Grand Jury Awards
The 11th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) concluded on Sunday evening (April 14) with a red carpet and gala fete that included the Los Angeles premiere of Deepa Mehta’s MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN, and the presentation of the festival’s Grand Jury and Audience Choice Awards, followed by an after party.
This year the festival showcased more than 35 film features, documentaries, and short films at ArcLight Hollywood, home of IFFLA since its inception. “The awards are always bittersweet for all of us in the programming team as we truly believe in the exceptional talent and relevance of each film which has been so carefully chosen,” said Lead Programmer Terrie Samundra. “That being said, we wholeheartedly share the enthusiasm of the audience and our prestigious jury. A huge congratulations to the winners!”
Ashim Ahluwalia’s MISS LOVELY took home the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature, with an honorable mention for SHIP OF THESEUS directed by Anand Gandhi. The Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary went to Sushrut Jain for BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES, and for Best Short to UNRAVEL directed by Meghna Gupta, with an honorable mention for TATPASCHAT directed by Vasudev Keluskar.
“Miss Lovely” trailer
Grand Jury Awards
BEST FEATURE: MISS LOVELY directed by Ashim Ahluwalia
HONORABLE MENTION: SHIP OF THESEUS directed by Anand Gandhi
BEST DOCUMENTARY: BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES directed by Sushrut Jain
BEST SHORT FILM: UNRAVEL directed by Meghna Gupta
HONORABLE MENTION: TATPASCHAT directed by Vasudev Keluskar
Audiece Awards
BEST FEATURE: FILMISTAAN directed by Nitin Kakkar
BEST DOCUMENTARY: BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES directed by Sushrut Jain
BEST SHORT: UNRAVEL directed by Meghna Gupta
The 2013 feature film jurors were International Director of the Feature Film Program at the Sundance Institute Paul Federbush, director/editor/writer Kanika Myer (HALO, HEART OF INDIA), and Assistant Curator of Film Programs at LACMA Bernardo Rondeau. The Best Documentary Award was decided by The Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Times film critic Sheri Linden, Senior Programmer at Film Independent Maggie Mackay, and Producer Nadine Mundo (CHELSEA SETTLES). Judging the short films were filmmaker and IFFLA alum Prashant Bhargava (PATANG), Film Curator and Director of Industry Programming at Palm Springs ShortFest Kathleen McInnis, and actress Sheetal Sheth (ABCD, LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD).
(Above picture, from left: Nitin Kakkar(FILMISTAAN), Anand Gandhi (SHIP OF THESEUS), Christina Marouda (IFFLA Founder/Chair of the Board), Vasudev Keluskar (TATPASCHAT) and Sushrut Jain (BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES). Photo Credit: Tiffany Rose)