NYWIFT Member Screening: The Bengali

Join us for September’s in-person NYWIFT Member Screening of The Bengali at the Quad Cinema on September 9th at 7:00pm. The screening, co-presented by the Indo American Arts Council, will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Kavery Kaul and a reception.

Fatima Shaik embarks upon an unlikely quest when she travels from New Orleans, the city of her birth, to India, home of her grandfather Shaik Mohamed Musa. An African-American writer whose family has lived in Louisiana for four generations, she travels with Kolkata-born American filmmaker Kavery Kaul to a part of India where no African-American (or American) has ever gone. Her search for the past is fraught with uncertainty, as she looks for her grandfather’s descendants, the land he claimed to own, and the truth about this legendary figure in her family.

Tempered with hope, fear, and unexpected encounters between strangers, The Bengali reaches across seemingly insurmountable cultural divides to reclaim timeless themes of family. In this new feature documentary, award-winning director Kavery Kaul and her team travel to the big city of Kolkata, the countryside of Bengal and through the streets of New Orleans, with unique access to people and places in both countries. Nuance and intimacy mark the filmmaking style. With lively animation, seamless editing, and borderless music, The Bengali blends form and content to forge a dynamic work of creative nonfiction. It sets the stage for creating trust between very different communities.

Date: Friday, September 9th, 2022
Time: 6:30PM (Check-in) / 7:00PM (Screening)
Location: Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street, New York, NY)
Cost: $13 for NYWIFT Members / $16 for Non-NYWIFT Members

Register for free now through the NYWIFT website to lock in the discounted rate, then bring your email confirmation to The Quad where you will pay at the door.

Please join us for a reception post Q&A at the Quad Bar. 

The NYWIFT Member Screening Series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting (or in this case, a virtual theatrical setting). We hope you will join us in celebrating the work of our talented NYWIFT members!

Register

Panelist

Kavery Kaul is an award-winning director, producer, and writer, who uses an intimate lens to craft stories which boundlessly straddle different worlds. The founder of riverfilms, her work has been featured at DOC NYC, Telluride, London, Rotterdam, and Sydney Festivals, among other major festivals. It has reached wide audiences in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Her credits include Cuban Canvas, an Imagen Award Nominee which premiered at the Kennedy Center;  Long Way from Home, a Film Threat and Time Out Critic’s Pick; and First Look, presented on PBS-TV by the National Latino Broadcasting Consortium (LPB). The Academy Film Archive and the Women’s Film Preservation Fund are collaborating on the restoration of her film One Hand Don’t Clap with plans for re-release of this earlier work. Kavery has garnered Fulbright and Logan Fellowships and a New York City Proclamation of Excellence. Her TEDx talk speaks to the power of storytelling across divides. As Fulbright’s 75th anniversary arts speaker, she reminded listeners that “Stories Matter”. An India-born American, she serves on the Board of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and is a member of New York Women in Film & Television, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Film Fatales, and Women Independent Producers. 

Co-Presented by