At the Sikh Art & Film Foundation, we believe Sikh values are American values, and we know that film is a powerful medium. Through choosing the best films and gathering together every fall, Sikh and non-Sikh, we honor our history and share our values and humanity in a way that the gap with other people. But we are not afraid to show films that reveal our foibles, for Sikhs are also ordinary people — and people sometimes fall short of their best intentions.

— Tejinder Singh Bindra, President of the Sikh Art and Film Foundation, writes about the selection of films during last weekend’s Sikh International Film Festival in New York. The event became the subject of some controversy as a result of their now postponed plans to honor Indian government officials at the opening gala.

Aside from the postponement, there has been no discussion or explanation by the organizers about why they had planned to honor representatives of a government whose officials orchestrated the massacre thousands of Sikhs in 1984, and whose actions since have only served to protect those officials guilty of the crimes.