Director Nila Madhab Panda’s feature debut I Am Kalam, about a boy’s struggle to get an education against all odds, will open the 9th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) here.
The festival will screen 13 feature films, six documentaries and 13 short films.
Festival’s Bollywood By Night series will screen three popular titles including Kiran Rao’s drama Dhobi Ghat, Band Bajaa Baaraat and S. Shankar’s sci-fi fantasy The Robot starring Rajnikanth.
Walt Disney Pictures’s Zokkomon, written and directed by Satyajit Bhatkal will be the closing film of the week-long festival, beginning on April 12.
“We are extremely proud of this year’s programme. This year’s selections were selected not only for their great storytelling, but because each reflects the creativity, colour, pace, and surprises that truly represent Indian culture and cinema,” said Christina Marouda, the festival’s executive director.
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Ben Stiller is haunted by ghosts
Los Angeles: Hollywood funnyman Ben Stiller says that he believes in ghosts and has lived in houses haunted by spirits.
The actor-filmmaker who recently moved from Los Angeles to the Big Apple to star in the Broadway play the House of Blue Leaves, is uneasy living in the suburbs because he is “aware of ghosts”, reported Ace Showbiz online.
“I have a little thing with quietness and spirits. I’m aware of ghosts. I sort of believe in ghosts, and my wife doesn’t. She’s afraid of axe murders,” said Meet The Parents star. “We rented a house in Los Angeles a few years ago, that something had gone on in, because the caretaker of the house was a little bit loopy. She had called to check on us a few days in and she said, ‘How’s it going? Have you had any experiences?’
“And I said ‘No’, and she goes ‘Well when I stayed there every morning I woke up at 4.43 am for three weeks straight. And then one morning at about 4.48 am in the morning I heard a party going on downstairs’,” said the 48-year-old actor. —PTI