What will Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Kashyap discuss? Find out at the 18th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has announced its line-up of fiction and documentary features, shorts, and opening night gala event for the 18th edition.

The festival will open on 1 April with An Evening with Imtiaz Ali, who will be joined by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap to discuss the influence of the former's career. The conversation will be followed by a screening of Imtiaz Ali's critically acclaimed film Highway (2014), starring Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda.

Speaking about the event, Christina Marouda, IFFLA’s executive director, said, “We are thrilled to open this year’s festival with an insightful and unfiltered conversation with Imtiaz Ali, moderated by long-time friend of IFFLA, Anurag Kashyap.” The two filmmakers will also be there for a masterclass at the festival.

IFFLA’s feature film line-up includes Bhaskar Hazarika’s Tribeca 2019 selection Aamis (The Ravening); SXSW 2020 sci-fi fantasy title Cargo, starring Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi as otherworldly astronauts charged with processing the recently deceased into reincarnation; Dolly Kitty And Those Twinkling Stars starring Konkana Sensharma and directed by Alankrita Shrivastava; Gitanjali Rao’s animated feature Bombay Rose, whose handpainted images took six years to complete before its debut at the 2019 Venice film festival; and Geetu Mohandas’s Moothon (The Elder One), which was premiered at Toronto 2019.

This year’s selection highlights filmmakers working in India as well as in the Indian diaspora, the latter notable especially in the festival’s diverse and exciting short film selection, whose highlights include the comedy Coffee Shop Names starring Danny Pudi, Karan Soni and Kausar Mohammed; the world premiere of Uncle, starring Ajay Naidu, Omar Maskati and Rizwan Manji; and the US premiere of The Loyal Man, a thriller set in France's Tamil-speaking community.

The closing film of the festival is The MisEducation of Bindu, directed by Prarthana Mohan and starring Megan Suri, Priyanka Bose and David Arquette. The film is produced by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass after it won their campaign in partnership with the crowdfunding platform Seed&Spark to find America’s Next Generation of Indie Filmmakers. The cast and Mark Duplass are expected to attend the screening on 5 April.

Speaking about the film selection, Mike Dougherty, IFFLA’s director of programming, said, “This year’s line-up exemplifies the boundless creativity on display in the Indian independent film community and its diaspora.”

The festival is the premiere platform for the latest in cutting-edge global Indian cinema and bridges the gap between the two largest entertainment industries in the world, Hollywood and India. IFFLA will take place at the Regal LA Live in Los Angeles, California, from 1–5 April 2020.