The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) kicked off on Tuesday, April 31st with their red carpet celebrations at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Manhattan. With that said, I have a secret: this was my first. My first full event coverage. My first red carpet. My first solo blog post. As the newest contributor to the blog, and new to the world of covering films, this was my first Red Carpet experience, and I have to say I loved every minute of it!

I was very excited, (and kind of anxious) in the lead up: charging camera batteries, testing the mount speedlite flash on a camera that I’d never used (perusing the manual to make sure I knew the camera inside out!), formatting memory cards to ensure maximum capacity should my excitement get the best of my otherwise judicious trigger finger. On arrival, and through the evening, my energy never waned. With each filmmaker, actor and actress that walked through, I found myself vying for every opportunity to have a word, eye contact, or even a look my way for a picture (or five).

Now and then, I turned to our founder, Paresh, and told him there is a small chance I will quit my day job and devote myself to this glamorous life — he responded with sympathetic smirks and subtle shakes of his head. Typical Paresh. But what an experience this was! From Nikhil Mahajan, director of “Pune 52”, to Alexandra Eaton (director of the “Bombay Movie”) and Amrit Singh (director/actor of “Dosa Hunt”) to the lovely Mirra Bank (director of “The Only Real Game”, possibly the movie I am most excited to cover!!) to our dearest friends David Stoler, Purva Bedi and Nana Mensah (from the short film “Daadi”) the event was filled with smiles, laughs, a couple beers, lively conversation, and an overall great vibe to kick off the first festival day, which rounded out with a screening of the fantastic “Dekh Tamasha Dekh” (directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, review to follow). Check out some of the shots we got of the stars below, and stay tuned for more coverage through the week!

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Nikhil Mahajan, director of “Pune 52”

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Nilesh Navalakha, Producer of “Anumati”

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Actress Melanie Kannokada

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Actress Pooja Kumar

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Short film “Daadi” cast members Shelle Davis, Nana Mensah, Purva Bedi with Director David Andrew Stoler.

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Alexandra Eaton (director of the “Bombay Movie”) and Amrit Singh (director/actor of “Dosa Hunt”)

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Sabal Shekhawat, director of “Fireflies”

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Alexandra Eaton (director of the “Bombay Movie”) with actor Arjun Mathur

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Avinash Kumar Singh, Director of “Listen Amayaa”

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Mirra Bank, Director of “The Only Real Game” with cast member Jeff Brueggemann

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Actor/Comedian Aasif Mandvi and Director Mira Nair