ANNUAL SIKH FILM FESTIVAL 2008:
Sikhs in America
Directors/Producers: Marissa Aroy, Niall McKay

Sikhs in America is a documentary profiling the Sikh community in the United States. The program takes a look inside the Sikh community, its religious traditions, home life, and working life and provides a rare view of unique traditions such as arranged and love marriage and dating.

Sikhs in America provides a portrait of what it means to be a Sikh in the US today, examining their journey from immigrant farm worker to business owner in a single generation. The documentary shows how Sikhs maintain their cultural traditions while also participating in the American dream.

The documentary also features a Sikh wedding, a Sikh summer camp for children, the tying of a Sikh turban, and an exciting Sikh sports game called Kabbadi.

Directors' Bios:
Marissa Aroy and her filmmaking partner, Niall McKay, recently won a regional Emmy nomination for their PBS documentary Sikhs in America. Last year she produced and directed the documentary Little Manila. Both programs will have a national PBS broadcast in May. She co-produced Sounds of Hope, which was shown on Frontline World. 

Prior to those projects she was a segment producer in the Philippines for a local environmental television show and while a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic she produced a short documentary about the effects of HIV and AIDS.

Aroy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Boston College and a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley. When she's not making or watching movies, she's teaching digital filmmaking at Berkeley City College.

Niall McKay is a writer, producer, and director. Most recently, he and his filmmaking partner Marissa Aroy won an Emmy for producing, directing and filming Sikhs in America a documentary about the Sikh community for PBS. His drama credits include directing In Living English, a 20 part comedy series for Clase, a Spanish language cable station and producing a short film called Nuts, directed by novelist Irvine Welsh’s (Trainspotting) which was featured in the Cork, Edinburgh and San Francisco Film Festivals.

McKay was a writer and journalist for over a decade and wrote for the New York Times, Wired Magazine and the Economist. McKay is the founder and director of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival and the Los Angles Irish Film Festival. He’s the recipient of the 2007 Arts fellowship from the Irish Arts Council. His latest documentary production, The Bass Player, is financed by the Irish Film Board.