Editor

The 6th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announces the full schedule of films for the 2008 edition of the popular festival which runs April 22-27, including four feature films making their world premiere, five features making their U.S. premiere, and nine features making their L.A. debut.

Celebrating its 6th anniversary, IFFLA has firmly established itself as the first and largest film festival in North America dedicated entirely to presenting the cinema of India by showcasing films by Indian and international filmmakers that cross boundaries to tell compelling stories of a global perspective. The six-day festival is set to open on Tuesday, April 22 at ArcLight Hollywood Cinemas with the LA Premiere of Richie Mehta’s AMAL, and close with the world premiere of MUMBAI CUTTING…A CITY UNFOLDS, a unique narrative collaboration of ten prominent Indian directors, all of whom will be in attendance at the red carpet gala on Sunday, April 27.

Among the highlights of the 2008 lineup are Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s critically acclaimed stark drama, FROZEN, Chris Smith’s THE POOL (a Sundance Jury Award winner and IFC Spirit Award nominee), Amyn Kaderali’s romantic comedy KISSING COUSINS, Liz Mermin’s documentary SHOT IN BOMBAY, which recently played at South By Southwest, Brahmanand Singh’s documentary about legendary composer RD Burman, PANCHAM UNMIXED: AN UNENDING JOURNEY, Sarah Singh’s THE SKY BELOW, Preeya Nair’s BAFTA nominated film QUAMAR, and R. Rohini’s compelling documentary on child actors, SILENT HUES.

Director Amyn Kaderali said that the inclusion of KISSING COUSINS into the Los Angeles based film festival was especially significant. "KISSING COUSINS is an LA movie through and through, from the locations to the crew to our hilarious and talented cast. As a result, we could not be more excited to debut KISSING COUSINS at IFFLA, a great festival that will showcase our film for the Indian American community as well as all of our LA supporters and friends," said Kaderali.

Highly anticipated this year will be the appearance of Tribute Honoree Madhuri Dixit, one of Indian cinema’s most significant and popular personalities, often described as the epitome of grace. IFFLA will highlight Madhuri’s talent and diversity by screening THE DEATH SENTENCE (MRITYUDAND) and MY HEART IS CRAZY (DIL TO PAGAL HAI). Madhuri will be in attendance on Friday, April 25 and will participate in a “Conversation with…” discussion reflecting on her career.

A successful addition to the programming lineup last year, IFFLA’s Bollywood By Night section returns with screenings of Raj Kapoor’s love story BOBBY, Sriram Raghavan’s noir thriller JOHNNY GADDAAR and Sudhir Mishra’s salute to one of Bollywood’s golden eras, LOST MOON (KHOYA KHOYA CHAND).

Another highlight will be the IFFLA Rhythm Village, presented by Rukus Avenue, which will feature free public outdoor entertainment at the ArcLight Hollywood Cinemas courtyard April 23 – 26. Among the scheduled performances are a Bollywood inspired DJ set from world-music chart toppers, the Bombay Dub Orchestra and an invigorating tabla performance by Gurpreet Chana. (Chana is featured in IFFLA’s Opening Night film AMAL.) Gingger Shankar will return to the festival with a live performance on the double electric violin and Raagapela will perform an acapella set of Bollywood standards and pop songs. In addition, Rukus Avenue’s Sandeep and CJ will perform Indian fusion music produced by Sammy Chand. Finally, Composer Mark Killan (RENDITION, TSOTSI and 2008 IFFLA selection BEFORE THE RAINS) will perform a live selection from the BEFORE THE RAINS film score.

IFFLA Festival Director Christina Marouda said the programming, industry events and special performances this year demonstrate an effort to offer a comprehensive cultural experience for the festival goer. “The Indian film industry is growing at a rapid pace and the culture itself is so diverse and vibrant that we find it vitally important to make all of it a part of our ever-growing film festival.”

Four feature-length films will be making their world premiere at IFFLA 2008. Those films include the narrative feature MUMBAI CUTTING…A CITY UNFOLDS, and documentaries PANCHAM UNMIXED: AN UNENDING JOURNEY, and SUPER 30. The film short MORNING RITUAL will also make its world premiere.

Three feature-length films will be making their U.S. premiere. That group includes the documentary THE GLOW OF WHITE WOMEN, and the narrative films, A HOME IN THE SKY and THE SEA WITHIN. The film shorts MIDNIGHT LOST AND FOUND and SILENT HUES will also make their U.S. debut.

Nine feature films will be making their Los Angeles debut. They include the narrative films AMAL, BEFORE THE RAINS, FOUR WOMEN, FROZEN, KISSING COUSINS, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS, THE POOL, and the documentaries SHOT IN BOMBAY, and THE SKY BELOW.

The IFFLA full festival lineup will showcase 21 features (16 narrative and 5 documentary) and 12 shorts for a total of 33 films representing 8 countries.


The 2008 IFFLA films (in alphabetical order) are:
AMAL – DIR: Richie Mehta (Canada) Cast: Rupinder Nagra, Koel Purie, Naseeruddin Shah, Roshan Seth, Seema Biswas
An unassuming autorickshaw driver makes an indelible impact on a wealthy eccentric.
Hindi (English subtitles)

BEAST – DIR/PROD: Geeta Malik (USA)
**short
There’s more to the mousy Indian girl in the next cubicle than meets the eye.
English

BEFORE THE RAINS – DIR: Santosh Sivan (USA/India)
Cast: Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Jennifer Ehle
A taboo love affair has dire consequences for four characters during the final days of the British Raj.
English

BOBBY (1975) – DIR: Raj Kapoor (India)
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Pran, Prem Nath, Sonia Sahni
After their respective parents oppose their union, a rich boy and a poor girl passionately in love run away together leading to an action-packed climax in this rousing, trend-setting musical that re-wrote box office history in India.
Hindi (English subtitles)

THE DEATH SENTENCE (Mrityudand) (1997) – DIR: Prakash Jha (India)
Cast: Madhuri Dixit, Shabana Azmi, Om Puri, Ayub Khan, Mohan Agashe
Three women in a suppressive, rural society, sentenced to death for attempting to stand up for their rights, are left with no option other than to break through the shackles of tradition, finding themselves pitted against an imposing, united, but threatened enemy in the form of their men-folk.
Hindi (English subtitles)

FOUR WOMEN (Naalu Pennungal) – DIR: Adoor Gopalakrishnan (India)
Cast: Nandita Das, Padna Priya, Geethu Mohan Das, Manju Pillai
Four stories about women in Kerala straining against the roles society has placed upon them.
Malayalam (English subtitles)

FROZEN – DIR: Shivajee Chandrabhushan (India)
Cast: Danny Denzongpa, Gauri, Angchuk, Raj Zutshi, Yashpal Sharma, Shakeel Khan, Shilpa Shukla
Lasya and her family's calm village life in the remote Himalayas is unsettled by mounting debts and the arrival of an army unit setting up camp just yards from their doorstep.
Ladhaki (English subtitles)

THE GLOW OF WHITE WOMEN – DIR: Yunus Vally (South Africa)
Sex and politics mix in this funny and personal account of growing up Muslim in Apartheid South Africa.
English

A HOME IN THE SKY – DIR: Bipin Nadkarni (India)
An 11-year-old boy has trouble coping with the changes that follow his parents divorce.
Marathi (English subtitles)

JOHNNY GADDAAR – DIR: Sriram Raghavan (India)
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Dharmendra, Rimi Sen, Vinay Pathak
An over-ambitious stock speculator double-crosses his partners on a job as the body count piles up in an effort to conceal the traitor's identity in this noir thriller.
Hindi (English subtitles)

KISSING COUSINS – DIR: Amyn Kaderali (USA)
Cast: Samrat Chakrabarti, Rebecca Hazlewood
A bachelor enlists the help of his attractive cousin to fool his friends into believing he's capable of a relationship.
English

LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS – DIR: Manish Acharya (USA)
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Ajay Naidu, Ayesha Dharker, Darshan Jariwala
A motley cast of characters descend on a New Jersey hotel to compete in an Indian singing competition.
English

LOST MOON (Khoya Khoya Chand) – DIR: Sudhir Mishra (India)
Cast: Shiney Ahuja, Soha Ali Khan, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak
A rising actress and a filmmaker confront their past while sharing a passionate relationship in the tumultuous world of the 1950s Hindi film industry.
Hindi (English subtitles)

THE LOST RAINBOW (Haravilele Indradhanush) – DIR: Dhiraj Meshram (India)
**short
Sameer returns to his village after twenty years and recalls a petty squabble with his brother that has plagued him with guilt ever since.
Marathi (English subtitles)

LOVE STORY – DIR: Amit Gupta (UK)
**short
A young girl asks her father, “Why do you love Mummy?” As he considers this innocent question, memories of how he came to meet his wife show what one man would do for the woman he loves.
English

MIDNIGHT LOST & FOUND – DIR: Atul Sabharwal (India)
**short
Caged behind iron bars at his lonely late-night convenience stand, Arvind develops a relationship with a Mumbai prostitute who stops by each night to buy condoms.
Hindi (English subtitles)

THE MORNING RITUAL – DIR: Ritesh Batra (India)
**short
A young boy goes on a comic journey to relieve himself that takes him across the city and towards an unexpected destination.
Hindi (English subtitles)

MUMBAI CUTTING…A CITY UNFOLDS (India)
DIRS: Sudhir Mishra, Anurag Kashyap, Rahul Dholakia, Ruchi Narain, Revathy, Kundan Shah, Shashank Ghosh, Jahnu Barua, Manish Jha, Rituparno Ghosh
Cast: Soha Ali Khan, Jimmy Shergil, Neetu Chandra, Ranvir Shorey, Raima Sen
An anthology of short narrative films by ten of India's finest directors about Mumbai, one of the most vibrantly complex cities in the world.
Hindi (English subtitles)

MY HEART IS CRAZY (Dil To Pagal Hai) (1997) DIR: Yash Chopra (India)
Producers: Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Uday Chopra, Pamela Chopra
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Akshay Kumar
When his star injures herself, a director replaces her with a classical dancer, re-writing his play to mirror his heart-breaking love story after falling in love with his new lead.

PANCHAM UNMIXED: AN UNENDING JOURNEY – DIR: Brahmanand Singh (India)
A portrait of R.D. Burman, perhaps the most famous film composer in an industry where the music often outshines and outlives the films themselves.
Hindi, English and Bengali (English subtitles)

THE POOL – DIR: Chris Smith (USA)
Cast: Nana Patekar, Venkatesh Chavan, Jhangir Bhadshah, Ayesha Mohan
A young hotel attendant obsessed with a swimming pool of an empty house finds his life turned upside down when he attempts to meet the mysterious owners.

QUAMAR - WORKING TO LIVE – DIR: Preeya Nair (UK/India)
**short/doc
Ten-year-old Quamar wants to go to school, but her family's poverty forces her into dangerous and monotonous work making bangles
Urdu (English subtitles)

THE RETURN (Vaapsi) - DIR: Srinivas Sunderrajan (India)
**short
Srinivas Sunderrajan, a 2007 IFFLA Grand Jury prize winner for his short, TEA BREAK, delivers this stunning, introspective look at a struggling actor's pursuit of fame and fortune on Mumbai.
Hindi (English subtitles)

REWIND – DIR: Atul Taishete (India)
**short
Told entirely in reverse, a group of thieves play Russian Roulette to determine who gets to keep all of their heist money.
English

SARI (W)RAP – DIR: Alex Smith (USA)
**short
Comedienne Rasika Mathur celebrates the famous fabric from India with some infamous musical genre spoofs.
English

THE SEA WITHIN (Ore Kadal) – DIR: Shyamaprasad (India)
Cast: Mammootty, Meera Jasmine, Narien, Remya Krishna
A renowned economist casually enters into an extra-marital affair with a housewife but soon finds the relationship becoming increasingly complex.
Malayalam (English subtitles)

SHOT IN BOMBAY – DIR: Liz Mermin (UK)
A behind the scenes look at the making of a Bollywood action/thriller based on actual events…all of which take a back seat to the real life drama unfolding in the courtroom and in the media for the film’s leading man.
English

SILENT HUES – DIR/PROD: R. Rohini (India)
**short/doc
Children from various social and economic backgrounds attempt to break through as child artistes in the Indian film industry, some out of choice, and some coerced to become bread-winners for their families.
English and Tamil (English Subtitles)

THE SKY BELOW – DIR: Sarah Singh (Pakistan/India)
First person accounts from the time of Partition serve as a reminder of the interwoven history and culture if India and Pakistan as well as shedding fresh light on the far-reaching impact that the resulting conflict ushered in.
English

STARS ON EARTH (Taare Zameen Par) – DIR: Aamir Khan (India)
Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary, Vipin Sharma, Tisca Chopra
Due to his parents' ignorance and inability to understand his frustration, a talented, dyslexic young boy is shattered after being sent off to boarding school where he encounters a special friend who helps him rebuild his broken home.
Hindi (English subtitles)

SUPER 30 – DIR: Christopher Mitchell (UK)
As students around India prepare for the Indian Institute of Technology entrance exam, a selected group of thirty talented and impoverish students live and study in hopes of a better future.
Hindi (English subtitles)

THREE OF US – DIR: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni (India)
**short
A couple worries about the future of their forty-year old son who is disabled and confined to his metal cot.

UNDER THE AHMEDABAD SKY (Sotto Il Cielo Di Ahmedabad)
DIRS/PRODS: Francesca Lignola, Stefano Rebechi (Italy)
**short/doc
A look at the beautiful annual kite festival in Ahmedabad and the economics and rituals behind it.
English and Gujarati (English subtitles)


Tickets go on sale on April 3 at ArcLight Hollywood Cinema’s box office located a 6360 W. Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, and online at www.arclightcinemas.com

For more information on IFFLA please go to www.indianfilmfestival.org.