<Indian Film Festival>

A GUIDE FOR NEW IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA

The Immigrant Connection :
The Indian Film Festival 2008

One-on-one with Christina Marouda, Director IFFLA

By Smita Salgaonkar

How do you feel after your 6th successful Indian Film Festival? And also on getting so much positive feedback from the filmmakers?

It felt great to see that everyone was being so appreciative and vocal! We put so much passion into planning this film festival and it is a painful process, and I get emotional when people appreciate all the hard work that goes into it. We do get good feedback every year, but this year it was truly overwhelming! We as a company are open and work with no hidden agenda. We want to be bigger and better next year. This year set the stage for higher expectations next year.

What was the starting point for the first festival, especially since it was the first Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles. How did you get filmmakers interested in it, being the first one? And besides, you being from Greece and not from India?

When I started the film festival, I had been in the United States for only two years, and it was a difficult process. I realized then that there was no platform to showcase Indian cinema on the right scale, the Indian film industry being as large as it was. I also feel now that the timing was right for Los Angeles to host an Indian Film Festival, where the mainstream community was just getting interested in India. This was the time of ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Monsoon Wedding’. Read More