The 17th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) concluded on Sunday with a red carpet and gala that featured the world premiere of director Megha Ramaswamy’s THE ODDS. The evening also featured the presentation of the festival’s Grand Jury and Audience Choice Awards presented by HBO. This year’s lineup boasted 5 world premieres, 2 North American premieres, 2 U.S. premieres and 11 Los Angeles Premieres, with films presented in 9 different languages, and 50% of the lineup coming from female directors.
Director Praveen Morchhale’s WIDOW OF SILENCE took home the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature. The Grand Jury awarded their prize for Best Short to THE FIELD from director Sandhya Suri. The audience awards went to Anand Patwardhan’s politically-charged documentary REASON for Best Feature, and BEBAAK (DYING WIND IN HER HAIR) as Best Short.
The 2019 narrative film jury included director Amman Abbasi (DAYVEON), Arcadia University media and communication professor Shekhar Deshpande, and Array vice president Tilane Jones. The short film jury featured director Amy Adrion (HALF THE PICTURE), director Andrew Ahn (SPA NIGHT, DRIVEWAYS), and producer Megha Kadakia (THE TIGER HUNTER, MISS INDIA AMERICA).
