The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announced today its full lineup of narrative and documentary features, and shorts for the festival's 19th edition, which will be held virtually and geo-blocked to California, on May 20-27.
“This is a very special year for IFFLA. Taking the festival online has given us the freedom to curate programs we would not have been able to present in a physical setting. We have expanded our reach to all California residents, doubled the shorts program with a strong representation of films from the diaspora, added special programs like “Childhood on Edge”, and curated discussions on timely and pressing topics, celebrating the independent film community from India and the Indian diaspora,” said Christina Marouda, Executive Director.
IFFLA will open with the Los Angeles premiere of the powerful female-centric film, Fire in the Mountains, the 2021 Sundance-selected debut feature by Ajitpal Singh that immerses audiences in the splendor of the Himalayan mountains. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Amy, Sienna) will join Singh for an insightful conversation and Q&A, highlighting the journey of the making of the film.
IFFLA's Closing film on May 27 will feature a screening of Sthalpuran (Chronicle of Space) by Akshay Indikar, the Marathi film that premiered at Berlinale 2020 and has captured the hearts of audiences at festivals around the world for its breathtaking minimalist exploration of the inner life of its protagonist, a young boy named Dighu. Long-time IFFLA alum Anurag Kashyap (Sacred Games, Gangs of Wasseypur) will join Indikar in a Q&A discussion, putting together an exciting up and coming independent filmmaker with one of the most celebrated independent filmmakers of our generation.
Of note this year is a special program curated by the legendary Uma da Cunha, who has been IFFLA's Programming Advisor since the festival's inception in 2002. “Childhood on Edge” will present three diverse features (Bridge, The Tenant, and Vanaja) and three shorts (Rettai Jadai, Kanya, and Rammat-Gammat) with characters on the verge of the momentous transformation from childhood to adulthood.
IFFLA's feature lineup includes a vast array of highlights from an extraordinary 13 regions in India, representing over seven languages, including the Los Angeles Premiere of the prestigious Rotterdam Tiger Award-winning Tamil-language film Pebbles, a debut film from director PS Vinothraj; the North American premiere of debut filmmaker Thamizh's Seththumaan (Pig) about the caste politics of food culture in rural Tamil Nadu; IFFLA alum Bhaskar Hazarika'sromance-thriller Aamis (Ravening); the powerful Bengali ensemble film Debris of Desire; andthe North American premiere of National Award-winning filmmaker Farida Pacha's disarmingly intimatedocumentary Watch Over Me.
This year's selection features stories highlighting exceptional, memorable female characters, including the 2020 Berlinale selected drama Laila Aur Satt Geet (The Shepherdess and The Seven Songs), the Malayalam-language story Biriyaani, and the Film Bazaar Goes to Cannes selected thriller Uljhan (The Knot).
The festival also features a strong lineup of films directed by women, most notable in this year's shorts competition lineup, which comprises an eclectic selection of 21 films presented in four shorts programs. 13 languages are represented in this program, with a strong presence of 13 films from the South Asian diaspora, including the 2020 Student Academy Award winner and 2021 Academy Award shortlisted film, Bittu by Karishma Dube;the2020 Venice Biennale selected Anita by Sushma Khadepaun; 2021 Rotterdam selection Letter From Your Far-Off Country by Suneil Sanzgiri; and the world premieres of American Anomie by Shahriar Azim, and Last Night In Vegas by J. Nicholas Meese.
Other highlights from the shorts lineup includethe Grand Prix winner of the 2020 Cannes' Cinéfondation competition, Catdog by Ashmita Guha Neogi;the 2021 Sundance-selected Lata by Alisha Tejpal, the 2021 Clermont-Ferrand award winner Angh by Theja Rio; and India's 2021 National Award Winner Custody by Ambiecka Pandit. Four of the films in the program are directed by IFFLA alums, including For Each Other, the latest film by Rima Das (Village Rockstars).
Passes are on sale April 15 on the IFFLA website.
Special Screenings and Panels
Opening Night
FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2021 | 104 mins | Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Ajitpal Singh
Producers: Ajay Rai, Alan McAlex
Cast: Vinamrata Rai, Chandan Bisht, Sonal Jha, Mayank Singh Jaira
Logline: Chandra single-handedly manages her family's homestay in a Himalayan village, struggling to save for her son's medical treatment, while her alcoholic husband spends their money on shamanic rituals, pitting desperate pragmatism against entrenched superstition.
Closing Night
STHALPURAN (CHRONICLE OF SPACE) (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2020 | 86 mins | Marathi
Director: Akshay Indikar
Producer: Sanjay Shetye
Screenwriters: Akshay Indikar, Tejashri Kamble
Cast: Neel Deshmukh, Anushree Wani, Sonia Mahale, Rekha Thakur
Logline: When eight-year-old Dighu's father mysteriously disappears, he is forced to relocate with his mother and sister from their Pune home to his grandparent's coastal village, turning his life upside down.
Childhood On Edge – Special Program
BRIDGE (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2020 | 88 mins | Assamese
Director/Screenwriter: Kripal Kalita
Producers: Rama Kumar Das, Sabita Devi
Cast: Shiva Rani Kalita, Anindita Das, Kripal Kalita, Partha Protim Bora
Logline: Drawn from real life incidents, the story follows the unusual struggle and the accompanying empowerment of a teenage girl residing at the bank of a tributary of the mighty, overflowing Brahmaputra river in Assam.
THE TENANT (World Premiere)
India/USA | 2020 | 112 mins | English, Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Sushrut Jain
Producers: Kanchan Kalra, Daniel Walter
Cast: Rudhraksh JaIswal, Shamita Shetty
Logline: A conservative Mumbai suburb is bestirred by the arrival of an alluring cosmopolitan woman in their midst. When a wide-eyed 13-year-old boy pursues a friendship with her, he stumbles upon her secret past and is thrust headlong into adulthood.
VANAJA
India | 2009 | 111 mins | Telugu
Director/Screenwriter: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Producer: Latha R. Domalapalli
Cast: Mamatha Bhukya, Urmila Dammannagari, Marikanti Ramachandriah, Karan Singh
Logline: After seeing 14-year-old Vanaja's prowess, the reigning local landlady decides to teach her Kuchipudi dance. The initial chemistry between Vanaja and the landlady's son turns ugly, pitching Vanaja into a battle of caste and hostility.
KANYA
India | 2020 | 15 mins | Tamil
North American Premiere
Director: Apoorva Satish
Producer: Michal Sikora
Screenwriters: Apoorva Satish, Vidhya Iyer
Cast: Tarunya Satish, Mona Kakade, Harish Kumar, Balaji Rajashekar
Logline: An adolescent girl growing up in a traditional Tamil household aspires to become a competitive swimmer, but her life takes an unexpected turn when she gets her first period.
RAMMAT-GAMMAT (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2018 | 18 mins | Gujarati
Director/Screenwriter: Ajitpal Singh
Producers: Drishyam Films, Accord Equips, Mauli Sing
Cast: Shivam Math, Yash Patel, Swati Das
Logline: Their different socioeconomic backgrounds have not stopped two school boys from being best buddies, but a brand-new pair of soccer shoes will put their friendship to the test.
RETTAI JADAI (THE GIRL WITH THE RED RIBBONS) (North American Premiere)
India/Germany | 2020 | 19 mins | Tamil
Directors: Franziska Schönenberger, Jayakrishnan Subramanian
Producer: Franziska Schönenberger
Screenwriter: Franziska Schönenberger
Cast: Charulathaa Murali, Rubini A.S, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy
Logline: Adolescent Viru envies her best friend Bhanu for the beautiful red ribbons she wears on her hair, something she cannot afford. But when an unexpected mishap makes her the source of ridicule at school, Viru will discover what true friendship is made of.
Narrative Features:
AAMIS (RAVENING) (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2019 | 107 mins | Assamese
Director/Screenwriter: Bhaskar Hazarika
Producer: Shyam Bora
Cast: Lima Das, Arghadeep Baruah, Neetali Das
Logline: Forbidden by society from consummating their desires, a PhD student and a married pediatrician sublimate their feelings for one another into a sensual obsession with exotic meats that drives them to break the ultimate taboo.
BIRIYAANI (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2020 | 95 mins | Malayalam
Director/Screenwriter: Sajin Baabu
Producer: UAN Film House
Cast: Kani Kusruti, Shailaja Jala, Surjith Gopinath, Anil Nedumangad
Logline: When her brother is accused of ISIS terrorism, a Muslim woman is ostracized by her conservative, rural Kerala community. Disallowed to be a mother, daughter and wife, she must decide how to stand up against societal oppression.
DEBRIS OF DESIRE (MAYAR JONJAL) (North American Premiere)
Bangladesh/India | 2020 | 101 mins | Bengali
Director: Indranil Roychowdhury
Screenwriters: Indranil Roychowdhury, Sugata Sinha
Producers: Josim Uddin Ahmed, Indranil Roychowdhury
Cast: Ritwick Chakraborty, Aupee Karim, Chandreyee Ghosh, Sohel Monda
Logline: The lives of a petty criminal, in love with a savvy sex worker, and a laid-off factory employee, desperate to stop his pragmatic wife from working, collide – in a fleeting moment sealing their fates with a misguided criminal attempt to fulfill their dreams of a better life.
JUST LIKE THAT (AISE HEE) (US Premiere)
India | 2019 | 120 mins | Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Kislay
Producer: Shwetaabh Singh
Cast: Mohini Sharma, Harish Khanna, Sadhna Singh, Trimala Adhikari
Logline: After her husband of 52 years dies, Mrs. Sharma defies the expectations of her family and refuses to move in with them, choosing instead to forge her own path and strike up new friendships that make her the talk of her small town.
LAILA AUR SATT GEET (THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS) (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2020 | 99 mins | Gojri, Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Pushpendra Singh
Producers: Gulab Singh Tanwar, Pushpendra Singh, Ajit Singh Rathore, Sanjay Gulati
Cast: Navjot Randhawa, Sadakkit Bijran, Shahnawaz Bhat, Ranjit Khajuria
Logline: The beauty of Laila becomes the talking point in the shepherd community when she marries Tanvir and moves in with his family. When a local cop starts getting increasingly obsessed with her, the fierce woman plays a recurrent, amorous game that could spin dangerously out of control.
PEBBLES (KOOZHANGAL) (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2021 | 74 mins | Tamil
Director/Screenwriter: P. S. Vinothraj
Producers: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan
Cast: Karuththadaiyaan, Chellapandi
Logline: An irascible drunkard drags his reticent boy to a distant village to get his estranged wife to return, but when the encounter turns ugly, the journey home through unforgiving Tamil Nadu barrens transforms the father and son's parched relationship.
SETHTHUMAAN (PIG) (North American Premiere)
India | 2020 | 112 mins | Tamil
Director/Screenwriter: Thamizh
Producer: Pa. Ranjith
Cast: Manickam, Master Ashwin, Suruli, Prasanna Balachandran
Logline: A basket seller with big dreams for his grandson is asked by his bellicose landlord to prep a pig for a victory meal. The ensuing affair reveals the fraught caste politics surrounding forbidden meats in rural Tamil Nadu.
ULJHAN (THE KNOT) (Los Angeles Premiere)
India | 2021 | 107 mins | Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Ashish Pant
Producer: Kartikeya Narayan Singh
Cast: Vikas Kumar, Saloni Batra, Nehpal Gautam
Logline: An upper middle class couple who hits a rickshaw driver with their car must face the moral implications of their actions when the driver's younger brother shows up at their doorstep informing them the injured man is fighting for his life.
Documentary Features:
A RIFLE AND A BAG (Los Angeles Premiere)
India/Romania/Italy/Qatar | 2020 | 89 mins | Gondi, Madiya, Hindi
Directors/Producers/Screenwriters: Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe
Logline: After surrendering their identities as fighters in India's infamous pro-tribal rights Naxalite movement, Somi and her
husband face challenges re-integrating into mainstream rural life and in securing documentation and education for their
young son.
WATCH OVER ME (North American Premiere)
Switzerland/Germany/India | 2021 | 92 mins | Hindi, Malayalam
Director/Screenwriter: Farida Pacha
Producer: Lutz Konermann
Cast: Maniamma R., Sini Kuriakose, Dr. Reena Sharm
Logline: A palliative care team in New Delhi helps terminally ill patients and their families come to terms with the inevitability of death.
Short Films:
AMERICAN ANOMIE (World Premiere)
USA | 2021 | 25 mins | English, Russian
Director/Screenwriter: Shahriar Azim
Producers: Wajahat Khan, Aastha Verma
Cast: Aman Soni, Marina Zoreva, Kim Estes, Nadine Jackso
Logline: A young immigrant who sees his American dream fade away while working the night shift of a shabby Los Angeles motel faces the impossible task of having to choose who deserves a bed for the night.
Cast: Amo Rio, Johan Solo, Shekato Chishi
Logline: As Christianity takes hold of Nagaland, a Headhunter village chief and his son struggle to hold on to the last remnants of their tribal culture.
ANITA (Los Angeles Premiere)
India/USA | 2020 | 18 mins | Gujarati, English
Director/Screenwriter: Sushma Khadepaun
Producer: Ankur Singh
Cast: Aditi Vasudev, Mitra Gadhvi, Sanjivani Sathe, Nikhil Dave
Logline: Anita returns to India for her sister's wedding, eager to share some news about her exciting, independent life in America. But her pride quickly turns to disillusionment when the deep-rooted force of patriarchy rears its ugly head.
ANNUAL DAY (SALANA JALSA) (North American Premiere)
India | 2020 | 30 mins | Marathi
Director: Pratik Thakare
Producer: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute
Screenwriter: Pratik Thakare, Shweta Kamat
Cast: Ankita Nikrad, Aniruddha Deodhar, Shridhar Kulkarni
Logline: The annual day school function evokes latent aspirations in three feisty teenagers who will stop at nothing to show off their unique talents.
CATDOG
India | 2020 | 20 mins | Hindi, Marathi
North American Premiere
Director/Screenwriter: Ashmita Guha Neogi
Producers: Bhupendra Kainthola, Film and Television Institute of India
Cast: Rachana Godbole, Prem Dharamadhikari, Ketaki Saraf, Arjun Radhakrishnan
Logline: Two young siblings find refuge in a startling world of their own making, where they are free to act out their beguiling impulses and fears.
COFFEE SHOP NAMES (Los Angeles Premiere)
USA | 2020 | 8 mins | English
Director/Screenwriter: Deepak Sethi
Producer: Valerie Steinberg
Cast: Danny Pudi, Karan Soni, Kausar Mohammed, Anders Holm
Logline: As they wait for the barista to call out their coffee drinks, three Indian colleagues fantasize about their alternate personas that inspired their fake Americanized names.
CUSTODY (US Premiere)
India | 2019 | 23 mins | Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi
Director/Producer: Ambiecka Pandit
Screenwriters: Ambiecka Pandit, Karan Pandit
Cast: Karan Pandit, Trimala Adhikari, Geetika Vidya, Swaroopa Ghosh
Logline: When carelessness results in tragedy, a group of friends celebrating New Year's Eve in Mumbai turn on each other.
THE FLYING TRUNK (US Premiere)
India | 2019 | 13 mins | Pahari
Director/Producer/Screenwriter: Siddharth Chauhan
Cast: Arush Thakur, Divya Tegta Saagar, Zunchi Devi, Sheetal Mehta
Logline: In a remote Himalayan village, a young orphan boy's imagination is fueled by his eccentric grandmother's fantastical tales.
FOR EACH OTHER (North American Premiere)
India | 2019 | 22 mins | Assamese
Director/Producer/Screenwriter: Rima Das
Cast: Dorothie Bharadwaj, Lakshaya Sharma
Logline: When an accident disrupts the harmonious rhythms of a quaint Assamese community, the blossoming romance between a carefree tempo driver and a spunky shop owner will come to the test.
FOREVER TONIGHT (Los Angeles Premiere)
USA | 2020 | 11 mins | English
Director/Screenwriter: Swetha Regunathan
Producer: Nashwa Zaman, Khaula Malik
Cast: Nivita Chaliki, Ethan River Cohen, Gulshan Mia, Sandra Belforte
Logline: A suburban Indian American teenager will do whatever it takes to fulfill her prom night fantasy.
GHAZAAL
India | 2019 | 15 mins | Dari
Director/Screenwriter: Ragini Bhasin
Producer: Kevin Wang
Cast: Ghazaal Khirandesh, Bilal Khirandesh, Farid Khirandesh
Logline: A resourceful teenager living in a refugee camp where basic personal hygiene has become a luxury is on a mission to survive the onset of her menstrual period
