EXCLUSIVE: The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) will welcome Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Sundance Institute, Roadside Attractions and Film Independent as partners for its inaugural Industry Day.
Taking place on June 28, other partners for the festival’s Industry Day also include Macro, The Salon, ColorCreative and CAPE.
The Industry Day will aim to bring together filmmakers from South Asia and its diasporas with film executives from the event’s partners. The event lineup includes a pitch competition, panels, roundtable discussions, and a keynote address by Moira Shourie, executive director of non-profit organisation Zócalo Public Square.
The pitch competition, Launchpad, will feature presentations by the creative teams behind pre-selected projects in development, to a panel of executives and a live audience. One of the projects will be awarded a $10,000 development grant, presented by Joy of Sharing and Tarsadia Foundation.
“The Launchpad: Pitch Competition attracted over 200 South Asian writers from all corners of the US. We were overwhelmed by the quality of the applications”, said Noopur Sinha, IFFLA’s festival producer. “There is clearly an incredibly talented South Asian artistic community eager to bring new narratives to the screen. We are thrilled to give a platform and facilitate meaningful industry connections to these exciting voices and their projects in Los Angeles.”
India Center Foundation, which recently merged with IFFLA, provided funding to launch the festival’s Industry Day. Warner Bros. Discovery is a major sponsor and will host key events at the forum. Other sponsors include SAGindie, Disney, Joy of Sharing and the Tarsadia Foundation.
The day will conclude with a special screening of Lucy Walker’s latest film, Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, before its release on Netflix. Walker and the film’s participants, Lhakpa Sherpa and Sunny Dijmarescu, will be in attendance.
In its 22nd edition this year, the IFFLA said that it aims to be a critical hub for the South Asian film community in the heart of the entertainment industry, fostering connections between filmmakers and decision-makers in Hollywood. The festival said that filmmakers such as Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur, Sacred Games), and Richie Mehta (Delhi Crime, Poacher) have found representation in the U.S. previously through IFFLA’s ‘One-on-One’ program.
Christina Marouda, Executive Director of IFFLA, said: “This will not only be a first for IFFLA as an organization but for the entire film community. We are excited to create a platform for established executives from the industry and South Asian filmmakers to come together to exchange inspiring stories and ideas, gain mentorship and build collaborations here in Los Angeles, the nation’s film and television industry hub.”