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IFFB

Film Society of Bhubaneswar (FSB) completes two decades of its work (starting from 2005) and returns with the 15th Indian Film Festival Bhubaneswar, a programme that draws its shape from conversations and nearly two decades of screenings, retrospectives and archive-led initiatives. Over the years we have brought restored classics and retrospectives of major film makers, showcased bold regional debuts and established auteurs, and foregrounded films that probe gender, migration, indigenous life-worlds, technology and uneven development.

This year’s festival continues with a retrospective of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, alongside a handpicked selection of contemporary features and shorts from across the subcontinent.

Visit here to know about this year's edition.

Retrospective Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Swayamvaram

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

131

|

1972

Vishwam and Sita, who resist opposition from their families, elope and marry. The unemployed couple begin a happy married life but later land in a sea of perils without a source of income.

Anantaram

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

125

|

1987

A young man narrates two conflicting accounts of his life, changing the details and incidents in both, as he slowly approaches madness.

Kathapurushan

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

107

|

1995

Against the history of Kerala, we see a young man grow up without a father, relate to the working class people employed in his feudal household, become an intellectual, land in prison, and find a cure for the stuttering that afflicts him.

Elippathayam

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

121

|

1982

Unni is the last male heir of a decaying feudal family in rural Kerala. His inability to accept the socio-economic changes of a new society causes him to gradually withdraw into isolation and paranoia.

Mathilukal

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

120

|

1990

Its a story of Basheer, an author who experiences his prison life. In it he finds friendship, loneliness, fear and finally love, but that remains questionable.

Naalu Penungal

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

105

|

2007


A drama centered around four women at Kuttanad in Kerala's Alappuzha district.

Mukhamukham

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

107

|

1984

The film starts in the early 1950s showing Sridharan, the protagonist, as a very popular communist leader and trade union activist. He is forced to go underground after his name was associated with the murder of the owner of a tile factory.

Vidheyan

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Malayalam

112

|

1994

Thommy is a loyal servant of Bhaskar Patel. But Patel is a ruthless tyrant. Thommy struggles between his moral sense and his professional sense. He is finally redeemed without compromising his duty as Patel's servant.

Ritwik Ghatak Centenary

Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star)

Ritwik Ghatak

Bengali

127

|

1960

Directed by the visionary Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, The Cloud-Capped Star tells the story of a family who have been uprooted by the Partition of India and come to depend on their eldest daughter, the self-sacrificing Neeta (Supriya Choudhury). She watches helplessly as her own hopes and desires are pushed aside time and again by those of her siblings and parents, until all her chances for happiness evaporate, leaving her crushed and ailing.

Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Called Titas)

Ritwik Ghatak

Bengali

156

|

1973

The Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak’s stunningly beautiful, elegiac saga concerns the tumultuous lives of people in fishing villages along the banks of the Titas River in pre-Partition East Bengal. Focusing on the tragic intertwining fates of a series of fascinating characters—in particular, the indomitable widow Basanti—Ghatak tells the poignant story of an entire community’s vanishing way of life.

Contemporary Indian Cinema

Nadharer bhela

Pradipta Bhattacharyya

Bengali

179

|

2025

Nadhar, a man deemed dysfunctional for his extremely sluggish movements, becomes part of a travelling circus, where his condition turns into spectacle. An expansive meditation on human nature, slowness and being profoundly out of step with the world.

Shanti Niketan (House of Peace)

Deepankar Prakash

Rajasthani

124

|

2024

Ravi, a diligent man in his mid-30s, shoulders the responsibility of caring for his ailing grandfather, mentally disabled aunt, and grandmother after his parents' tragic demise. Growing up in a modest household, he learns the value of duty early on. However, as the story progresses, the weight of his responsibilities takes a toll on him. He becomes increasingly isolated, sacrificing his own happiness and relationships to meet the needs of his family. Despite his unwavering dedication, a sudden financial crisis pushes him to his limits. The story ends unexpectedly, leaving viewers to contemplate the complexities of human relationships and the resilience of the human spirit.

Alaav

Prabhash Chandra

Hindi

123

|

2024

Alaav, is the story of Bhaveen, a 63-year-old son, taking care of Savitri, his ailing 95-year-old mother in their home nestled in a quiet suburb of New Delhi, India. The film not just deals with the tenderness, playfulness, patience and devotion of Bhaveen but also with the struggles, frustrations, resentment and the passive aggression caregiving entails. It is a dispassionate yet an intimate portrayal of the human bond between a Mother and Son.

A Knock on the Door

Ranjan Palit


Bengali, English

118

|

2023

Seasoned cinematographer Ranjan Palit’s Kafkaesque psychological thriller A Knock on the Door deals with the persecution of academics and activists critical of the regime, but it weaves a playful, genre-bending fiction around this kernel inspired by real events. Deliciously stylised, the film presents veteran actors – many of Palit’s earlier collaborators – delivering brash, theatrical dialogue in off-kilter line readings: truncated, overlapping, restarting, with idiosyncratic breaks and extended pauses.

Kok Kok Kokoook

Maharshi Tuhin Kashyap

Assamese

62

|

2025

An illegal-migrant Chicken seller shares an intimate bond with his red RX100 Yamaha motorcycle, but when he has to dispose of it in fear of being framed for an accident, his grief spirals into an obsession transforming into something unsettling. The line between man and machine blurs.

Bou Buttu Bhuta

Jagdish Mishra

Odia

174

|

2025

Buttu and his motherb live a modest life in an Odisha village, with Buttu dreaming of leaving for a better life elsewhere.However, a series of unforeseen events disrupt their lives.Will they overcome the challenges and realise their dreams

If on a Winter's Night

Sanju Surendran

Malayalam, Hindi

100

|

2025

A young couple leaves Kerala for Delhi, bound by love and ambition. He’s an artist, she’s with a film festival. But the city isn’t as kind as it looks — beneath its glitter lies prejudice, cramped spaces, and conventions. In Sanju Surendran’s telling, their story unfolds like the seasons — fragile yet unyielding. A love tested by the city.

The Puppet’s Tale

Suman Mukhopadhyay

Bengali

120

|

2025

Adapted from Marxist writer Manik Bandopadhyay’s 1936 novel of the same name, Suman Mukhopadhyay’s The Puppet’s Tale is a deeply felt period drama about a sensitive individual caught between the pull of ambition and the weight of his social circumstance. Shashi imagines himself as a rational actor, unbound by the perceived backwardness of his village, and through his journey, the film interrogates a deeply modern dilemma: are we agents of history, or merely its subjects?

White Snow

Praveen Morchhale

Urdu

81

|

2025

With her yak Riri and an old cathodic TV, a mother journeys through the Kashmir Himalayan peaks peaks to screen her son’s film banned by fanatics and State - a path that breaks her body and mind but ultimately leads her to a profound, liberating freedom.

Tingl Belku: The Light for the Rest of the Walk

Nareshkumar Hegde Dodmari

Kannada

105

|

2025

A teenager's struggle with psychedelic substances disrupts his family's preparations for his sister's wedding in a coastal Indian village, leading to unexpected challenges and a looming police raid that forces him to confront his choices.

Theatre: The Myth of Reality

Sajin Baabu

Malayalam

138

|

2025

Delves into myth versus reality's delicate lines while depicting Kerala's vanishing customs and mystical elements.

Secret of a Mountain Serpent

Nidhi Saxena

Hindi

108

|

2025

Set in a remote Himalayan town during the Kargil War, Secret of a Mountain Serpent tells the intimate story of Barkha, a schoolteacher whose husband is away at the border. Most men are gone and Barkha finds herself drawn to Manik Guho, a mysterious outsider who disrupts the fragile status-quo. As his presence reawakens long-buried yearnings in Barkha and the other women of the village, a whispered local folklore comes alive: a serpent that lives in the forbidden river, still waiting after a thousand years for the promise of love unkept. A poetic exploration of desire, where myth and memory blur, inviting us into a deeply sensual, haunting journey through love, longing, and transformation.

Swaha (In the Name of Fire)

Abhilash Sharma

Magahi

99

|

2024

In the remote village of Manorva, Rukhiya and Phekan, along with their son Karimana, struggle to survive on society's margins. Phekan’s journey to the city in search of work leads to betrayal, exploitation, and violence, leaving him disillusioned. Meanwhile, haunting whispers brand Rukhiya a witch and she faces an unthinkable choice when a mysterious voice threatens her son’s life. As despair engulfs them, Nehura, a remorseful cremator seeking redemption, crosses paths with Phekan. Amid the chaos of fire and spectral voices, an infant’s cry pierces the darkness, offering a glimmer of hope and divine forgiveness.

Bailadila

Shailendra Sahu

Hindi

95

|

2023

In slumbering mining town of Bailadila, adolescent Rinku finds himself at the threshold of boyhood after losing his mother and moving in with his elder brother. In this gently undulating tale, he experiences many things for the first time in his life, his complicated emotional world is populated with even more multifaceted characters. In just one summer he traverses a spectrum of human emotional shadows. Guilt, lust, anger and agony initiate him in to life. He will no longer be just an innocent child.

Shadowbox

Tanushree Das, Saumyananda Sahi

Bengali, Hindi

93

|

2025

Maya lives with her husband, Sundar, and their teenage son, Debu, in a bustling suburb of Kolkata. She works multiple jobs, while Sundar is a retired soldier suffering from PTSD. Debu, often left to care for his father, is torn between embarrassment and affection. One night Maya wakes to find Sundar gone. Sundar is a suspect in a murder investigation, and a search ensues. When Sundar returns to Maya a few days later, the family balance is put to test.

Victoria

Sivaranjini

Malayalam

85

|

2024

Victoria, a young beautician working in a small town ladies beauty parlour, treads an overwhelming day into a decisive conviction, while an unruly offering-rooster serves as an unexpected spiritual witness.

Rapture (Rimdogittanga)

Dominic Sangma

Garo

127

|

2023

As the village is gripped by the fear of child-kidnapper, the church prophesizes about the coming of apocalyptic darkness that will last for 80 days. For 10 year old Kasan the village has never been more fearful.

Biswaprakash

Susant Misra

Odia

148

|

1999

Portrait in different shades of grey of an intelligent young man who is imprisoned in the contradictions of life in Puri, an old Hindu religious centre.

Short Films

Avaar Navaar Chhoriyaan (Every Now and Then Girls…)

Shefalee Jain and Shivi Bhatnagar

21

|

2025

Every Now and Then Girls…) is a hand drawn, hand cut stop motion animation which is an adaptation of the Rajasthani folktale ‘Dohri Joon’, collected by Vijaydan Detha in his 14 volumes of folktales from Rajasthan titled 'Batan Ri Phulwari'.

Two Sinners

Samir Zaidi

Hindi, Urdu

12

|

2024

A revenge drama set in the dense foliage of an Indian forest, focusing on Azhar - whose elder brother orchestrates a sinister scheme compelling him to execute the bound and gagged perpetrator responsible for their sister's assault.

Malwa Khushan

Preeti Kanungo, Sourav Yadav


Hindi

20

|

2023

Set in rural India, two sisters Malwa and Khushan live with their grandmother. Navigating sexuality and attraction in their adolescent years, Khushan always looks up to Malwa for her outspoken nature and courage. One of them is attracted to a new girl at school.

Samvega-Pasada

Elroy Pinto

Hindi, Marathi

30

|

2023

A contemporary adaptation of the epic of Manimekalai, Nirrti, a former sex worker lives in a working-class chawl in Mumbai. In her day-to-day life at the chawl, she encounters the familiar signs of old age, birth and death around her as she organizes against the real estate mafia and the landlords. Her spiritual awakening is one day put to the test when a group of orthodox seers come to the chawl.

Ballad Of The Mountain

Tarun Jain

Hindi

17

|

2024

An outcaste must fight the class bullies to overcome her fears and pursue her ambition to fly to the other side of the mountain. ‘Ballad of the Mountain’ is an invitation to confront the uncomfortable truths that persist in our society and an opportunity to rewrite the narrative for countless girls who deserve a chance to learn, grow, and flourish.

The Unknown Filmmaker

Hemant Gaba

English

18

|

2025

Zoya travels from India to Busan in search of answers about her Korean filmmaker friend. What begins as a quest for closure unravels into a journey of unsettling discoveries that challenge her perceptions of both him and herself.

Meet the Directors

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