The Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles has announced the full schedule for its 24th edition, with Mahesh Narayanan’s Malayalam spy thriller The Patriot as the opening film and Anusha Rizvi’s Delhi-set comedy The Great Shamsuddin Family as the closing film.
The program includes a total of 27 films: seven narrative features, two documentary features, and 18 short films from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
“Patriot” arrives at IFFLA for its U.S. premiere. The thriller marks Malayalam film titans Mohanlal and Mammootty’s first on-screen collaboration in 18 years, and director Narayanan has built the film around a researcher who is forced to flee the country he works for after discovering the misdeployment of surveillance assets.
The festival concludes with the North American premiere of “The Great Shamsuddin Family,” Rizvi’s first feature since his acclaimed 2010 debut, “Peepli Live.” The film is a sharp domestic comedy set over a hectic day in a single apartment in Delhi, about a writer trying to overcome a career-defining deadline while his family falls apart.
Artistic director Anu Rangachal said the lineup “reflects the remarkable proliferation of women filmmakers across the subcontinent and diaspora, and we are extremely proud to champion this.” In a statement, she pointed to the geographic scope of the selection, from Bangladesh and Pakistan to the Himalayas and the American diaspora, as an indication of the expanding scope of South Asian cinema.
The narrative features section spans several debut novels. Ghost School, directed by Seemab Gul, a Pakistan-German-Saudi co-production, is Gul’s first feature film and revolves around a 10-year-old girl whose school is shut down after rumors spread that her teacher is possessed by a jinn. Mahde Hasan’s Sand City, which won the Proxima Grand Prix at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, is set in Dhaka and depicts the serendipitous connection between a young indigenous woman and a factory worker. It turns out that these two men’s inner lives are more intertwined than their circumstances would suggest.
Triveni Rai’s “The Shape of Momo” makes its North American premiere at IFFLA. The film follows a woman who leaves her urban life in Delhi and returns to her family’s Himalayan village. There, the weight of inherited expectations shapes everything around her. Also premiering in North America is Sarmad Sultan Khoosat’s Lali, a darkly-toned tale of a newlywed couple whose relationship is upended by forces beyond their control, whether personal, superstitious or familial.
Rounding out the story is Anuparna Roy’s Song of the Forgotten Tree, which tells the story of two young women newly arrived in Mumbai who form an unexpected alliance in an attempt to establish themselves in the city. For this film, Roy won the Best Director award in the “Horizons” category in Venice.
The two documentary features are among the program’s most personal pieces. Carla Marcy’s “The Gas Station Attendant” is based on recorded phone calls Marcy made with her father during her night shift at a gas station, combined with archival material to construct a portrait of life between the two countries. The film won Best Documentary at the Nashville Film Festival and a special award at Sheffield Doctorfest. Ben Reki and Swetlana’s “Breaking the Code,” which made its world premiere at a special presentation, is Reki’s exploration of her father’s story from growing up in post-independent India to becoming a pioneer in the Silicon Valley technology industry.
This year’s short film program includes works by 13 female directors and kicks off with several world premieres. Produced by Storiculture, Nihaarika Negi’s ‘Tenfa’, whose previous credits include IFFLA 2025’s ‘Humans in the Loop’, follows three women from different generations on an emergency trek across the Himalayan landscape to find rare medicinal herbs, with only old folk songs as their compass. Director Fatima Liaqat’s Plain Folks takes a horror-comedy approach to the college life of a Pakistani student living in Utah, but her expectations of an ideal American party night end up solidifying into something far more terrifying. Permanent Guest, directed by Sana Zahra Jafri, is a traumatic psychological thriller about a young woman in Lahore who is forced to take on conflicting duties when an uninvited and unwanted relative shows up at her door.
Shuchi Talati, director of Girls Will Be Girls, which was screened at IFFLA 2024, returns with the North American premiere of Hidden Sun. This work depicts a couple who have been living in Japan for a long time, but their relationship changes when they meet a flamenco dancer in Japan.
Among the shorts that premiered in Los Angeles was “Bleat!,” directed by Ananth Subramaniam, winner of the Queer Palm Award at Cannes Critics’ Week, about an elderly Malaysian-Tamil couple thrown into crisis when a male goat scheduled for ritual slaughter is discovered to be pregnant. Ali, directed by Adnan Al Rajeev, which won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival, is a film about a teenage Bangladeshi singer who must suppress his voice in order to have a chance at a different life. And Raman Ninmala’s Osei Barama, which premiered at Sundance, depicts the unexpected relationship between a family head and his housekeeper during the festival of Sankranthi.
The California-based filmmaker is well represented with world premieres including Rajan Gill and Rhea Phule’s Harvest Party at Camp 2; “Peanuts” by Sheila Sawhney. Urvashi Pathania’s ‘Skin’ is a horror short story about a young woman who visits a skin bleaching clinic and finds herself unable to leave of her own free will. And Kanishka Agarwal’s Unfriend (Katti) is about an eight-year-old girl who begins to understand gender inequality through a family celebration centered around her newborn brother. The North American premiere of Radha Mehta’s Sunnah follows a young Indian musician who loses his hearing and must find a new relationship with the music that has defined him.
IFFLA’s Industry Days forum returns with panels, masterclasses, screenings, and a showcase of pitch finalists, including a $10,000 Pitch Competition Development Grant. The IFFLA Connect strand of the forum connects emerging projects from South Asia and the diaspora with industry contacts who can support them across development, financing, production and casting.
Executive Director Andrzej Nagpal said, “Each year, IFFLA shines a spotlight on the glorious breadth and scope of South Asian storytelling. We look forward to bringing together Los Angeles audiences and industry veterans eager to see new work, as well as an exciting group of filmmakers. It is this curated connection that makes IFFLA such an important and unmissable event.”
The festival will be held from April 23rd to 26th.
