The best thing about living in a cinema-centric town like LA is being able to take advantage of all the film festivals the city has to offer. If you didn’t get a chance to make the trek to Utah for Sundance this year, there are still plenty of amazing films in your backyard. The Indian Film Festival LA runs from April 6-10, and we’ve got you covered with four films to check out this weekend.
All IFFLA screenings take place at the Arclight Hollywood. For tickets and more information visit www.indianfilmfestival.org
Umrika
As a young boy, this film's lead character, Ramakant, receives letters from his older brother, Udai, which color his days in his small Indian village. As time passes, Ramakant discovers after a family tragedy that there’s more to the letters and his brother’s story than he’s been told. Suraj Sharma and Tony Revolori co-star. Screens April 7, 9:30 pm
Beeba Boys
Academy Award nominee Deepa Mehta’s film—based loosely on the Indo-Canadian gangs that were prevalent in the 1990s—follows ringleader Jeet Jahar as his gang spars with other Indo-Canadian/Asian gangs and dodges the police. Jahar’s "Beeba" (good) boys face challenges brought on by rival gangs, as well as police, against a cultural backdrop as yet unexplored in the gangster film genre. Screens April 8, 7pm
Parched
Leena Yadav’s latest film centers around four women in Gujarat who all deal with the complexities of patriarchal oppression in different ways. From a teen bride forced into an unhappy marriage to an exotic dancer/prostitute dealing with constant judgement to a victim of domestic abuse, the film captures the struggles each woman faces and the ways in which each is able to gain agency. Screens April 9, 5:45pm
The Tiger Hunter
Danny Pudi stars as Sami Malik in Lena Khan’s directorial debut. Set in 1970s Chicago, the film chronicles Malik’s efforts to become an engineer with a career as illustrious as his famous tiger-hunting father’s. Forced to take a lower-paying job, he finds a unique group of friends as he chases the American Dream in the hopes of convincing his childhood sweetheart that he’s capable of success. Screens April 10, 3:45pm