The seventh India Film Festival of Alberta (IFFA) will take place across the province – completely free for everyone to attend – from September 1-30, 2021 with in-person events in Edmonton (September 3-5), Calgary (September 10-12), Fort McMurray (September 18-19), and Sherwood Park (September 24 & 26).
This year’s films are presented in multiple venues across different cities in Alberta and range from theatrical experiences in locals cinemas, to an IMAX screen and outdoor screenings.
“I am really excited about this year as we are bringing the festival to arts venues across Alberta which went dark last year,” said Madhan Selvaraj, Executive Director of Edmonton Movie Club, the non-profit organization which organizes the festival.
IFFA features award-winning films from all four corners of India. The diverse films showcase more than seven regional languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Tamil.
“This year’s program will introduce the audience to the talented new directors emerging from India while also giving a snapshot of a few key social, economic, cultural and environmental issues impacting the country”, said Sachin Gandhi, IFFA Programming Coordinator.
The 2021 program is a mix of contemporary works from new talented directors as well as classics from master directors. Two of the contemporary films are among the biggest Indian titles from this year’s film festival circuit: Pebles(Tiger Award winner at 2021 Rotterdam Film Festival) and Fire in the Mountains (Sundance Film Festival 2021 and Best Director award at New York Indian Film Festival 2021). Other brand-new movies include the stellar Bengali film Mukhosh, the Gujarati movie The Other Side of the River, the Marathi feature Ashes on a Road Trip, the Kannada film Koli Taal (The Chicken Curry), the Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen and the Tamil feature Mandela. In addition, the Indian Film Festival of Alberta is honored to have a special presentation of the late Irrfan Khan’s last released film Angrezi Medium.
There is a double bill of two brand new restored films from the great Satyajit Ray (Charulata, The Music Room). The festival will present a multi-film retrospective of key works from master director Mani Ratnam. This retrospective includes Roja, Bombay, Iruvar, Dil Se and Raavan, films whose music is composed by A.R. Rahman and helped make A.R. Rahman the household name he is today.