The 25th edition of the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) will pay a special tribute to the legendary Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal, celebrating his immense legacy in Indian cinema.
The silver jubilee will be celebrated with a repertoire of diverse cinematic works featuring celebrated artists such as Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, James Ivory and Rasika Dugal.
The festival, the longest-running and prestigious US festival dedicated to Indian independent cinema, will celebrate its milestone 25th edition from June 20–22.
The event will showcase a wide array of cinematic works, featuring both restored classics and fresh voices from across India and its global diaspora.
The festival will screen a 4K restoration of Manthan, Benegal’s landmark 1976 film about India’s White Revolution, restored by the Film Heritage Foundation. The film premiered at the Cannes Classics in 2024.
“What began as a grassroots platform is now a global stage for Indian independent cinema,” Festival Director Aseem Chhabra said.
“This year’s lineup is one of our most powerful and wide-ranging to date. From deeply personal documentaries to regional narratives that rarely reach global audiences, the 25th edition of NYIFF reflects the evolving language of Indian cinema,” Chhabra added.
The festival will pay tribute to Benegal, a “titan of Indian parallel cinema”, who passed away in December 2024 at the age of 90.
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The 2025 NYIFF lineup includes 22 feature-length films—18 narratives and four documentaries—spanning more than a dozen languages and regions. The festival program also includes 21 short narrative and documentary films.
