Coronavirus update: Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles postponed indefinitely

The 18th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles has now been postponed due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus. The organisers made an official announcement of the decision on Friday. 

This is the latest international event to be cancelled in view of the growing pandemic caused by the coronavirus. Earlier in the month, the International Indian Film Awards (IIFA) was postponed, along with several international film festivals like the Beijing International Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival in Austin, are among the prominent ones. 

In a statement, Christina Marouda, IFFLA Chair of the Board said, “Given the recent developments around coronavirus, IFFLA has made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone this year’s Festival from April 1st-5th to a later, to-be-determined date in 2020. In doing so, we stand in solidarity with leading cultural institutions and festivals and the recommendations of the CDC and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, by taking proactive steps towards combating the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The well-being of our guests, partners and staff is paramount. We will continue to closely monitor the situation for the best timing to reschedule the festival later this year."

Scheduled to be held between 1 April and 5 April, the 18th IFFLA would have seen films like Imtiaz Ali's Highway (2014), Bhaskar Hazarika's Aamis (2019), Arati Kadav's Cargo, as well as Alankrita Shrivastava's Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare screened for audiences. 

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in several major events across the United States of America to be rescheduled or cancelled. The Las Vegas CinemaCon movie theater summit, SXSW and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York have been called off or postponed. New York''s Broadway theatre district on Thursday cancelled performances for a month to avoid large public gatherings.