IDFFB
Films at IDDF 2023
Holy Rights
Farha Khatun
Urdu
53
|
2020
Safia, a deeply religious Muslim woman from Bhopal in Central India, believes that patriarchal mindset of 'Sharia' interpreters, denies Muslim women, equality and justice. She joins a program that trains women as Qazis, (Muslim clerics who interpret and administer the personal law), which is traditionally a male preserve.
Ruuposh
Md Fehmeed, Zeeshan Amir Khan
Hindustani
32
|
2021
“Ruuposh" explores the struggles of a Muslim family separated by the partition of India as they try to reconnect despite years of pain, estrangement, and political turmoil.
From the Shadows
Miriam Chandi Menecherry
Bangla
76
|
2022
An artist relentlessly sprays silhouettes on public walls tagged #missing. An activist accompanies rescued girls across international borders. Parallel narratives intersect to reveal a sliver of hope when women imaginatively challenge a powerful trafficking nexus operating in a country where, every 8 minutes, a child goes missing.
The Sea and Seven Villages
Himanshu Khatua
Odia
56
|
2023
Sea level rise along the Bay of Bengal, coastal erosion, frequent cyclones, and mismanagement of coastal land have destroyed homes, agricultural lands, and the entire settlement of Seven Villages of Kendrapara district of Odisha, and people suffered from forced migration. The film depicts stories of the displaced coastal communities of Satabhaya Villages.
Somoyer Janalaguli
Mrinmoy Nandi
Bangla
76
|
2021
The filmmaker approached many unknown people residing in different parts of Bengal and eastern India in the first lockdown period in 2020 to participate in the “documentation of lockdown” programme, and eventually, most of them responded very spontaneously with their available digital devices. Twenty-three people (i.e., 23 cameras) shot this film.
Brair Kani
Nundrisha Wakhloo
Kashmiri
25
|
2023
Brair Kani explores an ancestral house located in Srinagar, Kashmir. The film uses the attic as a site of reflection and navigates the relationship between space, belonging, and personal history. The house spirits inhabiting the confines of the attic exist simultaneously as carriers of collective memory and as manifestations of the emotional landscape.
Two Autumns in Wyszogrod
amit mahanti
English
60
|
2020
n object buried underwater for more than 70 years resurfaces. Scraps of twisted metal, fragments left over from a war. What are the memories that come alive? What are the questions that revive?
Night and Fear
Lipika Singh Darai
Odia
28
|
2023
The residuals of recorded material generated by the filmmaker over a decade of filmmaking practice, with the passing of time, have acquired new meaning. Having a two fold interior, Night and Fear is a personal essay addressed to the filmmaker’s grand aunt, but also a reflection on the impact of making films—on the filmmaker herself and the society.
With Quietude ...to Nirad
Josy Joseph
English
51
|
2015
With Quietude— To Nirad is a chamber drama in its form and an encounter of two souls discussing cinema and life.
The Leopard's Tribe
Miriam Chandi Menecherry
Hindi, Marathi, English
39
|
2022
An indigenous family find they are at the centre of an imaginative battle to preserve the green lungs of India’s commercial capital and the leopard the tribe worships.
Moving Upstream: Ganga
Sudhir sridhar
Bangla,Hindustani,Pahari
105
|
2022
This documentary, filmed on a 3000km walk along the River Ganga by Siddharth Agarwal, is part of Veditum India Foundation’s Moving Upstream project. The walk occurred between June 2016 and April 2017, starting from Ganga Sagar in West Bengal and finishing at Gangotri in Uttarakhand. Initially intended to document the river and life of the riparian community of River Ganga, the project attempts to amplify the voices and concerns of the river people, woven together through the walk medium.
Raat
ruchika negi
hindustani
35
|
2023
What is that you can see at night? What is allowed, what is not? What do you become a witness to? Camera in hand, some women and men from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand venture out to record the experience of nights in small town India. Who is watching and who is being watched? Are nights crafted in silence? Is there still movement, labour that is invisibilised? Who has access to the night? Who hides inside?
What the fields remember
Subasri Krishnan
Bangla, English
52
|
2015
Aftermath of Nellie massacre of 1983, where close to 3,000-4,000 people were killed in Assam. It led to the Assam Accord and the disbanding of anti-foreigner agitation by AASU (All Assam Students' Union) - the families of victims still await justice.
The Spirit Dreams of Cheraw
Shilpika Bordoloi
Mizo
8
|
2023
Mau: The Spirit Dreams of Cheraw is a documentary film from Mizoram, through Cheraw (Bamboo dance)and ritual folklore, revealing the forgotten memory of the story of the mother who dies at childbirth.
Ripples Under the Skin
Farha Khatun
Bangla
29
|
2022
Ripples Under the Skin depicts the relationship between the city and a Bhisti (the traditional water carriers as they are called). Nazim, who is one of the last Bhisti, comes back to the city again and again despite knowing the hardships of survival of a dying profession in the present world.
Special Focus
iqraarnaama
Priyanka Chhabra
Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi
55
|
2022
In the grand narrative of the Partition of Punjab in 1947, Iqraarnaama is a film about the 'refugee', 'migrant', and 'displaced person' as the protagonist of their own story told through a collection of documents from the personal archive of Charandas Bangia, a Partition refugee from Lyallpur, Pakistan who finally settled in Amritsar, India. The film decenters historical narratives from the state to the citizen, from state archives to personal archives, looking at history from the perspective of those who experience it.
Chardi Kala - An Ode To Resilience
Prateek Sekhar
Punjabi,Hindi
96
|
2023
Amidst the indescribable spirit of eternal optimism, the many acts of selfless service, and articulate criticism, there is a memorable tale of everyday resilience and the solemn triumph of India’s farmers as they protested for more than a year against the Indian government’s unjust farm laws.
Cities of Sleep
Shaunak Sen
Hindustani
74
|
2016
The film explores the challenges of the homeless to find a safe place to sleep around the areas of Loha Pul and Meena Bazaar in Delhi.
A Rifle and a Bag
Arya Rothe
Gondi,Madiya,Hindi
89
|
2020
Somi and her husband are striving to forge a new identity after fighting alongside the Naxalites, a communist guerrilla group waging war on the Indian State since the '60s. After a decade of armed struggle for the rights of their tribal communities, the couple deserted the movement and surrendered to the police. They have been trying to educate their son and reconcile their violent past with the desire to integrate into Indian society.
Too much democracy
Varunn Sukhraj
Hindi
90
|
2023
In November 2020, Indian farmers marched towards Delhi to mark their protests against the Indian Government's new Farm Bills. When stopped by the security forces from entering the city, they did the unthinkable; they decided to stay on the roads to the capital indefinitely. Lakhs of farmers and their families resided on those roads for a year. Too Much Democracy explores this remarkable event, where the backbones of India braved the coldest nights and the hottest days on the tar roads, emphasizing the importance of democracy, the voice of the people, and their role in nation-building. This documentary features inputs from eminent experts, leaders, and several farmers who participated in the protests. It is a modest attempt to comprehensively picture the much-maligned protests in right-leaning national media and the general popular imagination. The maker seeks to answer a straightforward question: Does Gandhi's values still mean something in new India?
Aribam Shyam Sharma
Joshy Joseph
English
62
|
2022
Joshy Joseph’s Aribam Syam Sharma-Laparoscopic Cinemascapes featuring the veteran Aribam Syam Sharma – now in his late 80s – is an intimate encounter with the rich and complex dimensions of an oral culture, Manipuri to be specific, and a wise, enlightened soul nourished and nurtured by it emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. The mellow wisdom of an entire culture spreads gently and softly as the venerable Aribam Syam Sharma talks to Joshy, opening up the subtle layers of a culture that holds myriad ways of life endearingly and expansively.
The Volunteer Archivists
Subashish Panigrahi
Odia
18
|
2023
Collective negligence is threatening two centuries of printed publications in Odia, one of India's official languages. Volunteer archivists struggle against all odds, including legal battles, to digitise crumbling books.
Beyond the Blues
Debalina M
bangla
63
|
2023
What does it mean to break binaries and queer them too? When Neel decides to transition from his assigned gender at birth, he is rendered homeless, having to leave his parental home. But does he find the expected/promised shelter in his affirmed gender? Does he find familiarity in his chosen life? Beyond the Blues is the story of Neel and Shamu in their individual and collective journeys of breaking and unmaking binaries, never settling down in the comfort of borders and categorisations. It is the story of finding love and resilience in quiet corners, feline kinships, and vibrant rainbow colours. It is a promise to hold hands, walk in strength and solidarity, and facilitate newer journeys.
Land of my dreams
Nausheen Khan
Hindustani
74
|
2023
The Government of India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (2019), making religion a criterion for citizenship and intended to exclude Muslims. Working-class women gathered in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, and began a nonviolent sit-in protest against this discriminatory practice. Land of My Dreams is a recollection of what followed.
Letter Unwritten to Naiyer Masud
Shahi AJ
Hindi, Urdu, English
63
|
2023
A group of readers pilgrimages to a writer's ancestral house nested in the heart of a city that haunts all of his stories. This turns into an exploration of the city, an exercise in mapmaking and a hallucinatory encounter with the real.
