IFFLA 2016

14th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

APRIL 6-10, 2016 - ArcLight Hollywood

 

Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 pm - Opening Night Gala

 

ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES - 115 min

 

When a successful but frustrated photographer, a wannabe Bollywood actress, a high-flying workaholic executive and mother, a struggling musician, a prudish princess and a housekeeper with a dark secret all gather together in a quaint Portuguese villa in Goa on the eve of the host’s wedding, no subject is off limits for this spirited group of women. Love, sex, careers, marriage, friendship, sexism and the benefits of a super hot next-door neighbor are all up for debate. But it is ultimately tragedy and the power of unity in the face of institutional misogyny that binds these women together forever in this joyful yet powerful dramedy.

 

Thursday, April 7 at 7:00 pm

 

ISLAND CITY - 111 min

The sprawling city of Mumbai plays host to three stories in Ruchika Oberoi’s masterful feature debut. First there is an office worker who toils in his soulless corporation’s cubicle farm, and is specially selected by the company to have a day of “fun.” In the second tale, a wife and mother unexpectedly finds relief from her tyrannical husband’s control, and decides to treat her family to a new television set, where they find joy and solace in a popular soap. Finally, a woman resigned to a loveless future in an arranged marriage finds new hope when she receives love letters from an unknown source.

 

Thursday, April 7 at 7:30 pm

 

OTTAAL (THE TRAP) - 81 min

 

Loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s short story Vanka, OTTAAL centers on eight-year-old Kuttappayi, an orphan who goes to live with his kind grandfather in the Kerala countryside. For a while, things are idyllic. Days are spent fishing, reading, playing with other local children and tending to flocks of ducks that bob about in flooded fields. Then, two realities converge: Kuttappayi’s grandfather falls ill, and an opportunity seemingly arises for the young boy to go to school in the city. But all is not what it seems.

Preceded by: PLAYGROUNDS - 18 min

At the end of a long shift, a rickshaw driver is shocked to discover a young boy sleeping in the back seat of his auto. Unable to understand the child’s language, he embarks on an unsettling journey to locate the parents in this piercing examination of the inhumane realities and simmering social tensions in the underbelly of India’s rising urban sprawls.

 

Thursday, April 7 at 9:30 pm

 

UMRIKA - 102 min

 

Growing up in a small Indian village in the 1980s, Ramakant’s childhood is illuminated by vivid and detailed letters from his older brother Udai, off in the magical land of “Umrika.” Later, as a young man and following a family tragedy, Ramakant learns the truth about the letters and the disappearance of his brother. Determined to find out what happened to him, he follows his brother’s footsteps and travels to Bombay, where he learns some hard truths and begins taking part in deceptions of his own. Ramakant soon questions how far he will go to get to the land of his dreams.

Preceded by: LOVE COMES LATER - 10 min

A young woman who works as a maid at a motel to repay her passage to America faces a life-altering decision when she discovers she’s pregnant. An expressive visual landscape powerfully captures the confined and precarious world the young protagonist inhabits in this tense, atmospheric drama that premiered at the 2015 Cannes Critics’ Week.
 

 

Friday, April 8 at 7:00 pm

 

BEEBA BOYS - 103 min

 

Jeet Johar is a devoted single father, dutiful son and proud Sikh living in Vancouver. He is also the leader of a murderous, ruthless gang that controls the local drugs and weapons market. Warring with other Indo-Canadian and Asian gangs, the members of Jeet’s crew are sharply dressed, television friendly and unafraid to grab what they want in the face of a white, traditional culture that portrays them as weak and cowardly. However, the “Beeba Boys” (“Good Boys”) are tested when a new recruit is brought in to fight older established gangs and the police. Both begin to close in, threatening to tear the gang apart.

 

Friday, April 8 at 7:15 pm

 

SHORTS PROGRAM 1

 

Friday, April 8 at 9:15 pm

 

BRAHMAN NAMAN - 90 min

When Bangalore University’s misfit quiz team wins a trip to the National Championships in Calcutta, the moment seems perfect to translate their new prestige into sexual conquest. Though the four young men – led by the titular Naman – possess book smarts and a formidable verbal wit, their skills in relating to the opposite sex are disastrous. Making matters worse, Naman has a preoccupation with the expectations of his caste, which throws a wrench into his every budding relationship. As the pointed one-liners fly and the carnal embarrassments pile up, Q’s direction pulsates with an unpredictable energy. His characters’ innermost desires manifest in vibrant animated sequences and unexpected musical interludes. It all adds up to an indelible portrait of young male libido that looks like a classic of the genre.

 

Friday, April 8 at 9:30 pm

 

VISAARANAI (INTERROGATION) - 108 min

 

Pandi is a Tamil-speaking immigrant working long hours to make ends meet in the Telugu-speaking region of Andhra Pradesh. When he and his friends are arrested without explanation by local police, they find themselves thrown into a hell of corrupt officials in need of a scapegoat. The men are repeatedly beaten and tortured. Then they receive the bait: if they admit to a recent violent robbery for which the cops have no other suspects, they will be released from jail and the relentless cruelty of its wardens.

 

Saturday, April 9 at 12:00 pm

 

FILMMAKERS' ROUNDTABLE

 

Filmmakers in attendance:
Bhaskar Hazarika, director, KOTHANODI
Kranti Kanade, director, CRD
Sami Khan, director, KHOYA
Hansal Mehta, director, ALIGARH
Anu Menon, WAITING
Prashant Nair, director, UMRIKA
Pan Nalin, director, ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES
Ruchika Oberoi, director, ISLAND CITY
Q, director, BRAHMAN NAMAN
Leena Yadav, director, PARCHED

 

Saturday, April 9 at 1:15 pm

 

SHORTS PROGRAM 2

 

Saturday, April 9 at 3:05 pm

 

CRD - 108 min

The Purushottam Karandak — a real-life inter-college festival in which theater students compete head-to-head — becomes an ideological battleground in this bold,brilliant exploration of the creative impulse. IFFLA alum Kranti Kanade leaves no radical idea or experimental flourish behind as he tells the story of Chetan, an aspiring young writer who dreams of winning the competition but struggles to find his own artistic voice. After Chetan clashes with his tyrannical acting professor, he enlists his own group of misfits to perform a play against his college’s official team. If only he could come up with a great story and keep his own temper and libido in check. And should true art even be placed in a competition, where one vision is declared the best?

 

Saturday, April 9 at 3:45 pm

 

FOR THE LOVE OF A MAN - 82 min

 

There are movie stars and then there is Rajinikanth. A former bus driver turned star of Tamil films since the mid-1970s, Rajinikanth inspires an intense and devout loyalty from fans that can only be compared to that of a god. With some 150,000 fan clubs dedicated to celebrating him, and mob like-scenes around theaters screening his films, Rajinikanth is more than an actor: He’s the organizing force in millions of people’s lives.

 

Saturday, April 9 at 5:45 pm

 

PARCHED - 117 min

Leena Yadav’s drama, at once warm and incisive, premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, and went on to play the Stockholm International Film Festival , where it deservedly won the festival’s Impact Award. It centers on four women living in the rural town of Gujarat. Thirty-something Rani is a widower consumed with the task of marrying off her mean-spirited son. His teenage bride, Janaki, must deal with senseless shame when she arrives for the wedding day with her hair cropped short. Meanwhile, Rani’s best friend Lajjo contends with her abusive husband, and a third friend, Bijili, is demonized for being an exotic dancer and prostitute.

 

Saturday, April 9 at 6:00 pm

 

KOTHANODI (RIVER OF FABLES) - 117 min

 

Along the banks of a majestic river in Assam, four women with abnormal connections to their children reveal a darker side to the oft-idealized notion of motherhood in director Bhaskar Hazarika’s singular vision of folktale horror. For his debut feature, Hazarika adapts four stories from the popular, century-old Assamese collection Grandma’s Tales, breathing stunning new life into these unsettling fables that make the darkest of Grimm’s seem like, well…child’s play.

 

Saturday, April 9 at 8:30 pm

 

ALIGARH - 120 min

As any person paying attention to world news knows, the subject of gay rights in India has provoked heated debate in recent years. In 2009, the Delhi High Court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized homosexual acts, only to see the law reinstated four years later by a Supreme Court decision. As protests over that unjust ruling rage on, Hansal Mehta’s timely new film arrives as a heartfelt but firm demand for the right to love.

 

Saturday, April 9 at 9:45 pm

 

KIRUMI (VIRUS) - 99 min

 

Kathir, an irresponsible young man full of get-rich-quick ideas and little follow-through, stumbles through life with the support of his loving wife and enabling friends. After a night in jail, he uses his knowledge of the city’s illegal activities to gain favor with the Chennai cops, starting a new career as a top police informant. Kathir uses his newfound power to orchestrate a raid on some criminals who embarrassed him in the past, but this only compromises his hidden identity and endangers his loved ones — the harsh consequences of tattling on the city’s most ruthless gangsters.

 

Sunday, April 10 at 11:00 am

 

KHOYA - 82 min

 

Rog Moreau lives anonymously and aimlessly in a small town in Ontario. When his adopted mother unexpectedly dies, Rog loses his last tie to his Canadian upbringing and identity. Realizing he is dangerously spiraling, Rog decides to travel thousands of miles away to India to find the birth family that gave him up for adoption nearly thirty years earlier. His arrival is jarring, however, when he steps off the plane into the crowded sweaty streets of Mumbai and is confronted by his own foreignness in a strange, new land.

 

Sunday, April 10 at 12:30 pm

 

SUJATA - 161 min

 

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of Indian cinema’s nest directors, Bimal Roy. To mark the occasion, IFFLA is proud to present a restored version of one of Roy’s most beloved classics.

As they celebrate the first birthday of their daughter Rama, men from a local village bring a baby girl to the home of government engineer Upendra and his wife Charu. The baby’s parents were “untouchables” and both died from cholera, leaving the girl an orphan with no one willing to take her in. Being of high Brahmin castes, Upendra and Charu reluctantly agree to take in the baby and eventually give her a name: Sujata.

 

Sunday, April 10 at 1:30 pm

 

MASAAN (FLY AWAY SOLO) - 109 min

 

Set along the Ganges in Banaras, Ghaywan’s film weaves together two separate stories joined by a common concern: the effect of narrow-minded tradition on the budding desires of young Indians. Two students who meet in a motel room for a romantic encounter become the victims of police corruption, while two others attempt to navigate their courtship through caste discrimination. Both relationships cause a ripple effect that leads to blackmail, shame and tragedy, but Ghaywan never loses sight of the hope for a brighter future in his delicate and powerful masterwork.

 

Sunday, April 10 at 3:45 pm - (Passholders Only)

 

THE TIGER HUNTER - 93 min

 

Writer-director Lena Khan’s debut feature boasts a stellar cast, a colorful recreation of the 1970s and a boisterous comic spirit that aims equally for the heart and the funny bone. In this wholly original take on the immigrant experience, the incomparable Danny Pudi stars as Sami Malik, a young Indian who travels to 1970s Chicago to become an engineer. He’s determined to land a lucrative career in order to live up to the legacy of his late father—a legendary tiger hunter. However, Sami finds that success in America doesn’t come easy. When his job falls through, he takes a low-paying gig in the company basement and joins a gang of oddball friends in hopes of convincing his childhood sweetheart that he’s far more successful than he truly is…or perhaps ever could be.

 

Sunday, April 10 at 7:00 pm - Closing Night Gala

 

WAITING - 92 min

Young, outspoken, and impassioned Tara Deshpande receives tragic news: Her husband of only six weeks has slipped into a coma after a car accident. Despondent and desperate for answers in a situation where she has little control, Tara finds an unlikely friend in Shiv, a gentle and hopeful man who has become a regular in the hospital where his wife has been in a coma for over 8 months. They can relate to each other deeply, both isolated from other support and waiting for an optimistic outcome. However, as each reaches an important crossroads in caring for their spouses, Tara and Shiv realize that their fear of change is holding them back from making necessary decisions.