BY DEVIKA C. MEHTA
LOS ANGELES, CA - The 15th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) kicked off in full pomp, stardust and a galaxy of acclaimed movies. The festival celebrated the lineup of narrative and documentary features, short films and premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally from April 5-9 at Regal L.A. LIVE:
LOS ANGELES, CA - The 15th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) kicked off in full pomp, stardust and a galaxy of acclaimed movies. The festival celebrated the lineup of narrative and documentary features, short films and premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally from April 5-9 at Regal L.A. LIVE:
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A Barco Innovation Center here. Significantly, this was the festival’s first year in the state-of-the-art, world-class cinema in the heart of vibrant LA partnered by Zee Cinema and Air India.
Celebrating the occasion, Mike Dougherty, Director of Programming, stated, “As India’s diverse array of talented filmmakers continues to be recognized around the world for their compelling and daring work, IFFLA is extremely proud to collect the best films from emerging voices and experienced masters and present them to Los Angeles.”
The Festival opened with ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ and its impressive ensemble cast of Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur in a dramatic, but irreverent and vibrant film about women and faith. Following the film’s showcase, director Alankrita Shrivastava and actress Kumra answered several viewers questions while facing the media’s glare.
On the closing day, April 9, ‘Hotel Salvation,’ the debut feature of Shubhashish Bhutiani, was premiered. The film’s star Adil Hussain of ‘Life Of Pi,’ ‘Umrika,’ and ‘Parched,’ fame, also attended the closing night gala to represent the film.
This year the festival featured two world premieres, five North American premieres, five U.S. premieres, and eleven LA premieres. It also premiered work representing nine languages, and highlighted a combination of exciting first and second-time filmmakers.
First-time directors earned great laurels this year, including the directorial debut of actress Konkona Sen Sharma with her film ‘A Death In The Gunj.’ Additionally first-time filmmaker Ananya Kasaravalli brought ‘The Chronicles Of Hari’ to the audience while Padma Kumar Narasimhamurthy received great response to his ‘A Billion Colour Story.’
At the closing gala, the winners were also announced. ‘The Golden Wing’ received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature; Best Short winner was ‘Devi’; Audience Choice Awards went to ‘An Insignificant Man’ for Best Feature (Documentary), ‘A Billion Colour Story,’ won Best Feature (Narrative) and ‘Aaba’ got Best Short.
Applauding ‘The Golden Wing,’ directed by Bobby Sarma Baruah, the narrative jury stated: “We wanted to recognize this work for its artistry in storytelling and filmmaking, its exploration of class and society, and for the seamless and elegant way in which it incorporates music and performance. This is a film that celebrates a woman’s independence, her compassion and humanism and ultimately her enduring reputation as an artist.”
A special jury mention was made for: ‘Lady Of the Lake,’ directed by Haobam Paban Kumar “for its inspired and distinctively cinematic fusion of magical realism and docu-fiction approaches in depicting the beleaguered fishing community living atop and among the hypnotic floating biomasses of Loktak Lake in the little-photographed Manipur region.” The narrative film jurors were- David Marriott, Gingger Shankar, Kim Yutani. Judging the short films were actor Ritesh Rajan from ‘The Jungle Book,’ Kim Sherman and Kelly Thomas. The festival was a hit, with several film buffs enjoying the array of films screened.
Celebrating the occasion, Mike Dougherty, Director of Programming, stated, “As India’s diverse array of talented filmmakers continues to be recognized around the world for their compelling and daring work, IFFLA is extremely proud to collect the best films from emerging voices and experienced masters and present them to Los Angeles.”
The Festival opened with ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ and its impressive ensemble cast of Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur in a dramatic, but irreverent and vibrant film about women and faith. Following the film’s showcase, director Alankrita Shrivastava and actress Kumra answered several viewers questions while facing the media’s glare.
On the closing day, April 9, ‘Hotel Salvation,’ the debut feature of Shubhashish Bhutiani, was premiered. The film’s star Adil Hussain of ‘Life Of Pi,’ ‘Umrika,’ and ‘Parched,’ fame, also attended the closing night gala to represent the film.
This year the festival featured two world premieres, five North American premieres, five U.S. premieres, and eleven LA premieres. It also premiered work representing nine languages, and highlighted a combination of exciting first and second-time filmmakers.
First-time directors earned great laurels this year, including the directorial debut of actress Konkona Sen Sharma with her film ‘A Death In The Gunj.’ Additionally first-time filmmaker Ananya Kasaravalli brought ‘The Chronicles Of Hari’ to the audience while Padma Kumar Narasimhamurthy received great response to his ‘A Billion Colour Story.’
At the closing gala, the winners were also announced. ‘The Golden Wing’ received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature; Best Short winner was ‘Devi’; Audience Choice Awards went to ‘An Insignificant Man’ for Best Feature (Documentary), ‘A Billion Colour Story,’ won Best Feature (Narrative) and ‘Aaba’ got Best Short.
Applauding ‘The Golden Wing,’ directed by Bobby Sarma Baruah, the narrative jury stated: “We wanted to recognize this work for its artistry in storytelling and filmmaking, its exploration of class and society, and for the seamless and elegant way in which it incorporates music and performance. This is a film that celebrates a woman’s independence, her compassion and humanism and ultimately her enduring reputation as an artist.”
A special jury mention was made for: ‘Lady Of the Lake,’ directed by Haobam Paban Kumar “for its inspired and distinctively cinematic fusion of magical realism and docu-fiction approaches in depicting the beleaguered fishing community living atop and among the hypnotic floating biomasses of Loktak Lake in the little-photographed Manipur region.” The narrative film jurors were- David Marriott, Gingger Shankar, Kim Yutani. Judging the short films were actor Ritesh Rajan from ‘The Jungle Book,’ Kim Sherman and Kelly Thomas. The festival was a hit, with several film buffs enjoying the array of films screened.
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