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The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles has unveiled its full slate for its 24th edition, bookended by Mahesh Narayanan’s Malayalam espionage thriller “Patriot” as the opening film and Anusha Rizvi’s Delhi-set comedy “The Great Shamsuddin Family” as the closing night selection.
The program totals 27 films – seven narrative features, two documentary features and 18 short films – drawing from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, France, the U.K., Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
“Patriot” arrives at IFFLA as its U.S. premiere. The thriller marks the first time Malayalam cinema titans Mohanlal and Mammootty have shared the screen in 18 years, with Narayanan building the film around a researcher whose discovery of the unauthorized deployment of a surveillance asset puts him on the run from the very state he served.
Closing the festival is the North American premiere of “The Great Shamsuddin Family,” Rizvi’s first feature since her acclaimed 2010 debut “Peepli Live.” A sharp domestic comedy set entirely within a single Delhi apartment over one hectic day, the film follows a writer trying to push through a career-defining deadline while her household falls apart around her.
Artistic director Anu Rangachar said the lineup reflects “a remarkable surge of women filmmakers across the subcontinent and the diasporas, something we are very proud to champion.” In a statement, she pointed to the geographic range of the selection – from Bangladesh and Pakistan to the Himalayas and the Indian diaspora in America – as indicative of South Asian cinema’s expanding scope.
The narrative features section spans several debuts. Seemab Gul’s “Ghost School,” a Pakistan-Germany-Saudi Arabia co-production, marks Gul’s first feature and centers on a 10-year-old girl whose school is shuttered after rumors spread that her teacher has been possessed by a jinn. Mahde Hasan’s “Sand City,” which took the Proxima Grand Prix at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, is set in Dhaka and traces a chance connection between a young indigenous woman and a factory worker, two people whose inner lives prove more intertwined than their circumstances suggest.
Tribeny Rai’s “Shape of Momo” receives its North American premiere at IFFLA. The film tracks a woman who leaves behind city life in Delhi to return to her family’s Himalayan village, where the weight of inherited expectations shapes everything around her. Also premiering in North America is Sarmad Sultan Khoosat’s “Lali,” a darkly toned look at a newlywed couple whose relationship is upended by forces – personal, superstitious and familial – beyond their control.
Rounding out the narrative features is Anuparna Roy’s “Songs of Forgotten Trees,” in which two young women newly arrived in Mumbai form an unexpected alliance as they try to establish themselves in the city. The film earned Roy the best director award Venice’s Horizons strand.
The two documentary features are among the program’s most personal works. Karla Murthy’s “The Gas Station Attendant” is built from phone calls Murthy recorded with her father during his overnight shifts at a gas station, combined with archival material, to construct a portrait of his life between two countries. The film won best documentary at the Nashville Film Festival and earned a special mention at Sheffield DocFest. Ben Rekhi and Swetlana’s “Breaking the Code,” receiving its world premiere in a special presentation, follows Rekhi’s investigation into his father’s story – from growing up in post-independence India to becoming a trailblazer in Silicon Valley’s technology industry.
The short film program, which this year includes work by 13 female directors, opens with several world premieres. Nihaarika Negi’s “Tenfa,” produced by Storiculture – whose previous credit includes “Humans in the Loop” from IFFLA 2025 – follows three women of different generations on an urgent trek through a Himalayan landscape to locate a rare medicinal herb, with only an old folk song as their compass. Fatima Liaqat’s “Plain Folks” takes a horror-comedy approach to the college experience of a Pakistani student in Utah, whose anticipation of an ideal American party night curdles into something far more threatening. Sana Zahra Jafri’s “Permanent Guest” is a tightly wound psychological thriller about a young woman in Lahore forced to reckon with conflicting obligations when a relative she did not invite – and does not want – shows up at her door.
Shuchi Talati, whose “Girls Will Be Girls” screened at IFFLA 2024, returns with the North American premiere of “Hidden Sun,” in which a long-settled couple find their relationship shifted after an encounter with a flamenco dancer in Japan.
Among the shorts receiving their Los Angeles premieres are Ananth Subramaniam’s “Bleat!,” which won the Queer Palm at Cannes Critics’ Week and follows an elderly Malaysian-Tamil couple thrown into crisis when their male goat – intended for a ceremonial slaughter – is discovered to be pregnant; Adnan Al Rajeev’s “Ali,” honored with a special mention at Cannes, about a teenage singer in Bangladesh who must suppress his natural voice to have any chance at a different life; and Raman Nimmala’s “O’Sey Balamma,” which premiered at Sundance and depicts an unlikely companionship between a household matriarch and her housekeeper during the Sankranti festival.
California-based filmmakers are well represented with world premieres including Rajan Gill and Reaa Pur’s “Harvest Party at Camp Two,” a documentary about Punjabi farmworkers in 1980s rural Northern California who, shut out of local social events, organized a celebration of their own; Sheila Sawhny’s “Peanut”; Urvashi Pathania’s “Skin,” a horror short about a young woman who visits a skin bleaching clinic and finds she cannot leave on her own terms; and Kanishka Aggarwal’s “Unfriend (Katti),” about an eight-year-old girl who begins to understand gender inequality through a family celebration centered on a newborn brother. The North American premiere of Radha Mehta’s “Sūnna” also screens, following a young Indian musician who loses her hearing and must find a new relationship to the music that defined her.
IFFLA’s Industry Days Forum returns with panels, masterclasses, screenings and pitch finalist showcases, including a $10,000 Pitch Competition Development Grant. The forum’s IFFLA Connect strand pairs emerging projects from South Asia and the diaspora with industry contacts who can assist across development, financing, production and casting.
Executive director Anjay Nagpal said: “Each year IFFLA puts the spotlight on the brilliant breadth and scope of South Asian storytelling. We look forward to bringing another exciting group of filmmakers together with the Los Angeles audiences and industry vets eager to see their new work. This curated connection is what makes IFFLA such a vital and unmissable event.”
The festival runs April 23-26.
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