India Sweets and Spices

2020 01:41

Scripted Feature Distribution

In INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES, college freshman Alia returns home for the summer, and discovers secrets and lies in her parents' past that make her question everything she thought she knew about her family.

ABOUT
BIO
SCREENINGS
AWARDS
CREDITS
GALLERY

Genre

Asian Comedy Coming of Age People of Color Romance Women Drama

Synopsis

In INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES, outspoken Indian American freshman Alia, on her summer break from college, returns home to her wealthy New Jersey suburb and for the first time pushes back against her parents' pretentious lifestyle. After a year at UCLA, she’s eager to trade in the family’s lavish Saturday-night dinner parties and the gossiping aunties of her community for a more meaningful existence—even if she doesn’t quite know what that looks like yet. When Alia meets Varun, the handsome son of local shopkeepers, she impulsively invites him to her straitlaced mother’s upcoming extravagant soiree, and accidentally uncovers a pair of family secrets in the process.

Bio

Geeta Malik is an award-winning writer and director whose accolades include the inaugural Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, and the Austin Film Festival Comedy Screenplay Award for her feature script, DINNER WITH FRIENDS (retitled to INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES). Geeta is a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow and an alumna of UCLA’s graduate film program. She wrote and directed the viral narrative short, AUNTY Gs, which earned a College Television Award (a “student Emmy”) in comedy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Her other short films include SHAMELESS, BEAST, and APU'S REVENGE. Her first feature film, TROUBLEMAKER, premiered at the 2011 Cinequest Film Festival. In 2019, Geeta directed INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES, starring Manisha Koirala, Adil Hussain, and Sophia Ali. The film was produced by SK Global and Madison Wells Media, and premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES will be released theatrically by Bleecker Street on November 19th.

Screening History

Tribeca Film Festival 2021

Mill Valley Film Festival 2021

Awards History

Academy Nicholl Fellowship 2016 - Recipient

Austin Film Festival 2016 - Feature Comedy Screenplay Award

Breakout Independent Film 2022 - Gold List Award Winner

Credits

Actor - Sophia Ali

Producer - Gigi Pritzker

Producer - John Penotti

Gallery

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