Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan won the best narrative feature grand jury prize and Sonali Gulati’s I Am took the documentary award as the 2011 Indian Film Festival Of Los Angeles (IFFLA) came to a close at the weekend.

Over the course of six days the festival drew approximately 7,00 attendees to a programme that included 32 features, documentaries and short films at ArcLight Hollywood. The event opened with I Am Kalamand closed with Disney’s Zokkomon.

Best Short honours went to The Eclipse Of Taregna directed by Rakesh Chaudhary. Audience Choice Awards went to Nila Madhab Panda’s I Am Kalam for best narrative feature and Bill Bowles’ Big In Bollywood for best documentary. Shlok Sharma won for his short Tubelight’s Moon (Tubelight Ka Chand).

Saturday’s Semniar Day included a panel on the new wave of Indian cinema with Motwane, Abhay Kumar and Nisha Ganatra moderated by Screen International’s US editor Jeremy Kay.

“This year’s festival broke previous year’s attendance proving there is a major audience fan base for Indian cinema in the US,” IFFLA executive director Christina Marouda said.

“Our audiences were captivated by the diversity of our offerings. We are thrilled at the enormous response to this year’s programme. We look forward to celebrating our momentous 10th year in 2012 in Los Angeles and have already begun preparations.”

Topics