MUMBAI: The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has awarded the first IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant to writer/director Kranti Kanade. Kanade, who is based in both Los Angeles and Pune in India, will receive a grant of $10,000 as well as Final Draft and Sony Creative software. His script will be showcased at a staged reading during the eighth annual IFFLA that will take place 20- 25 April at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles.

Kanade’s script Against Itself centers on a secular expatriate American schoolmaster in India who struggles against a tide of anti-Christian sentiment that threatens his students, his school and his life.

“I am absolutely shocked with happiness by this beautiful news,” declared Kanade. “I am truly grateful to IFFLA for giving me this award and this amazing opportunity.”

The development grant jury included acclaimed screenwriters Gill Dennis, Anurag Kashyap and Sooni Taraporevala. Dennis noted about Against Itself, “This script is haunting, gripping, and gritty.  Stunningly done, beautifully good, it dissects the great mess of our humanity with equal measures of humor and horror, while capturing the hectic multiplicity of India.”