The 24th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA), set to take place April 23-26, 2026, has unveiled its lineup of 27 films, including seven narrative features, two documentary features, and 18 short films.
The festival opens with Mahesh Narayanan’s edge-of-the-seat espionage thriller Patriot, uniting legends Mohanlal and Mammootty, on screen again after 18 years; and close with the North American Premiere of Anusha Rizvi’s witty, social satire, The Great Shamsuddin Family.
The festival also features films by California and local filmmakers, including the world premieres of Harvest Party At Camp Two by Rajan Gill and Reaa Pur, a documentary about Punjabi farmworkers in 1980s small-town America; Peanut by Sheila Sawhny, a heartfelt tale about second chances; Urvashi Pathania’ Skin, a surreal horror tale about a young woman trapped in the treacherous machinery of toxic beauty standards; Katti by Kanishka Aggarwal, about an eight-year-old girl grappling with the first sting of gender bias and sibling rivalry; and the North American premiere of Radha Mehta’s Sūnna, a tender mother-daughter story set in the world of classical Indian music.
Anu Rangachar, IFFLA’s Artistic Director, said, “Apart from our impressive galas, the program travels across South Asia, from Bangladesh’s meditative Sand City to Pakistan’s emerging new wave with the haunting Ghost School and the visually arresting Lali. Alongside Indian stories like Shape of Momo and Venice-winner Songs of Forgotten Trees, this year’s lineup reflects a remarkable surge of women filmmakers across the subcontinent and the diasporas, something we are very proud to champion. Two intimate diaspora documentaries, Karla Murthy’s The Gas Station Attendant, and Ben Rekhi and Swetlana’s Breaking the Code, round out the selection with deeply personal tributes to their fathers.”
Anjay Nagpal, IFFLA’s Executive Director, added, “Each year IFFLA puts the spotlight on the brilliant breadth and scope of South Asian storytelling. We look forward to bringing another exciting group of filmmakers together with the Los Angeles audiences and industry vets eager to see their new work. This curated connection is what makes IFFLA such a vital and unmissable event.”
Official Selections for 2026 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA)
GALA PRESENTATIONS
Opening Night Presentation
Patriot
US Premiere
Director: Mahesh Narayanan
Country: India; Running Time: 172 min
A top-tier researcher uncovers an illegal use of a high-level surveillance asset, triggering a national manhunt that transforms him from a patriot into a fugitive.
Closing Night Presentation
The Great Shamsuddin Family
North American Premiere
Director: Anusha Rizvi
Country: India; Running Time: 97 min
A writer faces her most important deadline while her house erupts in family chaos, forcing her to juggle a 12-hour writing sprint with an unfolding domestic emergency.
ADDITIONAL NARRATIVE FEATURES
Ghost School
Director: Seemab Gul
Countries: Pakistan/Germany/Saudi Arabia; Running Time: 88 min
When ten-year-old Rabia finds her village school closed, rumors erupt that a jinn has possessed her teacher and now haunts the school.
Lali
North American Premiere
Director: Sarmad Sultan Khoosat
Country: Pakistan, Running Time: 116 min
In a darkly comic spiral of desire and superstition, Zeba and Sajawal find their arranged union—and their very bodies—warped by an inescapable, blood-soaked fate.
Sand City
Director: Mahde Hasan
Country: Bangladesh; Running Time: 99 min
In the unforgiving metropolis of Dhaka, a young woman from the indigenous minority and an ambitious factory worker, two strangers harboring repressed desires and fantasies, find themselves connected by the city’s endless, shifting sand.
Shape of Momo
North American Premiere
Director: Tribeny Rai
Country: India; Running Time: 115 min
In a remote Himalayan village, three generations of women navigate the tensions of tradition, the quiet stirrings of change, and the complexities and joys of their intertwined lives.
Songs of Forgotten Trees
Director: Anuparna Roy
Country: India; Running Time: 77 min
Amid the relentless pulse of Mumbai, two young migrant women striving to survive find themselves sharing not only space, but also an unexpected bond that reshapes both their journeys.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Breaking The Code
World Premiere/Special Presentation
Directors: Ben Rekhi, Swetlana
Countries: USA/India; Running Time: 81 min
A son retraces his father’s journey from Indian immigrant to tech pioneer, uncovering a powerful story of migration, sacrifice, and love that broke the glass ceiling for Indians in America.
The Gas Station Attendant
Director: Karla Murthy
Country: United States; Running Time: 83 min
A daughter reflects on her father’s remarkable and tumultuous journey from the streets of India to the realities of life in America, weaving archival footage with recorded phone conversations they had while he worked the nightshift as a gas station attendant.
SHORT FILMS
Ali
Director: Adnan Al Rajeev
Countries: Bangladesh/Philippines; Running Time: 15 min
In a coastal town where women are not allowed to sing, a teenager must hide his true voice for a chance to move to the city.
Bleat!
Director: Ananth Subramaniam
Countries: Malaysia/Philippines/France; Running Time: 15 min
An elderly Malaysian-Tamil couple discovers their male goat, set for ceremonial slaughter, is pregnant. Torn between faith and the expectations of their community, they struggle to decide whether to slaughter it or face the wrath of the gods.
Dekho (Look)
North American Premiere
Director: Manjinder Virk
Country: UK; Running Time: 18 min
Ten-year-old Arjun’s world unravels when his grandmother, who suffers from dementia, unexpectedly moves in, competing for his mother’s attention.
Harvest Party At Camp Two
World Premiere
Directors: Rajan Gill, Reaa Pur
Country: USA; Running Time: 16 mins
Director(s): Rajan Gill, Reaa Pur
Summer in Northern California in the 1980s is a time of race wars and rock’n’roll. Unable to attend their local prom, the Punjabi farmworkers throw the biggest party their small town has ever seen.
Hidden Sun
North American Premiere
Director: Shuchi Talati
Country: Japan; Running Time: 24 min
An encounter with a Japanese flamenco dancer rattles the stagnant rhythms of a middle-aged couple, unearthing suppressed emotion and reawakening desire.
Katti
Director: Kanishka Aggarwal
Countries: USA/India; Running Time: 14 min
In a bustling Indian household celebrating a long-awaited baby boy, an eight-year-old girl grapples with the first sting of gender bias and the emotional turbulence of sibling rivalry.
O’Sey Balamma
Director: Raman Nimmala
Country: India; Running Time: 13 min
During the Sankranti festival celebrations, a matriarch and her housekeeper confront solitude through the intimacy of each other’s company.
Pakka
Director: Iniyavan Elumalai
Country: Netherlands; Running Time: 18 min
When the captain of an all-gay male cricket team announces he is leaving the Netherlands to marry a woman in India, the precious bond amongst four friends is put to the test.
Peanut
World Premiere
Director: Sheila Sawhny
Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min
In a moment of despair, a middle-aged man finds himself alone in the woods, where he discovers the strangest of offerings.
Permanent Guest
Director: Sana Zahra Jafri
Country: Pakistan; Running Time: 14 min
Shaken to the core by the unexpected arrival of an unwelcome uncle, a young woman must weigh familial duty against her growing rage.
Plain Folks
World Premiere
Director: Fatima Liaqat
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
The promise of the perfect all-American college party turns into a nightmare for a Pakistani freshman at a mostly white campus, when she finds herself alone and at odds with a hostile crowd.
Rihanna
Director: Suraj Paudel
Country: Nepal; Running Time: 17 min
In rural Nepal, thirteen-year-old Saraswati changes her name to Rihanna. The school principal scolds and disciplines her for blindly imitating Western culture, but Saraswati wants to prove herself with quiet support from her watchful mother.
Room At The Farm (Khooh Waala Ghar)
Directors: Jasmine Kaur Roy, Avinash Roy
Country: India; Running Time: 23 min
A vicious debt trap and the imminent fear of losing his land prevent a newly married young farmer from expressing his love for his wife.
Ruse
Director: Rhea Shukla
Country: India; Running Time: 9 min
On a rainy afternoon, three adolescent girls find themselves in the middle of a dance that takes on a life of its own—urging forth a sense of desire they can’t yet name.
Skin
Director: Urvashi Pathania
Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min
Feeling insecure about her dark skin and defying her sister’s objections, a young woman visits a glamorous skin bleaching clinic, only to find herself trapped in its treacherous machinery.
Sulaimani
Director: Vinnie Ann Bose
Country: France; Running Time: 20 min
One evening in Paris, two strangers, both young women from Kerala, find themselves in an Indian restaurant where the sights, sounds, and smells take them on a journey of bittersweet memories of their uprooting and emancipation.
Sūnna
North American Premiere
Director: Radha Mehta
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
When sudden hearing loss shatters her identity, a young Indian musician is left in silence until the echoes of memory, touch, and culture help her reclaim music and herself.
Tenfa
World Premiere
Director: Nihaarika Negi
Country: India; Running Time: 30 min
When a childbirth goes awry, a midwife, a grandmother, and a teenager embark on a journey across a remote Himalayan landscape scarred by ecological destruction. To save the mother’s life, they must find an endangered indigenous herb, with an old folksong as their only guide.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.