Shriya Pilgaonkar to Serve As Jury Member For IFFLA 2024: 'Honoured and Excited'

Actor Shriya Pilgaonkar will be serving as a jury member for the shorts category for the 2024 edition of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA).

The film gala, which will run from June 27 to 30, will screen 20 films, including seven narrative features, twelve shorts, and one docu-series with a diverse line-up of films from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and the United States, a press release said.

The shorts program of the festival includes films such as “Hema” featuring Rajshri Deshpande, “Last Days of Summer”, “Wire & Cloth”, “Ade (On A Sunday)”, “Lori” and “Bobby Beauty Parlour”.

“I am honoured and thrilled to be invited as a jury member for the short film category at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles 2024. I look forward to attending the festival in LA and watching these stellar shorts by emerging South Asian filmmakers.

“The atmosphere at film festivals is always creatively energizing and deeply inspiring. I’m excited to meet and interact with diverse storytellers and performers, and to witness the incredible line-up of films at IFFLA,” Pilgaonkar said in a statement.

Filmmaker Tarsem Singh’s “Dear Jassi” will serve as the opening film for the 2024 edition, while Tamil superstar Vijay Sethupathi’s “Maharaja” will be bringing the curtains down on IFFLA.

The festival will also screen “Kill”, an upcoming action thriller from filmmaker Nikhil Nagesh, and the Sundance winner “Girls Will Be Girls”, which is the maiden production venture of actor-couple Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Shriya was recently seen in the second season of The Broken News which also starred Jaideep Ahlawat and Sonali Bendre. Released in May this year, News18 Showsha’s review of the show read, “The series falters in its second half, succumbing to convoluted subplots and an over-reliance on sensationalism. The attempt to tie up loose ends in the final episodes feels somewhat rushed. As the series progresses, it veers off course, succumbing to the same sensationalism it critiques. Too many parallel plots intertwine, transforming the newsroom drama into a thriller of sorts. However, you are likely to take home a message as the credits roll as a befitting ‘Bol Ke Lab Azaad Hain Tere’ plays – delving too deep into media manipulation can have consequences – sometimes, it changes us as much as we try to change it.”