IFFLA Connect
A highlight of this year’s IFFLA Industry Days is the official launch of IFFLA Connect, a new initiative presented in collaboration with Cinévesture. This program will showcase a curated selection of South Asian projects from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, under the banner CinéV-IFFLA, alongside a hand-picked slate of North American projects curated by IFFLA. Designed as a nexus for collaboration, IFFLA Connect links promising projects with key professionals, offering crucial support in financing, production, casting, and beyond. The inaugural lineup of IFFLA Connect features both emerging voices and acclaimed filmmakers, helming 10 exciting projects in development.
CinéV-IFFLA Project Line-Up:
Friends and Fascism
Team: Shuchi Dwivedi (Writer), Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy (Director), Aishwarya Sonar, and Shuchi Dwivedi (Producers)
Country: India, United States
Logline: In an all-girls Catholic boarding school in India, a know-it-all Rinky is desperate to become the School Captain, which is her family legacy. Her dreams are disrupted by an election when she is forced to compete against her former best friend.
Genre: Coming of age comedy
Kafala
Team: Nuhash Humayun (Director)
Country: Bangladesh
Logline: Trapped in forced labor abroad, a Bangladeshi migrant worker turns to black magic, gambling her humanity for freedom. Can the dark arts help her get home? Or will she succumb to the darkness?
Genre: Horror / Psychological Thriller
Koyta (Sickle)
Team: Radhika Apte (Director), Vikramaditya Motwane (Producer)
Country: India
Logline: When a forced medical procedure unexpectedly gives her superpowers, a young migrant sugarcane cutter incurs the wrath of the local powers as she uses her new abilities to pull her family out of debt.
Genre: Action / Crime / Drama / Fantasy
Moving Bangladesh
Team: Nuhash Humayun (Director), Arifur Rahman, Bijon Imtiaz, and Patrick Mao-Huang (Producers)
Country: Bangladesh
Logline: Based on a true story about the first startup from Bangladesh. An aspiring entrepreneur seeks a solution to Bangladeshi’s dreadful street congestion after spending hours stuck in traffic and away from his family.
Genre: True Story / Drama
Papita
Team: Aakash Bhatia (Director), Richa Chadha, Pushing Buttons Studio, Priyanka Bangia, Loud Mouth Films (Producers)
Country: India
Logline: Porus Bisht is a photographer with a natural instinct for voyeurism. He works as a paparazzi photographer in Mumbai, but has much greater ambitions – to be a revered professional photographer. The course of his career and life is completely changed when he witnesses and photographs an incident involving a popular celebrity.
Genre: Crime/ Thriller
Saracura
Team: Leena Manimekalai (Writer/ Director/ Producer)
Country: India, production in Brazilian Amazon rainforest
Logline: In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the Saracura community must unite against relentless poachers, corrupt authorities and the haunting legacy of colonial violence. As a vengeful spirit resurfaces, a young skeptic, his devoted partner, and a priest armed with forensic architecture rally to protect their land, culminating in a powerful act of defiance on the river.
Genre: Ecological Horror
Song of Jhinuk
Team: Afronza Hossain (Writer/ Director), Nina Lath Gupta (Producer)
Country: Bangladesh
Logline: To bring back the soul of her dearest companion, a pufferfish, Jhinuk must earn one wish from the ocean goddess by guiding the last baby whale to safety from an all-devouring specter of pollution.
Genre: Animation / Adventure / Fantasy
The Taste of Dreams
Team: Deepak Rauniyar (Writer/ Director), Nina Lath Gupta, Asha Magrati (Producer)
Country: Nepal
Logline: The true story of Santosh Shah’s extraordinary rise from a nameless child in Nepal to a culinary star in the world’s finest kitchens. Forced to leave behind his home and beloved mother, he smuggles himself across borders, first to India, then to the UK, forging a new identity through food. Told through ten dishes crafted for MasterChef, each plate becomes a portal to his past – a story of survival, sacrifice, and the dream he refuses to let go of. But as he reaches the summit of success, he must confront a deeper question: can he ever truly find home?
Genre: Drama/ Biography
IFFLA Project Line-Up:
Mouna Tharangam (A Silent Wave)
Team: Sachin Dheeraj (Writer/ Director), Janani Vijayanathan, Karan Shah (Producer)
Country: United States
Logline: In Post-Roe Texas, an Indian-American woman grapples with an unexpected pregnancy when her path crosses with a newlywed Indian immigrant. Their love sparks a journey of sexual awakening, cultural clash, and profound choices as the specter of abortion looms large.
Genre: Romance / Drama / Queer
Patel
Team: Ravi Kapoor (Writer/ Director), Ashim Ahuja, Megha Kadakia (Producer)
Country: United States
Logline: How big should an immigrant dream? Patel is an off-kilter, deadpan gangster tragedy based on Macbeth and set in the world of 1990s Indian-American motel owners.
Genre: Gangster Dramedy
