Caption: Ali Fazal (3 Idiots) and Melanie Kannokada (Brown Nation) in a scene from “For Here or To Go?” a comedy drama on battles faced by Indian immigrants in America

Box: Texas Diaspora Film Festival
More than a dozen films focusing on issues affecting South Asians and exploring the lives and stories of the South Asian diaspora in the US will be showcased at a film festival in Texas next February. The 2nd annual Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) South Asian Film Festival kicks off its programming from February 19 to 21, at locations in downtown Dallas and Plano with “Miss India America” as the opening night film.

It will screen on February 19 at the Hoglund Foundation Theatre of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, followed by a red carpet and cocktail reception at the T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall. The rest of the specially-curated line-up will be showcased at the Angelika Film Centre in Plano on February 20 and 21, followed by panel discussions with attending filmmakers, after-parties and networking events, all taking place in Plano. JINGO Media, a Dallas and New York based public relations and events management firm, produces the annual festival of South Asian independent cinema in North Texas. “In our second year, we are stepping up our game,” said JINGO Media Principal/CEO Jitin Hingorani. “Our team of curators has spent the year travelling to other South Asian film festivals around the world, including Toronto, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Goa, India,” he added.