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The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) this year features 40 films, opening With Fire in the Mountains, Presented by Asif Kapadia, and Closing with Sthalpuran (Chronicle of Space), Presented by Anurag Kashyap. This year’s lineup includes 3 World, 8 North American, 5 U.S. and 17 Los Angeles premieres, spanning 17 languages, with 16 women directors. [LINK] The festival will take place May 20-27, 2021. The festival will be virtual and geo-blocked to California.
“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.
The festival will run from May 20-27, 2021. Information on Festival Passes and the complete 2021 Film Guide.
Opening Premiere
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.
FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS – India | 2021 | 104 mins | Hindi
Producers: Ajay Rai, Alan McAlex
Cast: Vinamrata Rai, Chandan Bisht, Sonal Jha, Mayank Singh Jaira
Closing Finale
The fest will conclude with a screening of Sthalpuran (Chronicle of Space) by Akshay Indikar, the Marathi film that premiered at Berlinale 2020 and has been lauded for its breathtaking minimalist exploration of the inner life of its young protagonist. Long-time IFFLA alum and one of the most celebrated independent filmmakers, Anurag Kashyap (Sacred Games, Gangs of Wasseypur), will join Indikar in a Q&A discussion soon after.
STHALPURAN (CHRONICLE OF SPACE) – 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
IFFLA’s feature program boasts impressive highlights from an extraordinary 13 regions in India and includes the Los Angeles Premiere of the prestigious Rotterdam Tiger Award-winning Tamil-language film Pebbles, a directorial debut by PS Vinothraj. Other highlights of this lineup include IFFLA alum Bhaskar Hazarika’s romance-thriller Aamis (Ravening); the powerful Bengali ensemble film Debris of Desire; and the North American premiere of National Award-winning filmmaker Farida Pacha’s disarmingly intimate documentary Watch Over Me.
The festival turns the spotlight on films directed by women, particularly in this year’s shorts competition lineup which features 21 films across four programs. Of these are the 2020 Student Academy Award winner and 2021 Academy Award shortlisted film, Bittu by Karishma Dube; the 2020 Venice Biennale selected Anita by Sushma Khadepaun, and the winner of the 2020 Cannes’ Cinéfondation competition, Catdog by Ashmita Guha Neogi.
The Expanded Virtual 2021 Lineup
IFFLA To Run May 20th – 27th, Opening With Fire in the Mountains, Presented by Asif Kapadia, and Closing with Sthalpuran (Chronicle of Space), Presented by Anurag Kashyap
Special programs include “Childhood on Edge” curated by Uma da Cunha, a panel featuring South Asian showrunners, and a special screening of Prakash Deka’s Fireflies, followed by a panel on transgender and non-binary representation in India and the diaspora.
Childhood On Edge – Special Program
BRIDGE – 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
THE TENANT – India/USA | 2020 | 112 mins | English, Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Sushrut Jain
Producers: Kanchan Kalra, Daniel Walter
Cast: Rudhraksh JaIswal, Shamita Shetty
VANAJA – India | 2009 | 111 mins | Telugu
Director/Screenwriter: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Producer: Latha R. Domalapalli
Cast: Mamatha Bhukya, Urmila Dammannagari, Marikanti Ramachandriah, Karan Singh
KANYA – India | 2020 | 15 mins | Tamil
Director: Apoorva Satish
Producer: Michal Sikora
Screenwriters: Apoorva Satish, Vidhya Iyer
Cast: Tarunya Satish, Mona Kakade, Harish Kumar, Balaji Rajashekar
RAMMAT-GAMMAT – India | 2018 | 18 mins | Gujarati
Director/Screenwriter: Ajitpal Singh
Producers: Drishyam Films, Accord Equips, Mauli Singh
Cast: Shivam Math, Yash Patel, Swati Das
RETTAI JADAI (THE GIRL WITH THE RED RIBBONS) – 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
Narrative Features
AAMIS (RAVENING) – India | 2019 | 107 mins | Assamese
Director/Screenwriter: Bhaskar Hazarika
Producer: Shyam Bora
Cast: Lima Das, Arghadeep Baruah, Neetali Das
BIRIYAANI – India | 2020 | 95 mins | Malayalam
Director/Screenwriter: Sajin Baabu
Producer: UAN Film House
Cast: Kani Kusruti, Shailaja Jala, Surjith Gopinath, Anil Nedumangad
DEBRIS OF DESIRE (MAYAR JONJAL) – 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 Mondal
JUST LIKE THAT (AISE HEE) – India | 2019 | 120 mins | Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Kislay
Producer: Shwetaabh Singh
Cast: Mohini Sharma, Harish Khanna, Sadhna Singh, Trimala Adhikari
LAILA AUR SATT GEET (THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS) – 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
PEBBLES (KOOZHANGAL) – India | 2021 | 74 mins | Tamil
Director/Screenwriter: P. S. Vinothraj
Producers: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan
Cast: Karuththadaiyaan, Chellapandi
SETHTHUMAAN (PIG) – India | 2020 | 112 mins | Tamil
Director/Screenwriter: Thamizh
Producer: Pa. Ranjith
Cast: Manickam, Master Ashwin, Suruli, Prasanna Balachandran
ULJHAN (THE KNOT) – India | 2021 | 107 mins | Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Ashish Pant
Producer: Kartikeya Narayan Singh
Cast: Vikas Kumar, Saloni Batra, Nehpal Gautam
Documentary Features
A RIFLE AND A BAG – India/Romania/Italy/Qatar | 2020 | 89 mins | Gondi, Madiya, Hindi
Directors/Producers/Screenwriters: Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe
WATCH OVER ME – Switzerland/Germany/India | 2021 | 92 mins | Hindi, Malayalam
Director/Screenwriter: Farida Pacha
Producer: Lutz Konermann
Cast: Maniamma R., Sini Kuriakose, Dr. Reena Sharma
Short Films
AMERICAN ANOMIE – USA | 2021 | 25 mins | English, Russian
Director/Screenwriter: Shahriar Azim
Producers: Wajahat Khan, Aastha Verma
Cast: Aman Soni, Marina Zoreva, Kim Estes, Nadine Jackson
ANGH – India | 2021 | 23 mins | Konyak
Director/Screenwriter: Theja Rio
Producer: Nancy Nisa Beso
Cast: Amo Rio, Johan Solo, Shekato Chishi
ANITA – India/USA | 2020 | 18 mins | Gujarati, English
Director/Screenwriter: Sushma Khadepaun
Producer: Ankur Singh
Cast: Aditi Vasudev, Mitra Gadhvi, Sanjivani Sathe, Nikhil Dave
ANNUAL DAY (SALANA JALSA) – 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
BITTU – India/USA | 2020 | 17 mins | Hindi
Director/Screenwriter: Karishma Dev Dube
Producer: Mary Evangelista
Cast: Rani Kumari, Renu Kumari, Saurabh Saraswat
CATDOG – India | 2020 | 20 mins | Hindi, Marathi
Director/Screenwriter: Ashmita Guha Neogi
Producers: Bhupendra Kainthola, Film and Television Institute of India
Cast: Rachana Godbole, Prem Dharamadhikari, Ketaki Saraf, Arjun Radhakrishnan
COFFEE SHOP NAMES – USA | 2020 | 8 mins | English
Director/Screenwriter: Deepak Sethi
Producer: Valerie Steinberg
Cast: Danny Pudi, Karan Soni, Kausar Mohammed, Anders Holm
CUSTODY – 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
THE FLYING TRUNK – India | 2019 | 13 mins | Pahari
Director/Producer/Screenwriter: Siddharth Chauhan
Cast: Arush Thakur, Divya Tegta Saagar, Zunchi Devi, Sheetal Mehta
FOR EACH OTHER – India | 2019 | 22 mins | Assamese
Director/Producer/Screenwriter: Rima Das
Cast: Dorothie Bharadwaj, Lakshaya Sharma
FOREVER TONIGHT – USA | 2020 | 11 mins | English
Director/Screenwriter: Swetha Regunathan
Producer: Nashwa Zaman, Khaula Malik
Cast: Nivita Chaliki, Ethan River Cohen, Gulshan Mia, Sandra Belforte
GHAZAAL – India | 2019 | 15 mins | Dari
Director/Screenwriter: Ragini Bhasin
Producer: Kevin Wang
Cast: Ghazaal Khirandesh, Bilal Khirandesh, Farid Khirandesh
LAST NIGHT IN VEGAS – USA | 2020 | 8 mins | English
Director: J. Nicholas Meese
Producer: Priya Ghosh
Screenwriters: Nikko Benson, Priya Ghosh, J. Nicholas Meese
Cast: Kamalini Ghosh, Remy Kidd, Anirudh Balagopal
LATA – India | 2020 | 22 mins | Hindi, Marathi, English
Director: Alisha Tejpal
Producer: Mireya Martinez
Screenwriters: Alisha Tejpal, Mireya Martinez
Cast: Shobha Dangale
LETTER FROM YOUR FAR-OFF COUNTRY – India/USA | 2020 | 18 mins | English, Hindi, Urdu
Director/Producer/Screenwriter: Suneil Sanzgiri
Cast: Shashi Sanzgiri
THE LOYAL MAN – France | 2019 | 37 mins | Tamil, French
Director: Lawrence Valin
Producers: Simon Bleuzé, Marc Bordure
Screenwriters: Marlene Poste, Lawrence Valin
Cast: Lawrence Valin, Aurora Marion, Anthonythasan Jesuthasan
A PERIOD PIECE – USA | 2020 | 11 mins | English
Director/Screenwriter: Shuchi Talati
Producer: Esra Saydam
Cast: Sonal Aggarwal, Nardeep Khurmi
THE SHOWER – USA | 2019 | 14 mins | English
Director: Mahesh Pailoor
Producers: Adil Chamakh, Pia Shah
Screenwriter: Pia Shah
Cast: Pia Shah, Emily C. Chang, Rupak Ginn
THE SONG WE SANG – India | 2020 | 20 mins | English, Hindi
Director: Aarti Neharsh
Producers: Rahul Tejwani, Chintan Bhatt, Manan Bhatt
Screenwriters: Aarti Neharsh, Chintan Bhatt
Cast: Serena Walia, Ayushi Gupta
UNCLE – USA | 2019 | 12 mins | English
Director: Andrew Carter
Producers: Kahlil Maskati, Andrew Carter, Omar Maskati, Cory Yee, Amy Hartman
Screenwriter: Kahlil Maskati
Cast: Omar Maskati, Ajay Naidu, Rizwan Manji
WADE – India | 2020 | 11 mins | No Dialogue
Directors/Screenwriters: Upamanyu Bhattacharyya, Kalp Sanghvi
Producers: Upamanyu Bhattacharyya, Kalp Sanghvi, Arya Menon, Prateek Sethi, Paolo Polesello
All-Access Pass or Shorts Pass
There are two passes available this year. All-Access Pass holders have access to the entire virtual festival, including Opening and Closing Night films, all features and shorts and Special Programs. The Short Pass gives access to 21 short films curated in four programs. This does not include films from the Opening and Closing night or Special Programs. IFFLA 2021 is limited to viewers within California. More information.
Special India Pass
IFFLA is making a section of its 2021 lineup available to audiences in India, with the India Pass. For the price of Rs. 150 ($2), the India Pass will offer access to 24 films from this year’s lineup, including 6 features and 18 shorts.
Most expenses associated with this pass are being underwritten by an anonymous donor.
Highlights from the India Pass selection include the Malayalam feature Biriyaani, with a powerhouse performance by Kani Kusruti; the poignant Rotterdam selected documentary A Rifle and a Bag; and the impressive debut feature Aise Hee (Just Like That).
Of note this year is a special program curated by the legendary Uma da Cunha, “Childhood on Edge”, with characters on the verge of the momentous transformation from childhood to adulthood. This program includes three diverse features (Bridge, The Tenant, and Vanaja) and one short, Kanya.
From the shorts in the India Pass, highlights include the riveting National Award winning Custody; the Nagaland-set period drama Angh, which won a prize at Clermont-Ferrand 2021; the bold and mysterious Catdog, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes’ Cinefondation; the Student Academy Award winner and Oscar-shortlisted film Bittu by IFFLA alum Karishma Dube; the Gujarati film Anita, featuring a memorable performance by Aditi Vasudev; the dystopian animated masterwork Wade, winner at the Annecy Film Festival; the Rotterdam selected Letter From Your Far-Off Country, whose potent exploration of history, memory and oppression is more relevant than ever; Annual Day, a striking student debut from the Satyajit Ray Film Institute; the enchanting The Song We Sang, a love story between two young women in the streets of Ahmedabad during the Navratri festival; and For Each Other, the latest film by Rima Das.
In addition to the films and their corresponding Q&As with the filmmakers, the India Pass will also give audiences in India access to two panels: an engaging conversation among successful industry executives navigating the world of film and television development both in the US and in India; and a dynamic discussion among trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming creators about the authentic representation of transgender and gender nonconforming stories on the screen.
The India Pass is now available for purchase at indianfilmfestival.org/festival-info/passes-tickets.
All screenings will become available for viewing starting May 20th at 8:00am IST and through May 27th at 11:59pm IST.
