The 2014 Indo-American Arts Council‘s New York Indian Film Festival kicked off last night at the NYU Skirball Center with Anurag Kashyap’s latest, Ugly.

In talking about the primary aim of the festival, the founder and executive director of the IAAC, Aroon Shivdasani said “People think of Indian film, many people think only of music and dance and escapism, that’s not all life is.  Life is a lot of other things too, so we need to show them the real India.  That doesn’t mean that we’re only serious, but we do bring up social issues, things that matter.”

Both she and Aseem Chhabra, the festival programmer, were quick to point out the wide range of Indian states represented at this year’s festival (Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), as well as neighboring and nearby countries (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Mongolia).

You can see the full schedule of films and panels here.

And here are some pictures from the red carpet last night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other notable film people spotted in the crowd: Aparna Sen, Madhur Jaffrey, Prashant Bhargava and Gurinder Chadha (whose features and documentaries are being shown at the festival).