Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) winners

Celebrate, Captivate, and Connect was the theme for the 2011 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA)! After 6 days and over 7,000 attendees the Festival drew to a close Sunday night (April 17) with a gala celebration that included the world premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' ZOKKOMON which opens in U.S. theaters on April 22nd and the presentation of the festival's Grand Jury and Audience Award, followed by a reception.

The festival, which screened 32 features, documentaries and short films at ArcLight Hollywood, played to sell out crowds at nearly all of its screenings and events. IFFLA Executive Director Christina Marouda said, "This year's festival broke previous year's attendance proving there is a major audience fan base for Indian cinema in the U.S. Our audiences were captivated by the diversity of our offerings. We are thrilled at the enormous response to this year's program. We look forward to celebrating our momentous 10th year in 2012 in Los Angeles and have already begun preparations."

"IFFLA's industry-related events continued to connect Hollywood and Indian executives and educate filmmakers through our Seminar Day on Saturday. We were also proud to honor the outstanding contributions that Sony Pictures Television Networks President Andy Kaplan, Chief Executive Officer - Multi Screen Media Private Limited Man Jit Singh, and Chairman and Managing Director, PVR Cinemas, Ajay Bilji have made to the industry as this year's Industry Leadership Awards recipients", added the organization's Chairman of the Board Arnold Peter.

Receiving the Grand Jury Prizes were: Best Narrative Feature Vikramaditya Motwane's UDAAN; Best Documentary Feature went to Sonali Gulati's I AM with Honorable Mention to GANESH BOY WONDER, directed by Srinivas Krishna; Best Short honors went to THE ECLIPSE OF TAREGNA, directed by Rakesh Chaudhary with Honorable Mention going to writer/director Shlok Sharma for his collective contribution to the art of short filmmaking.

Audience Choice Awards went to I AM KALAM directed by Nila Madhab Panda for Best Narrative Feature; Best Documentary BIG IN BOLLYWOOD co-directed byKenny Meehan, Bill Bowles and Shlok Sharma took home his second honor of the evening with an award for his short film TUBELIGHT'S MOON (TUBELIGHT KA CHAND).

GRAND JURY AWARDS:
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:
UDAAN (Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
I AM (Directed by Sonali Gulati)

HONORABLE MENTION:
GANISH BOY WONDER (Directed by Srinivas Krishna)

BEST SHORT FILM:
THE ECLIPSE OF TAREGNA (Produced/Directed by Rakesh Chaudhary)

HONORABLE MENTION:
SHLOK SHARMA

AUDIENCE AWARDS:

NARRATIVE FEATURE:
I AM KALAM (Directed by Nila Madhab Panda)

DOCUMENTARY:
BIG IN BOLLYWOOD (Directed by Kenny Meehan, Bill Bowles)

SHORT:
TUBELIGHT'S MOON (TUBELIGHT KA CHAND) (Written/Directed by Shlok Sharma) This year's Jurors included Features: Susan Cartsonis (Producer/Chair of the Foundation Board of Trustees of Women In Film), Robert Koehler (Film Critic), Cheng-Sim Lim (Independent Film Curator and Filmmaker); Documentaries: Shaz Bennett (Writer/Filmmaker), Grace Lee (Writer/Producer/Filmmaker "American Revolutionary"), Claudia Puig (Film Critic USA TODAY); Shorts: Parvesh Cheena (Outsourced), Myriam Despujoulets (Programmer of Seminars and Administrator of Fellow Affairs at American Film Institute Conservatory), Ravi Kapoor (Actor/Director Crossing Jordan).

Sponsoring the Awards on Sunday were Baseline; Entertainment Partners; Final Draft Inc; Sony Creative Software, Inc.
SEMINAR DAY sponsored by NBC Universal Diversity, Nickelodeon, SAG Diversity, Screen International and Writers Guild of America, included three in-depth panel discussions pertaining to the trends in the Indian entertainment industry. The three panels were moderated by Jeremy Kay (Editor, Screen International), Christina Marouda (IFFLA Executive Director), and Reena Singh (Vice President, Development and Current Programming, Universal Cable Productions). Panelist sincluded Rupak Ginn ("Royal Pains", "Private Practice"), Karen Kirkland (Executive Director, Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship Program), Abhay Kumar (Director, JUST THAT SORT OF DAY...), Uday Kumar (Business Head - North America, Reliance MediaWorks) , Vikramaditya Motwane (Writer/Director, UDAAN), Murali Nair (Writer/Director, VIRGIN GOAT ), Luvh Rakhe (WGAW), (Writer "Outsourced"), and Rebecca Yee (National Director/Sr. Equal Opportunities Counsel, Screen Actors Guild Diversity), and Alesia Weston (Associate Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute).

Opening this year's festival was the Audience Award winner for Best Narrative Feature I AM KALAM directed by Nila Madhab Panda. The film's star, Gulshan Grover, was on hand Sunday night to accept the award. I AM KALAM produced by the Smile Foundation and Eleeanora Images Private Limited, the film stars Gulshan Grover along with Harsh Mayar, Hussan Saad, Beatrice Ordeix, and Meena Mir.