The 8th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced its 2010
The 8th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced its 2010 Award winners with Laxmikant Shetgaonkar’s THE MAN BEYOND THE BRIDGE (Paltadacho Munis) told in the native tongue of Konkani, a language otherwise hardly used in Indian cinema, as the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature and Dilip Mehta’s COOKING WITH STELLA receiving an Honorable Mention in the category. Nishta Jain’s AT MY DOORSTEP was named winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary and Deepa Bhatia’s NERO’S GUESTS received Honorable Mention. Ritesh Batra’s GAREEB NAWAZ’S TAXI won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film with Anjoo Khosla’s WAHID’S MOBILE BOOKSTORE receiving an Honorable Mention.
Audience Choice Awards went to Paresh Mokashi’s HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY for Narrative, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s THE SUN BEHIND THE CLOUDS: TIBET’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM for Documentary and Terrie Samundra’s KUNJO for the Short Film category.
The festival hosted over 7,000 attendees at ArcLight Hollywood, had numerous sold out screenings, and added the international director’s cut of the Bollywood blockbuster MY NAME IS KHAN in its “Bollywood by Night” series. IFFLA Executive Director Christina Marouda said, “This year’s festival has been a great opportunity to celebrate the work of known Indian filmmakers and introduce a new generation of talents as they enter a global filmmaking community. The 2010 award winners have proven to captivate IFFLA’s audience with their unique and varied vision. Through its eight year history, IFFLA has established itself as an important annual event through which one can chart the evolution of the convergence of the Hollywood and Indian entertainment industries.”
GRAND JURY AWARDS:
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: THE MAN BEYOND THE BRIDGE
DIR/SCR: Laxmikant Shetgaonkar
Cast: Chitranjan Giri, Veena Jomkar, Prasanthi Talpanker, Vasanth Josalkar, Deepak Amonkar
HONORABLE MENTION: COOKING WITH STELLA
DIR/CO-SCR: Dilip Mehta
Cast: Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, Don McKellar
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: AT MY DOORSTEP
DIR/ED: Nishta Jain
HONORABLE MENTION: NERO’S GUESTS
DIR: Deepa Bhatia
BEST SHORT FILM: GAREEB NAWAZ’S TAXI
DIR: Ritesh Batra
HONORABLE MENTION: WAHID’S MOBILE BOOKSTORE
DIR/PROD: Anjoo Khosla
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
NARRATIVE: HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY
DIR/SCR: Paresh Mokashi
Cast: Nandu Madhav, Vibhavari Desphande, Atharva Karve, Mohit Gokhale
DOCUMENTARY: THE SUN BEHIND THE CLOUDS: TIBET’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
DIR: Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
SHORT: KUNJO
DIR: Terrie Samundra
Jury members for the 2010 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles Narrative Features are two-time Emmy® nominated motion picture and television producer Debra Martin Chase (SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, THE PRINCESS DIARIES and the upcoming JUST WRIGHT); acclaimed actress Radha Mitchell (FINDING NEVERLAND, MELINDA AND MELINDA) who stars in and co-produced this year’s IFFLA closing night film, THE WAITING CITY; and actress Shannyn Sossamon (A KNIGHT’S TALE, WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY).
Jury members for the Short Film category are writer/ director Rajeev Dassani whose A DAY’S WORK won the gold medal at the Student Academy Awards®; actress Navi Rawat (THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG and OCEAN OF PEARLS), best known as the brilliant mathematician “Amita Ramanujan” on the hit television show “NUMB3RS”; and Kim Yutani, film critic and film programmer for the Sundance Film Festival and the Director of Programming of Outfest.
Jury members for this year’s Documentaries include Oscar® nominee Gregg Helvey, winner of the IFFLA 2009 Audience Award for Best Short for his film, KAVI; Peabody Award-winning producer and director Senain Kheshgi; and Sonali Kolhatkar, host and executive producer of KPFK’s “Uprising.”
About IFFLA
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian diaspora. For more information about the upcoming festival running April 20th -25th at ArcLight Hollywood, visit www.indianfilmfestival.org.
(Above picture: Closing Night Winners-1.jpg-Left to Right: actor Samrat Chakrabarti (GAREEB NAWAZ’S TAXI), director Laxmikant Shetgaonkar (THE MAN BEYOND THE BRIDGE), director Terri Samundra (KUNJO), IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant Winner Kranti Kanade, UTV distribution representative Vinitha Chandran (HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY))