Chutney Popcorn

Starring
  Jill Hennessy
  Nick Chinlund
  Madhur Jaffrey
  Nisha Ganatra
  Cara Buono
  Ajay Naidu
  Sakina Jaffrey
  Daniella Rich
  Priscilla Lopez
  Amy Veltman
  Full Cast and Credits

Film Makers
  Nisha Ganatra
  Susan Carnival
  Trina Wyatt
  Roger Kass

Music
  Karsh Kale
  D J Spooky
  Talvin Singh
  The Spinanes
  Team Dresch
  Fireproof Recording

Screenings & Reviews

Buy it!
  DVD(soundtrack)/VHS
  Posters

Photo Gallery

Story

Contact Information

Awards

Audience Award Second Place Prize at Berlin Film Festival   [ Review ] 

Audience Award at the Newport Film Festival.

Best Feature Film at the San Francisco Film Festival.

Best Feature Film Public Award at the Paris International Film Festival.

Best Feature Film Audience Award at the Madrid International Film Festival.

Best of Festival Award and Best Narrative Feature at the Ojai Film Festival.

Internet Movie Database link

Chutney Popcorn            

A full-length feature film, made by Nisha Ganatra.      
Buy Chutney Popcorn on DVD - includes Soundtrack

Screenings New York, Thirteen WNET: 8PM on April 13, 2006.    Clips from Chutney Popcorn - as part of the larger segment on Indian filmmaking in New York City. Albuquerque, New Mexico: January 29, 2005    Guild Cinema    Fund-raising Event With the assistance of Albuquerque Pride 2005, NM VOICE magazine and WIMINFEST 2005, as they support the documentary film on same-sex marriage as it occurred in New Mexico on Feb. 20, 2004. Stanford University, CA: Jan 19, 2005 Brattleboro, Vermont: March 14-20, 2005    Women's Film festival, a fund-raiser for the Brattleboro Women's Crisis Center. Yale University, CT: Feb 10-17, 2005    Yale Queer Film Festival Completed Screenings Boston, USA: October 19, 2004    Boston University Oslo, Norway: October, 2004    Oslo Film Center Museum New York, USA: November, 2004    Jacob Burns Center at Lincoln Center Indian Premiere, Mumbai: Nov 20-27, 2003     International Film Festival

Reviews "Hollywood could learn a thing or two from Chutney Popcorn." - New York Times "One of the delights of Carnival and Ganatra's script is the consistency with which it manages to surprise" - VARIETY "A film we can all relate to. A great debut feature." - Diva "A lovely, funny and touching film. Look out for blessing ceremonies with girls and their mother, and also the dyke-spotting scene! Best film title of the month **** " - OUT "a delightful and heartfelt comedy" - NOW UK "The story ... carries off the tricky feat of being wisecracking one minute and serious the next while staying true to its characters and sustaining a jovial easygoing tone", Review by Stephen Holden, New York Times. SK's "Films Worth Seeing" -- "The film's chief triumph is its tone..." Review by Stanley Kauffmann, in The New Republic "Chutney Popcorn is sweet and salty", Review by Jay Carr, in the Boston Globe. "Snap, Crackle, and Pop", Review by Catharine Tunnacliffe, in the Toronto Eye. "Cleverly written...", Berlin Film Festival 2000 Review by Eddie Cockrell "An Eclectic Comedy for Our Times", Review by Stel Fine, hollywood.com "A sweet and inventive comedy" - The Boston Phoenix "Treats delicate topics with wit, sensitivity, and humor... Jaffrey turns in the most bitingly funny maternal portrait since Debbie Reynolds in Mother" - Variety "Audiences eat up Chutney Popcorn...", at thinkIndia. Article, and review, by Rachel Kramer Bussel writing for TechnoDyke. "The production values and cinematography are outstanding... in the Berlin Film Festival, 'Chutney Popcorn' won second place in the Panorama Audience Award and it's easy to see why." - Rainbow Network   More quotes Completed Screenings

Marketplace -- Buy It!

DVD (includes soundtrack).   With Commentary Track & Bloopers! Buy DVD or VHS United Kingdom: DVD [Region 2] or VHS [PAL] UK: Buy DVD or VHS at Millivres MultiMedia Signed Chutney Popcorn poster email for info

Story

Chutney Popcorn is a humorous look at the meaning of family and friends from a different perspective.

When Sarita discovers she can't have children, Reena finds that for the first time in their lives, she, Reena, can do something her perfect sister Sarita can't: get pregnant! Obsessed with helping her sister and winning her mom's approval to go ahead with her plan, Reena decides she'll have the baby and then give it to her sister and brother-in-law. Now she just needs to convince her commitment-phobic girlfriend to go along with the idea.

With Indian traditions on the one hand and '90s New York City values on the other, Chutney Popcorn is a provocative new comedy that shows you can find family somewhere between the two.

Starring

Jill Hennessy ( NBC's award-winning series Crossing Jordan, Law & Order, Exit Wounds, I Shot Andy Warhol )
  Related Links:    Jill Hennessy (fan site).        

Nick Chinlund ( Training Day, The Onion Movie, Legend of Zorro, Tears of the Sun )
  Related Links: The Nick Chinlund Page.

Madhur Jaffrey ( Winner Best Actress - Berlin Film Festival. Bombay Dreams, Vanya on 42nd Street, Six Degrees of Separation, Heat and Dust, East Enders, Cotton Mary. )

Nisha Ganatra ( The Acting Class, Bread, Chutney Popcorn )
  Related Links: Nisha Ganatra Fan Club Yahoo! Message Board.

Cara Buono ( Third Watch, The Hulk, Next Stop Wonderland, The Two Ninas )

Ajay Naidu ( Office Space, The Guru, Bad Santa, Scary Movie 3, Pi )

Sakina Jaffrey ( Manchurian Candidate, Raising Helen, Truth About Charlie )

Daniella Rich (American Pie, Trees Lounge)

Priscilla Lopez ( Center Stage, Maid in Manhattan. Tony N Tina's Wedding originated the role of Morales in "A Chorus Line" on Broadway. )

Amy Veltman ( The Two Ninas, Daisy Feldman's New York )

Full Cast and Credits

Photo Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to see the bigger image:

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Los Angeles Premiere
     

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Berlin Film Festival
           

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Publicity Shots
  
           

                 

Film Makers

Director/Writer: Nisha Ganatra

Visit this link for more on Nisha

Writer/Producer: Susan Carnival

   A native New Yorker, Susan Carnival received her MFA from the Graduate Film Program at NYU. Chutney Popcorn, her first feature film (which she co-wrote and produced), has won numerous festival awards including audience awards for best feature film at the Newport Film Festival, Outfest/Los Angeles, The Ojai film festival and The San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. The film was also nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 2001. Susan is currently in development on Hart Cove, a modern day ghost story set on Long Island.

Executive Producer: Trina Wyatt, Tribeca Films

   As CFO, Trina supervises all Tribeca Productions business affairs and financial operations. She also serves as Co-Chair to the First Look Film Series, a program founded by Eastman Kodak, the Tribeca Film Center, Robert De Niro, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Nora Ephron. Trina was Director of Financial Reporting at Turner Pictures Worldwide in Los Angeles, where she was responsible for the start-up entities: Turner Pictures and Turner Feature Animation, and TNT Originals Productions. While in L.A. Trina produced the Independent film I Shot a Man in Vegas starring Janeane Garrafalo and John Stockwell.

Executive Producer: Roger Kass

   Roger Kass of legal firm Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard represents entertainment producers, directors, writers, and other creative talent and has substantial experience representing independent film distributors. He has worked extensively on the financing and distribution of The Crow and its sequels City of Angels and Salvation for producer Edward R. Pressman, provided production financing and/or production legal services on such films as Academy Award winner Affliction, Two Girls and a Guy, and many other feature films and documentary films.

Music: Original Score by Karsh Kale of Cypress Hill.

Karsh Kale Related Links:
     myspace.com/karshkale
     Six Degrees Records

Chutney Popcorn features the music of: DJ Spooky, Talvin Singh, The Spinanes, Team Dresch.
Complete Music Credits

Full Cast and Credits

Contact Information

For additional information, please contact us at this address:
[ Click here for DVD/VHS buying info ]
E-mail:     Mata Productions, Inc. <MataFilms@aol.com>
Postal address:

Mata Productions, Inc.
88 Wyckoff St, Suite 3i
Brooklyn, NY 11201