-goers at the 2016 festival, Hingorani said.
An attendee of the 2015 film festival.
All of the films’ directors, and some actors, will be in attendance at the festival, Hingorani said. They will participate in the screenings alongside the attendees, and undertake multiple Q & A sessions with fans afterwards. This year’s edition will feature more than a dozen curated short films, documentaries and feature films that focus on issues affecting the South Asian sub-continent. Additionally, some of the films explore the lives and stories of the South Asian Diaspora in the United States.
“Miss India America,” written and directed by the husband and wife team of Ravi Kapoor and Meera Simhan, will be the festival’s opening night film. The film stars Texas native Tiya Sircar and Hannah Simone of FOX’s hit TV show New Girl. The film was produced by Megha Kadakia and Saurabh Kikani, and “establishes an authentic tone that pays respect to Indian cultural norms, while poking gentle fun at these traditions,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter.
A still from “Miss India America,” the Dallas Forth Worth South Asian Film Festival’s opening night feature (Photo courtesy of Jingo Media)
To accompany with the feature entertainment, the festival will also showcase several thought-provoking and edgy short films and documentaries in a variety of topics, ranging from men’s, women’s and family programming, as well as a focus on the LGBT movement.
