Today we’d like to introduce you to Jitin Hingorani.
Hi Jitin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I moved to Dallas in 2015 from New York City, I realized that as a #5 media market with a burgeoning South Asian population, DFW did not have a South Asian Film Festival as yet. Because of my vast experience handling PR for multiple film festivals and red carpets in NYC, I decided to launch my own South Asian Film Festival, and that is how DFW SAFF was born. I recruited a group of who’s who in the SA community, who became my founding board members.
Through my connections with several brands and high-net-worth individuals, I was able to raise enough funds through sponsorships and ticket sales to launch my first festival in 2015, which quickly fulfilled a need for the South Asian community to watch their own stories represented on the big screen. In our third year, the Governor’s office, through the DFW U.S. Indo Chamber of Commerce, awarded us the “Best Small Business in Texas,” which was a tremendous honor and only fueled my fire to bring more world premieres to DFW and make our city and festival known in the international film scene.
Now, in our 7th year, we are moving our festival from Plano and Addison to downtown Dallas, and we are excited to welcome 4 world premieres, 8 North American premieres and 11 Texas premieres, in addition to South Asian talent from around the world and the U.S. We have become THE stop for quality South Asian programming, most of which ends up on Netflix and Amazon a year or two after we screen it at our festival.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The struggle with the arts is always the funding. And as we continued to grow, we needed more funds to keep the festival’s image and standards high. Every year, we start from scratch with our fundraising, but fortunately, we’ve had some incredible brands such as Toyota USA, Wells Fargo, AARP and Etihad Airways, who have believed in our passion and results to keep coming back annually. Obviously, the pandemic was another huge struggle, especially as theaters shut down and content was being consumed digitally.
In 2020, we were one of the first film festivals to pivot and launch a virtual festival, which turned out to be a tremendous success because now cinephiles from around the world were able to access our programming. Moving forward, we will continue to offer virtual programming, as part of our festival. In fact, we are so inspired by what we have witnessed that we are in the process of launching an online platform (app, tablet and tv-based) just for South Asian short films (think of it as a film festival on your phone 24/7) for worldwide audiences.
For that new startup, we are currently looking for investors, but we know this digital platform will be just as successful as the physical film festival has been because our audiences love the content we curate for them.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Jitin Hingorani is the Founder and Festivals Director of TWO prominent South Asian Film Festivals in the United States – the first in Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW SAFF) and the second in New York City (NYC SAFF).
Jitin also serves as the Principal/CEO of JINGO Media, a boutique PR, marketing and events management firm he launched in Manhattan in 2010 focused on film, arts, entertainment and fashion. His prominent mainstream and South Asian clients have included: Toyota USA, Wells Fargo, AARP, Hotstar, Blue Rickshaw, United Breweries Group, The Times of Money Group, Pratham, Akanksha Foundation, Chetna, American Foreign Policy Council, American University of Antigua, Geffen Playhouse, Hypokrit Theatre Company, New York Indian Film Festival, I-View World Film Festival, Sikh International Film Festival, Indo-American Arts Council, Exclusively.IN, Fashion Designers Sabyasachi, Anita Dongre and Masaba, Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna and Jewelry Designer Amrita Singh. His PR efforts have led to media coverage for his clients on the Oprah Winfrey Show, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, Variety, New Yorker Magazine, Time Out, Huffington Post and several other major mainstreams and South Asian media outlets.
Jitin is also the Senior Entertainment Reporter/Anchor for Asian Variety Show (AVS), the longest-running Bollywood entertainment program in the U.S., with a viewership of 16 million households in 120 countries around the world. In his television career, Jitin has covered and/or managed more than 100 celebrity red carpets and interviewed the likes of Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, Hilary Swank, Ewan McGregor, Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Deepak Chopra, just to name a few. He has also emceed multiple film and dance festivals, fashion shows and charity galas, including the Times of Money Group’s “Light of India Awards” and the “METLIFE South Asian Spelling Bee,” both of which were broadcast on Sony TV.
Passionate to serve his community, Jitin joined the battered women’s movement and served as the Communications Director for the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the Texas Council on Family Violence, where he media-trained victims’ advocates and launched several public awareness campaigns, as the male spokesperson of the movement. He was also instrumental in launching the National Teen Dating Violence Hotline in Austin, Texas. Jitin’s international experience includes serving as the Director of Development and Marketing for The Miracle Foundation, an organization that builds orphanages in India. Jitin orchestrated the grand opening of an “ideal village” of orphanages in one of the poorest states in India – Jharkhand, where he engaged Bollywood celebrities to attract international media to shed a spotlight on orphan adoptions in India.
In addition to his two film festivals and JINGO Media, Jitin has launched THREE other startups in the past decade: Dallas Indian Arts Collective, an art non-profit to promote South Asian visual, performing and literary arts in mainstream culture; Forever Rakhi, a men’s accessories line; and O’Harani Luxe Experiences, a luxury travel concierge service for bespoke trips to India. Jitin is now working on launching his 4th startup BOFFO – an online platform for South Asian short films, short docs, featurettes and web series (all under 20 minutes) for a global audience.
He received his degrees in Broadcast Journalism and English Literature from The University of Texas at Austin and Oxford University. In his spare time, Jitin enjoys watching and reviewing British crime dramas and global independent cinema.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risks are an inherent part of life for any serial entrepreneur. I’m a major risk taker, and it defines who I am and how I do business. I’ve launched multiple startups in my decade-long-career as an entrepreneur, and fortunately, most of my businesses are still alive and well. Not only do I take these risks because I strongly believe in my own capabilities, but I”m also dependent on the support system I have created for myself through my colleagues, friends and family members. When a risk pans out, it’s not just a win for oneself, it’s worthwhile for the entire group that had faith in that person.
Contact Info:
- Email: jitin@jingomedia.com
- Website: www.dfwsaff.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jitinhingorani/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jitin.hingorani
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jitinhingorani
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBkTAfqvY6yfuKxaIGs61Mw
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP-j8xwwGXk&t=48s
Image Credits
DFW SAFF
JINGO Media
