IFFLA 2019

Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
April 11-14, 2019 - Regal L.A. Live 14

Thursday, April 11 at 7:30 pm - Opening Night Gala

ANDHADHUN - A Tribute to Tabu - 139 min

Tabassum Fatima Hashmi, known as Tabu, is regarded as one of the most talented Indian actors of her generation, having been honored with two National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards and notably, the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2011. Tabu’s strong individuality and unwillingness to compromise set apart her persona—and the characters she portrays—making her beloved by Indian audiences around the world.

In Andhadhun, Tabu again takes on a comedic role, albeit still playing the kind of villainess that her audiences adore. Tabu is Simi, a desperate actress who is caught disposing off her husband’s body in front of pianist Akash (Ayushmann Khurrana). Fortunately it’s not a problem – he’s blind. Or is he? Simi and Akash find themselves bound together (literally) in this wicked story of ambition, romance and organ harvesting. Co-starring the delightful Radhika Apte as Akash’s suspicious, sassy girlfriend.


Friday, April 12 at 7:00 pm 

THE SWEET REQUIEM - 92 min

Escaping nearly 15 years ago from Tibet, Dolkar (Tenzin Dolker) is a young woman living in exile in Delhi. Her seemingly contented life is completely unmoored when she meets Gompo (Tenzin Dechen), a new arrival to their Tibetan community, who she recognizes as the man who guided her group through the unforgiving and treacherous path to India. As Gompol deals with his own story of heartache and peril, long-repressed memories return to Dolkar, and she resolves to confront him for his betrayal.


Friday, April 12 at 7:15 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM 1 

Friday, April 12 at 9:15 pm

CAT STICKS - 94 min

One rain-soaked night in Kolkata, in the city’s hidden corners and forgotten pathways, the aimless lives of several young people crystallize into a sympathetic portrait of addiction in Ronny Sen’s unforgettable feature debut. Together with cinematographer Shreya Dev Dube, who lenses each breathtaking, black-and-white shot with an artist’s eye, Sen evokes another world hiding in plain sight. The city’s nearly empty streets create a stage for the petty crime, meandering conversations, and surreal encounters that accompany each of his characters’ search for the unsustainable high of “brown sugar”. The result is visual poetry that gives these lost souls a necessary spotlight without beautifying their struggle.


Saturday, April 13 at 12:00 pm

TAKING THE HORSE TO EAT JALEBIS - 122 min

For centuries the Shahjanabad area of Old Delhi has been home to migrant workers and the poor. Eschewing stereotypical images and storytelling approaches, TAKING THE HORSE TO EAT JALEBIS takes us into the reality of Old Delhi, centering the stories of its citizens such as a pickpocket, street vendor, labor activist and tour guide. When Pattru, an outcast thief, decides to lead his own tours, the police and tourists reject his stories of the dark truths of the city. Still, he continues, taking us further in to the dream life and subconscious of the community.


Saturday, April 13 at 12:30 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM 2

Saturday, April 13 at 3:15 pm  

CHIPPA - 90 min

Sunny Pawar, the star of 2016’s Oscar-nominated LION, proves his movie star mettle as the delightful title character in Safdar Rahman’s directorial debut. Chippa is a spirited young boy living with his street vendor auntie, a relationship that creates more arguments than tenderness. On the eve of Chippa’s tenth birthday, he’s given a letter written to him by his long-absent father. The letter is written in Urdu, which neither Chippa nor any of the adults in his life can read. Spurred on by yet another shouting match with his auntie, he sets off for one eventful night through the streets of Kolkata in search of answers.


Saturday, April 13 at 5:15 pm  

WIDOW OF SILENCE - 86 min

In the first shot of WIDOW OF SILENCE a beautifully-lit elderly woman is gently tied to a chair by someone offscreen. Not only does this image of paralysis act as a metaphor for the status of women in Kashmir, it foreshadows the entanglement that faces the heroine, Aasia — a situation she attempts to liberate herself from at great cost.


Saturday, April 13 at 7:15 pm  

NAMDEV BHAU IN SEARCH OF SILENCE - 82 min

Namdev Bhau, a 65-year-old chauffeur in Mumbai, yearns to escape the endless noise of his city life – the complaints of his clients, the cacophony on the street, the bickering at home. When he hears about a place called Silent Valley — reported to be one of the quietest places on Earth — he decides to leave everything and journey there to attain blissful peace and quiet. However, as he sets out on the road, each of his attempts for solitude are comically foiled. The last straw arrives in the form of a precocious 12-year-old boy, who selects Namdev Bhau as the perfect companion for his own journey.


Saturday, April 13 at 9:15 pm  

PHOTOGRAPH - 110 min

Rafi’s grandmother in the village will not stop asking him to get married. One day while making his living as a photographer of tourists at the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai, Rafi takes a picture of Miloni, a local young accountant student who has stolen a moment alone from her family. When she leaves before he can give her the photograph, he decides to make use of it by sending it to his grandmother as a picture of his future bride. The ruse works too well when grandma announces she’s coming to town to meet her.


Sunday, April 14 at 12:00 pm

REASON - 236 min

Iconoclastic documentarian and IFFLA alum Anand Patwardhan has long been seen as the conscience of the nation and in his latest film he takes on no less of a subject as the past, present and future of Indian democracy and secularism. Divided into eight chapters and told over four hours, Patwardhan surveys the history of and contemporary struggle against casteism and Hindutva, the ideology of Hindu nationalism.


Sunday, April 14 at 12:30 pm

JONAKI - 95 min

80-year-old Jonaki, the heroine of visionary director Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s astonishing second feature, has come to the end of a life filled with love interrupted, dreams deferred and disappointments regretfully accepted. Portrayed by legendary Bengali actress Lolita Chatterjee, Jonaki recounts the bittersweet moments of her life, which are rendered as surreal, breathtaking dreamscapes that cast the octogenarian actress as Jonaki’s younger self. We experience her first true love with a dashing Christian man, and the subsequent clash with her traditionalist family over her wishes for marriage.


Sunday, April 14 at 3:00 pm

LOVE GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND - 87 min

Nina Sharma is a promising high school student, a budding artist, and the daughter of two affluent Indian American parents in Los Angeles. From the outside, her family life looks perfect, but complications arise when her brother Bharat returns home from college unexpectedly. After exhibiting erratic behavior, a doctor’s visit reveals that Bharat is struggling with bipolar disorder. Nina jumps at the chance to help her brother through his illness, but her parents refuse to face the reality of Bharat’s diagnosis.


Sunday, April 14 at 7:00 pm - Closing Night Gala

THE ODDS - 96 min

On the day of a major exam that could help determine her future, eccentric Vivek decides to take a slightly strange stand against the system. When things don’t go as she planned, well-heeled and cute Ashwin gets caught up in her antics and the two play truant from school. As the young would-be couple wanders the streets of Mumbai and gets to know each other, the past, present and future of their relationship play out in hilarious and magical ways.


For more information, please visit: IFFLA2019

IFFLA 2018

Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
April 11-15, 2018 - Regal L.A. Live 14

Wednesday, April 11 at 7:30 pm - Opening Night Gala

IN THE SHADOWS - 117 min

Dipesh Jain’s impressive feature debut centers on Khuddoos (Manoj Bajpayee), a shopkeeper living in self-imposed isolation within the walled city of Old Delhi. In lieu of human interaction, Khuddoos monitors the people in his neighborhood via a series of hidden cameras he’s placed throughout the streets and alleys. Whether he fancies himself an amateur police officer or is a Peeping Tom is open to interpretation, but when Khuddoos hears the sounds of a young boy suffering abuse at the hands of his father – somewhere outside the view of Khuddoos’ cameras – he is spurred to take action.

Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 pm 

OMERTA - 96 min

Hansal Mehta returns to IFFLA with perhaps his most ambitious feature to date. Partnering once again with his muse, actor Rajkummar Rao, the two artists probe the life of British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a man believed to have, among other despicable acts, funded the events of 9/11. In order to sketch a portrait of Saeed, Mehta and Rao bring us uncomfortably close to the man, combining known biographical elements of Saeed’s life with reenactments of crimes Saeed has confessed to, or is generally believed to have committed – most notoriously, the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Thursday, April 12 at 7:15 pm

UP DOWN AND SIDEWAYS - 83 min

Directors Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar took their camera to the farthest northeast corner of India to capture this ethnographic portrait of an indigenous community and their remarkable musical traditions. Villagers of Phek in the Nagaland region rely on rice cultivation as their primary means of subsistence. Together they form small teams called mülé, to work each other’s paddies year-round. As both men and women labor they sing lis, folk songs formally similar to the “call and response” style of African-American work music, but polyphonically more complex. The lyrics of love, friendship, strength and fatigue feel strikingly timeless and universal.

Thursday, April 12 at 9:15 pm

MERCURY - 109 min

Five long-time friends, all of whom are maimed as a result of their town’s mercury poisoning, come together for their high school reunion. But, a moment of mischief and misfortune during the after-party puts them on a one way road to hell.

Friday, April 13 at 7:00 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM 1

Friday, April 13 at 7:15 pm 

THE HUNGRY - 100 min

In this all-star adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, the bard’s notoriously bloody tale of deceit and revenge is cleverly modernized by director Bornila Chatterjee and relocated to a sumptuous wedding celebration in Delhi. The approaching nuptials are meant to solidify a powerful union between the families of two business magnates – Tathagat (Naseeruddin Shah), the wealthy head of a corporate empire, will marry off his son to Tulsi (Tisca Chopra), the widow of his former partner. However, the sins of the father’s past have driven Tulsi to concoct a devious scheme for revenge, which threatens to set both families on an irreversible path to destruction.

Friday, April 13 at 9:30 pm

AJJI - 104 min

When 10-year-old Manda is brutally assaulted by Dhavle, a local politician’s violent and uncontrollable son, her family sees little hope for justice. Her parents – scraping by on meager earnings from technically illegal work – are scared into silence by a police force unwilling to hold the powerful accountable. Only Ajji, Manda’s aging grandmother, sees a path to vengeance. While Dhavle parades around town fearless of any reprisal, Ajji stealthily moves through dark alleys and butcher shops, methodically devising her plan for revenge.

Saturday, April 14 at 1:00 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM 2

Saturday, April 14 at 3:00 pm

LOVESICK - 74 min

After discovering the first cases of HIV in India in 1986, Dr. Suniti Solomon left a prestigious academic job to build her own clinic focusing on treating HIV/AIDS patients. Several decades and breakthroughs in treatment later, her clinic is one of the highest regarded in the country and her patients are living longer lives. While surviving, some of her patients are not thriving. Being Indian, they feel immense societal and personal pressure to marry, but simultaneously face a stigma of being HIV-positive. Now in the twilight of her impressive career, Dr. Solomon takes the next step in her treatment by creating a matchmaking service for those seeking marriage. Through the service we meet Manu and Karthik, two of her patients who want to share their lives with someone but are fearful they never will. Shot over eight years and told with compassion and care, filmmakers Ann S. Kim and Priya Giri Desai give us a surprising and hopeful story about the universal healing ability of companionship and love.

Saturday, April 14 at 4:45 pm

PRAKASAN

In this witty and sweet fish-out-of-water comedy, director Bash Mohammed illustrates the virtues of cinematic simplicity in a classic story told with empathy and skill. The outrageously endearing Dinesh Prabhakar plays the titular Prakasan, a young man lucky enough to be born into a paradisiacal forest brimming with fresh fruit where he can make love to his girlfriend in luminous natural pools. Yet Prakasan is dying to see the big city, so when he receives a job offer from a World Bank program, he happily leaves his idyllic home behind.

Saturday, April 14 at 6:45 pm

DARK WIND - 99 min

IFFLA regulars Sanjay Mishra (MASAAN, ANKHON DEKHI) and Ranvir Shorey (A DEATH IN THE GUNJ, TITLI) bring to life this sensitive yet pointed dramatization of climate change’s effects on a diverse cross-section of Indian society. In the Mahua region of Rajasthan, once known for flourishing farmlands, the ever-decreasing rainfall has left farmers without a crop to sell, and therefore with no money to repay their hefty bank loans. Hedu, the father of one such farmer, fears his son’s misfortune will lead him to drastic action. He pays a visit to a notorious debt collection officer, known as the “god of death” for his vicious tactics, looking to strike a bargain. But the agreement they reach might offer solutions for some, and total ruin for others.

Saturday, April 14 at 9:00 pm

ASK THE SEXPERT - 83 min

The most popular column in a daily newspaper in Mumbai is one people are hesitant to admit they read. With many states banning sex education in schools and a general taboo around any kind of public talk about sex, 93-year-old Dr. Mahinder Watsa’s column is a lifeline to millions. With humor and kindness, he addresses topics like masturbation, premature ejaculation, gender equality, and sexual pleasure in non-moralistic terms. In addition to the column, the need amongst the people for honest and factual discussion about sex leads him to answer hundreds of emails and even counsel couples and strangers who arrive at his home unannounced.

Saturday, April 14 at 9:15 pm

TAKE OFF - 132 min

Sameera (Parvathy), a nurse in Kerala, is determined to move to Iraq in order to make more money and pay off her suffocating student loans. Her husband and his family disapprove, leading to a divorce and his taking custody of their young son. Still unwavering in her decision, she agrees to a marriage with her work colleague Shaheed (Boban) and the two move to Tikrit, Iraq in 2014. Despite assurances from Indian and Iraqi officials that things are normal, the two are quickly involved in the daily violence from ISIS forces. Soon the city falls and Sameera is trapped, forcing her and Indian diplomats into a complex negotiation for the lives of herself, the other nurses and her husband. Parvathy gives a mesmerizing and layered performance of Sameera, an independent, fierce, yet vulnerable woman, that has won her many accolades including the Best Female Actor Award at the International Film Festival of India, the first ever for an Indian actor. First-time director’s Mahesh Narayanan’s TAKE OFF is both a compelling thriller and an exciting example of contemporary Malayalam cinema.

Sunday, April 15 at 12:00 pm - TRIBUTE TO SRIDEVI (1963-2018)

CHANDNI (1989) - 187 min

IFFLA is honored to present this special memorial tribute to the late Sridevi, courtesy of Yash Raj Films. CHANDNI is a glorious ode to one of the finest actors of her generation at the peak of her career, beloved for her prolific work in Hindi as well as South Indian cinema. Fans of the late Vinod Khanna will also relish his performance in this film with evergreen songs, unexpected pathos and unabashed melodrama. Nearly 30 years later, the film remains one of Yash Chopra’s finest, and enshrines Sridevi with a character that arguably most closely matches her vulnerable and graceful real life persona.

Sunday, April 15 at 3:30 pm

THE ASHRAM - 90 min

Ben Rekhi brings together a star-studded cast for a story of mystical intrigue in the Himalayas with a twisty plot and startling climax that is sure to provoke discussion. Following the trail of his missing ex-girlfriend, Jamie (Sam Keeley) discovers a remote monastery in the mountains founded by a guru with allegedly miraculous powers. As Jamie tries to pry secrets from the guru’s devoted acolytes (played by Kal Penn, Radhika Apte, and Oscar-winner Melissa Leo) he becomes more convinced that they know more about his lover’s disappearance than they’re telling him.

Sunday, April 15 at 7:00 pm - CLOSING NIGHT GALA

VILLAGE ROCKSTARS - 87 min

Dhunu, a free-spirited tomboy, lives with her widowed mother and older brother as they struggle to get by in their small village in Assam. One day, after seeing a band at a local event playing with Styrofoam “guitars”, she dreams of owning a real one of her own and becoming a rockstar. She saves money and forms a supporting band with the local boys, but her rockstar hopes seem impossible without magical thinking. After an epic rainfall destroys the local crops, Dhunu is caught between the fantasy life of youth and the harsh reality of adulthood. Having shot the film in her own home village of Chhaygaon, filmmaker Rima Das, who is the film’s director, writer, editor, director of photography, production designer, costume designer and casting director, shows the beauty of the landscape and people without hiding from the culture of conformity that threatens young girls. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, VILLAGE ROCKSTARS has a soul and vision rare in Indian cinema today and marks Das as a major emerging filmmaker.

For more information, please visit: IFFLA2018

IFFLA 2017

15th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
APRIL 5-9, 2017 - Regal LA Live in Downtown LA

Wednesday, April 5 at 7:30 pm - Opening Night Gala

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA - 116 min

Director Alankrita Shrivastava won the Spirit of Asia award at the Tokyo International Film Festival with this ambitious narrative set in Bhopal. Rehana is the titular burkha wearer who sings at open mics in defiance of her father’s warnings; Shirin is a superstar saleswoman, but must keep this triumph a secret from her faithless husband; Leela is trying to juggle a Muslim lover, a Hindu fiancé and her dream career as a bridal consultant; and Auntie Usha secretly reads racy novels and lusts after her swimming instructor. Two of the women are Hindu, two are Muslim, but all their stories come together when they attempt to challenge the sexual and social norms of Indian patriarchy.

Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 pm

MACHINES - 71 min

In the bowels of a textile mill in Surat, Gujarat, machines churn out reams of fabric, powered not only by electricity but the toil of human labor. In his debut feature, Rahul Jain gains almost unlimited access to the dehumanizing world of textile production that recalls another era but is happening today. We meet some of the mill’s many workers who are keenly aware of their exploitation, working gruelling daily shifts for minimal wages that barely cover their own basic living expenses, to say nothing of supporting their distant families. Still the work continues, never ending.

Thursday, April 6 at 7:15 pm

AN INDIAN ACCENT: AN EVENING WITH ZAKIR HUSSAIN AND ZANE DALAL

IFFLA is honored to welcome legendary tabla maestro Zakir Hussain to the festival, joined by Zane Dalal, the Associate Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI). The two distinguished gentlemen will present a screening of the documentary AN INDIAN ACCENT, directed by Sumantra Ghosal, which chronicles their collaboration within the SOI on Hussain’s composition Peshkar, a brilliant orchestra concerto lead by Hussain on his signature instrument, the tabla.

Thursday, April 6 at 9:00 pm

ONCE AGAIN - 121 min

Dileep gives a staggering performance as an earnest family man who can’t catch a break. But when a stroke of good luck reveals a hidden side to his personality, it’s the people who love him who have to face the consequences.Veteran Malayalam filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan made a welcome return to the festival circuit at the Toronto International Film Festival last year with his new gripping drama ONCE AGAIN.

Friday, April 7 at 7:00 pm

TRAPPED - 101 min

Shaurya is in urgent need of a new apartment.  He’s just made an impulsive marriage proposal, the clock is ticking and the tiny flat he shares with half a dozen layabouts is not suitable for his hopeful bride-to-be. When he’s offered an affordable place in an otherwise abandoned Mumbai high-rise, he jumps at the chance, never mind the spotty access to running water and electricity.  But on his first morning, he manages to lock himself inside due to a faulty door and misplaced keys.  With the power out, the faucets running dry and no one around to hear Saurya’s screams for help, what at first seems like a minor setback quickly escalates into a desperate fight for survival.

Friday, April 7 at 7:15 pm

SHORTS PROGRAM 1

Friday, April 7 at 9:15 pm

THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS - 96 min

For decades, traveling tent cinemas have been bringing films to rural audiences across India. However with the explosion of digital technology and individual screens of all kinds, these communal social events are near extinction. In Maharashtra, two exhibitors, one relatively new to the business and the other a veteran, worry what will become of their occupation. Meanwhile, Prakash, a repairman of the projectors that generations of filmgoers have relied on, is close to realizing his dream invention of a reliable, self-oiling film projector, but who will want it?

Friday, April 7 at 9:35 pm

CHRONICLES OF HARI - 105 min

Set in the lush coastal regions of Karnataka, first-time director Ananya Kasaravalli’s CHRONICLES OF HARI delves into the unique, ornate world of traditional Yakshagana theater and finds within it a sensitive, compassionate portrayal of a man troubled by questions of tradition and identity. In this story co-written with Ananya’s father, parallel cinema pioneer Girish Kasaravalli, Hari, a renowned actor who performs the female roles in his all-male acting troupe, finds himself holding on to certain female-associated traits once his lavish costumes and makeup are removed. He prefers to wear a sari, his delicate features are a stark contrast from the other men in the village, and when potential female companions approach he’s at a loss how to behave.

Saturday, April 8 at 12:00 pm

FILMMAKER ROUNDTABLE

Saturday, April 8 at 1:30 pm

SHORTS PROGRAM 2

Saturday, April 8 at 2:00 pm

THE GOLDEN WING - 86 min

Set among the breathtaking landscapes of Western Assam, Bobby Sarma Baruah’s second feature foregoes the traditional structure of the all-too-common biopic to deliver an enchanting, positively gorgeous portrayal of the life of Pratima Baruah Pandey. Born to royalty in 1935, Pandey found her passion in the folk songs performed by the working people of her region, rather than in the life of marriage and domesticity expected of a woman of her circumstance. She forsook tradition by dedicating her life to learning these songs – usually sung by boatmen and buffalo herders – and sharing them with the world.

Saturday, April 8 at 4:15 pm

SOMETIMES (SILA SAMAYANGALIL) - 101 min

In a nondescript waiting room at a medical clinic, a group of strangers waits for test results. Everyone is desperate not to admit what they have tested for: HIV. As they grow frustrated with the reality that they will have to wait until the end of the day to receive results, they come up with the idea to bribe the receptionist, who is dealing with her own personal problems and desperate for the money. She comes back with the news that only serves to make the wait more tortuous.

Saturday, April 8 at 4:30 pm

INCOMPLETE - 120 min

Set in a lush, breathtaking mountain region of West Bengal, celebrated filmmaker Suman Mukhopadhyay’s latest triumph boasts a rich, vividly portrayed ensemble of characters and an intricate, unpredictable story with the resonance of a great novel. Indrajit (played by the consistently stellar Ritwick Chakraborty) is an intelligent if indecisive man of 35 on holiday from Kolkata to visit his old college friend Moloy. He arrives to find Moloy constantly battling with his neglected wife Tuki, a formidable woman seeking elsewhere for the tenderness she fails to receive at home. In town, Indrajit comes across a familiar man whose insistence that they’ve never met before clearly masks an intriguing secret. Then, Indrajit runs into an old lover and her jealous husband, setting the stage for some fierce confrontation.

Saturday, April 8 at 7:00 pm

AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN - 96 min

When the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party – led by the polarizing political firebrand Arvind Kejriwal — challenged India’s long-dominant two party system in the 2013 Delhi state elections, expectations for victory were not high. Rooted in principles of anti-corruption and working class justice, the AAP faced the scorn of the political establishment, the indifference of the media and the growing pains of a new, revolutionary ideology struggling to remain pure through infighting, accusations and possible violent sabotage.

Saturday, April 8 at 9:15 pm

SEXY DURGA - 85 min

When it won the prestigious Tiger award at Rotterdam this year, the critical responses to SEXY DURGA were both squeamish and rapturous. Was Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s road movie about star-crossed lovers unrelentingly provocative, or a masterly exposure of the vulnerability of women in Indian society to exploitation that masquerades as chivalry? The answer is: it’s both.

Saturday, April 8 at 9:30 pm

LADY OF THE LAKE - 71 min

Beginning with the breathtaking opening shot, filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar introduces us to a unique culture on a scale that is both intimate and panoramic. In the state of Manipur in northern India, families of fisherman live on small islands of biomass called phumdis floating on Lake Loktak. In 2011, citing pollution concerns, government authorities forcibly displaced inhabitants and burned their homes.

Sunday, April 9 at 1:00 pm

A BILLION COLOUR STORY - 104 min

11-year-old Hari Aziz lives a blissful life in Mumbai with his parents, a pair of Bohemian filmmakers whose optimistic views have been embedded into their son’s DNA. Hari approaches the world with refreshing openness and curiosity, but soon the social realities of a country in crisis pose a challenge to his family’s gentle existence. Financial hardships force the family to move out of their beloved house, and Hari’s mom and dad – a Hindu woman and a Muslim man, neither one particularly observant – face a sort of religious intolerance from both sides that they had long hoped would disappear from India.

Sunday, April 9 at 1:30 pm

CHUTNEY POPCORN - 92 min

Sunday, April 9 at 3:45 pm

A DEATH IN THE GUNJ - 104 min

Celebrated actress Konkona Sen Sharma steps behind the camera for an electrifying directorial debut with A DEATH IN THE GUNJ. Set in 1979, a wealthy family arrives at their vacation home in the Anglo-Indian town of McCluskiegunj. Several generations have gathered for an idyllic week of relaxation, games, sun-bathing and merriment, but tension soon arises when young Shutu – a college student taking an abrupt break from his studies – begins to bear the brunt of his relatives’ barely-masked disdain and superiority.

Sunday, April 9 at 7:00 pm - Closing Night Gala

HOTEL SALVATION - 103 min

After a prophetic dream, 77-year old Daya (Lalit Behl) announces to his family his time has come and he wishes to travel to the holy city of Varanasi to die there. The task to accompany his father falls to his dutiful son Rajiv (Adil Hussain), who is nearly overwhelmed by the stress of his job and the upcoming marriage of his daughter. In Varanasi, they check into the Hotel Salvation, where guests wait for the end of their lives. Once there though, Daya seems to be reinvigorated, and lifelong conflicts and feelings between father and son reemerge.

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.