Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
APRIL 8-12, 2015 - ArcLight Hollywood
Wednesday, April 8 at 7:30 pm - Opening Night Gala
HARAAMKHOR - Directed by: Shlok Sharma - 90 min
Innocent young love is put on a collision course with the messy reality of budding adulthood in Shlok Sharma’s unforgettable feature debut. Young student Kamal is infatuated with his 15-year-old classmate Sandhya, and together with his best friend Mintu devises countless imaginative schemes to win her affection. But Sandhya has a troubling infatuation of her own: she is carrying on an affair with her teacher, Shyam (another masterful performance by Nawazuddin Siddiqui). When the two young boys catch on to this illicit arrangement, events are set into motion that could lead to tragedy for all involved.
Thursday, April 9 at 7:30 pm
MISS INDIA AMERICA - Directed by: Ravi Kapoor - 93 min
Recent Orange County high school graduate Lily has it all figured out. She’ll become a doctor like her father, marry her longtime boyfriend Karim, have children, and live happily ever after. When Karim deviates from Lily’s plan by leaving her for the reigning Miss India National, for the first time in her life, Lily doesn’t know what to do. But that quickly passes when she sets sight on a new goal: becoming Miss India National herself!
Thursday, April 9 at 7:45 pm
Born into abject poverty, Titli, the youngest of three brothers, takes a bride without telling her about his patriarchal family’s criminal life. However, after the bride refuses to consummate their marriage, another secret unravels: her longstanding illicit affair. Desperate to break free from the only existence he has known, Titli—meaning “butterfly”—orchestrates a dubious plan to leave home, grappling with the choice between intergenerational loyalty and an uncertain future on his own. Hard life lessons are not to be learned in the hallowed halls of school, but rather in the jagged boundary lines of his slum.
Thursday, April 9 at 9:30 pm
FOUR COLORS (CHAURANGA) - Directed by: Bikas Ranjan Mishra - 88 min
Bikas Ranjan Mishra announces himself as a powerful new voice in Indian cinema with his debut feature, an intricately designed portrait of a rural Indian village slowly poisoning itself. Based on true events, Mishra’s film takes a critical look at the village’s patriarchal power dynamic and the unjust caste system that tragically condemns a young boy simply for writing a love letter.
Friday, April 10 at 7:00 pm
LABOUR OF LOVE - Directed by: Aditya Vikram Sengupta - 84 min
Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s lyrical portrait of one day in a married couple’s life began its festival run with a win for Best Debut Director in Venice, and has since become one of the most celebrated Indian films on the international circuit. With his debut feature, Sengupta displays the bold vision and masterful control of an auteur.
Friday, April 10 at 7:15 pm
SHORTS 1
Friday, April 10 at 9:15 pm
KILLA - Directed by: Avinash Arun - 105 min
Forced to leave the family home in Pune because of his mother’s work, young Chinu struggles to fit in with the kids in the coastal countryside of Konkan. Smart, quiet, and still mourning the death of his father, Chinu befriends some boys at school after sharing his answers in math class. Meanwhile, his mother also bends the rules in order to get by in her new surroundings. Soon both find change and friendship are never quite as easy as they seem.
Friday, April 10 at 9:30 pm
JAI HO - Directed by: Umesh Aggarwal - 85 min
While his two Oscar wins for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE officially introduced A.R. Rahman to American audiences, he had been a household name for fans of Indian film and music the world over for nearly two decades. For the first time, composer, singer-songwriter, and producer Rahman opens his life and story for the screen. From humble beginnings to a career that includes more than 120 film scores, Rahman talks about his work and life experiences in unprecedented personal terms.
Preceded by TWO (1964) - Directed by: Satyajit Ray - 12 min
Commissioned by US public television to make an English language film in a Bengali setting as part of a trilogy of Indian films, Satyajit Ray chose instead to forego any dialogue in this eloquent fable which is filled with gripping dramatic tension and fierce emotion.
Saturday, April 11 at 1:00 pm
ELIZABETH EKADASHI - Directed by: Paresh Mokashi - 90 min
In the village of Pandharpur in Maharashtra, a precocious little street preacher named Dnyanesh and his younger sister Zendu proudly stroll through the streets with their prized possession: a gleaming yellow bicycle they’ve named ‘Elizabeth.’ Though neither child has grown tall enough to actually ride Elizabeth, they pamper her and keep her close as a reminder of their late father, who handcrafted the bicycle especially for them. The kids live in poverty with their mother and grandmother and hard times strike when the bank repossesses mom’s knitting machine – the family’s sole source of income. When it looks as if Elizabeth must be sold in order to reclaim the machine, Dnyanesh and Zendu sneak out to the streets and devise a plan to raise the money on their own.
Saturday, April 11 at 2:45 pm
TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR - Directed by: Jim Goldblum and Adam Weber - 84 min
For nearly 50 years, some 3000 Indian street and folk artist families have lived in the colony of Kathputli in Delhi. Surrounded by overcharged construction changing the face of India’s capital, the slum has fallen into the grasp of developers eager to build towering luxury apartments and a mall. Now, some of the country’s most talented puppeteers, magicians, acrobats, and performers of traditional arts are facing not only the destruction of their homes, but the loss of a way of life that has been passed down for generations.
Saturday, April 11 at 3:15 pm
THE CROW'S EGG - Directed by: M. Manikandan - 99 min
Director M. Manikandan’s debut feature is at once a charming, bittersweet family film and a stinging satire of corporate misbehavior, all drawn from the simple tale of two brothers who just want to have their first taste of pizza. The boys – known as Little Crow’s Egg and Big Crow’s Egg (named after the snack they pluck daily from a nearby tree) – become infatuated with the tasty-looking dish when a new restaurant opens nearby, constantly barraging them with tantalizing advertisements. But the boys live in the Chennai slums with their struggling mother and aging grandmother and the cost of pizza is far more than they can afford.
Saturday, April 11 at 5:30 pm
SHORTS 2
Saturday, April 11 at 7:30 pm
ONE CRAZY THING - Directed by: Amit Gupta - 90 min
Former television star Jay is haunted by the sex tape that destroyed his life and turned his unknown actress girlfriend into an A-list Hollywood celebrity. Following his rise to fame on a popular soap opera and then plunge to viral notoriety because of the scandalous tape, Jay now cowers in obscurity as the manager of his family’s Indian restaurant in London. His acting career is nonexistent, his family is irredeemably disgraced, and he constantly fears being recognized by any of the millions of viewers of his very public mistake. When Jay falls for the exciting and artistic Hannah, an American musician studying in London, he realizes he must confront the errors of his past, rather than hiding from his future.
Saturday, April 11 at 8:00 pm
AMMA & APPA - Directed by: Franziska Schönenberger and Jayakrishnan Subramanian - 89 min
Franziska, a Bavarian German woman working as a journalist in India, and Jayakrishnan, a young Tamil artist, met in Mumbai and fell in love. Soon they were engaged and eager to spend their lives together, but a major hurdle stood in their way: Jay’s traditional parents, who were determined to arrange a marriage for their son. The young couple decides to document Franziska’s first visit to Jay’s home in Tamil Nadu and so we have AMMA & APPA, a delightfully funny and keenly observed documentary about the changing nature of love and marriage in today’s world.
Saturday, April 11 at 9:30 pm - Bollywood by Night
While visiting Himachal Pradesh with his wealthy father, London based Manav meets Mansi, the daughter of a traditional folk singer. With some perseverance on Manav’s part, the two fall in love. Despite his promise of marriage, the difference in social status between the families is not easily overcome. After a particularly humiliating visit to Mumbai, Mansi calls off the romance. A chance meeting with Vikrant, a famous music producer, shoots Mansi to international fame. Yet Manav patiently waits, insisting the two will one day be united in marriage.
Sunday, April 12 at 12:30 pm
REPEAT SCREENING
Sunday, April 12 at 2:00 pm
SECRET SCREENING (only for passholders)
Sunday, April 12 at 3:00 pm
TIGERS - Directed by: Danis Tanović - 90 min
Ayan is a frustrated pharmaceutical salesman in Pakistan who can never get his doctor clients to prescribe his products because they are from local manufacturers and not from the ubiquitous multi-national brands. Newly married and eager to build his career, he finally gets hired by a prominent Western company looking to gain a bigger foothold in the country by selling baby formula. Through his salesmanship and drive, Ayan builds his network and reputation in the company. However, it all comes crashing down when a doctor shows him the real cost of his product to the families that use it.
Sunday, April 12 at 6:00 pm - Closing Night Gala
DHANAK (RAINBOW) - Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor - 103 min
Fresh from his award-winning premiere at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, Nagesh Kukunoor arrives at IFFLA with this stunning tale of a brother and sister who embark on a journey across Rajasthan in an attempt to meet the great Shah Rukh Khan. Pari is the responsible older sister to Chotu, a high-spirited blind boy on the brink of his ninth birthday. Chotu wants nothing more than to have his vision back and Pari — inspired by a message she sees on a Shah Rukh Khan poster — promises him he’ll get it before his birthday arrives. When the two learn that Shah Rukh Khan is filming only a few hundred kilometers from their village, they sneak away from home and set out to meet the superstar.
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