by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Hollywood makes a shorthand distinction between Westerns and Bollywood with "dots or feathers," and while in this woke climate that phrase may die out, there is no doubt what a powerhouse India is in terms of filmmaking. Whether you call it the cinema of Bollywood, or the artistic treasures from the second most populous country on earth, Indian output in the undustry far outstrips all others. That said, here is a chance to really enjoy...

Siraj Syed reviews Haraamkhor: Harmful to the core Haraamkhor: A derisive term, having its roots in Persian (Farsi) and widely used in present-day Urdu and Hindi. Haraamkhor literally means one who feeds on ill-begotten food, haraam meaning immoral, or not kosher, the antonym of halaal, right and approved. Khor refers to eater, or consumer, from the Persian verb khordan, to eat. Some prefer to spell the word beginning with a qh, to distinguish from the kh sound, which is less guttural and not...

  Celebration! That was the mantra throughout the six days of the 2012 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). The festival concluded Sunday evening (April 15) with a red carpet and gala 10th anniversary fete that included the Los Angeles premiere of Prashant Bhargava's PATANG and the presentation of the festival's Grand Jury and Audience Choice Awards, followed by an after party. This year the festival hosted 45 filmmakers and screened 33 features, documentaries, and...

IFFLA Announces Film Fund Development Grant Finalists Finalists will receive Final Draft and Sony Creative software and IFFLA will submit a dossier of their projects for consideration to a group of selected entertainment agencies, production and distribution companies in the U.S. The winner will be announced in January and will receive a $10,000 grant. The finalists are: AGAINST ITSELF written by Kranti K...