THE 2023 INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF LOS ANGELES (IFFLA) ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR 21ST EDITION (OCTOBER 11-15, 2023)
CELEBRATING SOUTH ASIAN FILMMAKERS

IFFLA WILL OPEN WITH KHUFIYA DIRECTED BY VISHAL BHARDWAJ
AND CLOSE WITH ALL INDIA RANK BY VARUN GROVER

US Premieres of Documentaries The World is Family by Legendary Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan,
and
The Golden Thread by Nishtha Jain

Exclusive Masterclass with World Renowned Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj 

Los Angeles, CA (September 14, 2023) – Today the 2023 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announced the lineup of official selections for the 21st annual edition of the internationally acclaimed film festival. IFFLA will showcase 24 films (6 narrative features, 2 documentary features, 16 shorts) from 13 countries and in 14 languages, including the world theatrical premiere of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Khufiya, the world premiere of Atul Sabharwal’s Berlin, and the North American premieres of Varun Grover’s dramedy All Indian Rank, Dominic Sangma’s Garo language film Rapture, and the Malayalam film Aattam (The Play) by Anand Ekarshi. Plus, the LA premiere of Joram by Devashish Makhija. 

Passes and Gala tickets are now available at www.indianfilmfestival.org. Tickets to individual programs including the Masterclass with Vishal Bhardwaj go on sale on September 23, 2023.

IFFLA’s Opening Gala selection, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Khufiya, is based on the novel Escape to Nowhere written by a former Chief of Counter Espionage agent, Amar Bhushan. This riveting espionage thriller follows operative Krishna Mehra (Tabu) whose dangerous mission leaves her juggling between her dual identity as a spy and a lover. The film stars Tabu (Drishyam 2, Andhadhun), Ali Fazal (Mirzapur, Victoria & Abdul), Wamiqa Gabbi (Jubilee, Eclipse), and Azmeri Haque Badhon (Rehana). 

The Closing Gala selection will be the North American premiere of All India Rank by writer, filmmaker, comedian, and lyricist Varun Grover, that premiered at the 2023 Rotterdam Film Festival (IFFR). This charming coming-of-age dramedy, brimming with ‘90s pop culture paraphernalia, follows a turbulent year in the life of fresh-faced Vivek as he preps for India’s toughest undergrad exam at a coaching center far away from home. Grover will be in attendance opening the evening with an exclusive stand-up performance. 

During the festival, renowned Indian film director, screenwriter, music composer, and producer Vishal Bhardwaj, will host an exclusive masterclass, where Bhardwaj will dive into his filmmaking journey and multi-faceted creative process across disciplines. Known best for his canny adaptations of Shakespeare to the Indian reality with Maqbool (2003), Omkara (2006), and Haider (2014), and having recently adapted Agatha Christie in Charlie Chopra (2023), Bhardwaj will also discuss his book to screen transitions. Lauded also for his priceless contributions to music for films, with hits like “Sapne Mein Milti Hai” (Satya) and “Beedi” (Omkara), Bhardwaj will delve into the impact music has on films. 

“We are thrilled to enter IFFLA’s third decade offering a unique and much needed platform for emerging South Asian storytellers, and bringing a highly curated program to Los Angeles audiences,” said IFFLA Executive Director Christina Marouda. “Los Angeles has become home to countless artists with roots across South Asia and its diasporas. IFFLA has long been a vital touchstone for filmmakers due to both the platform it provides for their work to be seen in the heart of the American film industry as well as the support and networking it has offered the directors, actors, and other film artists who have been a part of the IFFLA ‘family.’”

Six feature films will have major premiere screenings at IFFLA. Atul Sabharwal, who is an IFFLA alum, will debut his world premiere of Berlin, a spy thriller mystery set in the early ‘90s in Delhi starring Rahul Bose, Aparshakti Khurana, and Ishwak Singh. The two films making their North American premieres at IFFLA are the dark supernatural tale Rapture by Dominic Sangma, a Locarno premiered Garo language film set in a remote Meghalayan community where a Christian pastor desperately struggles to maintain his grip over his congregation; and Aattam (The Play) by Anand Ekarshi, a scathing Malayalam chamber drama starring Vinay Forrt, about the havoc that ensues amidst a twelve-man theater troupe when their sole female member is groped by one of her colleagues. 

Making its LA premiere, action-packed Joram by IFFLA alum Devashish Makhija (Ajji)  boasts a cast of A-listers that includes Manoj Bajpayee in the leading role, as well as Tannishtha Chatterjee, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Smita Tambe. This adventure thriller follows a young couple who has fled their tribal battleground for a peaceful life in Mumbai, when a ruthless shadow from their past shows up at their slum and sends them clinging for dear life. 

IFFLA will host the US premieres of two documentary features: The World is Family by legendary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan (Reason, War and Peace), his most personal film to date, that pays tribute to his parents whose lives were closely linked with India’s independence movement; and The Golden Thread by Nishtha Jain, a lyrical homage to one of the last remaining jute mills in West Bengal, once home to the world’s largest jute industry, now ravaged by mechanization.

IFFLA’s Co-Director of Programming Thouly Dosios said, “We’re profoundly inspired to have such a wide range of generations of South Asian storytellers join together in conversation under one roof over these five extraordinary days. From maestros whose oeuvre continues to expand in dynamic ways, to singular emerging voices who make leaps with their second films or feature debuts, to absolute newcomers whose striking entryways into the cinematic form have us longing for more.”

Co-Director of Programming Ritesh Mehta added, “We remain deeply committed to championing women directors, the forces behind 50% of our shorts program. Additionally, we are enthralled by how well the shorts represent the rich diversity of diasporic stories, from immigrant to second generation and mixed race experiences, from America to New Zealand, and beyond.”

Of the 16 short films presented in IFFLA’s main competition lineup half of them are US productions, with seven countries and 13 languages represented. This section boasts three world premieres including IFFLA alum Sushma Khadepaun’s Places I’ve Called My Own, starring Aditi Vasudev, about an Indian woman returning from the US and navigating fragile threads of family and unrequited queer love; Jhanvi Motla’s Mirage; and Aleem Hossain’s On the Blue Table.

Other highlights include Vibirson Gnanatheepan’s Anushan from France, about a teenager reconciling with his Tamil identity when an uncle arrives from Sri Lanka with wounds of war; the award-winning Bangladeshi documentary, Fantasy in a Concrete Jungle by Mehedi Mostafa; the DGA student winner Men in Blue, by Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda; Reema Maya’s Sundance premiered Nocturnal Burger; and Running, a playful hybrid documentary written and performed by Danny Pudi and directed by Arpita Mukherjee, that follows Pudi as he sets out to uncover the story of his late estranged father. 

Seven features and 16 shorts will compete for the Grand Jury Prize Awards, which will be announced by the Jury members during the Awards Ceremony at the Closing Night Gala, along with the Audience Choice Awards.

The Jury members for the Feature Film Competition are:

  • Karan Soni (Actor, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Miracle Workers)
  • Bilal Qureshi (Journalist and Film Critic, NPR and Washington Post)
  • Utkarshini Vashishtha (Screenwriter, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Sarbjt; Associate Director, India’s Got Talent

The Jury members for the Best Short Film Competition are:

  • Priya Arora (Journalist, The New York Times, HuffPost; Podcaster, Queering Desi)
  • Geeta Malik (Writer and Director, India Sweets and Spices, Abbott Elementary)
  • Katie Walsh (Film Critic, Los Angeles Times)

Opening and Closing Night Galas will take place at Harmony Gold (7655 Sunset Blvd.) and all other screenings and the masterclass will be at the Regal LA Live (1000 W. Olympic Blvd.).

IFFLA is supported by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture as part of Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan. The festival is also funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.

For more information, please visit www.indianfilmfestival.org or follow us on Facebook (/indianfilmfestival), Instagram (@indianfilmfestival) and X (formerly Twitter) (@iffla).

For press images, click HERE

2023 IFFLA’S OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

GALA PRESENTATIONS

KHUFIYA  – World Theatrical Premiere

India | 2023 | 158 mins | Hindi, English,Bengali

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj

Producers: Vishal Bhardwaj Films

Screenwriter: Vishal Bhardwaj, Rohan Narula

Cinematographer: Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi

Editor: Sreekar Prasad

Cast: Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Azmeri Haque Badhon

Logline: Based on the novel ‘Escape to Nowhere’ by Amar Bhushan, this riveting espionage thriller follows Indian intelligence operative Krishna Mehra whose dangerous mission leaves her juggling between her dual identity as a spy and a lover.

ALL INDIA RANK – North American Premiere

India | 2022 | 98 mins | Hindi, English

Director: Varun Grover

Producers: Sanjay Routray, Sarita Patil, Dikssha Jyote Routray

Screenwriter: Varun Grover

Cinematographer: Archana Ghangrekar

Editor: Sanyukta Kaza

Cast: Bodhisattva Sharma, Samta Sudiksha, Shashi Bhushan, Geeta Agrawal, Sheeba Chaddha, Neeraj, Ayush Pandey, Saadat Khan

Brimming with 1990s pop paraphernalia, this story follows a turbulent year in the life of fresh-faced Vivek prepping for India’s toughest undergrad exam at a coaching center far away, even as his parents grapple with their own coming of age back at home.

NARRATIVE FEATURES

AATTAM – North American Premiere 

India | 2023 | 139 mins | Malayalam

Director: Anand Ekarshi

Producer: Ajith Joy

Screenwriter: Anand Ekarshi

Cinematographer: Anurudh Aneesh

Editor: Mahesh Bhuvanend

Cast: Zarin Shihab, Vinay Forrt, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Nandan Unni, Selvaraj Raghavan VR, Aji Thiruvankulam, Sudheer Babu, Madan Babu, Santhosh Piravom, Sijin Sijeesh, Jolly Antony, Sanosh Murali, Prasanth Madhavan

All is hunky-dory in the Arangu theater group till its sole actress Anjali is groped by one of the twelve male members during a celebratory night out. A meeting called to decide on the expulsion of the accused quickly descends into a discord in which none of the men comes off with flying colors. 

BERLIN – World Premiere 

India | 2022 | 124 mins | Hindi

Director: Atul Sabharwal 

Producers: Zee Studios , Atul Sabharwal , Manav Shrivastav 

Screenwriter: Atul Sabharwal 

Cinematographer:  Shreedutta Namjoshi

Editor: Irene Dhar Malik

Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Ishwak Singh, Rahul Bose, Kabir Bedi, Anupriya Goenka

As the nation awaits Boris Yeltsin’s historic 1993 visit, a reclusive sign-language teacher gets recruited by the Indian Intelligence Bureau to interrogate Ashok, the deaf-mute waiter of a notorious, diplomat-frequented haunt, who is held in custody over an alleged plot to assassinate the Russian President.

JORAM – LA Premiere

India | 2023 | 138 mins | Hindi

Director: Devashish Makhija

Producers: Shariq Patel, Ashima Avasthi Chaudhuri, Anupama Bose, Devashish Makhija

Screenwriter: Devashish Makhija

Cinematographer: Piyush Puty

Editor: Abhro Banerjee

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub, Smita Tambe, Megha Mathur, Tannishtha Chatterjee (Special Appearance)

Once rebels fighting for rights to their land, now parents of a newborn, a young couple has fled their tribal battleground for a peaceful and anonymous life in Mumbai, when a ruthless shadow from the past furiously shows up at their slum to haunt them.

RAPTURE – North American Premiere 

India, China, Switzerland, Netherlands, Qatar | 2023 | 127 mins | Garo

Director: Dominic Sangma

Producers: Xu Jianshang, Eva Gunme R. Marak, Anu Rangachar, Sun Li, Harsh Agarwal, Aditya Grover, Stephen Zacharias, Dominic Sangma

Screenwriter: Dominic Sangma

Cinematographer: Tojo Xavier

Editor: Mohan Kumar Valasala

Cast: Torikhu A. Sangma, Handam R. Marak, Celestine K. Sangma, Balsrame A. Sangma, Johan Ch. Sangma, Riksil K. Marak, Nadira N. Sangma

In a remote Meghalayan village where Christianity competes with tribal pagan beliefs, the local pastor prophesies the apocalypse while selling salvation for a hefty price. When a series of sudden disappearances is attributed to the mysterious arrival of a family of outsiders, fear turns to terror, spreading like wildfire.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

THE GOLDEN THREAD – US Premiere

India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Netherlands, Norway | 2022 | 84 mins | Hindi, Bengali

Director: Nishtha Jain

Producer: Nishtha Jain

Screenwriter: Nishtha Jain

Cinematographer: Rakesh Haridas

Editors: Alex Goekjian, Nishtha Jain

Cast: Prem Chaurasia, Maqsood Alam, Tanti Dutta, Mohamad Qasim

This mesmerizing documentary paints a rich and lyrical portrait of the one of the last remaining jute mills in West Bengal, once home to the world’s largest jute industry, and is an ode to generations of skilled laborers whose dreams now hang by threads.

THE WORLD IS FAMILY – US Premiere

India| 2023 | 96 mins | English, Hindi, Marathi

Director: Anand Patwardhan

Producer: Anand Patwardhan

Screenwriter: N/A

Cinematographers: Anand Patwardhan, Simantini Dhuru

Editor: Anand Patwardhan

Cast: N/A

One of India’s most distinguished documentary filmmakers, Anand Patwardhan pays an affectionate tribute to his parents whose own lives and those of their family members and friends were resolutely linked with India’s independence movement.

SHORT FILMS 

ANU – North American Premiere

New Zealand, India | 2023 | 14 mins | Hindi, English, Māori

Category: Narrative

Director: Pulkit Arora

Producer: Rachel Fawcett

Screenwriter: Pulkit Arora

Cinematographer: Adam Luxton

Editors: Lisa Greenfield, Jolin Lee

Cast: Prabha Ravi

When her priest in India postpones an auspicious ceremony, a widow stuck in quarantine in New Zealand becomes determined to perform a DIY version of the ritual within the confines of her sterile hotel room.

ANUSHAN – North American Premiere

France | 2023 | 24 mins | French, Tamil

Category: Narrative

Director: Vibirson Gnanatheepan

Producers: Stanislas Wicker, Samy Boudiaf, Charles Benoin, (SIC) Pictures, Zangro, Bien ou Bien Productions

Screenwriter: Vibirson Gnanatheepan

Cinematographer: Valentin Vignet

Editor: Anaïs Manuelli

Cast: Kirujan Logeswaran, Eitan Cattani Enquin, Guru, KP Logathas, Vathana Arumugarajah

Weary of his parents’ immigration history and obstinately rejecting his Tamil identity, teenage Anushan struggles to fit in with his French buddies in unwelcoming Paris, when an uncle shows up from Sri Lanka, with wounds of war still raw.

BAMBIRAK

Germany, USA | 2020 | 13 mins | Dari, German

Category: Narrative

Director: Zamarin Wahdat

Producers: Joy Jorgensen

Screenwriter: Zamarin Wahdat

Cinematographer: Lorena Duran

Editor: Jennifer Ruff, Alan Wu

Cast: Lara Cengiz, Kailas Mahadevan, Merlet Collet, Oskar Zikur

When a precocious 8-year-old Afghan girl stows away on the trunk of her father’s delivery van, the two of them embark on a shared journey of discovery through a hostile German city where microaggressions against immigrants come in different shades.

DEAR ME – US Premiere

India | 2022 | 4 mins | Bengali, English

Category: Animation

Director: Suchana Saha

Producer: Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute

Screenwriter: Suchana Saha

Cinematographer: Suchana Saha

Editor: Suchana Saha

Cast: N/A

A young woman composes a letter to herself embracing her fragmented reality, in a beautiful and audacious act of kindness.

FANTASY IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE – North American Premiere

USA | 2022 | 15 mins | English

Category: Documentary, Experimental

Director: Mehedi Mostafa

Producer: Mehedi Mostafa

Screenwriter: Mehedi Mostafa

Cinematographer: Mehedi Mostafa

Editor: Emil Joseph 

Cast: N/A

Migrant workers and blue collar denizens in Dhaka fantasize about place, home and belonging, in this meditative essay film narrated as a series of wonderments by a Bangladeshi architect.

FIRST CHAIR

USA | 2022 | 13 mins | English

Category: Narrative

Directors: Ethan Montgomery, Luke Montgomery

Producers: Ethan Montgomery, Luke Montgomery

Screenwriter: Ethan Montgomery, Luke Montgomery

Cinematographers: Graham Skinner

Editors: Ethan Montgomery, Luke Montgomery

Cast: Jin Kim, Ethan Montgomery

A clarinet player’s position as first chair of her college orchestra is threatened when a talented and effortlessly confident new player enters the picture. 

HAPPY RAKHI 

USA | 2022 | 10 mins |English, Hindi

Category: Narrative

Director: Ragini Bhasin

Producer: Aishwarya Sonar

Screenwriter: Ragini Bhasin

Cinematographer: Robert Nachman

Editor: Brandon Yee

Cast: Ayanna Patel, Neil Iyer, Natasha Chandel

On festive Rakhi day, a feisty young Indian American girl, playing rough with her male cousins, gets an unpleasant surprise, after which they don’t want to play with her anymore. 

MEN IN BLUE – US Premiere

USA | 2022 | 35 mins |Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, English

Category: Narrative

Director: Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda

Producers: Janani Vijayanathan, Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda

Screenwriter: Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda

Cinematographer: Sebastián Valdivieso

Editor: Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda

Cast: Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Manoj Chandra, Manoj Pillai

Resistance brews among a group of Indian immigrants stripped of their dignity after being lured to the US to repair ships and oil rigs damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

MIRAGE – World Premiere

USA | 2022 | 16 mins |English

Category: Narrative

Director: Jhanvi Motla

Producers: ​​Aliza Khan, Sonali Sundararaj

Screenwriter: Jhanvi Motla

Cinematographer: Alan Torres

Editor: Jacob Ehrlich

Cast: Shavya Samala, Abhimanyu Katyal, Behzad Dabu, Jozef Fahey and Shashikant Panat

A young Indian widow moves to the California desert to help run her cousin’s crumbling motel, but when she gets caught up with the motel’s shady clientele, her American Dream devolves into nightmare.

NOCTURNAL BURGER – LA Premiere

India, USA | 2023 | 28 mins | Hindi, Marathi, English

Category: Narrative

Director: Reema Maya

Producers: Reema Maya, Michael Y. Chow

Screenwriter: Reema Maya

Cinematographer: Harshvir Oberai

Editors: Reema Maya, Rohan Kapoor

Cast: Bebo Madiwal, Millo Sunka, Trupti Khamkar, Somnath Mandal, Shrikant Mohan Yadav, Mukesh Pachode, Pushpendra Singh

Tempted by the promise of a nocturnal burger, a young girl ends up at a Mumbai police station where a frustrated police woman must discern facts from fiction amidst unreliable accounts from unlikely witnesses.

ON THE BLUE TABLE – World Premiere 

USA | 2023 | 10 mins | English

Category: Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, Animation

Director: Aleem Hossain

Producer: Aleem Hossain

Screenwriter: Aleem Hossain

Cinematographer: Aleem Hossain

Editor: Aleem Hossain

Cast: Hira Ismail, Nicholas Le

Amidst debris scattered around a weathered IKEA table, two astronauts retrieve messages from a faraway land speaking of a faraway time.

PLACES I’VE CALLED MY OWN – World Premiere 

India, France | 2023 | 28 mins | Hindi

Category: Narrative

Director: Sushma Khadepaun

Producers: Justin Pechberty, Damien Maghrebi /Co-Producer: Avantika Singh Desbouvries

Screenwriter:  Sushma Khadepaun

Cinematographer: Alana Mejia Gonzalez

Editor: Clémence Carré

Cast: Aditi Vasudev, Bhumika Dube, Amardeep Jha

After years in the US and in the midst of fertility treatments, Tara returns to India to attend her father’s funeral. With the shadow of the paterfamilias still looming large, she must navigate the fragile threads of family and unrequited queer love at the place she once called home.

POST TERM – LA Premiere

USA | 2023 | 16 mins | Urdu, English, Punjabi

Category: Narrative

Director: Saleem Nasir Gondal

Producers: Kellie Brook Malone, Rose Frullani-Bacon, Afi Patterson

Screenwriter:  Saleem Nasir Gondal

Cinematographers: Arsalan Danish, Kusi Del Castillo

Editor: Adriana Céspedes

Cast: Sanjana Shukla, Shezi Sardar, Nikhaar Kishnani, Shahjehan Khan

In 1990s Long Island, a heavily pregnant Rahimah struggles with the uncertainties of impending motherhood and the challenge of making roots in America, when she discovers something extraordinary about her perfectly ordinary husband.

RUNNING

USA | 2022 | 40 mins |English, Telugu, Polish

Category: Narrative, Documentary

Director: Arpita Mukherjee

Producers: Hypokrit Productions, East West Players, EnActe Arts, Danny Pudi

Screenwriter:  Danny Pudi

Cinematographers: Sten Tadashi Olson

Editor: Kabir Chopra

Cast: Danny Pudi, Lee Horton, Lawrence Pedapati, Teresa Pudi

In this ambitious yet personal creative documentary, actor Danny Pudi, empowered by a highly playful video game setting, attempts to uncover the puzzle of his estranged father shortly after his death.

SWEET REFUGE 

USA | 2022 | 12 mins | English, Arabic

Category: Narrative

Director: Maryam Mir

Producers: Sara Balghonaim, Aya Hamdan

Screenwriter: Maryam Mir

Cinematographer: Chheangkea Leng

Editor: Maryam Mir

Cast: ​​Laith Nakli, Mahira Kakkar

On the hip streets of Brooklyn, an old world Syrian baker, desperate to sell his authentic baklava, finds himself competing with “Laddoo Lady”, who is already a viral hit with the keto crowd.

TALL DARK AND HANDSOME

UK | 2023 | 14 mins | English

Category: Narrative

Director: Sam Baron

Producer: Nathan Craig

Screenwriters: Sam Baron, Amit Shah

Cinematographer: Alistair Little

Editor: Ian Robertson

Cast: Amit Shah, Laura Aikman, Sagar Radia, Shobu Kapoor

Blissfully happy in his biracial marriage and on the heels of becoming a dad, Varun is surprised to discover that his wife’s ex-boyfriend was also Indian. And so was the one before him. And then some.

ABOUT INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF LOS ANGELES (IFFLA)

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) brings to Los Angeles audiences the most innovative independent films coming out of South Asian and its diasporas, in a vibrant program comprising features and shorts, including narrative, documentary, and animated works.

In addition to film screenings, the festival offers stimulating discussions between filmmakers and audiences, as well as panel conversations and industry sessions. IFFLA also hosts original special programs, such as retrospectives, spotlights, and masterclasses, along with lively networking and social events, all aimed at fostering a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian and larger South Asian diaspora.

IFFLA was founded in 2002 as a non-profit organization with the aim to offer the Los Angeles community a unique opportunity to learn about India’s multifaceted culture and long history of filmmaking. Since then, IFFLA has grown into the premiere U.S. venue for discovering the best of Indian cinema, as well as a vital hub that fosters an important dialogue among the most original independent storytellers from India and its diaspora, the greater South Asian diasporic community and the international film industry at large.

For Media specific inquiries, please contact:
MPRM Communications                                                        
iffla@mprm.com / 323.933.3399