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Desi Charades (Heads Up With an “Indian” Twist)

By |January 6th, 2017|Brown Hollywood|

The creators of an interesting new app, "Desi Charades," which digitises the quintessential Indian 'Bollywood Dumb Charades' experience, introduce us to the conception of their unique idea.

Festival Of Globe 2016, Silicon Valley

By |May 26th, 2016|Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews|

Festival Of Globe (Silicon Valley) founder Dr. Romesh Japra speaks to us about his fast-evolving event, its focus on marrying movies with technology, and his continuing passion to promote Indian independent cinema.

In Conversation with the guys behind SAIFF

By |November 12th, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, SAIFF 2012|

The South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) is going to celebrate it's 10th anniversary this year. The program has come a long way since 2003. It's gained a sponsorship from HBO and even withstood a hurricane. This year, the festival will run from December 3rd through December 8th.  In honor of it's 10th year, I had the chance to sit down with Festival Founder Shilen Amin and Program Director Galen Rosenthal to discuss where SAIFF has been and where it's going. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laUWC_zqGTw iiF: How has the festival changed and improved in its 10th year? Shilen Amin: It's definitely gotten easier to [...]

Confessions from Brown Hollywood with Reena Dutt

By |September 22nd, 2013|Brown Hollywood, CSAFF, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, SAIFF 2012|

Reena Dutt is an incredibly talented human being. She's a producer, writer, director, actor and superhero. I'm not kidding. Dutt has been involved in some of iiF's favorite projects, one of which just screened at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival (CSAFF) this weekend. Yes you guessed it, she is a producer of "...Or Die" and "Squad 85." As an actress she's been in television shows like "Medium", "Out of Practice", and "Criminal Minds." In fact, she even just shot a pilot for A&E. As far as directing and producing goes, her credits include "Snapshot!", "El Doctor", "June, Adrift" and [...]

Confessions from Brown Hollywood with Gregory Bonsignore

By |September 20th, 2013|Brown Hollywood, CSAFF, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, SAIFF 2012|

It is no secret that iiF loves the short film "...Or Die", (co-directed by Gregory Bonsignore and John Petaja) which won the Audience Award at the HBO South Asian Film Festival last year. In fact, we're pretty sure our review is longer than the movie itself. Thankfully, that didn't discourage writer and co-director Gregory Bonsignore from talking to us about the film. Greg is one of the nicest and funniest guys you're likely to meet (and I've only met him once!). He's a fantastic writer with credits that include shows like "Lie to me", "Three Rivers" and "Homeland" (where he's a script coordinator). [...]

Aziz Ansari dominates the James Franco Roast

By |September 4th, 2013|Brown Hollywood|

"There are more Indians with sitcoms now than 7-11's. My last three roles were Randy, Chet and Tom." - Aziz Ansari at the James Franco Roast. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images I don't think everyone is racist when it comes to Indians. I just think they get lazy with their material. There have been jokes and stereotypes over the last couple of decades that have persisted for various reasons. Indians run conveniences stores, smell funny and look like apes. Hilarious right? Well a bunch of people roasting James Franco on Monday night found some of those exact stereotypes, [...]

In conversation with the geniuses behind ‘Farah Goes Bang’ (Part 3)

By |August 27th, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, Tribeca Film Festival|

A while back, I had the distinct pleasure of catching up with the lovely ladies behind the Tribeca sensation, “Farah Goes Bang.” Writer/Director Meera Menon and Writer/Producer Laura Goode shed light on women in film, brown people, virginity and even carnivals during our discussion.  I was hoping to put the entire interview in one post, but I think we had too much fun talking for close to an hour. I also thought 3,000 words in one page would be overkill. So here is the final part of this fantastic conversation. Part three discusses the race and gender questions that went [...]

In conversation with the geniuses behind ‘Farah Goes Bang’ (Part 2)

By |August 27th, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Interviews, Tribeca Film Festival|

A while back, I had the distinct pleasure of catching up with the lovely ladies behind the Tribeca sensation, “Farah Goes Bang.” Writer/Director Meera Menon and Writer/Producer Laura Goode shed light on women in film, brown people, virginity and even carnivals during our discussion.  I was hoping to put the entire interview in one post, but I think we had too much fun talking for close to an hour. I also thought 3,000 words in one page would be overkill. So I’m going to ease you all into this fantastic conversation. Part two reveals how Laura and Meera got the [...]

In conversation with the geniuses behind ‘Farah Goes Bang’ (Part 1)

By |July 3rd, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, Tribeca Film Festival, upcoming movies|

A while back, I had the distinct pleasure of catching up with the lovely ladies behind the Tribeca sensation, "Farah Goes Bang." Writer/Director Meera Menon and Writer/Producer Laura Goode shed light on women in film, brown people, virginity and even carnivals during our discussion.  I was hoping to put the entire interview in one post, but I think we had too much fun talking for close to an hour. I also thought 3,000 words in one page would be overkill. So I'm going to ease you all into this fantastic conversation. Part one reveals how Laura and Meera came together [...]

Confessions from Brown Hollywood with Faroukh Virani (Director of the upcoming film ‘Vimana’)

By |May 31st, 2013|Brown Hollywood, crowdfunding, Interviews, upcoming movies|

A little over a month ago, I had the chance to talk with USC film student Faroukh Virani, the director of the recently Kickstarted Indian science fiction film "Vimana." The movie, which is tentatively scheduled for an early 2014 release, is Virani's thesis project. Here is the synopsis from the Kickstarter page: "Vimana" is a film about three Indian astronauts who are a product of India's ambitious new deep-space program. Set in the near future, the astronauts are on a one-way trip to a distant planet, Gliese. Unfortunately, the ship's captain, Rishi, passes away after an adverse reaction to the [...]

Tribeca Review: ‘Farah Goes Bang’

By |May 20th, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, movies we loved, reviews, Tribeca Film Festival, upcoming movies|

I have a confession to make. I've struggled a lot with this review. Not because my reaction to Meera Menon's feature debut was inconclusive. Quite the contrary. I knew I loved this movie the second the credits started rolling. In fact, I think I actually like it too much. As a result I refrained from writing about it for a long time. Maybe I thought I had too much to say, not enough to say or just not the right things to say. Either way, I've floundered long enough. Kandis Erickson, Nikohl Boosheri and Kiran Deol in "Farah Goes [...]

Interview with the cast and crew of ‘Daadi’

By |May 9th, 2013|Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, NYIFF, Uncategorized|

Check out our video interview with the cast and crew of 'Daadi', including director David Andrew Stoler, producer and actor Purva Bedi, and actor Shelle Davis, at the New York Indian Film Festival!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hegop7Gvss&feature=youtu.be

Opening Day at the NYIFF Red Carpet!

By |May 2nd, 2013|Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, NYIFF|

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 [...]

Confessions from Brown Hollywood with Kiran Deol

By |May 2nd, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, Tribeca Film Festival, Uncategorized, upcoming movies|

Last week I had the chance to sit down with the lovely and hilarious Kiran Deol during the Tribeca Film Festival. Deol plays the role of Roopa Raj in Meera Menon's award-winning film "Farah Goes Bang." In addition to being an actress who has appeared on shows like "Modern Family" and "Weeds", she also directed and developed an Emmy-nominated documentary called "Woman Rebel." If that wasn't enough, she's also a really funny stand-up comedian. Kiran Deol plays Roopa in "Farah Goes Bang" IIF: Tell me about how you got involved with this movie, "Farah Goes Bang." Deol: They released [...]

Mira Nair talks ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ and perception in a post 9/11 world

By |April 26th, 2013|Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, movies we loved, NYIFF, Tribeca Film Festival, Uncategorized|

IIF was recently invited to partake in a small round-table discussion with "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" Director Mira Nair and cast members Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland. IIF as well as a few other writers and outlets discussed everything from South Asian culture to perception in this day and age. Here are a few highlights from the conversation with Mira Nair. IIF's question is highlighted in green while the regular bold questions are from other members of the press. Mira Nair discusses "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" IIF: There is a relationship in this movie, I've noticed, with the artistic and [...]

‘Farah Goes Bang’ director Meera Menon wins Nora Ephron Award at Tribeca

By |April 25th, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, movies we loved, Tribeca Film Festival, upcoming movies|

The first time is definitely the charm for Meera Menon as she received the 1st Annual Nora Ephron Award at the Tribeca Film Festival this morning for her feature debut "Farah Goes Bang." Kate French, Nikohl Boosheri and Kiran Deol in 'Farah Goes Bang'© Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival Menon received the award this morning from TFF co-founder Jane Rosenthal and Vogue creative digital director, Sally Singer, according to a press release. Menon was selected among several other female directors at this year's festival and received $25,000 with the award. “We're thrilled to highlight Meera's work with this special award. We [...]

‘Beyond All Boundaries’, ‘Miss Lovely’ and others take home top honors at IFFLA

By |April 15th, 2013|Awards, Brown Hollywood, crowdfunding, Film Festivals, upcoming movies|

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced their big winners Sunday and films like "Beyond All Boundaries" and "Miss Lovely" came away with some top awards. http://youtu.be/uSibAMDGYkc "Beyond All Boundaries" (by filmmaker Sushrut Jain) follows the stories of three Indians – a penniless superfan, a boy prodigy, and a girl cricketer during the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Jain crowdfunded some of the project on Kickstarter a couple of months ago and IIF had a chance to interview him about his work. Check that out right here. The film took home the Jury and Audience Award for Best Documentary. "Miss Lovely" (directed [...]

A discussion with Sushrut Jain, the filmmaker of “Beyond All Boundaries”

By |February 22nd, 2013|Brown Hollywood, Film Festivals, Interviews, upcoming movies|

A documentary set during the 2011 World Cup called "Beyond All Boundaries" is officially funded. IIF promoted the project, which was seeking crowd-funding on Kickstarter, two days ago in hopes of seeing it reach the $45,000 goal necessary to move forward. Now that it's over, IIF got a chance to sit down with director Sushrut Jain to discuss the documentary, which is also being presented by the Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar. The film is set to premiere at a popular film festival in Los Angeles the first week of April. http://youtu.be/uSibAMDGYkc IIF: So you must be a huge cricket fan to [...]


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