The oldest festival for Indian cinema in the United States will partner with three prestigious film schools in New York and India to help directors to have their stories reach a wider platform.

The partnerships aimed at helping foster a new generation of filmmakers are with award-winning filmmaker Subhash Ghai's Whistling Woods International (WWI)in Mumbai, The Department of Cinema Studies at Tisch, New York University, and the New York Film Academy.

Organized by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), the 11th annual New York Indian Film Festival will run from May 4 to May 8 in Manhattan.

WWI, an institute for film, television, animation, and media arts, awards the top short films from its film students each year. These award-winning shorts will now travel to New York and screen at NYIFF each year allowing emerging filmmakers to reach audiences and industry professionals in the US.

This year's line-up includes "Incerto", "Flip", "Punha", "Daily Soap", "Kalapaani", and "Uss Paar".

"These graduates will be part of India's next generation of filmmakers and have commenced their filmmaking journey with these films. I am extremely happy to see the quality of their work, " says Subhash Ghai, founder and chairman of Whistling Woods.

"I am thrilled about the association between the Mukta Arts group and the 11th annual New York Indian Film Festival, " he said.

For the last two years, NYIFF has teamed up with the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University with students of Professor Karl Bardosh creating one-minute cell phone films on themes at the film festival.

This programme will continue for a third year and Richard Allen, Professor of Cinema Studies at Tisch School of the Arts, will once again host post-screening discussions with key filmmakers during the five-day festival.

"The Department of Cinema Studies at Tisch, NYU, again looks forward to collaborating with the NYIFF in its cutting edge programme of screenings and events which brings the best of the New Indian Cinema to New York City by staging a series of in-depth discussions with key directors and actors in the industry, " Allen said.

In addition, the New York Film Academy has offered a one-week scholarship valued at $1, 575 for film study to an emerging filmmaker whose work will be screened at the film festival.

"The New York Film Academy is proud to associate with the New York Indian Film Festival; we share a deep passion for film, " said NYFA's Jack Newman.