'Gangs of Wasseypur' to Open Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur will open the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which will run from April 9-14 at the ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles. Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children will serve as the closing-night film.

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Highlights of the festival also will include Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely, a look at the underbelly of Bollywood C-movies and soft-porn during the 1980s, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at last year’s Cannes Film Festival; Vasan Bala’s directorial debut Peddlers, a crime thriller about young drug runners; Hansal Mehta’s Shahid, based on the true story of murdered human-rights activist Shahid Azmi; and Kim Longinotto’s Salma, a documentary about a South Indian woman.

“Our slate of films this year showcases path-breaking works of emerging and established Indian filmmakers that are making waves at top-tier film festivals around the world,” Christina Marouda, IFFLA’s founder and chair of the board, said.  “This is a rare opportunity for Los Angeles audiences to not only catch films that are very hard to find outside the film-festival circuit, but also to engage with these talented filmmakers who are coming to Los Angeles to present their films.”

The line-up also includes a documentary about India’s obsession with cricket called Beyond All Boundaries, which will have its world premiere at the festival, and the Malayalam film Eecha, a story of love, rebirth and revenge.

Two films at the festival focus on Indian cinema itself: Celluloid Man, a documentary about Indian film expert and archivist P.K. Nair, and Filmistan, the fictional tale of one man’s love of Hindi.

The festival’s Bollywood by Night series will feature three films by director, writer and producer Yash Chopra: Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Silsila (1981) and Chandni (1989).

Information about all the films in the line-up can be found below and at  http://www.indianfilmfestival.org.