BAFTA award winning Manipuri film ‘Bung’ bagged three top awards at the New York Indian Film Festival 2026 in New York. The festival concluded with a grand awards ceremony on Sunday night, where the film won Best Child Artist, Best Director and Best Newcomer, making it the most award winner of the entire event. The four-day festival, which aims to honor the best creations of Indian cinema in ten competitive categories, has once again established the dominance of Indian regional cinema on the international stage.
Lakshmi Priya Devi won the Best Director Award for her Manipuri film ‘Bung’ and Gugun Kipgen won the Best Child Artist Award for her lead role in the film. The film was also selected as the Best Newcomer by the Film Critics Circle of India. The festival was held from May 28 to May 31 and ‘Bakso Bandi’ or Chayabox won the top prize for the best film. The festival kicks off on May 29 with a special screening of ‘Bung’.
The festival was organized by the Indo-American Arts Council and also showcased the 4K version of the popular Indian classic ‘Sholay’. In other categories of the competition, Nikhil Yadav won the Best Actor Award for ‘Vimukt’ and Meenakshi Jayan won the Best Actress Award for ‘Victoria’ and Nikhil Mahajan won their Best Film Award ‘Prajak’ for ‘Screenplay’. In the non-fiction category, Deja Vu won Best Documentary (Full-Length) and Y Best Documentary (Short), while Joss Turn won Best Short (Narrative).
Aimed at promoting Indian independent cinema in North America, the festival showcases 19 feature films, four documentaries and 27 short films in 15 different languages. It included world premieres of several films reflecting the growing influence of regional storytelling in contemporary Indian cinema and a program of short films specifically on LGBTQ issues. Festival director Asim Chhabra revealed that this year’s nominees represent the range and depth of contemporary Indian storytelling. From human emotions to humor and mental conflicts of the present generation, these works reflect a film genre that is connected to its roots and has global relevance, he said.
The awards ceremony was held on Sunday night in the presence of Indian-American diaspora dignitaries, filmmakers and a large number of film enthusiasts.