The 14th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced its line up for this year’s edition and it is an incredibly solid set of films. Daaravtha (The Threshold), Short film written and directed by Nishant Roy Bombarde has been officially selected at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles aka IIFLA and will compete in the festival under ‘Shorts’ category.

Daaravtha (The Threshold), is a story of an adolescent Pankaj, who is discovering his sexuality. Pankaj is a little bit different from his peers. “Different” as he loves dance mehndi and jewellery. He is also attracted to an older boy Milind, and for all of this, he often gets bullied by the other boys in his school. The protagonist is torn between a patriarchal Indian upbringing full of gender-stereotypes and his natural urge to identify with the opposite gender. Whether he finds an opportunity to express his desires within the bounds of cultural ethos forms the premise of the film.

Writer and director Nishant Roy Bombarde Said, I am ecstatic today. The festival features two LGBT titles, and I am very happy and excited that the film has finds a place alongside much appreciated feature films like Aligarh and Masaan.

The film has spectacular performances by actors like Elizabeth Ekadashi fame Nandita Patkar, Nishant Bhavsar, Sanjay Purkar and Anurag Worlikar. The festival runs April 6-10 at the ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles.