India premiere in April 2007 will be dramatically screened during prime time for Sikhs and the rest of the 1.2 billion population, in order to celebrate the Festival of Baisaki ... There will also be major screenings in the House of Commons in London , UK , including  France and Belgium.

This global media event   TV premiere will be hosted by multinational corporate sponsors By-Invitation-Only to screenings at Parliament House, New Delhi, and a major fundraiser  to complete editing 120 hours of location filming (Digital HD)  for the 4-part TV series focusing on "JAIN ENLIGHTENMENT - A Way of Life" (visit www.jain-enlightenment.com) for Western and non-Jain film/TV viewers.

"MISTAKEN IDENTITY: Sikhs in America" Winner of three first prize awards at American Film Festivals .. has been nominated for the Manthan-AIF Award 2006 on 5 August in New Delhi, India. This TV program commemorates the 5th anniversary of 9/11 and we are planning to have it screened on Doordarshan nationwide in India (primetime viewers 600 million).

It is a remarkable achievement for a documentary film which most Sikhs in America "sabotaged" and refused to fund, has been accepted worldwide as the first-ever film on American Sikhs. It informs and educates mainstream America about Sikh neighbors, Sikhism and what the Sikh community has contributed to the United States for over one hundred years. Even after the young 22-year old anchorwoman had a tragic accident, not one Sikh in America wanted to help us promote the film in the USA and Canada.

Check out our completely free and sponsored website: www.cultural-diversity.co.uk by Jean Bartlett in Cardiff, Wales who was one of the only Westerner who understood the importance of the film and the sacrifices, and placed us on the Internet in 2004 as our UK partner. Jean Bartlett is the Managing Director of The Bag Lady www.bagladyit.com (UK's #1 online directory and international portal for women owned businesses, uniquely offering a global buy-sell-barter system through its website). Also note that the filmmaker of MISTAKEN IDENTITY was instrumental in introducing Mr. Donald Rubin, Chairman of the Rubin Museum of Art in New York to Sikh millionaire known as the father of optic fiber, Dr. Narender Kapany from Palo Alto, CA, to successfully promote the Sikh Identity at the launching of the first-ever East coast Sikh Art Exhibition from September 17, 2006 to January 29th 2007 for a period of 4 1/2 months. Check out www.rmanyc.com

FILM TRAIL BLAZER FOR SIKHS’ MISTAKEN IDENTITY “GLOBAL MEDIA EVENT” CELEBRATES MULTI-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

On 7 February 2005, there was a successful screening of "MISTAKEN IDENTITY: Discovering Sikhs" at the Nehru Centre (the Cultural Wing of the High Commission of India) in London. Lord Baron Navnit Dholakia, OBE, chaired the evening, stating: "this is the best documentary film on Sikhs I have seen to date...". Internationally acclaimed as a campaigner for human rights and democracy, he is the first South Asian to be Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Great Britain, in the House of Lords. There are plans to organize major "diversity leadership role model" awards ceremonies as part of screening the film at the House of Lords! United Nations New York Headquarters and Capital Hill, Washington, DC. and during the Asian Heritage Month in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver !

Dr. Savi S. Arora, Managing Director, Knowledge Hemispheres Ltd. Fast-tracking your success at www.know-how2.com and E-Citizenship, spoke of his UK background as a British Sikh in relevance to the film. Jaya Shah, President, Jaya Foundation, (Detroit, MI) sent out 250 invitations to guests: Kitty Cooper, Contemporary Films, Pam Cullen, both Founder Trustees of the Satyajit Ray Foundation; Mike Ricketts, Chairman of the Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance (UK); Rev. Janet Kenyon Laveau, Church of Scientology; Brian Walker, Chairman, WCRP; Jehangir Sarosh, Religions for Peace (UK); Brian Pierce, Director, Inter Faith Network for UK; and Farah Damji, Publisher, Another Generation, Blink, BBC, Time, Guardian, Blink, Asians in Media, View London, etc.

Major sponsors for the "global media event" listed The Bag Lady www.bagladyit.com (UK's #1 online directory and international portal for women owned businesses, uniquely offering a global buy-sell-barter system through its website); CitiBank (London, UK) proud to serve high-flying NRIs, with US/UK media sponsors, Sikhnet.com (USA); Sikh Spectrum.

Two major directories will be promoting the sale of DVDs across the UK, USA, Canada .. 2000Punjab.com and UK's First Urban & Hip Hop Lifestyle Directory: EveryUrbanThing.com - the best place to shop, learn and get information all under one roof!

On 26 January 2005, the film was shown in Brussels, Belgium, to celebrate India's Republic Day, spreading the "global media event" announced in Hollywood, LA. More screenings will take place in Europe, especially during the Crowned Prince of Belgium visit to India in March 2005 as guest of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh Prime Minister of India !

Although, the enlargement of the European Union has brought new opportunities, it has also created new divisions and inequalities, among the inhumane migration and asylum policies where stereotypes are reinforced and the fear of the "other" is a serious problem. Remember the restrictions on the turban (delete) for of 7,000 Sikhs in Paris! "Mistaken Identity" was invited by United Against Racism's Network Conference: "Dissolving Barriers: Inter-cultural Dialogue in Europe" (May 4-8, 2005) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The event offered opportunities to think about solutions, plan common actions and campaigns with the possibilities to exchange ideas and provide knowledge and practical tools to combat prejudice, racism and conflicts.

On 16 January 05, the One World Week Forum Film Festival at the Warwick Art Museum in Coventry, UK, the Warwick Boar's critic Rito Paul wrote: "  the true sign of an expressive piece of work is not how many answers it gives, but how many questions it raises. "Mistaken identity" proved that even the smallest stone cast can lead to an avalanche, but one must be brave enough to cast it.

Strangely, the film has taken on a more powerful direction as the first pilot project for a series on "Discovering Multicultural Diversified Ethnic Neighbors" involving exposes on the world’s major religions and traditional life styles of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews.

With major write ups in global newspapers, BBC radio interviews and hundreds of listings found on GOOGLE, YAHOO, etc., the film's UK credibility is demanded (deleted word here) planned and highly successful screenings in Bedford, Birmingham, Bradford (NMPFTV), Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Dudley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hounslow, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Manchester, Milton Keyes, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Wales (Swansea - Peace Mala); Warrington, Wolverhampton  to raise the initial funding for a unique TV series entitled: " Celebrate Cultural Diversity". Fund-raising events will be organized where DVD will be sold.

YEAR 2004 -- MISTAKEN IDENTITY screenings moved across the Atlantic (celebrating George Washington's birthday) with the London premiere sponsored by the British Women in Film & TV (WFTV) on 19 April 2004 at the Channel 4 Studio, with a interview on Sonia Doel's prime time BBC radio show with Managing Director, Jean Bartlett, BagLadyit.com) and Director Producer of the film, Vinanti Sarkar. This was organized by Actress, TV Journalist/Reporter Rani Singh, (one of the first South Asian female lead actresses - BBC's Eastenders, etc.,) who took on the role of Vice President and Associate Producer for the UK. It also commemorated the 3rd anniversary of 9/11 in the town of Bedford on 12 September 2004.

Screenings were attended at the Dudley's Youth Alliance Center, organized by SYA/Dudley Racial Equality (16 April); with participation at the Vaishaki Parade in Hansworth, later in Birmingham and London. A trip to Cardiff to meet Judith Higginbottom, Rhian Iolo and Sarah Howells at Sgrin Cymru Wales, resulted in organizing public screenings in Wales and Scotland, where large communities of Sikhs reside. There are concerns shared, if there were a terrorist attack on Britain, it may result in civil unrest.

The film entered and received a citation on 13 June at the first-ever Hollywood Spiritual & Entertainment Film Festival (after the triumphant Easter success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion") in Los Angeles. In the month of July, it was screened on 13 July at the 2004 Parliament of the Council of World Religions (CPRW), Barcelona, Spain (7-13 July).

Before the premiere Coventry screening under the banner of the City's PEACE month and the University of Coventry, headline news reported Jagdeesh Singh's (34) visit to his parents, when two men in their early 20s yelled "Bin Ladin", "Paki" and brutally attacked him with repeated punches in the head, in front of his 10 year old nephew, who was left a complete emotional wreck. Two major screenings were organized by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce during their GROW BIG 2nd December 2004 event at the Edgebridge Cricket Club.

YEAR 2003 - Within six month of its official release (April to September 2003), the film won three first prize awards: The Golden Lion Award at the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival, Florence, Alabama; the REMI Gold Statuette for "outstanding creative excellence" competing with over 4,500 entries from 37 countries at the WorldFEST-Houston, TX and 1st prize for documentary directorial debut at the New York International Independent Film Festival in Hollywood, LA. The "global media event" was launched on 22 September 2003 for screening around the world, as the film received numerous citations from Gray Davis, Governor of California, City Council of New Orleans, etc.

It is becoming a key source of informing and educating law enforcement and police academies, human rights, amnesty, peace organizations, world religions interfaith groups, multicultural, film, media communication, South Asian studies and religious departments at major universities (i.e. Harvard's Centre for World Religions); libraries and schools. On 19 June 2003, there was a successful screening at the prestigious National Arts Club in Gramacy Park, New York, where over 200 American members remarked: "the film opened a window into the lives of Sikhs about whom we knew nothing. We always wanted to ask why they wore turbans, but found it embarrassing …”.

New York Filmmaker Vinanti Sarkar refused to accept the voice of one PBS producer, Amani Roland, who wrote: "it unfortunately is not a programming priority for us at this time…" Wake up Mr. Roland, How do you justify senseless "hate crime" murders of Balbir Singh Sodhi in Meza, Arizona (16 September 2001); Sadhu Singh, 45, threatened at gunpoint in his cab (October 2001); Gurpreet Singh killed in Richmond (2 July 2003); Inderjit Singh shot in the jaw in El Sobrante, CA (5 July 2003); 21-year old Davinder Singh driving a cab in San Jose/San Carlos, targeted because of his accent and orange turban (13 September 2003); Rajinder Singh Khalsa, 54, mocked, attacked, punched and kicked unconscious with a broken nose and eye socket by Salvatore Marceli, 26 (12 July 2004), etc. …

The film was produced by two non-Sikh women, 22-year old Amanda Gesine and New York Filmmaker Vinanti Sarkar, six days after 9/11, when Amanda learned about the senseless martyrdom of Balbir Singh Sodhi in Meza, Arizona. She was convinced that the stories of racial profiling, verbal abuse and physical assaults on American Sikhs was due to fear and ignorance, so "Mistaken Identity" was produced in a highly emotional frame of focus, with the sensitive task to inform and educate mainstream North America about Sikhs and Sikhism.