The Making of Mississippi Masala

This event will take place in Damrosch Park immediately following the September 25 screening of Mississippi Masala at 7:30pm and will be accessible to all ticket-holders. Get tickets here.

Released in 1991, Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala endures as a breakthrough work of American independent and diasporic cinema. The rare film to explore relations between South Asian and African-American communities in the South, Nair’s second feature stars Sarita Choudhury as a Ugandan Indian refugee who falls for a self-employed carpet cleaner played by Denzel Washington—cueing familial and communal tensions and pitting passion against tradition. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film’s landmark release and the premiere of its new restoration in NYFF59’s Revivals section, join us for a conversation with Nair, Choudhury, and cinematographer Ed Lachman, moderated by the writer Jhumpa Lahiri, whose novel, The Namesake, Nair adapted in 2006.

NYFF Talks are presented by:

This talk is sponsored by:

Free tickets for NYFF59 Talks will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning one hour prior to each event at the corresponding box office. Tickets are limited to one per person, subject to availability. For those unable to attend, video from these events will be available online on Film at Lincoln Center’s YouTube channel at a later date.