INDIAN COWBOY had its World Premiere at the Rhode Island International Film Festival on August 14, 2004. I was present at the screening. But I narrowly missed NOT being there. The film was scheduled to play on the same day my daughter was scheduled to be born! But the sweetheart arrived early and I made it out to Providence for the world premiere of IC. In the photo below, on my left hand, you can still see the band from the hospital! It was a very sweet audience, and many people, after the screening, made a point to come and tell me they really liked the film. Always nice to hear. Also nice was the laughter in the theatre during the film - they got all the jokes. Well, almost all. As you will read later, different audiences, latch on to different things. Always an amazing thing to take in as a filmmaker who wants to tell stories across cultures and other such boundaries.

It was a hectic, but a sweet, sweet time! After the festival, on the way back, I stopped in the town of Mystic, to check out the Mystic Seaport - a museum of the sea and seafarers - and I got to check out the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling ship, and went for a ride on the coal-fired, steam-powered ferry, Sabino. This nautical theme resonated with my trip to San Diego! Check out the photos from my visit to USS Midway - the aircraft carrier, now a museum in San Diego.

INDIAN COWBOY made its Canadian Premiere with the honor of being the Closing Night Film at the largest South Asian Film Festival outside of India - FILMI South Asian Film Festival in Toronto, on August 15, 2004. Just a day after its world premiere!

This was a tough thing to make, what with everything going on - but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Unless ofcourse, our baby hadn't arrived yet, but thankfully she had! Mohit and Dinesh had shown a trailer of Indian Cowboy at Filmi a couple of years ago, and then waited patiently as I went through the process of finishing the film. And when they selected IC as the closing night film, I was really grateful for the support they were showing south asian indie filmmakers! Props to you guys!

In Toronto, I stayed with my buddy from way back - when we had been in the New York Film Academy together - Donald - who is also working on his film projects. Check out his website - http://www.rampagefilms.com/films/

Filmi was a great experience for me. The audience was very into filmmaking in general, and the questions afterwards were very perceptive. I hope to get some of the video from that onto this page. I also got meet a ton of South Asian filmmakers, students, etc. Here's a website for a production designer I met - Tushar Unadkat - http://www.tusharunadkat.com and a filmmaker - Jazz Virk - http://www.jazzvirk.com

One of the prime rewards of doing the festival circuit is to network with fellow artists and I really enjoy that aspect of the festival circuit. And the other is to actually watch the film with the audience. Once its released, I'll not have that pleasure, as the film goes all over, and people I'll never get to meet in person, will be watching my work.

INDIAN COWBOY was the closing night film at the Seattle South Asian Film Festival as well. Seattle is home to me - I used to work there for Microsoft for many years, many years ago. So it was a great pleasure to head back with my film. Check out Adam's entry in his blog.

The Seattle audience was one of the best on the festival circuit and was composed of a nice mix of Asians, South Asians and others. The film was sponsored by the Northwest Asian American Festival. My brother, who partly inspired the character of "Nick" in Indian Cowboy wasn't able to make it - he was looking after his baby! And being a dad, I know where the priorities are! Baby before Movie! Fortunately, my sis-in-law was able to make it. Some of the loudest laughter was during the Conference room scenes (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see the film) - very gratifying to get through to an audience with those scenes which are among my personal favorite in the film.

So the thing is all these three audiences so far enjoyed the film, but it was real interesting to see how the points where they laughed, or how loud they laughed, slightly differed with the composition of the audience! It does lead me to believe that the film has great potential in terms of appealing across the board! Now all that remains is to get it out to the audiences on a large scale. More on that later.

Great parties! Great meeting old friends again (Wassup Sujay!), catching a Mariners game with John (Way to Go, ICHIRO!) and generally catching up on things. I missed Seattle when I left... and the film print of Indian Cowboy went on its merry way, hitching a fedex ride to San Diego.

Photo: Nikhil Kamkolkar with the Programming Director of ISAAF, Farah Nousheen

San Diego is a beautiful city. My wife and I had visited it many years ago, when we lived out in LA. I didn't get a direct flight into San Diego - so I had to fly into LA, and then drive down. I didn't mind at all! I got to check out LA one more time and meet with my buddy Jyotirmay - who had also come down to San Diego - and with whom I had acted in a play - Tom Stoppard's INDIAN INK at the Missouri Repertory Theatre a while ago.

San Diego is also home to another South Asian filmmaker whose work I like - Vikram Yashpal - and we hooked up for a few beers and an intense discussion on the state of the film industry in the desi marketplace.

Indian Cowboy had not one, but TWO screenings in San Diego at the gorgeous Pacific Gaslamp Theatres.

INDIAN COWBOY ON THE MARQUEE

Again, people just seemed to love the film, with one of the audience members declaring during the question and answer session that it was better than the opening night film! Hmm... I really liked the opening night film - a scottish film called "Dear Frankie" - a tremendous performance by the boy - Jack McElhone. Still, comparisons aside, I appreciated the compliment. Again, a nautical theme runs through "Dear Frankie". Coincidence? I don't know. But it leads me to the most fun thing I did in San Diego. A visit to the aircraft carrier USS Midway, which is now a musuem of sorts. Where I signed on to operate the actual, honest-to-goodness F4 Phantom Jet Flight Simulator! Below are a few photos from that visit - let's just say that I  was not able to land the jet on the aircraft carrier, hell, I didn't even get close, but I did do a dogfight and got a sense of just how those things fly. Amazing! You just slam the joystick to one side or the other and you turn on a dime! None of those gentle moves I had tried out with a Cessna a long time ago when I was considering taking flying lessons. I was a student and broke... hey, come to think of it, I'm a filmmaker now and still broke! But one day...

IN THE PROJECTION BOOTH AT GAS LAMP THEATRES

All in all, San Diego Film Festival was a very nice affair, and very filmmaker-friendly! After the festival was done, I went to the projection room, where the projectionist was winding the film print for IC back from the Platter onto the reels. I carried the film back to the car, hung out with my buddies, old and new, and drove back to LA. I checked out my familiar haunts, and then, back home to New Jersey. 

Nikhil Kamkolkar with the
Programming Director of RIIFF, Heather Bryant

Photo: Nikhil Kamkolkar (middle) with the
Programming Directors of FILMI,
Dinesh Sachdev (left) and Mohit Rajhans (right)

Photo: Nikhil Kamkolkar (right) takes a question from the audience

Photo: USS Midway in San Diego

Photo: Wearing the flight suit!

Photo: In the cockpit of the F4 Phantom Flight Simulator!