The South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) kicks off tonight with an awards ceremony celebrating the rising stars of South Asian cinema. IIF will be there all week covering everything we possibly can. Below is a press release  with all the nominees and information. The festival is co-sponsored by HBO.

NEW YORK CITY September 25, 2012 – The South Asian International Film Festival; presented by HBO, celebrates its ninth year in 2012 and together announce the nominees for first-ever South Asian Rising Star Film Awards Gala Dinner.

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The 2012 Nominees for all Nine (9) Award Categories are:

Best Lead Actor:

(1) Nawazuddin Siddiqui – Gangs of Wasseypur

(2) Mohammad Samad – Gattu

(3) Ayushman Khurana – Vicky Donor

(4) Ash Chandler – Love, Wrinkle Free

(5) Vinay Virmani – Breakaway

Best Supporting Actor:

(1) Gulshan Devaiah – Shaitan

(2) Parambrata Chatterjee – Kahaani

(3) Kunaal Roy Kapur – Delhi Belly

(4) Zeishan Quadri – Gangs of Wasseypur

(5) Russell Peters – Breakaway

Best Original Screenplay:

(1) Anurag Kashyap/Zeishan Quadri – GoW

(2) Sujoy Ghosh/Suresh Nair – Kahaani

(3) Akshat Verma – Delhi Belly

(4) Juhi Chaturvedi – Vicky Donor

(5) Gurvinder Singh – Alms of the Blind Horse

Best Lead Actress:

(1) Tanistha Chatterjee – Dekh Indian Circus

(2) Humaima Malik – Bol

(3) Parineeti Chopra – Ishaqzaade

(4) Rasika Dugal – Corrode

(5) Preeti Desai – Shor in the City

Best Supporting Actress:

(1) Seema Rahmani – Love, Wrinkle Free

(2) Sugandha Garg – Patang

(3) Noureen DeWulf – Breakaway

(4) Anjali Patil – Delhi in a Day

(5) Huma Qureshi – Gangs of Wasseypur

Best Cinematography:

(1) Rajeev Ravi – Gangs of Wasseypur

(2) Satyajit Pande – Kahaani

(3) Shankar Ramen – Patang

(4) Satya Nagpaul – Alms of a Blind Horse

(5) Madhi – Shaitan

Best Composer:

(1) Sneha Khanwalkar – Gangs of Wasseypur

(2) Ram Sampath – Dehli Belly

(3) Swarathma – Greater Elephant

(4) Amit Trivedi – Trishna

(5) Anirudh Ravichander – 3

Best Director:

(1) Gurvinder Singh – Alms of a Blind Horse

(2) Sujoy Ghosh – Kahaani

(3) Shoojit Sarkar – Vicky Donor

(4) Prashant Bhargava – Patang

(5) Karan Gour – Corrode

Best Feature Film:

(1) Kahaani

(2) Vicky Donor

(3) Patang

(4) Gattu

(5) Corrode

Co-host Sunny Leone rose to prominence in America’s adult film industry before breaking into Bollywood cinema with 2011’s erotic thriller Jism 2. Long-courted by top Indian film talent, she is now set to star in the sequel to Ragini MMS, one of last year’s most trailblazing horror films. Joining her as host is Jay Chandrasekhar, a familiar talent to Western audiences, having co-founded the comedy troupe Broken Lizard and directed such comedy hits as Super Troopers, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Beerfest.

The South Asian Rising Star Film Awards Gala Dinner is deeply honored to have a deeply-multifaceted awards hosts and jury members, comprised of Indian film critic Rajeev Masand, author/critic Anupama Chopra, musician Siddharta Khosla (Goldspot), actress/musician Janina Gavankar (HBO’s True Blood), and actor Maulik Pancholy (NBC’s 30 Rock).

The South Asian Rising Star Film Awards Gala Dinner will be held at 6:30PM on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 and takes place at the stunning GUASTAVINO’S, located at 409 East 59th Street at First Avenue (under the 59th Street Bridge) in New York City.

The Ninth Annual South Asian International Film Festival is to kick-off on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 and end on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 in New York City.

FOR TICKETS:                                           FOR TABLES & SPONSORSHIP:

Contact:                                                          Contact:

Ivria Dubs                                                       Sarah Khan

ivria@saiff.org                                                sarah@saiff.org

240-888-9720                                                  703-969-2611

For additional information about SAIFF 2012 please visit www.saiff.org.

 

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About SAIFF: 

The South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting South Asian/Indian filmmakers in the U.S seeking maximum visibility and absolute distribution. SAIFF was founded in New York City due to the lack of support for many emerging filmmakers and the overall underrepresentation of Indian cinema in a capital that is recognized by the world as the birthplace of independent filmmaking. The Festival is committed to exhibiting films from South Asia (i.e India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal) and within the Indian Diaspora. For more information, visit: www.saiff.org.

 

About HBO:

Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television-programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing two 24-hour pay television services — HBO and Cinemax — to over 40 million U.S. subscribers. The services offer the most popular subscription video on demand products, HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand, as well as HBO on Broadband, HD feeds, and multiplex channels. Internationally, HBO’s branded television networks, along with the subscription video on demand products. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide. For more information, visit: www.hbo.com.