Rajat Kapoor’s comedy MIXED DOUBLES will close the 4th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) on Sunday, April 23, it was announced by Festival Director, Christina Marouda. Kapoor who also directed the Award winning “Raghu Romeo,” will be in attendance along with cast member Rani Shorey and producer Sunil Doshi.



At the Gala Reception following, popular DJ Cheb I Sabbah will perform along with double electric violinist virtuoso Gingger Shankar (“The Passion of the Christ”) and Indo-Jazz tabla player Satnam Ramgotra accompanied by the Taal Dance Company at the Ivar Club.



MIXED DOUBLES, which premiered recently at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, is a comical look at when a husband tries to spice up his ten-year old marriage that has become boring. After responding to “Personal” ads, he has to convince his wife to participate.



“This is an important film to come out of India today,” commented Marouda. “It challenges the status quo escapism of Bollywood fare and wittily serves as a social commentary on India’s middle class.”



At the same time, Marouda announced that the Audience Choice Award and the Jury Awards for Best Feature, Best Short, and Best Documentary will be presented at the Closing Night ceremonies.



Leading the features jury is MARIO VAN PEEBLES along with Hollywood Foreign Press journalist ERSI DANOU and KATHERINE HABER, one of the founding BAFTA LA members. On the documentary jury is Executive Director of the International Documentary Association (IDA) SANDRA RUCH, award-winning filmmaker JESSICA SANDERS (After Innocence) and VEENA HARIHARAN from USC School of Cinema and Television. The shorts committee consists of filmmaker ANURAG KASHYAP (Black Friday), producer GINA KWON (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and MIKE GOODRIDGE, US Editor of Screen International.



IFFLA’s seminars this year will focus on the fast growing animation sector of the Indian entertainment industry with leading executives from the US and India, as well as on film financing through co-productions, tax incentives and pre-sales between India and the US.



This year Deluxe Labs will be sponsoring the “One-on-One” conversations, which provides an opportunity for the festivals filmmakers to meet informally with industry professionals. Participants include producer BRIAN AVERY from the Yari Film Group, BRINDA BHATT from United Talent Agency, UDY EPSTEIN, producer, Seventh Art Releasing, ERIKA L. GREEN, director of acquisitions of Oxygen Media, JESUS DI SICCA, Business & Legal Affairs, Buena Vista International, and DAVID TAGHIOFF from William Morris.



All the festival activities will be broadcast live for the first time by BroadRelay on the worldwide web during the premiere launch of the Hindi Channel in April. Using the power of the high-speed Internet BroadRelay brings video entertainment, news and other rich media content from around the world. BroadRelay Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of BroadRelay, Inc., a Philadelphia-based technology, media and entertainment company bringing world entertainment via broadband Internet to ethnic and non-English speaking US residents via SIVOO.





Further highlights of IFFLA 2006 include:



Seminar 1 on Saturday, April 22, 2006 - 2:00pm:

THE INDIAN ANIMATION INDUSTRY: Pencils to Pixels to Prominence

Panelists will include: GOTHAM CHOPRA, Co-Founder & COO Virgin Animation, India,

RICHARD RICH, President, RichCrest Animation Studios (Div. Crest Animation, India), KAREN MALACH, 3D Development Producer, DisneyToon Studios / Walt Disney, MIKE YOUNG, Co-Founder & CO-CEO, Mike Young Productions

Moderator: KEN SILVERMAN, President & CEO, Interactive Teamworks



Seminar 2 on Saturday, April 22, 2006 - 4:00pm:

FILM FINANCING 101 – Presented by CAPE

Panelists will include: CHARLES HEAPHY, Vice President & Senior Relationship Manager, City National Bank, ANDREW SPAULDING, Executive Vice-President, Echo Lake Productions, GREG TRATTNER, Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Film Finances, HARRIS E. TULCHIN, CEO/President, Harris Tulchin & Associates.

Moderator: GARY RASKIN, Founding Partner, Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon





Friday, April 21, 2006 11am-2pm

ONE-ON-ONE – Sponsored by Deluxe Labs

IFFLA brings together an eclectic mix of industry professionals for informal 15-mins meetings with its participating filmmakers. The objective is to provide a platform for both communities to foster relationships that will inspire creativity.
Participants include:

Syed Ahmed, VP, Business Development, Deluxe Entertainment Services
Brian Avery, Producer, Yari Film Group
Brinda Bhatt, Agent, United Talent Agency
Udy Epstein, Producer, Seventh Art Releasing
Asher Goldstein, Director of Acquisitions, Apollo Cinema
Erika L. Green, Director of Acquisitions, Oxygen Media
Lew O’Neil, VP of Distributor Relations, Deluxe Entertainment Services
Ashwin Rajan, Agent, United Talent Agency
Jesús di Sica, Bus & Legal Affairs, Buena Vista International
Jessica Stamen, Vice President of Development for Echo Lake Productions

David M. Taghioff, Vice President, Business Affairs, William Morris Agency, LLC
Amotz Zakai, Vice President, Production, Echo Lake Productions