IFFLA announces jurors, adds lineup – Leo, Penn, Keeley star in Fantasy–thriller ‘Ashram’

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LOS ANGELES, April 1, (RTRS): Actor Rizwan Manji and “Margarita, With a Straw” writer-director Shonali Bose are among the jury selections for the 2016 feature and short film contests at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA).

The IFFLA, now in its 14th year, celebrates excellence in Indian cinema by showcasing films that promote diverse representations of Indian culture and perspective. Forging a connection between the entertainment industries of Hollywood and India, the five-day festival will feature over 25 productions from the Indian filmmaking community.

Joining Bose on the feature film judging panel is Variety’s Shalini Dore and international film consultant Alesia Weston. Film director Aldo Velasco and documentary filmmaker Laura Nix will join Manji to judge the festival’s short film submissions.

This year’s festival will also feature a filmmaker roundtable conversation on the state of indie filmmaking in India. Moderated by Sundance Film Festival’s John Nein, the discussion will be held on April 9 and will include all the directors whose feature film productions were spotlighted at the 2016 festival.

The IFFLA also announced three additions to 2016’s lineup, which will now include a tribute to director Bimal Roy. Further details on these screenings are listed below:

SUJATA

A Tribute to Bimal Roy

Sunday, April 10, 12:30PM

India / 1960 / 161 min / Blu-ray / Hindi

Director: Bimal Roy

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of Indian cinema’s finest directors, Bimal Roy. To mark the occasion, IFFLA is presenting a restored version of one of Roy’s most beloved classics.

As they celebrate the first birthday of their daughter Rama, men from a local village bring a baby girl to the home of government engineer Upendra and his wife Charu. The baby’s parents were “untouchables” and both died from cholera, leaving the girl an orphan with no one willing to take her in. Being of high Brahmin castes, Upendra and Charu reluctantly agree to take in the baby and eventually give her a name: Sujata.

In a powerful portrayal and denunciation of the caste discrimination that destroyed so many lives, Roy tells a story about real people struggling with social expectations, bigotry and the feelings of love and compassion that bind us together. Showcasing memorable performances by Sunil Dutt and Nutan, with moving music by composer S.D. Burman, SUJATA premiered at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. Along with celebrating the new wave of Indian filmmakers, IFFLA is honored to pay tribute to a classic of Indian cinema.

KHOYA

Community Screening

Sunday, April 10, 11:00AM

India, Canada / 2015 / 82 min / DCP / English and Hindi

US PremiereDirector: Sami Khan

Rog Moreau lives anonymously and aimlessly in a small town in Ontario. When his adopted mother unexpectedly dies, Rog loses his last tie to his Canadian upbringing and identity. Realizing he is dangerously spiraling, Rog decides to travel thousands of miles away to India to find the birth family that gave him up for adoption nearly thirty years earlier. His arrival is jarring, however, when he steps off the plane into the crowded sweaty streets of Mumbai and is confronted by his own foreignness in a strange, new land.

While eager to be reunited with his family, complications immediately threaten Rog’s search; a Catholic orphanage reveals his documents are forgeries. More desperate than ever, Rog sets out on a quest heading into Madhya Pradesh — the impoverished, rural heartland of India — to find the one local official who can help him solve the mystery surrounding his adoption. Rog’s journey takes him into the dark alleys, dusty roads and cramped train cars of India’s underclass as he tries to connect the threads of his own story. Ultimately he is pushed to his physical and emotional breaking point, forced to confront the ghosts that have been haunting him his entire life. Only then is he able to discover the truth.

THE TIGER HUNTER

Passholders Only Screening

Sunday, April 10, 3:45PM

USA / 2015 / 93 min / DCP / English

Director: Lena Khan

Writer-director Lena Khan’s debut feature boasts a stellar cast, a colorful recreation of the 1970s and a boisterous comic spirit that aims equally for the heart and the funny bone. In this wholly original take on the immigrant experience, the incomparable Danny Pudi stars as Sami Malik, a young Indian who travels to 1970s Chicago to become an engineer. He’s determined to land a lucrative career in order to live up to the legacy of his late father — a legendary tiger hunter. However, Sami finds that success in America doesn’t come easy. When his job falls through, he takes a low-paying gig in the company basement and joins a gang of oddball friends in hopes of convincing his childhood sweetheart that he’s far more successful than he truly is… or perhaps ever could be.

Khan deftly conducts her ensemble in a story that finds huge laughs and pointed commentary on the treatment of immigrants in the American work force. Along with a star turn by Pudi?- who earns leading man status with effortless charm – the film’s gifted cast includes scene- stealing performances from IFFLA alum Rizwan Manji (MISS INDIA AMERICA), NAPOLEON DYNAMITE’s Jon Heder, Glee’s Iqbal Theba and many, many more.

The IFFLA runs April 6-10 at ArcLight Hollywood and the awards ceremony will be held on the final night of the festival.

 Also:

LOS ANGELES: Melissa Leo, Sam Keeley, Kal Penn and Radhika Apte are starring in “The Ashram,” an English-language fantasy-thriller set in the mystical world of yogis in the Himalayas.

Guneet Monga’s Mumbai-based Sikhya Entertainment announced Thursday that production has started in India.

The story centers on an American skeptic who receives a cryptic message and travels to the Indian Himalayas to find his disappeared girlfriend. He discovers a secretive community led by a guru with strange powers who may or may not be involved in her disappearance, and learns that the mountain could contain the secrets of reincarnation and a portal to another dimension.

Monga, whose producing credits include “The Lunchbox” and “Gangs of Wasseypur,” is producing, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones is executive producing, and Mali Elfman is co-producing.

“The Ashram” is directed by former IM Global executive Ben Rekhi, who also helmed “Waterborne.” He’s directing off a script written by Rekhi and Binky Mendez.

The film is scheduled to shoot until May 18 in Manali, India.

“After the enthusiastic response globally to ‘The Lunchbox,’ we are excited to continue bringing together some of the best and brightest talent from both sides of the world to India for ‘The Ashram,’ a unique cinematic experience that will surprise and dazzle audiences,” said Monga.

Rekhi said, “India is known to the West for its mysticism and spirituality, but the country’s rich and ancient philosophies have yet to be fully explored in cinema. With ‘The Ashram,’ we aim to take audiences to a far corner of the planet where magic is still possible, where the ancient collides with the modern and the unexplainable happens every day.”

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

This news has been read 6190 times!

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