Genre
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
