The 2026 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has announced the film and events lineup for its highly anticipated 24th edition. IFFLA is set to take place April 23-26, 2026.

Recognized worldwide as a leading platform for South Asian cinema in the U.S., IFFLA celebrates that work, while also shining a spotlight on new voices and helping film artists take vital next steps in their careers by connecting them with key industry professionals.

IFFLA will open with Mahesh Narayanan’s Malayalam thriller ‘Patriot.’ The feature is one of the most anticipated Indian films of 2026. The movie brings together the towering legends Mohanlal and Mammootty, on screen again after 18 years, in a gripping, star-studded ensemble.

The festival will close with Anusha Rizvi’s ‘The Great Shamsuddin Family,’ which is her long-awaited follow-up to ‘Peepli Live.’ The film is a razor-sharp social satire set in Delhi.

This year IFFLA will feature 27 films, including seven narrative features, two documentary features and 18 short films. Countries represented include India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, France, the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the USA.

Anu Rangachar, IFFLA’s Artistic Director, said, “Apart from our impressive galas, the program travels across South Asia, from Bangladesh’s meditative ‘Sand City’ to Pakistan’s emerging new wave with the haunting ‘Ghost School’ and the visually arresting ‘Lali.’ Alongside Indian stories like ‘Shape of Momo’ and Venice-winner ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees,’ this year’s lineup reflects a remarkable surge of women filmmakers across the subcontinent and the diasporas, something we are very proud to champion. Two intimate diaspora documentaries, Karla Murthy’s ‘The Gas Station Attendant,’ and Ben Rekhi and Swetlana’s ‘Breaking the Code,’ round out the selection with deeply personal tributes to their fathers.”

The film festival’s highly impactful IFFLA Industry Days returns will return with panels, masterclasses, screenings and pitch finalists, with details to be announced in the coming weeks. This is a forum offering South Asian film and TV creatives opportunities to build meaningful connections with industry leaders and the chance to win a $10,000 Pitch Competition Development Grant.

The forum also offers IFFLA Connect. The program that links standout projects from South Asia and its diasporas to key industry professionals, offering support across financing, production, casting, and beyond.

Anjay Nagpal, IFFLA’s Executive Director, said, “Each year IFFLA puts the spotlight on the brilliant breadth and scope of South Asian storytelling. We look forward to bringing another exciting group of filmmakers together with the Los Angeles audiences and industry vets eager to see their new work. This curated connection is what makes IFFLA such a vital and unmissable event.”

IFFLA kicks off with the U.S. Premiere of Mahesh Narayanan’s ‘Patriot.’ With combats and chases, secret missions and covert operatives, death threats and assassination attempts, the film is an-edge-of-the-seat espionage thriller. Packed with a star-spangled ensemble, it is led by the two icons of Malayalam cinema – Mohanlal and Mammootty.

Closing the film festival is the North American Premiere of Anusha Rizvi’s social satire, ‘The Great Shamsuddin Family.’ Set over the course of a single day inside a Delhi apartment, the film centers around Bani, a writer racing to meet a crucial deadline while managing her family’s escalating turmoil. Rizvi turns domestic chaos into a microcosm of modern India.

The narrative features lineup includes impressive filmmaking debuts and award winners. ‘Ghost School’ marks the directorial feature debut from Seemab Gul, an IFFLA alum. The film follows a 10-year-old girl, Rabia, as she moves through the cracks of a broken system with a courage that the adults around her seem to have lost. That’s apparent when rumor breaks out that a jinn has possessed her teacher and now haunts her school.

Mahde Hasan’s spectacular debut ‘Sand City’ is set in the unforgiving metropolis of Dhaka, where a young woman from the indigenous minority and an ambitious factory worker, two strangers harboring repressed desires and fantasies, find themselves connected by the city’s endless and shifting sand. The film won the Proxima Grand Prix at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Rai‘s ‘Shape of Momo,’ which has been making waves around the world, will have its North American premiere at IFFLA. The film tells the story of a young woman who, after quitting her job in Delhi, returns to her ancestral home in a remote Himalayan village. While there, she must negotiate the traditional expectations that have long defined the women around her.

Also making its North American Premiere at IFFLA is the comic ‘Lali,’ directed by Sarmad Khoosat, who has long been one of Pakistan’s most distinctive voices. Coming from a deeply personal space, the film tells the story of a newlywed couple caught between love and destiny. It paints a quietly unsettling portrait of a family carrying wounds that refuse to heal.

Another impressive debut is Anuparna Roy’s ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees.’ The movie follows two young migrant women who develop an unlikely bond as they strive to survive Mumbai’s urban sprawl. The film garnered Roy the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival.

IFFLA 2026 is supported in part by the Joy of Sharing Foundation, Tarsadia Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs is sponsoring the festival. For more information and to purchase passes and tickets, visit the festival’s official website.