The 7th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, focusing on appreciation of Indian cinema and cinematography will run through April 26 at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles.
The IFFLA will host to a total of 15 feature films including 5 feature length documentaries, along with 16 short films. Also, the IFFLA will feature seminars gearing towards topics including: “The State of the Indian Entertainment Industry” and “Film Financing: Co-Productions and Alternatives.”
Here’s a peek at some of what’s being featured at this year’s IFFLA:
Superman of Malegaon — a documentary of a novice director Shaikh Nasir who sets out to make the movie “Malegaon ka Superman.” In setting out to make this movie happen, he has a substantial crew of people from Malegaon to follow and help develop his movie from start to finish. It’s not so easy when there’s no adequate budget or the risks of accidents and delays as evident in this movie. But, between all the pain and stress to making a film, these people just wanted to escape to the subconscious world of films.
Siddharth The Prisoner — a distinguished author, Siddharth Roy (Rajat Kapoor) is on the verge of completing his new book in hopes to rekindle his relationship with his wife and child. But something goes wrong at the local cybercafé where his briefcase with his only copy of the book is accidentally misplaced for another identical briefcase. Siddharth ends up with the wrong briefcase – but there’s money inside. A movie of choosing between two paths, Siddharth needs to choose to whether keep the money or get back his book he so devoted time to.
Leaving Home: The Life and Music of Indian Ocean – a documentary of the band ‘Indian Ocean’, these four members have become arguably India’s most significant band and with one purpose: write music without any conform to music industry norms. Ironically, these members have given up jobs of earning respectable money and rather they’ve decided to focus on their music instead. Based in Delhi, India, this band’s been in existence over 15 years…and they have a following that grows by the week. And despite all the pain from other peers to deviate away from music, these four members still kept on going strong.
Kanchivorram – As an aging man, Vengadam (Prakash Raj) is transported to his hometown after being released from jail. As the bus nears its destination (and throughout the movie), Vengadam recalls events that lead up to the present day: marriage, new born child, dealing with low wages as a silk weaver, murder, and crime. What lead to this present day is drastic – Vengadam makes one sacred promise for his new born daughter (by the time she weds). The problem – he can’t afford it and has to conform to drastic measures to make this promise come to life.