Los Angeles, April 17 (DPA) It could be the plot of a particularly unlikely Bollywood movie. A young Greek girl grows up on the Mediterranean island of Crete and falls in love with movies from faraway India.

Every weekend she sits glued to the screen to watch her idols like Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and others. She later moves to America, but never forgets her Indian connection.

She decides to start an Indian Film Festival in the world capital of cinema, Los Angeles. After a few years the festival becomes a major cultural event and a focus of collaboration between Hollywood and Bollywood. The End.

That, in a nutshell, is the story of Christina Marouda, who founded The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) in 2002, as a non-profit organisation devoted to promoting a greater appreciation of Indian culture.

The fifth festival opens Tuesday night with the LA premiere of Jag Mundhra’s “Provoked” and closes with Rajnesh Domalpalli’s “Vanaja” on Sunday.

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization devoted to paving the way for a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and diverse culture by providing the public with a selection of films from and about the Indian diaspora by Indian and International filmmakers.

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting a greater appreciation of Indian cinema by showcasing films about India and the diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora.

The festival will run from April 22-27, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Los Angeles. Jury and Audience Choice Prizes will be awarded for Best Feature, Documentary and Short film.