MUMBAI: The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has announced the ten finalists for the first annual IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant.

The 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, and production and distribution companies in the U.S.

The winner will be announced in January and will receive a $10,000 grant. The recipient of the IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant will be chosen by a jury of d screenwriters, including Gill Dennis, Anurag Kashyap, and Sooni Taraporevala.

After receiving over 70 grant submissions, executive director Christina Marouda pronounced, “This is a robust indicator that IFFLA has become an institution that is recognized as a vital resource for filmmakers of Indian descent.” Marouda further stated that, “the diversity of projects and talent represented in the finalist selection reveals where Indian cinema is heading and how our organization can play a critical role in the creation of content with worldwide appeal.”

The IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant finalists are: Against Itself writer /director Kranti Kanade from India, Aravan writer Raghu Jeganathan from USA, Engineers of Rock co-writer/director Sushrut Jain and co-writer John Thompson from USA, Love In The Time of Genocide writer/ director Thenmozhi Soundararajan from USA, Scandalous writer/director Claire Ince from USA, Sebastian Wants to Remember writer/director Vasant Nath from India, The Story of Ram writer/director Ritesh Batra from USA, Sweet Dreams writer/director Avani Batra from India, Untitled Desert War Film co- writer/director Richie Mehta and co-writer Shaun Mehta from Canada and Untouchable Glory writer/director Mo Ramchandani from USA.