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Be a Member About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More Design note: TRAVELOGUE OF NABAGUNJARA Entry no. 2025 As our Nabagunjara takes a leap in the air, it transcends time and goes back to one of the cradles of civilization. It lands on the riverbank of Tigris in 5500 BC Mesopotamia. It takes the form of a 8-pointed star and starts getting worshiped as Ishtar. It leaps again. This time it ends up in the Sasanian Empire in 224 AD. He notices a teardrop motif with curved upper end is starting to appear everywhere. It makes a note of it. And keeps traveling further in time. Kashan, Iran in 1600 AD. Where the potters are using their peculiar luster painting on the 8-point star to cover a wall. Next stop, Paisley, Scotland, 1820s. Nabagunjara stands under a bronze inscription that reads, "Pain Inflicted, Suffering Endured, Injustice Done ". Probably the remains of the last witch trials that hanged and then burnt 5 women on the Gallow Green. It sees the people of the town in Kashmiri shawls with a similar teardrop pattern weaved in it. People back home call it the 'young mango' pattern. From the horizon it witnesses a wave of protesting weavers of the Radical War. Raging in anger and singing in unison, against the employers over payment for "sma' shot " – a small cotton thread which, although unseen, was necessary in holding together garments. Nabagunjara suddenly feels nostalgic and exhausted from all the time travel. It wants to return to the present again. Mandipanka , Kandhamal, Odisha, 2024, two young women have died from consuming a gruel of crushed mango kernel. There was nothing else to eat at home. It deeply affects Nabagunjara. It wishes to undo the injustice. But Gods only have so much power when human lives are lost to illegitimate, violent and inefficient systems. Special Focus TEES Dibakar Banerjee (Hindi/142/2024) 2042 New Delhi. After his manuscript titled Tees (‘30) is rejected for publication by the Literature and Arts Commission - Anhad Draboo, meets Niharika, a “Reader“ from the Commission, who has been searching for Anhad ever since she read his manuscript. In 2018, Zia Draboo, a corporate lawyer living in Mumbai and all set to buy the flat she has been renting with her partner Meera, finds out she cannot buy it because of the Housing Society's resistance to her name. In 1989-90, Ayesha, a housebound State Radio newsreader in Srinagar, Kashmir, reaches out to her childhood friend Usha to solicit help from her husband – a government official. She needs it for her own husband Ghulam Muhammad who faces bankruptcy and ruin amongst rising unrest in the city. Contemporary Films ANGAMAL by Vipin Radhakrishnan (Tamil/117/2024) In a remote rustic village in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, in the mid-90's, a city educated young man feels awkward because his mother doesn't wear a blouse. But this is how his mother always dressed. What changed suddenly? As he tries to find a solution before a visit from his prospective in-laws, a simple problem spirals out of control. DHRUBOR ASCHORJO JIBON by Abhijit Chowdhury (Bangla/135/2024) “Dhrubor Aschorjo Jibon" is a crime drama film, which tells the captivating story of Dhrubo, a young man standing at a life-altering crossroads, faced with four distinct paths. As he struggles to save his girlfriend’s family while uncovering the truth about his own origins, each choice he makes sets him on a vastly different course. Dhrubo’s journey is a relentless battle between morality and love, justice and compassion. Each decision thrusts him into a unique and challenging world, where survival is the key to discovering the ultimate truth. APPURAM by Indu Lakshmi (Bangla/135/2024) Set against the backdrop of a middle-class family, Appuram unfolds through the eyes of Janaki (Anagha Ravi), a teenage girl caught in the crosscurrents of love, fear and societal constraints. Through the lens of Janaki, Appuram delves into the fragile dynamics of a family grappling with mental health challenges, societal expectations, and the oppressive weight of superstition. DEAD DEAD FULL DEAD by Pratul Gaikward (Hindi/110/2024) Era is an eccentric, pseudo-astrologer and an Instagram influencer. She is found dead inher flat at a high-rise building. Suspects are ERA’s husband RAHUL, House-help CHOTU,and the nosy neighbour MRS. BASANTI.Two newly-joined, incompetent young police constables BALRAM and ZUBEIDA arecompelled to investigate Era's murder. BAGHJAN by Jaicheng Xai Dohutia (Assamese, Moan/78/2024) Manab refuses to accept his pregnant wife's death in the oil well blast and tries to find he Worried, his friends Bimal and Janeki try to help, but they face severe trouble as they struggle to cope with Manab's erratic behavior. BODY by Abhijit Mazumdar (Hindi/142/2024) Months after the third wave of Covid pandemic, Manoj, a young struggling actor, is still trying to cope with his personal trauma. He joins his theatre peers on a trip to a village near Mumbai. During an early morning swim, he gets brutally bullied. His friends abandon him. He tries to find his way back, battling shame and fear, without a stitch on. Back in Mumbai he carries the memory of the trauma and is seen walking naked on the road. His partner Khushboo tries to protect him but fails to save him from the wrath and anger of the public. His existence starts fragmenting into disconnected pieces. He skips crucial rehearsals of their upcoming play and struggles to remain functional. In this dysfunctional state he makes friends with a little boy, a neighbour, finds that he has an abusive father. This discovery sets him off on a complex journey of intrigue. Films at IFFB '25 RIPTIDE by Afrad VK (Malayalam/83/2024) Returning to his room following a paranormal vision, Suku finds his lover Charlie leading a spectral existence, intimate to him but invisible to everyone else. POEM OF THE WIND by R Ramkrishnan (Tamil/93/2023) "Poem of the Wind" is about Bharani, an emerging theatre artist who is subjected to the stereotypical ways of masculinity from his childhood. The presence of femininity inside him confuses his stand on what society expects out of him. The film follows the three stages of Bharani’s life, from his childhood to old age, as he regrets the choices he has made. The film is inspired by Charles Bukowski’s poem “Blue Bird.” GURAS by Saurav Rai (Nepali, Hindi/114/2023) A nine-year-old girl embarks on a mystical adventure through the scenic mountains of Darjeeling, India, in search of her beloved pet dog, Tinkle, who has gone missing. FEMINICHI FATHIMA by Fasil Muhammed (Malayalam/100/2024) Fathima, a housewife in the coastal town of Ponnani, lives under the strict control of her orthodox husband, Ashraf. When her son wets their old mattress, Fathima’s attempt to replace it sparks conflict. Ashraf blocks her at every turn, despite her back pain and growing frustration. Eventually, Fathima realizes the mattress represents more than just comfort it’s her chance to reclaim her independence. By finally buying it, she takes a bold stand. MONSOON BREEZE by Abdul Aziz (Tamil, Telegu, Hindi/130/2024) 23-year-old Deepu has just moved to the unfamiliar city of Mumbai with her mother to pursue her Master's. Her estranged father shows up at their doorstep to check in on them and attempt to make amends with his wife not realizing it is their wedding anniversary. EMUTHI PUTHI by Kulanandini Mahanta (Assamese/103/2022) A rebellious teenager Ritika needs money to escape home while her eccentric granny Makhoni wants to travel 500 kilometres in search of a mythical fish for a perfect exit from the world. Both elope together from home one night, chased by one very harried policewoman – Makhoni’s daughter and Ritika’s mother Indira. HUMANS IN THE LOOP by Aranya Sahay (Hindi, Kurukh/74/2024) Nehma, an Adivasi woman from the Oraon tribe, returns to her ancestral village with her children, Dhaanu (12) and Guntu (1), after her divorce. She begins work as a 'data labeller,' training AI models to recognise objects in images and videos. Finding AI childlike in its learning process, she imagines it seeing the world through her eyes, a connection she longs for with Dhaanu. Even as Nehma faces the challenge of giving Dhaanu-forever tempted to flee back to the city-a reason to stay, she notices AI adopting harmful human biases, some echoing prejudices against her community. Ultimately, Nehma realises she's battling not just for Dhaanu's future but for how technology and the world see people like her. GHAATH by Chattrapal Ninawe (Marathi/124/2024) Ghaath is a story told through elements of land, water, and jungle corresponding them with three characters - an undercover Maoist trying to track down a police officer, who is responsible for the death of his brother; a cop trying to secure the surrender of a Maoist guerrilla with the help of an aborigine; and a Maoist besotted by a tribal woman, while on the run from the Maoist cadre. As these about the characters, their psyche and the system. KISS WAGON by Midhun Murali (Malayalam/174/2023) In tumultuous ‘Mountland’, ruled by a wealthy tyrant, Ms. Isla runs a parcel service. With the major religious festival, ‘Atqaba,’ approaching, she receives an unusual parcel destined for a strange address from a VIP. Isla, an extremely self-centered girl, never knew what a roller coaster ride she was about to encounter in her upcoming days. The question is: Will she complete this mission? SECOND CHANCE by Subhadra Mahajan (Kullavi, Hindi, English/104/2024) After experiencing the first major trauma of her young life, Nia retreats to her family summer home in the Himalayas where time, nature and unlikely friendships help her heal. VIDUTHALAI by Vetri Maaran (Tamil/242/2024) (Director's Cut) Kumaresan is a newly appointed police constable in a district plagued by an armed resistance against the government’s mining interests. His loyalties are tested not only by the harsh treatment from his superiors, but also by the daily violence against the local population, and an encounter with rebel leader Perumal forces him to make a choice. TORTOISE UNDER THE EARTH by Sisir Jha (Santhali/97/2022) In a uranium mining area of Jharkhand, India, a tribal couple cope with the loss of their daughter. For them, the land and forest are witness to their daughter's memory. With great sensitivity and beauty, the film explores the deeply intertwined connections between tribal communities and the forest that is their traditional home. Deftly interweaving the vivid colours of their festivals, their folk songs and the sense of community that binds them together, Tortoise Under The Earth is a poetic elegy to a world that is rapidly disappearing, subsumed by unchecked development and displacement. RESTORED CLASSIC THAMP̄ by Aravindan Govindan (Malayalam/129/1978) Thamp̄ is a poetic, allegorical film, that gently explores the transience of human relationships and the rootlessness of the marginalized through the ripples created in the bucolic existence of a village on the banks of a river by the arrival of a roving circus troupe. In cinéma-vérité style, G. Aravindan rounded up a troupe of actual circus artistes and travelled with them to the village of Thirunavaya on the banks of the Bharathapuzha river. ISHANOU by Aribam Syam Sharma (Manipuri/90/1990) Tampha, a pretty young woman with a loving husband and a small daughter is leading a tranquil existence in the Manipur valley, occupied with mundane details of life like preparing for her daughter’s ear-piercing ceremony or discussions with her husband about the purchase of a second-hand scooter. Suddenly she begins to behave in a strange manner, talking to flowers, becoming afflicted with dizzy spells and wandering out of the house in the dark of the night. The family runs from pillar to post trying to find a cure for the peculiar malady. Finally, they realize that she does not have an ordinary sickness, but is responding to the inexorable call of the deity. No woman becomes a Maibi by choice; she is chosen by the deity. As if in a dream, Tampha abandons her family to join the Maibi sect of priestesses.We are grateful to Film Heritage Foundation for providing the restored copies. Check out more of their work at Filmheritagefoundation.com GHATASHRADDHA by Girish Kasaravalli (Kannada/108/1977) Set in South India, the film describes the ostracism of a young woman who transgresses the rigid sexual code of the orthodox Brahmin society. The style is deceptively simple in telling the story of Yamuna, a child widow living with her father in the Vedic school which he runs. Seduced and made pregnant by the teacher of the local government school, Yamuna attempts suicide but is rescued by a young student of her father’s called Nani with whom she has a deep bond of affection. She agrees to an abortion – equally suicidal, for, though she survives, she is left in pain and is made an outcast by her own father, who performs a funeral rite for his still-living daughter. In this rite, an earthen pot, symbol of fertility, is broken. MĀYĀ MIRIGA by Nirad Mohapatra (Odia/110/1984) Raj Kishore Babu, an elderly headmaster of a school, lives modestly in a joint family that comprises his mother, his wife and his five children. Tutu’s city-bred wife will not follow in Prabha’s footsteps as a traditional daughter-in-law, the role that is expected of her. On the flimsy pretext of her mother’s sickness, she declines to stay with her in-laws while her husband is away. Prabha resents the preferential treatment given to the new couple. The disintegration of the family’s unity is by now apparent. An uneasy silence follows. In the quietness of the night, and in the privacy of their rooms, the family members recollect the warmth of their togetherness, yet are painfully aware of the impossibility of staying together. We are grateful to Film Heritage Foundation for providing the restored copies. Check out more of their work at Filmheritagefoundation.com Girish Kasaravalli Retrospective TAI SAHEBA (Kannada/118/1997) The story of a Brahmin family during the pre- and post-independence periods of India. Winner of the Indian National Film Award for best film of the year. HASINA (Kannada/117/2004) Hasina and Yakub have three daughters, one of whom is disabled. When from a hospital scan Yakub sees that Haseena’s pregnancy is a fourth girl he becomes abusive, eventually leaving her to fend for herself. Seeking justice, she sits on the steps of the mosque and refuses to move. GULABI TALKIES (Kannada/119/2008) Gulabi is a discarded fifty something woman, an outcast living on an island with the fisher folk. Her obsession for films is fulled with the introduction of a television in her life and her village hut becomes a hub. KURMAVATARA (Kannada/114/2011) In Girish Kasaravalli’s gently philosophical character piece, a humble, low-level civil servant cast as the lead in a popular TV serial chronicling the life of Gandhi finds uncanny echoes between his own life and that of the legendary leader — and sets out to correct their mutual failings. ILLARALAARE ALLIGE HOGALAARE (Kannada/80/2020) The title means "neither can I be here nor can I journey beyond" by 16th century poet Purandara Dasa, on the eternal conflict - neither here nor there. The film explores the conflict between wants and aspirations located in the cycle of life. Short Films DHARAM SANKAT by Humaam Arifeen (Hindi/21/2024) A darkly comedic tale ensues, unraveling the tangled threads of religious polarization, propaganda, and the pernicious influence of social media on impressionable minds. Rahul, finds himself ensnared by the allure of radical ideology. Fuelled by the fervor of his beliefs, Rahul, alongside his trusted friends Amit and Anuj, concocts a daring plan to craft an explosive device. However, their journey is fraught with comedic misadventures and unexpected hurdles. As Rahul's obsession with recognition reaches its zenith, fate takes a whimsical turn. JOOYEIN by Vindhya Gupta (Hindi/13/2024) Roshni's world begins to crumble when she discovers an itchy, embarrassing secret: lice. Fearing social exile, she forms a desperate and deceptive pact with Chakor, the ostracized girl in her class. As they navigate this shared struggle, a fragile trust blossoms between them, offering both a sense of solace and companionship. However, the lie that binds them starts to fester, threatening not only their newfound friendship but also Roshni's carefully curated image. As the secret grows harder to contain, Roshni must confront the consequences of her choices and the true meaning of friendship. BUNNYHOOD by Mansi Maheshwari (English, Hindi, Gujrati/9/2024) "Mum would never lie to me, would she?" Innocent Bobby discovers the answer to this question when she is surprised by a last minute trip to the hospital. BOBBY BEAUTY PARLOUR by Shashwat Dwivedi (Hindi, Punjabi/19/2024) On the hottest day of the year, Eelu drops by to see her best friend Manu, who works at the local beauty salon. When the owner of the salon suffers a heatstroke, the girls find themselves alone and unable to get out due to the severe heat. Trapped together in the claustrophobic confines of the salon, the girls get comfortable in their mumblecore haven. They chat, laugh, and dance, but their carefree revelry is punctured by the sudden arrival of a man, asking for Eelu. IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW by Bonita Rajpurohit (English, Hindi, Gujrati/18/2024) We follow Kusum, a trans girl on a series of dates with boys; As they find themselves trying to straddle the line of respecting her boundaries and expressing themselves and failing at it most of the time. GAGAN GAMAN by Suruchi Sharma (Hindi, Rajasthani/30/2024) Set against a surreal landscape, this is a tale of a woman's quest – in a world infused with myth and mystery, where each move opens up a new world. She meets people, lovers, riddles, world-warping questions and even a goddess as she wades through this haze of wonder and realisation and begins to see everything anew. About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More Be a Member

Support Us We are super excited to bring you the 5th Indian Documentary Film Festival Bhubaneswar. It will be organized from 26th to 29th September at the Odissi Research Centre, XIMB Square.The festival line up will focus on contemporary documentary films from across the country. It will have a retrospective on the documentary films of Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar. Filmmakers from different parts of India will grace the festival with their presence and interact with the people of the city. The festival poster is based on a poem called 'The Second Olive Tree' by Mahmoud Darwish. About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More MEET THE DIRECTORS AT IDFFB 2019 Goutam Ghose (also credited as Gautam Ghosh) (born 24 July 1950) is an acclaimed Indian film director, music director and cinematographer, who works primarily in Bengali cinema.He started making documentaries in 1973. Took active part in group theatre movement in Calcutta. Also dedicated some time as a Photo Journalist. Made his first documentary– New Earth in 1973 followed by Hungry Autumn. Since then, he has made a number of feature films and documentaries. Stanzin Dorjai Gya, a filmmaker living in Ladakh, India, is dedicated to sharing stories that open the viewers’ eyes and minds to the unique challenges of life in the High Himalayas. His subjects are as compelling as the landscape. His message is as profound as the surrounding mountaintops.My goal as a filmmaker and in life is to contribute to the positive development of Ladakh. And to help others create their own cinematic visions here in this beautiful and unique part of the the world that I am proud to call my home. — Stanzin Dorjai GyaThe founder of the Himalayan Film House in Leh, Stanzin has directed and produced notable feature films and documentaries on regional, national and international issues. FILM LINE UP AT IDFFB 2019 A Journey of Passion By Bijaya Kumar Nishanka 2018, 52min, Odia A Journey of Passion tells the tale of Tanmayjt who is in search of his grandfather’s works to build a personal archive, a journey that reveals to him the key role his grandfather played in the making of the Odia film industry . Daughter of Nepa Directed by Surbhi Dewan 2018, 35min, Nepali/English Daughter of Nepal is a poetic look at a rarely seen side of a revolutionary movement. It is the story of Manushi Yami Bhattarai, the unassuming daughter of two formidable political leaders of Nepal. As her parents prepared to go underground for the Peoples’ War in the mid-1990, nine-year-old Manushi was sent across the border to live under an assumed identity. Rediscovering Jajam Directed by Avinash Maurya and Kriti Gupta 2018, 26 mint, Hindi As public spaces are going missing in the face of rapid urbanization, Indian craftsmen share their stories of Jajam, a large traditional textile that was a gathering space for people in the villages of Rajasthan. Rediscovering Jajam is about how Jajam’s presence has featured in peoples’ lives, their experiences of it, beliefs and so on. Neeli Raag (True Blue) Directed by Swati Dandekar 2018, 85min, Hindi Neeli Raag begins with the history of indigo, which is not simply the rise and fall of a natural dye. The tradition of making indigo has survived 4,000 years, witnessing Indo-European trade disputes, British colonialism, Mahatma Gandhi-led protests against the crop, and ultimately a modern India where the colour is in vogue but with not enough craftsmen to meet the demand. Dandekar celebrates this vast history by highlighting the onerous process and hard work that goes behind the making of this dye. Every Time You Tell a Story Directed by Ruchika Negi and Amit Mahanti 52 mints, English and Nagamese This film offers an interpretation of history, a way of understanding the shifts that Tsungkotepsu shawl painting tradition has experienced when confronted with the certitudes of history-colonialism, new religion and assimilation in the Indian state. Through histories that have written themselves onto its fabric, how does the story continue to resonate today? Legacy of a Painter Directed by Nutan Manmohan 2018, 25 min, English Jangarh Singh Shyam was a genius artist, belonging to the Gond pradhan tribe of storytellers from central India. Since his first appearance at the Pompidou Museum in Paris – his work has created a big buzz across art galleries all over the world. Jangarh experiments with different mediums – from simple ink drawings to ambitious large scale murals on iconic buildings. This documentary looks at the artist’s journey. Tides of Life Directed by Suhel Banerjee 2018, 52min, Bengali/English Tides of Life revolves around a film crew travelling to the Sundarbans in West Bengal in India looking for the elusive Bengal tiger. It looks at how over the course of their journey, through a landscape of labyrinth like tidal mangroves, they are confronted by various questions instead of the answers they were looking for. River Story Directed by Yapangnaro Lingkumer 2018, 6 min, Nagamese Set in Nagaland, the film tries to find resonance in other geo-political locations of the world where the people living in the margins challenged by the seemingly inevitable phenomenon of modernization. The film follows Zarenthung, a first generation fisherman as he navigates his new profession as the reality around him is changing. Moti Bagh Directed by Nirmal Chander Dandriyal 2019, 60min, Hindi Moti Bagh sees an 83 year old farmer-poet, in a remote Himalayan village in India, struggling to keep his farm alive in the face of rampant migration Telltales of the Hills Directed by Georgy Abraham 2018, 18 minutes, Malayalam The History of Munnar shifted drastically from 19th century, with the rise of tea plantation culture. When the Whites cleared the forest, the wild animals and the Muduvans, the early inhabitants of Munnar region, were displaced. They hired men to enslave Tamilians from distant lands to work for them, and they built an empire which made them the best exporters of the Tea. Through the telltales of those who count Munnar as their home, viewers may decide whether the exploitation which they began centuries ago are still continuing on various levels. Baba Farid : Poet of the Soul Directed by Meera Dewan 2018, 63min, Punjabi Baba Farid: Poet of The Soul is a cinematic journey on a 12th century Poet who is revered by both Sikhs and Sufis. The film unravels the geographical, historical and poetic milestones in the journey of Fariduddin Maud, the country poet addressed as Baba Farid by his followers. We Have Not Come Here to Die Directed by Deepa Dhanraj 2018, 100 minutes, Telegu/English On January 17th 2016 a Dalit, PhD research scholar, and activist Rohith Vemula unable to bear the persecution from a partisan University administration and dominant caste Hindu supremacists hung himself in one of the most prestigious universities in India. His suicide note, which argued against the “value of a man being reduced to his immediate identity” galvanized student politics in India. Over the last year thousands of students all over the country have broken the silence around their experiences of caste discrimination in Universities and have started a powerful anti-caste movement. The film attempts to track this historic movement that is changing the conversation on caste in India. Achoubi In Love Directed by Meena Devi Longjam 2018, 30min, Manipuri The documentary tells the story of an impeccable effort on the part of Achoubi, a widow who reinvents a solution to protect indigenous Manipuri ponies, which is rooted in self-evolved principles of inclusivity and sensitive existence. Coral Woman Directed by Priya Thuvassey 2019, 52min, English/Tamil Coral Woman revolves around Uma, a 53 year old scuba diver. The film is about how the presence and the reality of the coral reefs of the Gulf of Mannar inspired a homemaker in her 50s, to learn to swim, dive and paint, in order to garner attention to an alarming environmental issue. LONGRA Directed by Sankhajit Biswas 2019, 27min, English LONGRA ‘Jhum’ or Shifting cultivation is an age-old farming practice prevalent amongst the indigenous tribes of Northeast India. Jhum being an integral part of the Naga way of life, any effort to discourage Jhum has been more or less futile. In 2010, Longra a small yet progressive village of the Chang tribe, decided to walk a different path. Longra is a visual exercise in the tracing of that path. HAVE YOU SEEN ARANA? Directed by Sunanda Bhatt 73 minutes, Malayalam The film explores the effects of a rapidly changing landscape on people’s lives and livelihoods. A woman’s concern over the disappearance of medicinal plants from the forest, a farmer’s commitment to growing traditional varieties of rice organically and a cash crop cultivator’s struggle to survive amidst farmers’ suicides, offer fresh insights into shifting relations between people, knowledge systems and environment. As hills flatten, forests disappear and traditional knowledge systems are forgotten, the film reminds us that this diversity could disappear forever, to be replaced by monotonous and Unsustainable alternatives. Meeting a Milestone Directed by Gautam Ghosh 1989, 90 minutes, Hindi The film brilliantly captures the magic of Ustad Bismillah Khan's music: the shenai, Bismillah Khan the man himself and his hometown, Benaras. We learn how Bismillah Khan gradually evolved from a 14-year-old boy accompanying his Mamu (uncle) and guru Ali Baksh Khan at a concert in Allahabad to become, in course of time, one of India's all time greats. The movie, replete with gripping incidents and anecdotes and stunning visuals of Beneras, is a rare glimpse of a legend that Ustad Bismillah Khan is. Janani's Juliet Directed by Pankaj Rishi Kumar 2019, 53min, Tamil/English Deeply disturbed by a spate of honour killings in India this documentary sees Indianostrum, a Pondicherry based theatre group, setting out to introspect the implications of caste, class and gender through an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. What emerges in the process is a critical reflection and commentary on the contemporary world, where love struggles to survive. Kaifiyat Directed by Elroy Pinto 2018, 46min, Urdu/Hindi Kaifiyat looks at the syncretic nature of the tabla, a musical instrument, and the playing style of Ustad Nizamuddin Khan (d.2000). The tabla, much like Nizamuddin’s style, developed in the courts of Indo-Islamic rulers of India. The film intersperses fiction and non-fiction to set-up a narrative and leans on a narrator to further strengthen it. In search of Aseemun Directed by Taran Khan 2011, 45 minutes, Hindi/ Urdu The filmmaker and her grandfather are on a journey across Awadh, looking for traces of the world that shaped the music of Aseemun, a gifted but obscure folk singer who was part of both their lives. Using old photographs, home video and extensive music, the film travels, literally and otherwise, into a way of life that assimilated the best of Hindu and Muslim cultures. Lines of Control Directed by Raja Shabir Khan 2018, 52min, Hindi/Kashmiri Keran is a village situated on the Indian side of the LoC. With the onset of militancy in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the early nineties, around 90 percent of people are known to have fled from Keran and crossed over to the other side. The erstwhile closely knit families now lay split across the line of control. The film revolves around Ashraf Joo and his struggle, to procure the necessary travel documents, to be able to visit his family on the other side. Growing up in Ladakh Directors: Stanzin Dorjai Gya and Christiane Mordelet 2017, 26 minute, India/France Padma, 12, divides her time between school and home, where she helps her family with daily work. Her life is very different from that of a small European: she lives in Ladakh, a region of northern India, in the remote village of Gya, perched at 4,300 meters above sea level. To go to school, Padma has to travel 72 kilometers by bus! She and her sister Kaskeet attend a boarding school, where they sometimes stay more than two months before returning to their families. Maida Directed by Lubna Yusuf 2019, 20min, Hindi Maida filmed across a span of eight years, traces the dreams and aspirations of a young school girl living in a regressive village in Bihar. Through the medium of stories and Bhojpuri folk songs, the documentary punctures the myth of women empowerment as we know it. Agar woh Desh Banati Directed by Maheen Mirza 2018, 60min, Hindi Agar Woh Desh Banati voices out the concerns of rural Adivasi women, from the villages of Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, on issues of land-grab, displacement and increasing ecological degradation. All of which has been happening under the pretence of development of the country. The pertinent question their voices and position poses for our times is, “What does development really mean? Songs of our soil Directed by Aditi Maddali 52 minutes, Telugu with English subtitles Uyyala songs are an agricultural tradition rooted in the political expression of women in Telangana. Through these oral traditions, Songs of our Soil traces the histories of their resistance and memories of disillusionment. By looking at women’s participation in major political movements, from the Telangana People’s Movement to the demands of justice from the contemporary Mallana Sagar Irrigation project, this film attempts to complicate the relationship between memory, history and cultural production. This project is made possible with a grant from India Foundation for the Arts under the Arts Research programme, with support from Titan Company Ltd. Exhibit A Directed by Madhuvanti Maddar 2019, 18 minutes, Hindi/ English Exhibit – A is a documentary film about a polyamorous couple and their cat, living in a metropolis in India. In a heteronormative society that prefers to operate in binaries, the film hopes to represent an alternative-counter narrative alongside predefined ideas of what a ‘relationship’ should be. Chai Darbari Directed by Prateek Shekhar 2018, 29min, Hindi A pursuit of truth invariably comes into conversations echoing print, electronic and social media dialogues, conversations evocative of the lived contexts of a city. Inspired by real-life conversations, the film presents a range of perceptions and recollections in a conversational format. Memoirs of Saira & Salim Directed by Eshwarya Grover 2018, 15 minutes, Hindi and Gujarati Memoirs of Saira & Salim follow Saira and Salim, who are revisiting the burned down house their family was forced to abandon during the 2002 communal riots in India, which inevitably becomes a walk down memory lane for the two. Dariya Hase Dongravar Directed by Robin Joy 2018, 20min, Marathi The film looks at the transitioning lives of fishermen of Valmiki Nagar Koliwada, Harihareshwar, affected by the arrival of the monsoon rain. It tries to look at how the life of the Koli community is intricately woven into the nature that envelopes them. Nodir Kul Nai Directed by Parasher Baruah 2019, 18 minutes, Bengali & Assamese Nodir Kul Nai features the inhabitants of the Chars- sandbanks of the river Brahmaputra. It explores their relationship with the river, their struggle for survival and the larger issues of migration and questions of identity that are constantly looming over them.

Support Us About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More MEET THE DIRECTORS AT IFFB 2024 Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian film director, writer and producer working mainly in Tamil cinema. Dr. Bobby Sarma Baruah is a national and international award-winning Indian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter whose narrative content on socio-cultural issues in Assam and the Northeast India has been highly appreciated. A recipient of the prestigious President’s National Film Award, Aman has directed over two hundred commercials with the most reputed agencies and clients from around the world. Seldom foraying into long format for meaningful work, OPIUM is his passion project. An anthology feature that promises powerful, moving performances with a diverse cast and crew. Haobam is a prominent voice, emitting out of the restive north eastern state of Manipur, India dabbling in both non-fiction and fiction storytelling. His film AFSPA 1958 was awarded the Golden Lotus for the Best Documentary at the 56th National Film Awards 2008. "A CRY IN THE DARK" is another film screened at the 31st Toronto Film Festival 2006 and MOMA New York 2007. After nearly a decade of documentary filmmaking, he made his critically acclaimed feature film Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake) which featured at 67th Berlin Film Festival 2017 and 21st Busan International Film Festival 2016. Born in 1962 in Orissa, Subas Das came to filmmaking by accident. A student of Geology, his interest in still photography led to the discovery of his lifelong vocation. After making a few dozens of documentary, short and animation films, in 2003 he directed and produced his first feature film “Aw Aakare Aa” (A, B, She). The film got the National Award for best feature film in Odia language and Seven State Awards. The film has been screened widely in India. "Ekaa Ekaa" (Meandering Reflections) is his second feature film. Don Palathara (born 1986, India) is from Kerala, and later relocated to Sydney, Australia. He earned a diploma from the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television and, after directing numerous short films, made his feature film debut with Shavam in 2015, subsequently acquired by Netflix. His film Joyful Mystery received a nomination for a Golden St. George at the 2021 Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF). Many of his works have been included in major international film festivals, including IFFR Rotterdam, Moscow IFF, and IFF Kerala. Family marks his sixth feature fiction film. Rajni is a script writer, director, actor and producer. She hails from Assam, India and strongly believes that culture and creativity can engender social change in communities. She wrote and produced her film "Anuraag" in 2004 which went on to receive several Assam State Film Awards. She debuted as a director in 2014 with "Raag, the Rhythm of Love". A filmmaker from Belgaum, Harshad Nalawade’s debut feature film, Follower, is set in the same town. Based on his own experiences of growing up in a linguistically marginalized community of the border city, the film was dreamed up in 2018 after he had directed and written various short films. For Follower, Harshad raised funds through crowdfunding and eventually got selected in the NFDC Film Bazaar Work-in-Progress Lab, 2021 FILM LINE UP AT IFFB 2024 FOLLOWER by Harshad Nalawade In a small town riddled with territorial dispute, a radicalized journalist, believes in exposing the atrocities committed against his community. But his beliefs are based on half-truths propagated by an extremist leader. DHUIN by Achal Mishra Pankaj is a small-town theatre actor with dreams of making it big in Mumbai. But faced with obligations to his family, which is under a deep financial strain post the lockdown, he is forced to weigh his dreams and make a choice. MITHYA by Sumanth Bhat Mithya is a journey along-side Mithun, a 11 year old, who is coming to terms with the loss of his parents. We walk in step with his tottering feet, as they search for solid ground. Can a new house be home, can friendships be forged again or is it all just a search for something long gone ! WATER STATION by Abhishek Majumdar How do we preserve dignity amid adversity? The Water Station, a film adaptation by Abhishek Majumdar of Ōta Shōgo’s 1981 play, explores migration driven by desperation. Through movement, sound, and silence, it reflects on what we leave behind, who we journey with, and the encounters along the way. Inspired by Shōgo’s childhood as a refugee, this wordless piece emphasizes slowness and quietude to convey the profound human experience of displacement. KAATHAL by Jeo Baby The film is set in a village Teekoy in the hilly parts of Kottayam. Matthew, a retired worker of a Cooperative Bank lives with his wife Omana and father Devassy. The film explores their conjugal life after Omana files for a separation from Matthew. GORAI PHAKHRI by Rajni Basumatary Set in the foothills of Bodoland in Northeast India, the story explores the lives of women in a patriarchal society recovering from decades of armed conflict. Their experiences of repression and fighting back are interwoven. JIGARTHANDA DOUBLE X by Karthik Subbaraj A notorious gangster is incited to transform into a film hero and opts for a filmmaker. Before long, their project descends into an emotionally tumultuous adventure, a scenario they had never anticipated. FAMILY by Don Palathara Sony, a catholic man from rural central Kerala, India, comes across as a good-hearted leader. However, lurking behind his public persona is an entirely different character. Even as his family members become aware of his deeds, they are silenced by the system, which mindfully and actively protects men, their delinquencies, and secrets. The family thus becomes a sturdy closet, where skeletons of the past are kept unseen by the outside world. The film tries to understand how the family system operates like mafia when it comes to the crimes from within. IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD by Dhruv Solanki It's all in your head focuses on one day in the life of six siblings, rural but americanised, living in Vadodara. It is an attempt to take an honest look at the inner working of the mind and lives of the Indian middle - class youth in the internet age. NIMTOH by Saurav Rai Ten years old Tashi and his old grandma are the caretakers of a cardamom orchard belonging to a landlord. The little boy shares a close relationship with the landlady. However, he is scared of her husband because of his coldness towards him. The news of the landlord’s son’s marriage makes Tashi excited. He is entrusted with the task of distributing the wedding invitations around the village. The landlord is at loggerheads with his son over his sudden decision to get married. On the wedding day Tashi gets entangled in an incident to which he may or he may not be involved. OPIUM by Aman Sachdeva An anthology feature of five stories stringed together with the theme of religion. SIKAISAL by Dr. Bobby Sarma Baruah The path to knowledge shown by Maheshwar Patar, becomes a beacon in Ulukunchi, his determination to educate his people makes way to his dream and purpose in life. THURAMUKHAM by Rajeev Rav Two brothers are on opposing sides in the epic struggle of day labourers against dock bosses in 1940s Southern India KAYO KAYO COLOUR? by Shahrukhkhan Chavada Set in Kalupur, a neighbourhood in the old city of Ahmedabad, India, this slice-of-life film follows the daily life of Razzak and his family through an observational lens. Razzak, an unemployed father of two, endeavours to own an auto-rickshaw for business while his daughter, Ruba, is introduced to an interesting drink worth 100 rupees that she can't afford. Through a series of everyday events, the film uncovers the family’s struggles, interpersonal conflicts, joys, and ways of life as they navigate through the intertwined yet unassuming layers of social and political influence. JOSEPH'S SON by Haobam Paban Kumar Joseph, a musician reluctantly sets out on the long journey to look for his missing son. As he travels, his fear grows deeper : a fear born of constant conflict - past and present - to which a personal fear is added. BAHADUR by Diwa Shah Having a singular and opportune sociopolitical vision, 'Bahadur- The Brave' dwells into an exciting local story about the Nepalese migrant porters with universal scope, centred around an honest and touching friendship. EKA EKA by Subas Das A film about being alone in the world and a search for what it means to be a good human being, in the meandering flow of life in its ordinary everydayness. This is the story of Om, a filmmaker who strives to bridge the gulf between his art and life by finding a common basis for both in responsibility and concern for the other. In the process he must confront his own inner exile and contradictions, memory and longing, and the nature of human relationships. Like the waves of the sea, the ebb and flow of life continues and through it the film essays a journey and a quest. JORAM by Devashish Makhija A desperate man and his infant daughter fleeing a system that want them crushed at any cost, a cop giving unwilling chase, and a bereaved mother seeking ruthless vengeance, collide in a tense, breathless survival thriller across a brutal landscape of devastated forests, blind greed, rebellion, and the bloody aftershocks of ‘development’. USKI ROTI by Mani Kaul A desolate bus-stop on a highway… figure of a village woman - Balo, waiting to deliver a meal to Sucha Singh, the husband, a bus driver. He expects the traditional duties of an average Indian rural wife. Balo in turn accepts her husband's independent lifestyle. Balo hurries to the bus-stop. She is late delivering the meal, trying to save her younger sister, Jinda, from being seduced by the village rake ASHAD KA EK DIN by Mani Kaul A literary film based on a play with in three acts, Ashad Ka Ek Din portrays the love of Mallika and Kalidasa, the renowned Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Vilom, a friend to both and interested in Mallika, is a passive onlooker for the first two acts. Kalidasa leaves his verdant mountain valley home for the splendour of far-off Ujjain where he wins fame. The action of the film/play is rooted in the village to which Kalidasa returns years later and finds Mallika married to Vilom and the mother of his child. Mallika sacrificed her love so that the poet could pursue his muse. DUVIDHA at IFFB 2024 by Mani Kaul A girl Lachhi, is married to a merchant's son, Kishanlal. He brings her to his village but leaves her immediately to go away on business. Lachhi is left to her own devices. Meanwhile, a ghost falls in love with her and assumes the form of her husband and begins to live with her. Soon she finds herself pregnant with a child. The husband returns... a dilemma arises… The film moves on two planes -inside-outside, dark-light, a structure that exists in the folk tales and myths the world ove THE CLOUD DOOR by Mani Kaul Cloud Door has been adapted from three sources: From Bhasa's Sanskrit play "Aimaraka" (5th-7th centuries) Malik Mohammed Jayasi's Sufi epic love poem "Padmavat" (13th century) and from an erotic Indian tale called "Suksaptiti" (writer unknown). NAZAR by Mani Kaul After his wife's death, the husband recalls their first meeting and marriage. She was much younger than him. She used to pawn some things to an antique shop to make a little money. The husband is increasingly intrigued by her mind-set. As things develop, he finds out that she was an orphan living with two aunts. The film explores their complex life in a manner unusual for Indian cinema. DHRUPAD by Mani Kaul The film explores Dhrupad music through the practice of Dagar Family - Fariduddin & Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. SIDDHESHWARI by Mani Kau The film explores the life of Siddheshwari Devi, a classical singer from Varanasi. MATI MANAS by Mani Kaul The film examines the art of Pottery in India.it documents the craft tradition of rural Indian Potters. JHILLI by Ishaan Ghose When Bokul realizes that most of his friends are leaving him behind in the rubble of discards, he decides to change his life. Support Us About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More

Support Us About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More Download Festival Book After a pandemic induced hiatus, the Film Society of Bhubaneswar announces the 3rd Indian Documentary Film Festival of Bhubaneswar (IDFFB). The festival runs from 14th to 16th October, at the Odissi Research Centre (ORC) auditorium. The focus of the festival is to showcase the contemporary documentary form. The films at the festival comes from diverse regions of the country - exploring issues of migration, gender, uneven development, issues of geo-politics, environmental degradation, political & ethical questions. The film society draws its energy from the volunteers who make the festival possible. Come and Volunteer, we also have internship opportunities with us. MEET THE DIRECTORS AT IDFFB 2022 UNESCO-Gandhi Medal 2018 Award winner and National Film Award 2018 winner filmmaker Praveen Morchhale was born in Central India. After a few years of making short films and theatre working as a director, Praveen Morchhale achieved recognition with his feature film "Widow of Silence" (2018) and "Walking with the Wind" (2017). Kasturi Basu is an independent documentary filmmaker, activist, writer and editor based in Kolkata. By training, she is a physicist, an alumnus of Jadavpur University, University of Cambridge, and Rutgers - the State University of New Jersey. Dwaipayan Banerjee is an independent documentary filmmaker, activist, writer and editor based in Kolkata. An alumnus of Presidency College and Calcutta University, he has formerly been a labour activist and labour history researcher. Both of them are co-founder-members of the People’s Film Collective, co-organiser of the Kolkata People’s Film Festival, and co-editor of 'Pratirodher Cinema', a Bengali journal on documentary cinema and counterculture. Ankhajit Biswas has studied Editing in Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute and has participated in Berlin Talent Campus 2010. Film edited by him are screened in major festivals including Berlin, Toronto, BFI London, IDFA, Busan, Hong Kong, DokLeipzig, Yamagata, Museum of Modern Arts (MOMA), IFFI Goa and has won several awards globally. He turned to direction with 'Dui Dhuranir Golpo' (In-between Days, 2012), a documentary on the transgender community of Kolkata and his second documentary was 'The Wind in the Maruwa Field'. 'Hridoy Basat' is his first feature length documentary. Debalina Majumder is an independent filmmaker and cinematographer. She has written, shot, and directed nationally and internationally acclaimed documentary films, short films and has been part of travelogues, music videos, telefilms and mixed genre as cameraperson, director.. Debalina is one of the foremost documentary filmmakers working on gender and queer sexuality issues in India. Her films have been screened in community spaces, national and international film festivals and classrooms all over the world, and made part of curriculum in several universities and institutes. Actor, spoken word artist, hair stylist, writer, director, producer- Sapna embodies it all as a changemaker. After being a successful entrepreneur, writing multiple columns, authoring a self-help book, acting in award-winning plays, Sapna has been using filmmaking to give her activism a new voice. Lipika is a filmmaker based in Odisha, India. She is an alumnus of the Film & Television Institute of India, where she specialised in film sound recording and designing. Her works have been shown in various international and national film festivals. In the period of 2012-2017, she has received four National Film Awards in various capacities presented by the President of India. Her films are characterised by a strong personal narrative style. Surbhi Dewan is an independent writer, director & producer. Her films connect personal portraits to larger socio-political landscapes. Among her notable works, Daughter of Nepal (short doc, 2018) was screened at IDFFB 2019. Surbhi also produces social and commercial content with her New Delhi-based production company, Painted Tree Pictures. FILM LINE UP AT IDFFB 2022 City Girls by Priya Thuvassery City Girls' is an intimate portrayal of two young girls from small towns of India now living in Delhi. The film attempts to deconstruct the image of ‘the city’ and what it means for a young woman brought up in an 'elsewhere' she's longed to escape from all her life. Armature By Joshua Quadros Armature is a documentary about a Jiu-Jitsu athlete and his journey to making his amateur MMA debut. Backstage By Lipika Singh Darai Backstage portrays the lives and times of the puppeteers of Odisha, India. The folk art form, which is as vulnerable as its performers who mostly belong to the lower strata of the society in terms of caste and economy, is experiencing a silent death as only the last generation of practitioners are remaining. The filmmaker builds a personal narrative to trace the time a dying art form is going through. Bid for Bengal By Kasturi Basu and Dwaipayan Banerjee Using fresh and archival footage with personal family history, 'A Bid for Bengal' lays bare historical fault lines and visits the workings of frontal organizations in the Hindu-nationalist network responsible for the recent political shift in West Bengal, in between witnessing two consecutive elections trials, from 2019 to 2021. Xenophobia By Monjul Baruah Xenophobia is based on the much-reported story of 65-year-old Dulal Paul, who was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2017 and died while he was lodged in a detention camp. Small time Cinema By Priya naresh Small-Time Cinema is a documentary that follows two Youtube filmmaking groups, one living in Balochistan, Pakistan, and one, in Assam, India. The film follows these groups, as they make space for their complex history and cultures, beyond a blanket ‘Indian or Pakistani identity’ only. In a Dissent Manner By Ehraz A Zaman The campus of Aligarh Muslim University became a battleground on 15th December, 2019 when police and RAF forces entered the campus on the pretext of dispersing protestors, and inflicted, what can only be described as one of the worst cases of police brutality on the students. 'In A Dissent Manner' explores the events of that one single night and its horrific after-effects on many students. Hathi Bondhu By Kripal Kalita Hati Bondhu (Friends of Elephants) Assam, a voluntary organisation working for elephant welfare in the districts of Nowgaon & Golaghat districts of Assam. Wild elephant habitats are under stress due to developmental pressures. Hati Bondhu's intervention has resulted in reduced human-pachyderm conflicts. Colours of Life By Praveen Morchale The Director revisits the Himalayan mountain villages after 5 years of shooting a national award-winning feature film "Walking With The Wind" in which local villagers appeared. He meets and observes villagers' life, philosophy, and ideas and invites them for a cinema experience, which some of them had for the first time. Testimony of Ana By Sachin Dheeraj Munigonda An Adivasi elder, accused of witchcraft by her neighbours in rural India, uses faith and perseverance to survive several monstrous attacks. Living in an area beset by widespread logging, her refusal to be driven off the land sets up a conflict deeply rooted in patriarchy and capitalism waged on women’s bodies- the witch hunt. Not just Roads By Nitin Bathla Not just Roads captures the story of a highway outside Delhi, from the perspective of human and non-human actors. It depicts a massive urban transformation underway in India. New Classroom By Debankon Singh In the capital city of India, a young boy navigates virtual schooling at home, while the pandemic ravages the country. The imagination of the outside world slowly builds within these four walls; sometimes when a relative calls to inform the death of a loved one, sometimes watching a bird soaring in the sky. Wittgenstein Plays Chess With Duchamp: Or How Not To Do Philosophy By Amit Dutta Wittgenstein Plays Chess With Duchamp: Or How Not To Do Philosophy attempts to push the boundaries of cinema by juxtaposing it with ideas from philosophy, visual art, chess, mathematics, geometry, linguistics and psychology. Dukhu Majhi By Somnath Mondal This documentary is about an old man named 'Dukhu Majhi', who lives with his family in a remote village at the foothill of the Ayodhya , about 350 km from Kolkata (India). Gay India Matrimony By Debalina Majumdar This film revolves around three characters who are out exploring their same-gender marriage prospects with one of them documenting their travails. Shot over five years, this documentary captures the watershed moment of reading down Section 37 Salt & Sugar By JJ Abraham Salt and Sugar begins with a memory. A comment from her mother about her dark skin reveals to Hema the impossible gap between who she is and who society demands her to be. This intimate story speaks of the complexities of Indian culture, through classical Indian dance, contemporary movement and spoken word. Meiram - the fireline By James Khangenbam As season change, Langol, once a barren hilltop in the fringe of Imphal city, brings magic of the forest. The dream of Loiya, a young man, to cover the hill with lush green has been taken up mutually by a young group of volunteers. The film gently touches the embracing colours of wild and slices of biodiversity. A Night of Knowing Nothing By Payal Kapadia A university student in India, writes letters to her estranged lover, while he is away. Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the drastic changes taking place around her. Merging reality with fiction, dreams, memories, fantasies and anxieties, an amorphous narrative unfolds. Mizo Soundscapes By Joshy Joseph Mizo Soundscapes is a visual - visceral - aural journey through a phase in Mizo History. Bela By Prantik Basu In Bela (an indigenous village in eastern India), the men practice a traditional masked folk dance known as the Chhau, while the women frequent the nearby forest to gather dry leaves and firewood. In the local language, Bela means time. Shot over two years and edited as two consecutive days, the film is an intimate observation of the rhythms and rituals of art and labour, the feminine and the masculine, and the ambiguous thresholds between them. It Was In Spring by Kanika Gupta A devastating change is becoming a trend, that of compromising all trees, plantation and garden spaces in exchange for multi-storey houses, which don't seem to need a garden anymore. This film is the story of one such house, which is destined to lose all its green cover and make way for cement and concrete. Ghar Ka Pata By Madhulika Jalali Ghar Ka Pata attempts to weave a narrative of the place and of time gone by, juxtaposing a string of short conversations, filmed impromptu through the streets of 'Rainawari', (a quaint suburb of Srinagar where my home used to be), with a series of anecdotal experiences with my family when my father took us back to Kashmir 24 years after we had to leave the valley of mist. Trans Kashmir By Surbhi Dewan* and S.A. Hanan Trans Kashmir is a film about the extreme hardships, resilience and beauty of Kashmir’s transgender community and their growing movement for basic human rights. Sindhusthan By Sapna Bhavnani Sindhusthan includes many stories of the largest migration a culture in history – the Sindhi migration, some from India and some from Sindh (now in Pakistan) along with the director’s, illustrating her journey on her skin.. Karbala Memoirs By Sourav Sarangi Karbala Memoirs looks at Hussain’s martyrdom from the perspective of an Indian who accidentally happens to be in the ancient land that has been ravaged by war, extremism and autocracy. The narrative merges his childhood memories with immensely disturbing contemporary realities. His eyes follow the pilgrims’ progress, listening to their ballads or personal interpretations of history. Gosain: The Colours of Spring By Bishal Swargiary The significance and traditions surrounding the Doul Purnima (Holi Festival), as well as the mythology of the discovery Narasimha Gosain by the Banka Kachari while excavating a pond serve as the foundation for this ethnographic film.. Siege in the Air By Muntaha Amin This film lays focus on the recent communication blockade of 2019, post the Article 370 abrogation and what its impact was on mental health, mobility, education and desires of young women living there. All that breathes By Shaunak Sen All That Breathes, follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites, a staple in the skies of New Delhi, India. In one of the world’s most populated cities, where cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people, the “Kite Brothers” care for thousands of these mesmerizing creatures that drop daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between this family and the neglected kites forms a poetic chronicle of the city’s collapsing ecology and deepening social fault lines. Ek Tha Gaon By Srishti Lakhera In the Himalayan foothills, an 80 year old woman and a 19 year old girl are two of the seven remaining inhabitants of an abandoned village. The two women struggle with the choice to leave for an alienating city life or continue living in a lonely village. Buwati Nodir Dore By Neelansh Mittra Buwati Nodir Dore shows the rapid cultural transformation in the Sonowal Kachari tribe after the recent exposure to the internet. It captures how The traditional folk songs of the tribe are being remixed in a modern way in recording studios in the city leaving the members of the kachari tribe in the village, worried about the future of their cultural identity. Hridoy Basat By Sankhajit Biswas An intimate portrayal of Suvana Sudeb, a transgender person, who undergoes Gender Affirmative Surgery in order to negotiate the conflict of body and mind. This decision creates turmoil in her family, who fear societal backlash. As love remains elusive as always, Suvana realises that the surgery could not change her destiny, forcing her to reconcile with reality anew. Cham - Meditation in Action By Abhijit Das Two parallel narratives are drawn from the lives of Lamas (Monks) of the Tawang Monastery and of the villagers living in the Mon region. This film is a visual installation of images through which it tries to narrate their life, spiritual journey and understanding of life philosophy. The film has plays and dances (pantomime) performed in the Torgya festival transiting through the dance rehearsals and secret and sacred preparations.

Home Support Us About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More DIRECTORS AT IDFFB 2023 After completing his Bachelors in Sociology from Delhi University, Prateek Shekhar did his Masters in Media and Cultural Studies from Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai.Prateek’s debut short documentary film Chai Darbari (2019) won the Best Short Documentary award at the 12th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), India and was screened at numerous film festivals.In 2023, Prateek completed his debut feature length documentary Chardi Kala - An Ode to Resilience on the year-long farmers’ protest against the Indian government's unjust farm law; the film premiered and won Second Best Short Documentary Award at the 15th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), India. Ruchika Negi is a filmmaker and educator, with an interest in critical and creative pedagogical practices. Her films include Every Time You Tell A Story, Malegaon Times and ML 05 6055. She has been awarded artistic residencies at Khoj (New Delhi), Parco Arte Vivente Experimental Centre for Contemporary Art (Turin) and Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski (Warsaw), and is the recipient of Charles Wallace India Trust- Short Term Fellowship (2016). Ruchika was core faculty at the Creative Documentary Course (Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Delhi) from 2015-19, and occasionally teaches film at the Ashoka University, Sonipat. Currently, she is Associate Editor at The Third Eye, a feminist learning platform supported by Nirantar Trust. Lipika Singh Darai is a film director and editor based in Odisha, India. She studied filmmaking at the Film and Television Institute of India and specialized in sound recording and design. Her films have been screened across the globe including all major Indian Film Festivals. She has been a juror in various film festivals in India. She has received four National Film Awards for direction, sound recording, and narration of a film. Her latest feature documentary BACKSTAGE produced by the Films Division of India had its world premiere at the 39th Asolo Art Film Festival 2021, Italy in the feature competition. Her new film NIGHT AND FEAR (Raati o Bhaya) a Film Essay had its world premiere at the 52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023, in Ammodo Tiger Short Competition Debalina Majumder is an independent filmmaker, cameraperson, and photographer based in Kolkata, India. In a career spanning more than a quarter of a century, Debalina has worked in various entertainment and news industry segments. Nausheen is an independent filmmaker working on gender perspectives amid conflict and political unrest in contemporary times.Land of My Dreams is her first self-funded feature-length documentary film, which won Best Long Documentary at the 2023 International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. Amit Mahanti is a filmmaker, cinematographer and editor based in New Delhi. Farha is a filmmaker-editor from India. She is a two-time recipient of the President’s National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues for her directorial debut, I am Bonnie, and her first feature-length film, Holy Rights. The film was broadcast on KLIK Indonesia and SBS Australia. Both films have bagged prestigious awards and were widely screened. With a background in filmmaking and journalism, Miriam Chandy Menacherry's brand of socially conscious film intersects with popular culture. Her films premiered at IDFA Amsterdam and were nominated for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists' EDA Awards. For the past ten years, the young writer, director, and producer Varrun Sukhraj has worked in film and advertisement at various levels. His documentary Too Much Democracy on the unprecedented farmers’ movement in India in 2020 is garnering praise in India and worldwide. His filmography includes Kal Ki Umid and Naammatra. Himanshu S Khatua is the Director of SRFTI Kolkata. He began his career as the sound recordist and sound designer in the film Indradhanura Chhai. The debut feature film, Shunya Swaroopa, won the National Award for Best Oriya Film at the 44th National Film Festival. FILMS AT IDFFB 2023 RUUPOSH DIR : Md Fehmeed and Zeeshan Amir Khan 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. THE VOLUNTEER ARCHIVISTS DIR :Subhashish Panigrahi 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. NIGHT AND FEARDIR DIR :Lipika Singh Darai 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 twofold 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 DIR :Joshy Joseph With Quietude— To Nirad is a chamber drama in its form and an encounter of two souls discussing cinema and life. RAATDIR DIR : Ruchika Negi 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? CITIES OF SLEEP DIR : Shaunak Sen 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. BRAIR KANI (CAT'S ATTIC) DIR : Nundrisha Wakhloo and Daksh Punj 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. THE SPIRIT DREAMS OF CHERAW DIR : Shilpika Bordoloi 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. CHARDI KALA : AN ODE TO RESILIENCE DIR : Prateek Shekher 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. THE LEOPARD'S TRIBE DIR : Miriam Chandy Menacherry 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. WHAT THE FIELDS REMEMBER? DIR : Subasri Krishnan 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. BEYOND THE BLUESDIR DIR : Debalina Majumder What does it mean to break binaries and queer them too? 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. LAND OF MY DREAMSDIR DIR : Nausheen Khan 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. TWO AUTUMNS IN WYSZOGROD DIR : Amit Mahanti, Ruchika Negi An 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? A RIFLE AND A BAG DIR : Arya Rothe, Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi 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. IQRAARNAAMA DIR : Priyanka Chhabra 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. MOVING UPSTREAM : GANGA DIR : Shridhar Sudhir 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. HOLY RIGHTS DIR : Farha Khatun 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.. FROM THE SHADOWS DIR : Miriam Chandy Menacherry 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. TOO MUCH DEMOCRACY DIR : Varrun Sukhraj In November 2020, Indian farmers marched towards Delhi to mark their protests against the Indian Government's new Farm Bills. 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 SEA AND THE SEVEN VILLAGES DIR : Himanshu Khatua 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. LETTER UNWRITTEN TO NAIYER MASUD DIR : Shahi AJ 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. ARIBAM SYAM SHARMA DIR :Joshy Joseph 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. SOMOYER JANALAGULI (WINDOWS OF TIME) DIR : Mrinmoy Nandi 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.

Support Us About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More We are super excited to bring you the 5th Indian Documentary Film Festival Bhubaneswar. It will be organized from 26th to 29th September at the Odissi Research Centre, XIMB Square.The festival line up will focus on contemporary documentary films from across the country. It will have a retrospective on the documentary films of Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar. Filmmakers from different parts of India will grace the festival with their presence and interact with the people of the city. The festival poster is based on a poem called 'The Second Olive Tree' by Mahmoud Darwish. Ruchika Negi Ruchika Negi, a documentary filmmaker, visual artist, and educator, boasts a rich portfolio of work including Two Autumns in Wyszogród and Every Time You Tell A Story. Rajkumari Prajapati is a social activist renowned for her collaborative film project Raat: Night Time in Small Town India. Niharika Popli Niharika Popli, a filmmaker from the Uttarakhand with roots in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan. Having grown up in a multi-lingual family, Niharika has always been fascinated by the ability of languages to shape our perceptions of the world and ourselves. Sreemoyee Singh Sreemoyee Singh is a filmmaker and producer from Kolkata. She has a PhD degree on 'The Exiled Filmmaker in Post-Revolution Iran' from the department of Film Studies at Jadavpur University. She learned Persian and traveled to Iran to film her debut documentary "And, Towards Happy Alleys". Sudha P Francis Sudha Padmaja Francis is an independent filmmaker, researcher, copyeditor residing in Palakkad, Kerala. She has worked in editorial capacities at various organizations. She has made a short fiction and few documentary films, since 2016, which have screened at several festivals in the world. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Anthropology at IIT Palakkad. Rangan Chakravarty Rangan Chakravarty is a Kolkata based media producer and director. He did his masters in Media Studies from The New School for Social Studies, NY and a D. Phil from Sussex University. Rangan has conducted training workshops on gender and communications in Yemen, Egypt and Netherlands, and has served as a consultant for the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam. Stanzin Dorjai Stanzin Dorjai, a filmmaker living in Ladakh, is dedicated to sharing stories that open the viewers’ eyes and minds to the unique challenges of life in the high Himalayas. His subjects are as compelling as the landscape. His message is as profound as the surrounding mountaintops. Haobam Paban Kumar Haobam is a prominent voice, emitting out of the restive north eastern state of Manipur, India dabbling in both non-fiction and fiction storytelling. His film AFSPA 1958 was awarded the Golden Lotus for the Best Documentary at the 56th National Film Awards 2008. "A CRY IN THE DARK" is another film screened at the 31st Toronto Film Festival 2006 and MOMA New York 2007. After nearly a decade of documentary filmmaking, he made his critically acclaimed feature film Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake) which featured at 67th Berlin Film Festival 2017 and 21st Busan International Film Festival 2016. Prachi Bajana Prachee Bajania is a filmmaker, editor and writer. A post-graduate of NID, Ahmedabad and FTII, Pune, Prachee's journey is marked by eleven independent documentaries commissioned by esteemed institutions such as India Foundation for the Arts, Charles Correa Foundation, Sahapedia, Rough Edges and more. Her work resonates deeply with societal and humanitarian themes. Films at IDFFB 2024 Insides and Outsides Dir: Arab Ahmed In an increasingly hostile environment of escalating violence, discrimination and disenfranchisement, Arbab explores what it is like being a Muslim in the country. The film ebbs and flows between looking outside in his surroundings, where a constant stream of hate erupts and engulfs all sides, and inside, where Arbab’s parents back home renegotiate their sense of identity with a changing political reality. No City For Women Dir: Rangan Chanravarty Gurgaon, India's Millennium City, promises many opportunities - but, for women, it also poses specific challenges. Through women's personal narratives, the film explores their experiences of living and working in Gurgaon and illuminates the gendered nature of urban Indian life. Trolley Times Dir: Gurvinder Singh 'Trolley Times' is a portrayal of the historic and the largest sit-in protest, perhaps ever staged in the world, primarily by the farmers of Punjab and Haryana on the borders of Delhi from November 2020 to December 2021 against the three new farm laws passed by the Union government. The title itself is derived from the newsletter 'Trolley Times' that was started as a voice of the protest by a group of activists. Humare Beech Mein Dir: Rajkumar Prajapati & Ruchika Negi Humare Beech Mein is a conversation between two women about making a film on caste. How do we film caste? What do we show? What do we hide? Who has access? Who refrains? AND, TOWARDS HAPPY ALLEYS Dir: Sreemoyee Singh And Towards Happy Alleys is a passionate declaration of love for the cinema and poetry of Iran which also provides a frank view of daily life and bears witness to a fearless generation raising its voice and implacably demanding its civil liberties. AGAINST THE TIDE Dir: Sarvnik Kaur Two friends, both indigenous Koli fishermen in Bombay, are driven to desperation by a dying sea. Their friendship begins to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families. AFSPA, 1958 Dir: HAOBAM PABAN KUMAR During lntegraion of Manipur in 1949, a large portion of Manipuri population was resistant, believing the merger to be an illegal and illegitimate annexation. To curb these 'separatists,' the government adopted the Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958, allowing officers to search and arrest based on mere suspicion, also to shoot and kill at will. PRISONER NO. 626710 IS PRESENT Dir: Lalit Vachani Prisoner No. 626710 waits interminably for a bail hearing in court…Meanwhile, two friends who await his release reminisce and discuss the events and the circumstances that led to his incarceration. FLY PAST, HORNBILL Dir: Amit Mahanti The Hornbill Festival in Nagaland is an annual state-sponsored event spread over several days in Kisama (Naga Heritage Village), where the culture of different Naga tribes is show-cased. Fly Past, Hornbill is a video essay that unpacks different layers of the festival – the performance and staging of culture, the engagement of tourists, commercialisation, political instrumentalization and military presence. HELLO GUYZZ! Dir: SAMIKSHA MATHUR Hello Guyzz! is a reflection of modern day India, where cheap internet, longing to become the next big star, and high aspirations are a reality. But so are class, caste and gender differences. ALL THAT PERISHES AT THE EDGE OF LAND, Dir: Hira Nabi A ship berthed at Gadani and the shipbreakers coming from all over Pakistan to break it, discovers that they might have more in common than otherwise imagined, when they enter into a conversation MEELON DUR Dir: Megha Acharya The everyday lives of three female labourers working in a brick kiln takes an upsetting turn after an unexpected rainfall halts their work. What unfolds is a threatening tale of unorganized labour and economic debts in a rapidly urbanizing India. IN NO SENCE Dir: Gia Singh Arora In no sense, takes us on an intimate journey through a woman's complex relationship with the haunting reality of child sexual abuse. Through a unique interplay of movement and behind-the-scenes moments, it explores the complexities of trauma and attachment, memory and the body, inviting reflections on the possibility of healing and recovery. DEKHO MAIN HOON Dir: Gia Singh Arora A small film crew observes the poetic world of renowned Bharatanatyam exponent, choreographer, and teacher Navtej Singh Johar through a three day workshop at his home in Sonipat, Haryana. The participants go through an introspective journey through movement as they explore touch, intimacy, and expression. As questions emerge in space, the borders between observing, capturing and thinking being collide. PHUM SHANG (FLOATING LIFE) Dir: HAOBAM PABAN KUMAR In 2011, Manipur government burnt down hundreds of huts in Loktak Lake, in the pretext of cleaning the lake and blaming the locals for the pollution of the lake. Thousands of fishermen were displaced, became homeless and their livelihood snatched. With nowhere to go, the fisherpeople still continue to fight the authorities. They continue to fight a losing battle, where the administration challenge their relationship with the lake, since they live on floating huts, built on floating biomass or ‘Phumdis’ THE FIRST LEAP Dir: HAOBAM PABAN KUMAR The artiste of the first feature film of Manipur is meeting after a gap of 37 years. They meet, had lunch together and for the first time in 37 years they are watching the first feature film of Manipur - Matamgee Manipur together. SLAVES OF THE EMPIRE Dir: Rajesh James Slaves of the Empire unfolds against the backdrop of colonial-era Fort Kochi, a picturesque town in Kerala. The film delves deep into the ordinary existence of a dhobi community, laundry workers who were enslaved by the Dutch during the colonial era. B25 Dir: R aqeeb and Manvendra Inside the walls of B25 is a sanctuary, where lives intersect, stories intertwine and people flourish. The film offers glimpses of these unconventional bonds and experiences, that reframe notions of home and belonging, while reflecting on queerness, love, chosen families, gender, violence, identity and freedom, against the backdrop of a rapidly changing country. IF I COULD TELL YOU Dir: Niharika Popli If I Could Tell You invites viewers to reflect on the universal human need for expression and the many different ways we all strive to communicate our truths INDI(R)A'S EMERGENCY Dir: Vikramaditya Motwane, Archana Phadke, Arya Rothe Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi abruptly proclaimed a 'internal emergency' in June 1975, imprisoning her opponents and stifling the media. The largest democracy in the world endured a virtual dictatorship for 21 months. MR INDIA Dir: Haobam Paban Kumar The life and achievements of HIV-positive bodybuilder K. Pradipkumar, who won the Mr Manipur title in 2007 and several other laurels in other competitions at national levels. THE ORCHARD AND THE PARDES Dir:Renu Savant In 2021, the filmmaker lived and recorded in Ratnagiri, documenting the lives of four Nepalese migrant laborers in a mango orchard. The film, The Orchard and the Pardes reveals power struggles between the workers, their employer, and the filmmaker, and explores the complexities of power dynamics at the micro level. MY GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE Dir:Alvina Joshi The director visits her late grandfather's house to mourn his death with her grandmother. Once there, ugly truths about what kind of a man her grandfather was begin to surface. GINGER BISCUIT Dir:Sudha Padmaja Francis The long history of baking in North Kerala from 1880s to its everyday practice and labour today, intermingled with filmmaker's own memories of it. RASAN PIYA Dir: Niharika Popli 'Rasan Piya' is a documentary on the life of renowned Hindustani classical vocalist, Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, who represented the 16th generation of Miyan Tansen's lineage. The film explores the various influences that have shaped his life and music, a life steeped in the rich culture of Awadh. ANDRO DREAMS Dir: Meena Longjam Andro Dreams is the love story of Laibi, an old woman with spirited soul, and her three-decade old all girls football club battling economic challenges, patriarchal system and orthodoxy in an ancient village of northeast India. FLICKERING LIGHTS Dir:Anupama Srinivasan, Anirban Dutta In Tora, an Indian village on the border with Myanmar, the rhythm of life is set by daylight and darkness. But the village is on the verge of change: electricity is finally coming. Will it bring this close-knit community the progress it is hoping for? THE BOOKS WE MADE Dir:Anupama Chandra and Umadevi Tanuku The Books We Made' is a documentary inspired by the work of Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon, both of whom co-founded the first feminist publishing house in India: 'Kali for Women'. The film is about the joy and pain of surviving in two non-lucrative professions: that of writing for small, discerning audiences, and that of publishing, translating and promoting work barely known outside its own linguistic region in India. I WILL COME BACK DANCING IN THE DUNES Dir: Christiane Mordelet and Stanzin Dorjai Gya Otgo, 11, is the youngest of a family of herders in the Gobi desert. Proud of her freedom when she sings on her camel, alone among the dunes, lovingly caring for baby animals, listening carefully to her father's advice, happy when dancing on the stage of her village while dreaming of becoming a dancer in Ulan Bator's Opera, will she be strong enough to follow a different path cut off from her roots? NUPISHABI (FEMALE IMPERSONATOR) Dir : Haobam Paban Kumar Sumang Leela or Courtyard Play is one of the most popular art forms of Manipur. One of the main attractions of this theatre is the Nupishabi or Female Impersonator. In this theatre no female can act, so male perform female roles. In brief it is a socially accepted tradition where males can become a female in front of the common people. But what is the story of these artistes who perform daily to make people happy? Why does one opts to do a female role in a society where being male is ‘the thing’? The film travels with these artists to trace these answers; looking at the back stage of their life and in the process, tries to look for the key answer – ‘What does it mean to be a Nupishabi?’

Our focus is on building community using cinema literacy. We screen films from across the world and conduct master classes with leading artists. We encourage our members to get involved in film screenings and organizing film festivals.​​ Be a Member About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More Actors Studio Screening VIEW At Actors Studio Screenings, we facilitate engagement with films for a younger cohort, to enable the discovery of Cinema as a critical engagement with the world. The Actor Studio Screenings happen at Bocca Café (Master Canteen, Bhubaneswar) every Sunday. Each film is picked by the audience during the post screening discussion. DECEMBER 2024 SCREENINGS LOVELACE By Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman 2013 ‧ Documentary/Action ‧ 1h 33m Lovelace (2013) delves into the life of Linda Lovelace, the star of the 1972 adult film “Deep Throat”. While the film initially captures the glamor and controversy surrounding Lovelace’s rise to fame, it delves deeper into the abuse and exploitation she endured behind the scenes, particularly in her relationship with her controlling and abusive husband, Chuck Traynor .The film follows Linda Boreman (Amanda Seyfried), a young woman from a strict Catholic family who becomes Linda Lovelace, an iconic figure in the adult film industry. Under the influence of her manipulative husband, Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard), Linda becomes the face of the sexual revolution through the film, Deep Throat. However, as her fame grows, her personal life spirals into a nightmare of abuse and control. Eventually, Linda escapes Traynor’s grip, reclaims her life, and tells her story. The film uses a dual-narrative approach, revisiting key moments to reveal the hidden truths, which adds emotional depth to the film. INEQUALITY FOR ALL Director: Jacob Kornbluth (English/2013/110 min) In his Wealth and Poverty class at UC Berkeley, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich explores the severe economic and social consequences of a growing wealth gap. The documentary Inequality for All expands on this, illustrating how the middle class is the backbone of a healthy economy and democracy. Using data, historical context, and personal stories, Reich explains how rising income inequality weakens consumer spending, increases debt, and undermines social mobility. He advocates for policies like fair wages, progressive taxation, and investment in education to bridge the gap, warning that failing to address inequality could threaten societal stability and economic growth. NOVEMBER 2024 SCREENINGS THE BRINK Director: Alison Klayman (English/2019/92 min) The Brink follows Steve Bannon after his White House exit as he rallies Europe’s right-wing leaders for his populist movement ahead of the 2019 European Parliament elections. Charming yet divisive, Bannon’s contradictions are exposed as he navigates political alliances, public backlash, and his relentless pursuit of populism. A sharp portrait of a polarizing figure and the global rise of far-right ideologies. Starsuckers (2009, Dir. Chris Atkins is a sharp exposé on our obsession with fame and the media's role in fueling it. This documentary dives into the harmful impact of celebrity culture, especially on children, and the corporate profiteering behind it. Through undercover reporting, stunts, and animation, Atkins uncovers how baseless celebrity news spreads, how parents trade their children’s image rights, and how charity events often benefit stars more than causes. Presented in five "lessons," it explores how fame dominates modern culture and how publicists control narratives, leaving audiences questioning the real cost of our fascination with stardom. AMERICAN DHARMA Director: Errol Morris (English/2018/98 min) American Dharma is an intense interview with Steve Bannon, former Trump strategist and alt-right figurehead. Through Bannon’s favorite films, Morris unpacks his worldview, political rise, and role in Trump’s election. The film critically explores Bannon’s ideology, which Morris describes as terrifying yet essential to confront, portraying him as a compelling and dangerous figure. MERCHANTS OF DOUBT Director - Robert Kenner (English/2014/93 min) The Brink (Dir. Alison Klayman) follows Steve Bannon after his White House exit as he rallies Europe’s right-wing leaders for his populist movement ahead of the 2019 European Parliament elections. Charming yet divisive, Bannon’s contradictions are exposed as he navigates political alliances, public backlash, and his relentless pursuit of populism. A sharp portrait of a polarizing figure and the global rise of far-right ideologies. E CORPORATION Director - Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott (English, Spanish/2003/144 min) What is a Corporation? What is its role in American Political Economy? The Film explores the impact of corporations on our health, environment, media, democracy, our next generation and what do we do to resist its influence. The film unravels by peeling the history, its impact and its possible futures. THE END OF POVERTY? Director - Philippe Diaz (English, French, Portuguese,Spanish/2008/104 min) The End of Poverty? (Dir. Philippe Diaz) explores how historical exploitation through colonization, slavery, and resource theft led to modern global poverty. Highlighting unjust debt, trade, and tax systems, the film questions why 20% of the population consumes 80% of resources, exceeding the planet's capacity to regenerate. SEPTEMBER 2024 SCREENINGS PEARLS OF THE DEEP Director - Evald Schorm, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel (Czech/1966/107 min) A manifesto of sorts for the Czech New Wave, this five-part anthology shows off the breadth of expression and the versatility of the movement’s directors. Based on stories by the legendary writer Bohumil Hrabal, the shorts range from the surreally chilling to the caustically observant to the casually romantic, but all have a cutting, wily view of the world. AUGUST 2024 SCREENINGS LOVES OF A BLONDE Director - Milos Forman (Czech/1965/88 min) With sixteen women to each man, the odds are against Andula in her desperate search for love—that is, until a rakish piano player visits her small factory town and temporarily eases her longings. A tender and humorous look at Andula’s journey, from the first pangs of romance to its inevitable disappointments, Loves of a Blonde (Lásky jedné plavovlásky) immediately became a classic of the Czech New Wave and earned Milos Forman the first of his Academy Award nominations. DAISIES Director - Vêra Chytilovâ (Czech/1966/76 min) Daisies (Dir. Věra Chytilová) follows two young women, both named Marie, on a chaotic spree of gluttony, destruction, and rebellion against patriarchy. A hallmark of the Czechoslovak New Wave, the film combines anarchic themes with experimental visuals, kaleidoscopic montages, and surreal costumes, making it a vibrant protest against authoritarianism. A REPORT ON THE PARTY AND THE GUESTS Director - Jan Nêmec (Czech/1966/70 min) A picnic is rudely transformed into a lesson in political hierarchy when a handful of mysterious authority figures show up. JULY 2024 SCREENINGS LEVIATHAN Director - Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russian/2014/141 min) In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man’s arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family. ELENA Director - Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russian/2011/109 min) Elena is a woman of a certain age, living in a chic Moscow apartment with her wealthy businessman husband Vladimir. While Vladimir is estranged from his daughter, he does not mask his contempt for Elena’s own child, who seems to be in constant need of financial assistance. When Vladimir suddenly falls ill and his volatile, nihilistic daughter comes back into the picture, Elena must hatch a plan for her own survival. THE RETURN Director - Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russian/2003/111 min) A story of two Russian boys whose father suddenly returns home after a 12-year absence. He takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions. JUNE 2024 SCREENINGS FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES Director - Toshio Matsumoto (Japanese/1969/105 min) S et in the underworld LGBTQ culture of 1960s Tokyo, Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses combines different film forms to make for an avant garde loose adaptation of Oedipus Rex. A landmark film in LGBTQ and modern pop culture, Funeral Parade of Roses influenced Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange among other cinema. RAFIKI Director - Wanuri Kahiu (English, Swahili/2018/82 min) Kena and Ziki long for something more. Despite the political rivalry between their families, the girls resist and remain close friends, supporting each other to pursue their dreams in a conservative society. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety. ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER Director - Pedro Almodóvar (Spanish | 1999 | 101 min) A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his birthday as he runs to seek an actress’ autograph. Beside herself with grief, she returns to Barcelona to tell the boy’s father about the death of the son he never knew he had. PARIS IS BURNING Director - Jennie Livingston (English/1990/78 min) Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion “houses,” from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza — PARIS IS BURNING brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community THE WATERMELON WOMAN Director - Cheryl Dunye (English/1996/85 min) Cheryl, a young black lesbian, works a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical “mammy” roles relegated to black actresses during that period. This was the first feature film directed by an “out” black lesbian. MAY 2024 SCREENINGS CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER Director - Jean Touch & Edgar Morin (French/1961/85 min) Sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch take to the streets of Paris to launch an inquiry into working class happiness and interview people about the state of their lives. They discover how differently people behave on camera in this documentary that started cinema verite. Sight & Sound 2014 voted sixth best documentary of all time. APRIL 2024 SCREENINGS MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT Director - Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Spanish/1968/99 min) In the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs incident, Sergio chooses to stay behind in Cuba while his wife and family escape to neighboring Miami. Alone in a brave new world, Sergio observes the constant threat of foreign invasion while chasing young women all over Havana. He finally meets Elena, a young girl he seeks to mould into the image of his ex-wife, but at what cost to himself? ZAMA Director - Lucrecia Martel (Spanish/2017/115 min) Zama, an officer in a remote location, eagerly awaits the King's permission to move to Buenos Aires. However, he waits and is mistreated by his seniors who come and go while he stays THE HEADLESS WOMAN Director - Lucrecia Martel (Spanish/2008/87min) A mysterious tale of a middle-aged dentist, Vero, who experiences a particular psychological state, after meeting with a car accident. She tries to find out if she had killed someone. THE HOLY GIRL Director - Lucrecia Martel (Spanish/2004/106 min) Amalia (María Alche) is an adolescent girl who is caught in the throes of her emerging sexuality and her deeply held passion for her Catholic faith. These two drives mingle when the visiting Dr. Jano (Carlos Belloso) takes advantage of a crowd to get inappropriately close to the girl. Repulsed by him but inspired by an inner burning, Amalia decides it is her God-given mission to save the doctor from his behavior, and she begins to stalk Dr. Jano, becoming a most unusual voyeur. 21 GRAMS Director - Alejandro Gonzàlez IñàrrituRelease year - 2003, Language - English A severely ill mathematician, an ex-convict and a grief-stricken mother find their lives intertwined through a fatal automobile accident that changes them in ways they could never imagine. AMORES PERROS Director - Alejandro Gonzàlez Iñàrritu An amateur dog fighter, a supermodel, and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City. LA CINEGA Director - Lucrecia Martel (Spanish/2001/Colour) The life of two women and their families in a small provincial town of Salta, Argentina. MARCH 2024 SCREENINGS LAND OF MY DREAMS Director - Nausheen Khan 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. BARDO - FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS Director - Alejandro Gonzàlez Iñàrritu Bardo in the buddhist tradition is considered to be intermediate state between death and rebirth.Inarritu goes back to Mexico in a autobiographical mode - we see the protagonist a documentarian, a journalist living in the United States going back to receive an award in Mexico City. The film is a non-linear exploration of different states of the protagonist’s life - his relationship with his father, his relationship with his teenage son, his wife (trying to revive his youthful passion for her), his work as a chronicler of the migrant crisis in Mexico, his status as a creative professional living in the US. Reflective of his work as an artist located in his time, Mexico/US and its realities . LOVE MEETINGS Director :- Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964/92 min/Italian) Microphone in hand, filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini interviews Italians about their sexual mores and experience of relationships, covering topics such as homosexuality, divorce, virginity and discrimination. VIDEOCRACY Director - Erik Gandini (2009/85 min/Italian) Filmmaker Erik Gandini examines segments of the Italian population who are consumed with celebrity worship. FEBRUARY 2024 SCREENINGS SORRY WE MISSED YOU Director - Ken Loach (English/2019/100 min) Mired in a debt trap, Ricky, an uneducated man, heaves a sigh of relief when he is hired as a self-employed driver. However, soon his prejudiced fate leads to a major upheaval in his life. El Conde Director - Pablo Larrain (Chile/2023/110 mins) The film is set amidst 250 years’ of european history starting during the French Revolution through the armed takeover of General Pinochet in 1973 Chile. Pinochet was in power for over two decades, never punished, died a millionaire. The film is a vampire horror comic framing of the dictator Pinochet in his later life, having turned a vampire, squabbling children and a voiceover of Margaret Thatcher ends on a surprising twist. It takes the viewer through the modern historic period of Chile and contemporary events pushing us to pay attention to the day-to-day developments. JANUARY 2024 SCREENINGS ADULTS IN THE ROOM Director - Costa - Gavras (2019/124 min/English/Colour) "Adults in the Room" is a French-Greek political film directed by Costa-Gavras. It is based on the book "Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment" by Yanis Varoufakis about the 2015 Greek bailout. It is Gavras' first feature film that was shot in Greece. Alexis Tsipras, the former prime minister of Greece, assigns Yanis Varoufakis to strike a new deal with the European troika to avoid a debt crisis. PRIDE DIRECTOR - Matthew Warchus (2014/120 min/English/color) Based on a true story, the film depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign. DECEMBER 2023 SCREENINGS MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE Director - Stephen Frears(1985/98 min/English, Urdu/Colour) During a street fight, Omar bumps into his former lover Johnny. The two rekindle the romance between them and manage Omar's uncle's laundrette, but various social issues stand in their WALTZ WITH BASHIR Director - - Ari Folman (2008/90 min/Hebrew) Ari Folman is encountered with brief visions about the 1982 Lebanon War in which he served as an infantry soldier. When he is not able to recollect his experiences, he interviews his fellow DIVINE INTERVENTION Director - Elia Suleiman (2002/92 min/English, Arabic, Hebrew) Separated by a checkpoint, Palestinian lovers from Jerusalem and the West Bank arrange clandestine meetings in this acclaimed satire on life on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli border. NOVEMBER 2023 SCREENINGS THE TIME THAT REMAINS Director - Elia Suleiman (2009/119 min/English, Arabic, Italian, Hebrew) Fuad, a gunsmith, witnesses the destruction in Nazareth after the Israeli takeover in 1948. Years later, his son Elia grows up defiant of the Israeli occupation and has trouble accepting the change. IT MUST BE HEAVEN Director - Elia Suleiman(2019/97 min/English, French, Arabic) Elia Suleiman escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York. OCTOBER 2023 SCREENINGS JAI BHIM COMRADE Director - Anand Patwardhan (2011/200 min/Hindi, English, Marathi) The film begins with a description of police violence in the 1997 Ramabai killings. It goes on to explore various aspects of the lives and politics of Dalit people in Mumbai. The film took 14 years to produce, and was released in 2011 after the conclusion of the court trials that followed the Ramabai incident. AFTERSHOCKS : THE ROUGH GUIDE TO DEMOCRACY .Director - Rakesh Sharma.(68 min/2002/Hindi, English, Gujrati). Aftershocks is about the transformation of the Welfare State into an ally of the Corporation. It examines the acquisition and displacement of two earthquake-affected villages for lignite mining and power generation. It probes the microcosm in the nature of a study “from below” of globalisation of Economy and corporatisation of Democracy. SEPTEMBER 2023 SCREENINGS Father, Son and Holy War Director : Anand Patwardhan 120 min/1995/English, Hindi In a politically polarized world, universal ideals are rare. In India, as elsewhere, the vacuum is filled by religious zeal. Minorities are made scapegoats of every calamity as nations subdivide into religious and ethnic zones, each seemingly eager to annihilate the other or extinguish itself on the altar of martyrdom. FATHER, SON AND HOLY WAR explores in two parts the possibility that the psychology of violence against “the other” may lie in male insecurity, itself an inevitable product of the very construction of “manhood.” AUGUST 2023 SCREENINGS The Battle of Chile : Part 3 : The power of the People 1979/80 min/Spanish THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE deals with the creation by ordinary workers and peasants of thousands of local groups of 'popular power' to distribute food, occupy, guard and run factories and farms, oppose black market profiteering, and link together neighborhood social service organizations. First these local groups of 'popular power' acted as a defense against strikes and lock-outs by factory owners, tradesmen and professional bodies opposed to the Allende government, then increasingly as Soviet-type bodies demanding more resolute action by the government against the right. JULY 2023 SCREENINGS The Battle of Algiers Director : Gillo Pontecorvo 1966/English, French, Italian, Arabic The Battle of Algiers (1966, Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo) dramatizes the Algerian War’s fight against French colonial rule, focusing on the titular battle. Shot in a gritty, documentary-like style with non-professional actors, the film embodies Italian neorealism. Acclaimed worldwide, it won the Golden Lion at Venice and ranks among the greatest films in Sight and Sound's 2022 poll. The Laundromat Director: Steven Soderbergh 2019/ English / 96' The Laundromat” is a star-powered drama about a very complex issue: how the modern systems to protect wealth have left the meek farther from inheriting Earth than ever before. The issue of the Panama Papers never quite got enough attention in the press. It’s not quite sexy to point out how the 1% damages everyone else in the world as they avoid the law and taxes. It also doesn’t help that it’s an incredibly complicated issue, the kind that doesn’t lend itself to packages on the nightly news or feature films. CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY Directed by Michael Moore English, 2009, Documentary,127' An examination of the social costs of corporations pursuing profits at the expense of the public good, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story comes home to the issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans. JUNE 2023 SCREENINGS Happy Together BY Wong Kar Wai 1997,96', ChineseLai and his boyfriend, Ho, arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong, seeking a better life. Their highly contentious relationship turns abusive and results in numerous break-ups and reconciliations. When Lai befriends another man, Chang, he sees the futility of continuing with the promiscuous Ho. Chang, however, is on his own personal journey and, ultimately, both Lai and Ho find themselves far from home and desperately lonely. MAY 2023 SCREENINGS MINARI Directed by Lee Isaac Chung English, 2020, 115' David, a 7-year-old Korean-American boy, gets his life turned upside down when his father decides to move their family to rural Arkansas and start a farm in the mid-1980s. GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES HOTARU NO HAKA Directed by Isao Takahata Japan, 1988, 89' After their mother dies following an air raid, a young brother and sister in Japan at the height of World War II struggle to survive and protect one another in an abandoned shelter. OLDBOY Directed by Park Chan-wookKorean /2003/120 'Imprisoned by a sadistic captor for 15 years, Oh Dae-su survives only because of his will to get even with the villain who has made his life a living hell. But when he’s suddenly released without explanation, he embarks on a quest for revenge and finds himself plunged into a Kafkaesque conspiracy. APRIL 2023 SCREENINGS The Menu by Mark Mylod 2022/English/106min A young couple visit an exclusive restaurant on a remote island to indulge in a lavish tasting menu, prepared by a famed chef. Yet their appetites are satisfied with some unusual ingredients and shocking surprises. Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore 2002/120mins Bowling for Columbine (Dir. Michael Moore) explores America’s gun culture and the fear driving it in the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine massacre. Through interviews with survivors, NRA figures, and others, Moore traces the impact of firearms on society. An Oscar-winning documentary, it remains a powerful and relevant critique of America’s relationship with guns. MARCH 2023 SCREENINGS TRIANGLE OF SADNESS Directed by Ruben ÖstlundSweden, United Kingdom, 2022Comedy149' Carl and Yaya are influencer fashion models whose relationship is increasingly soured by money. Offered free places on a luxury cruise, they find themselves sharing a superyacht with arms dealers and an oligarch, while a cynical Marxist alcoholic captains the ship as things quickly turn upside-down. FEBRUARY 2023 SCREENINGS TRIANGLE OF SADNESS Directed by Ruben ÖstlundSweden, United Kingdom, 2022 Comedy149 'Carl and Yaya are influencer fashion models whose relationship is increasingly soured by money. Offered free places on a luxury cruise, they find themselves sharing a superyacht with arms dealers and an oligarch, while a cynical Marxist alcoholic captains the ship as things quickly turn upside-down. JANUARY 2023 SCREENINGS DON'T LOOK UP Directed by Adam McKayUnited States, 2021Comedy, Drama138' Two mid-level astronomers discover that a meteorite will destroy Earth in six months, prompting them to go on a media tour to warn mankind. The response from a distracted world: Meh. DECEMBER 2022 SCREENINGS THE SQUARE Directed by Ruben ÖstlundSweden, Germany, 2017Comedy, Drama151'SwedishEnglish & 4 more MATUREChristian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum. While preparing his new exhibit—a four-by-four-meter zone designated as a “sanctuary of trust and caring”—Christian falls prey to a pickpocketing scam, which triggers an overzealous response and then a crisis of conscience. NOVEMBER 2022 SCREENINGS BACURAU Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles, 2019 Drama, Thriller, Western 131' Portuguese, English & 5 more ADULT Bacurau, a settlement in rural Brazil, is shaken by its matriarch’s death. But something strange is happening, the water supply has been cut off, and the village has disappeared from satellite maps completely. Under threat from an unknown enemy, Bacurau braces itself for a brutal fight for survival. A FANTASTIC WOMAN UNA MUJER FANTÁSTICA Directed by Sebastián Lelio Chile, Germany, 2017 Drama, LGBTQ+, 104' Marina, a transgender nightclub singer, comes under suspicion when her much older lover Orlando suddenly dies. After being harassed and threatened by her late boyfriend’s vengeful relatives and the police, she must defend her rights as both Orlando’s partner and as a human being. 120 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) 120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE Directed by Robin Campillo France, 2017 Drama, LGBTQ+, 143' Early 1990s. With AIDS having already claimed countless lives for nearly ten years, Act Up-Paris activists multiply actions to fight general indifference. Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant. OCTOBER 2022 SCREENINGS GREAT FREEDOMGROSSE FREIHEIDirected by Sebastian Meise Austria, Germany, 2021Drama, LGBTQ+117'GermanIn post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans is imprisoned again and again under Paragraph 175, a law criminalizing homosexuality. Over the course of decades, he develops an unlikely yet tender bond with his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer. SEPTEMBER 2022 SCREENINGS CINEMA PARADISO NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore Italy, France, 1988 Drama, Romance, Comedy 124' Salvatore, a successful filmmaker, remembers his childhood in his war-torn Sicilian village—where the perfect place to escape from life was the Cinema Paradiso. His deep love of films all started there, instilled by Alfredo, the theatre’s projectionist

Our focus is on building community using cinema literacy. We screen films from across the world and conduct master classes with leading artists. We encourage our members to get involved in film screenings and organizing film festivals.​​ 3:30 pm The Cranes Are Flying Dir: Mikhail Kalatozov (Russia/1957/96 mins, B&W) Veronica (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Alexei Batalov), a couple who are blissfully in love until World War II tears them apart. With Boris at the front, Veronica must try to ward off spiritual numbness and defend herself from the increasingly forceful advances of her beau’s draft-dodging cousin. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, The Cranes Are Flying is a superbly crafted drama, cinematography(ahead of its times) by Kalatozov’s regular collaborator Sergei Urusevsky. This Film by Mikhail Kalatozov was heralded as a revelation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and the international cinema community alike . 5:40 pm Mr. Turner Director: Mike Leigh (UK/2014/150 mins) Spanning the last 25 years of Britain’s most revered painter JMW Turner (1775-1851), is a rich portrait of the artist whose personal life was as turbulent as the canvases he painted. Timothy Spall (playing Mr. Turner) won the best actor award at the Cannes film festival for his performance. Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies(1996), All or Nothing(2002) and Naked(1993) were screened earlier at FSB. August 2024 3:30 pm Russian Ark Director: Alexander Sokurov (Russia/2002/96 mins) Filmed inside the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, through the ambling of a French Marquis – witnessing scenes of Peter the Great thrashing his general, Empress Catherine during a rehearsal of her play trying to relieve herself, the last Tsar at dinner oblivious of the revolution and the last great Ball before the Bolshevik revolution. We see three hundred years of Russian history staged inside the Museum - a time machine. The film is a technical achievement in terms of the complexity of its production and scope of narration. The film was in competition for the Palm D’or at Cannes in 2002. August 2024 5:40 pm The Wild Pear Tree Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey/2018/188 mins) Sinan is passionate about literature and harbours an ambition to be a writer. Returning to his ancestral village, he struggles to get published, but his father’s debts catch up with him. This is the eighth feature of Ceylan. We at the film society have followed his career with interest and have screened his earlier films Uzak (2002), Climates (2006), Three Monkeys (2008), Once upon a time in Anatolia (2011), Winter Sleep (2014). Ceylan’s films attracts a considerable following across the world – particularly winning many awards at the Cannes Film Festival. July 2024 3:30 pm Loveless Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia/2017/127 mins) Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page – even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears…Andrey’s earlier films - The Return (2003), Banishment (2007), Leviathan (2014) were screened earlier at the Film society screenings. Loveless is his latest film, the film went on to win major awards across the world - Jury Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for best foreign language film. 6:10 pm The Assassin Director: Hou Hsiao Hsien (Taiwan/2015/105 mins) 9th century China.10-year-old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised - a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings. A slave to the orders of her mistress, Nie Yinniang must choose: sacrifice the man she loves or break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins. Flowers of shanghai (1998), The boys from fengkuei (1983), the green green grass of home (1982) and Three times (2005), were earlier screened at the Film society screenings. The Assassin was awarded the best director at Cannes, this was the last film of Hou Hsiao Hsien before he retired. April 2024 5:45 pm Three Times Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan/2005/116 mins) Three Times features two of Asia’s biggest stars, Shu Qi and Chang Chen. They play different characters in three episodes set in different years and different eras, 1966, 1911 and 2005. The central theme is love and emotion: in this film Hou Hsiao-Hsien is commenting on different expressions of love in different times. 3:30 pm Devi Director: Satyajit Ray (India/1960/99 mins, B&W) The film is set in second half of nineteenth century rural Bengal. A wealthy landlord (Chabbi Biswas), ardently believes that his young daughter-in-law (Sharmila Tagore) is the Mother Goddess incarnate, setting in motion devastation all around. The film explores religious orthodoxy, patriarchal power structures and the conflict between fanaticism and individual will. Subrata Mitra’s cinematography heightens the viewing experience. Devi takes up the position of women in a modernizing Bengal—Charulata, The Big City (1963), and The Home and the World (1984) all return to the theme—but the film stands out for the brutal honesty and cynicism with which it renders a woman’s dispossession. 3:30 pm Do the Right Thing Director: Spike Lee (USA/1989/120 mins) The film is set in the hottest day of summer, when racial tensions reach a boiling point in an inner city, Brooklyn neighborhood. The film was nominated for the academy awards under the original screenplay category. Spike Lee has been an independent voice in the American film making scene, critical of Hollywood brand of film making. His career has spanned over four decades and 25 films, he was awarded the Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2015, his film BlackkKlansman won the Oscar for screenplay in 2019 and the Grand Prix at Cannes film festival in 2018. He has been teaching Film at New York University for over three decades. 6:00 pm The Green, Green Grass of Home Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan/1982/90 mins) A substitute teacher moves to a remote village, he falls in love with a school teacher at the local school. Considered as one of the greatest living film directors in Asia. Hou Hsiao Hsien’s films were screened and awarded across major festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice) of the world and has been awarded the Lifetime achievement award (Golden Horse) in 2020. Over a career spanning four decades, he has made 21 feature films. We screened “Flowers of Shanghai” and "Boys from Fengkuei” earlier. March 2024 3:30 pm Malcolm X Director: Spike Lee (US/1992/201 mins) One of the major public figures of the 20th Century - Malcolm X- is brought to the screen by the biopic with historical insight by Spike Lee. The film draws on Malcolm X’s autobiography to trace the struggle for dignity, starting from his childhood riven by white supremacist violence to a life of petty crime to conversion to Islam and rebirth as a fighter for Black Liberation. Malcolm X inspired oppressed communities across the world. Built around powerful performances by Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett and others - Spike Lee brings his biopic treatment of one of the critical voices of Black empowerment. Lee has been an independent voice in the American film making scene, critical of Hollywood brand of film making. His career has spanned over four decades and 25 films, he was awarded the Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2015, his film BlackkKlansman won the Oscar for screenplay in 2019 and the Grand Prix at Cannes film festival in 2018. He has been teaching Film at New York University for over three decades. March 2024 7:20 pm The Boys from Fengkuei Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan/1983/101 mins) Three young men leave their fishing village for the city in search of a livelihood. The harsh realities hit home, as their journey becomes a process of growing up.This film established the career of Hou Hsiao-Hsien as a leading figure of Taiwan cinema, this work travelled across the world and is considered one of the director’s major works. Considered as one of the greatest living film directors in Asia, directing more than 20 films in his career. We screened “Flowers of Shanghai” last month. Over a career spanning four decades, he made 21 feature films. His films were screened and awarded across major festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice) of the world. February 2024 3:30 pm Mandabi Director: Ousmane Sembene (Senegal/1968/91 mins) Unemployed Ibrahima Dieng receives a money order for 25,000 francs from a nephew who works in Paris, news of his windfall quickly spreads among his neighbours, who flock to him for loans even as his attempts to cash the order are stymied in a maze of bureaucratic obstacles, and new troubles rain down on his head.One of Sembène’s most funny and indignant films, Mandabi—an adaptation of a novella by the director himself—is a bitterly ironic depiction of a society scarred by colonialism and plagued by corruption, greed, and poverty. 5:30 pm Flowers of Shanghai Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan/1998/113 mins) A major figure in Taiwan’s new wave, Hou Hsiao Hsien’s “Flowers of Shanghai” is an exploration of late nineteenth century aristocratic society set in the British concession of Shanghai. This film is a departure of Hou’s earlier preoccupation with Taiwan’s contemporary society, here he moves to examine the late Qing period of 1890s – the society of pleasure and its negotiation between men and women in a period drama. Flowers an euphemism of courtesans, the houses of highly coveted courtesans was accessible to the privileged men of China. The film is based on Eileen Chang’s novel “Flowers of Shanghai”. Most of the film is set indoors, lit up with oil lamps, we hardly see the outside world, we watch four pairs of relationships between Master Wang and his lover Crimson, the rival Jasmine, Emerald the courtesan who wants to get her freedom and her relationship with Master Luo. The film is shot almost entirely in mid-shots, the camera is a character observing all the action indoors, gloriously lit up with oil lamps. Each scene is a single take creating a sensation of staying indoors with the characters throughout the duration of the film. The painstaking research of the period is evident in its sets, detailed art design and production values evident in the costumes and objects used by the characters. 3:30pm Timbuktu Dir : Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania, France/2014/96 mins) In the acclaimed new film by Abderrahmane Sissako (Bamako) the people of the Malina city, Timbuktu, struggle against an oppressive regime of terror inflicted upon them by invading Jihadists who prohibit every enjoyable indulgence of life. Meanwhile, Kidane lives a peaceful life in the nearby dunes, but an altercation with a neighbour the extremists take it upon themselves to deliver their brand of draconian justice.Passionate, humanist and enormously powerful, Timbuktu was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Academy Award and screened in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. January 2024 6:00 pm Shoplifters Director: Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan/2018/121 mins) From visionary director Kore-eda Hirokazu comes, a critically acclaimed portrait of a makeshift family in Japan. After a shoplifting spree, Osamu and his son rescue a little girl in the freezing cold and invite her home with them. Osamu's wife Nobuyo, reluctantly agrees to shelter her. Although the family is poor, they live happily together until an unforeseen incident upsets the delicate balance they have created, revealing long- buried secrets. The film won the Palme d’or at Cannes and the Cesar Awards, it was nominated to the Academy awards under the foreign film category. December 2023 3:30 pm Black Girl Director: Ousmane Sembene (French/1966/59 mins) The film is set in Senegal, Africa, Diouanna is a young woman who travels from Senegal to France in search of a better life, to work as a governess for a white family. She soon realises that she is a prisoner in the apartment. The film has proved prophetic, with the rise of globalisation, millions of women from poor areas have migrated to big cities to become domestic workers – form small towns to global cities. The film in the hands of Sembene becomes a political statement. The film was the first African film to attract international attention and distribution and won Prix Jean Vigo at the Cannes Film Festival. 6:00 pm Drive my Car Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japanese/2021/179 mins) Kafuku is a stage actor, his wife passes away suddenly, leaving behind a secret. Two years later, Kafuku meets Misaki, a reserved young woman, assigned to him as a chauffeur on a work trip to Hiroshima. As they spend time together on the road trip, the mystery of Kafuku’s dead wife comes to the fore, we see him confronting the memory of his wife. The film is based on a short story by Haruki Murakami. The film won the best screenplay award at Cannes Film Festival, won the Academy award for international film and BAFTA award for the best film in non-english language category. Ryusuke Hamaguchi (b. 1978) , graduated with a degree in Aesthetics(2003) and film in 2008. He came into international limelight with Happy Hour (2015) which received a special mention for screenplay at the Locarno International Film Festival. His film Asako I & II (2018) was selected at Cannes. 3:30pm Moolaade Director: Ousmane Sembene (French & Bambara/2005/124 mins) The film is set in a sub-saharan Africa, Colle has refused to allow her fifteen year old daughter to be circumcised, and now offers “Moolaade” (protection from the elements) to four terrified girls who have escaped from another village. Her husband is a stickler of tradition and wants their daughter to go under the knife. Colle takes a stand against the village elders, the film sets up a tense struggle between the forces of tradition, authoritarianism and resistance. The film won under un certain regard at Cannes Film Festival. November 2023 6:10 pm Portrait of a Lady on Fire Director: Celine Sciamma (French/2020/122 mins) The film is set in 1770s France. It revolves around the relationship of Marianne (a painter), Heloise and their housemaid. Marianne is hired by a countess to paint her daughter Heloise – a wedding portrait. During the assignment, the relationship between Marriane, Heloise and the housemaid brings out the contradictions of the period, the pulls and pushes of life colours their relationship.The film won the best screenplay award and the Queer Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. Celine Sciamma (b. 1978) , studied French literature at Nanterre and later at La Femis film school. She is been making films since 2007.“In all my films, it’s always the same,” she says. “It’s always about a few days out of the world, where we can meet each lover, love each other. Also it’s always about female characters because they can be themselves only in a private place where they can share their loneliness, their dreams, their attitudes, their ideas.” November 2023 3:30 pm Bamako Director: Abderrahmane Sissako (French & Bambara/2006/112 mins) Bamako, the capital city of Mali (western Africa), the film is set within the city, a courtyard of a mud walled house. The story of an African couple on verge of breaking up is told alongside a political trial against World bark and the International Monetary Fund. The policies of these international bodies have unleashed social problems across Africa with increased unemployment, inequality and debt. The film combines drama and sharp satire to create insight into contemporary Africa. 6:00 pm A Fantastic Woman Director: Sebastian Lelio (Spanish/2017/104 mins) Marina Vidal’s life is thrown into turmoil following the sudden death of her partner, Orlando. She is suspected by the police and her partner’s relatives. Tensions rise between her & Orlando’s relatives. She is thrown out of their shared home and restricted from attending his funeral. Pushed to the wall, on the verge of losing everything, Marina finds the strength to fight back.A fantastic woman won the Academy award in the foreign film category 2018 and screenplay award at Berlin. Sebastian Lelio (b. 1974) in Argentina, moved to Chile at the age of two, lives in Berlin. His work Gloria (2013) brought him to international prominence. 3:30pm The Salt of the Earth Director: Wim Wenders & Julian R Salgado (English/2014/110 mins) The film is a biography of Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado. Born in 1944, in Brazil and starting his career as an Economist, a staunch critic of the Brazilian military government, he was exiled in 1969. Salgado went on to photograph the working class in Latin America, his work in Serra Pelada gold mine of Brazil comes to mind, his strong composition emerges from working on long-term projects that told a story through a series of images. His work in the 90s in Rwanda brings out the horrors of war, his recent book on the Amazon was released in 2021, a result of decades long work of photographing the people of Amazon and the powerful Amazonian Landscapes. Since 1998 Salgado and his wife Lelia have devoted themselves to restore a degraded rainforest in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The still images lend itself beautifully to big screen in Wenders' film, it explores the life of Salgado with tenderness and care. The film won awards in Cannes, San Sebastian and Tromso film festivals. It also won the Cesar award for best documentary, the national film award of France. September 2023 5:50 pm Il Buco Director: Michelangelo Frammartino (Italian/2021/93 mins) Cavers explore Europe’s deepest cave in the untouched Calabrian hinterland. The bottom of the Bifurto Abyss is reached for the first time. The Cavers’ venture is unnoticed by the locals but not by the old shepherd of the Pollino plateau whose solitary life begins to interweave with the group’s journey. The film is a follow up to Le Quattro Volte (2011), it was screened earlier at the Film Society. Il Buco won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival. 3:30 pm Uncle Boonmee who can Recall his Past Lives Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thai/2010/113 mins) The first film of the evening is Uncle Boonme who can recall his past lives by the noted Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Set in north-eastern Thailand, neighbouring Laos and Cambodia Uncle Boonmee has to spend his last days surrounded by his loved ones in a remote forest, a place from his childhood, and, he believes a possible location of his previous lives. The ghost of his dead wife appears to care for him, and the spirit of his long-lost son returns. The film creates an enchanted world where flora and fauna converge to create a magical atmosphere. The film won the Palm D’or at Cannes film festival in 2010. 6:00 pm Ugetsu Director: Kenji Mizoguchi (Japanese/1953/97 mins) The second film of the evening is Ugetsu by Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi by the 1950s was an elder statesman of Japanese cinema revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. The film is an exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant. Mizoguchi achieves with his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, Ugetsu reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men. The film was awarded the Silver Lion award at the Venice film festival in 1953. August 2023 3:30 pm Devil's Backbone Director: Guillermo Del Toro (Spanish/2001/108 mins) The first film of the evening is Devil’s Backbone (El espinazo del diablo) directed by Guillermo Del Toro, the Mexican director who along with Alonso Cuaron and Alejandro Inarittu have brought a new age of Mexican Cinema to the attention of audiences across the world. Set during the endgame of the Spanish Civil War (1938-39), it tells the tale of a twelve-year-old boy who, after his father is killed fighting for the republicans, is sent to a haunted rural orphanage full of terrible secrets. Del Toro expertly combines gothic ghost story, murder mystery, and historical melodrama in a stylish mélange that, like his later Pan’s Labyrinth, reminds us the scariest monsters are often the human ones.The Devil’s Backbone was a labour of love for Del Toro, who has frequently described it and its “sister picture,” Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), as his favourite and most personal movies. Both the films have been screened at the film society earlier. August 2023 5:50 pm Kwaidan Director: Masaki Kobayashi (Japanese/1965/183 mins, B&W) The second film of the evening is Kwaidan, by Masaki Kobayashi, will be screened in the original three-hour cut. After more than a decade of political dramas and socially minded period pieces, Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colourful surreal sets and luminous cinematography, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted. It was the most expensive film made in Japanese cinema, the film was recognised with the Special Jury Prize at Cannes film festival in 1965. April 2023 3:30 pm I Will Buy You Director: Masaki Kobayashi (Japan/1956/112 mins) The first film of the evening, I Will Buy You, made in 1956, examines the corruption set in Japan’s baseball industry. It is a film unlike other sports films, takes a critical look at the inhumanity bred by business interests, by following the sharklike behaviour of a talent scout set on signing a promising player to the team of the Toyo flowers. Baseball has been Japan’s favourite sport for decades before the film was released, this film foregrounded the institutional decay beset within the Sport. Masaki Kobayashi’s (1916-1996) in a career spanning four decades, he made 22 films. Prolific in the 50s and 60s he made 15 films in this period, examining the stresses of post war occupied Japan (1945-52) – corruption, exploitation and denial of war crimes. His works interrogated the Japanese nation, its culture, traditions and stood with the individual against the oppressive structures of society. The issues his films explored are pertinent in today’s Japan. 6:00 pm Chess of the Wind Director: Mohammad Reza Aslani (Iran/1976/98 mins) The second film of the evening is the farsi film, Chess of the Wind by Mohammad Reza Aslani, made in 1976. The film never had a theatrical release in Iran nor international distribution. The film was lost for many decades and has been recently discovered by Aslani’s children, restored and screened across major festivals starting 2020, it is one of the important works of Iran’s pre 1979 period. The film is set in 1920s Iran, follows the misfortunes of a paraplegic heiress. She is surrounded by predatory men – stepfather, her nephews, local commissar – all seeking to usurp her inheritance. She’s aided in her struggle against these men by her maid, an erotic tension between the heiress and the maid add complexity to the narrative. Mohammad Reza Aslani born in 1943, is a renowned poet, film maker based in Tehran. His career has been a casualty of the Iran’s political changes, over the five decades his work includes ten documentaries, one experimental film (Tehran, a Conceptual Art (2011) and another feature film (The Green Fire - 2008). 3:30 pm Black River Director: Masaki Kobayashi (Japan/1956/110 mins, B&W) The first film of the evening, Black River, made in 1956, examines the moral corruption around US Military bases in Japan following world war II. The film is set around a rented house and its tenants which houses multiple characters - a consumptive man, a communist, a couple, a gang worker. The narrative unfolds around a love triangle between a student, his girlfriend and a Gang Boss - revealing a society succumbing to lawlessness and violence. April 2023 6:00 pm Not One Less Director: Zhang Yimou (China/1999/102 mins) The second film of the evening is the mandarin film, Not one Less by Zhang Yimou, made in 1999. The film is set in rural China, a young girl of thirteen, is ordered to be a substitute teacher in the village school. She has to keep the class intact for a month or she loses her pay. One of the students migrates to the city to find work enabling his family to pay off their debts. The young teacher follows the boy, the search begins and takes her to the city where her travails bear fruit due to the kind intervention of local TV station’s boss.The film won the best picture at Venice Film Festival in 1999. The film was screened earlier at FSB. 3:30 pm Three Resurrected Drunkards Director: Nagisa Oshima (Japan/1968/80 mins) Japanese director Nagisa Oshima (1932-2013) was one of the most inventive and provocative film artists of the twentieth century, and his works challenged and shocked the cinematic world for decades. Oshima was fascinated by stories of outsiders, misfits and social castoffs, who would populate his groundbreaking works between 1959 and 1999. Starting this month, we bring the lesser-seen films of Nagisa Oshima from the 1960s. In Three Resurrected Drunkards, a trio of bumbling young men frolic at the beach. While they swim, their clothes are stolen and replaced with new outfits. Donning these, they are mistaken for undocumented Koreans and end up on the run from outraged authorities. A strong commentary on Japan’s treatment of its Korean immigrants, this is Nagisa Oshima at both his most politically engaged and provocative. The film was released during the height of the Vietnam War, where Japan was involved in providing material support to the US forces as part of the US - Japan security treaty and the use of military bases in Japan by the US forces. 6:30 pm Devils on the Doorstep Director: Jiang Wen (China/2000/139 mins) Jiang Wen (b.1963) takes a fresh look at Japanese occupation of China during the end of 2nd world war in Devils on the Doorstep. The film is set in a small village, the story of a peasant who under gun point has to shelter two prisoners. One is a Japanese soldier who wants to be killed and the other is his Chinese interpreter who wants to live. The peasant struggles to keep the prisoners hidden from the Japanese forces, while deciding to execute them - days turns into months. The film leads to a very powerful climax. The film went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2000, banned in China, continued to have a vibrant underground life circulating through DVDs. March 2023 February 2023 3:30 pm Kalpana Director: Uday Shankar (Hindi/1948/152 mins) Shai Heredia on “Kalpana”For decades, modern-dance pioneer Uday Shankar’s one and only film, the radical Kalpana, was locked away in the National Film Archive of India because of a copyright dispute. “A dance fantasy in celluloid,” as the posters for the film on its 1948 release boldly stated, it features hyperstylized cinematography, spectacular dance sequences, and a layered, melodramatic narrative that warns the Indian film industry and the newly independent nation itself of the perils of pursuing commerce over culture. Kalpana should have been an inspirational classic of postcolonial Indian cinema for generations of artists, academics, filmmakers, dancers, and cinephiles. But this was not to be. Needless to say, such erasures forever alter history, and it is only over seventy years later that we can discover in Kalpana a truly modern cinematic form, created by an artist who was well ahead of his time, and a manifesto for a secular, democratic-socialist India that could have been. February 2023 5:35 pm 2046 Director: Wong Kar Wai (Cantonese/2004/128 mins) Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung Man Yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them. At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. Wong Kar Wai’s loose sequel to In the Mood for Love combines that film’s languorous air of romantic longing with a dizzying time-hopping structure andavant-sci-fi twist. Tony Leung Chiu Wai reprises his role as writerChow Mo-Wan, whose numerous failed relationships with women who drift in and out of his life (and the one who goes in and out of room 2046, down the hall from his apartment) inspire the delirious futuristic love story he pens. 3:30pm In the Mood for Love Director: Wong Kar Wai (Cantonese/2000/95 mins) Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love, along with the science-fiction fantasy 2046 (2004) are considered a trilogy about Time, History, Life, Love and a City. The breakthrough sophomore feature by Wong Kar Wai represents the first full flowering of his swooning signature style. The initial entry in a loosely connected, ongoing cycle that includes In the Mood for Love and 2046, this ravishing existential reverie is a dreamlike drift through the Hong Kong of the 1960s in which a band of wayward twentysomethings—including a disaffected playboy (Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing) searching for his birth mother, a lovelorn woman (Maggie Cheung Man Yuk) hopelessly enamored with him, and a policeman (Andy Lau Tak Wah) caught in the middle of their turbulent relationship—pull together and push apart in a dance of frustrated desire. 3:30 pm The Last Emperor Director: Bernardo Bertolucci (China, Italy/1987/163 mins) The first film of the evening will be The Last Emperor (1987) by the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. It is a grand sweep of a film - a massive, overflowing, almost ridiculously ambitious epic that covers more than six decades of turbulent political and social history. Bertolucci has a love of the intimate, which informs his best films, but he also goes after the epic, the grandiose, and the larger-than-life. Few filmmakers can marry those two impulses with any real finesse or grace, and Bertolucci certainly comes closer than most. The Last Emperor tells the amazing, but true story of Pu Yi, who, in 1908, at the tender age of 3 was taken from his mother and made emperor of China. Installed on the Dragon Throne in Beijing’s Forbidden City, the child was given command over a third of the world’s population. December 2022 5:30 pm Mountains May Depart Director: Jia Zhangke (Mandarin/2015/126 mins) The second film of the evening will be Mountains May Depart, made in the year 2015 by Jia Zhang-Ke. The screening completes the focus on Jia Zhang-Ke’s works started in November. The film is an epic drama depicting the life of one family over several decades under China’s march towards capitalism. Structured in three parts (set in 1999, 2014 and Australia in 2025), the film follows the life of Shen Tao (played by Jia’s regular collaborator Zhao Tao) and her family over 26 years. This work of Jia is a study of Capitalist forces and globalisation on Chinese society and family life.Jia Zhang-Ke is one of the most influential Chinese filmmakers working in world cinema today. His films Unknown Pleasures (2002) and Still Life (2006) were screened at FSB earlier. 3:30 pm Poetry Director: Lee Chang-dong (South Korea/2010/179 mins) The first screening of the evening is the South Korean film Poetry (2010) by Lee Chang-dong. This film continues the focus on Korean films and presents Lee Chang-Dong’s works following the screening of Secret Sunshine. Mija is an old lady who lives with her middle-schooler grandson in a small suburban city located along the Han River. By chance she takes a "poetry" class at a neighborhood cultural center and is challenged to write a poem for the first time in her life. In her quest for poetic inspiration Mija is delightfully surprised with a newfound trepidation as if she were a little girl discovering things for the first time in her life. But when she is suddenly faced with a reality harsh beyond her imagination, she realizes perhaps life is not as beautiful as she had thought it is. 6:00 pm A Touch of Sin Director: Jia Zhang-Ke (China/2013/133 mins) The second film of the evening will be A Touch of Sin, made in the year 2013 by Jia Zhang-Ke. The film is inspired by real life events in modern day China. It tells the stories of four individuals, living in different provinces, drawn to acts of violence. A miner, enraged by corruption in his village; a migrant worker discovers the hidden benefits of owning a firearm; a sauna worker is pushed to the limits by a client; and a factory worker drifting through the factories and nightclubs of Dongguan. The film explores the role of everyday violence in Chinese life. It won the best screenplay award at the Cannes film Festival in 2013. Jia Zhang-Ke is one of the most influential Chinese filmmakers working in world cinema today. His films Unknown Pleasures (2002) and Still Life (2006) were screened at FSB earlier. December 2022 3:30 pm Secret Sunshine Director: Chang Lee-Dong (South Korea/2007/184 mins) The first film of the evening will be Secret Sunshine, made in the year 2007, directed by South Korean director Chang Lee-Dong. Secret Sunshine (Miryang) stars Jeon Do-yeon as a widowed piano teacher who moves with her young son from Seoul to her late husband’s provincial hometown for a fresh start. Secret Sunshine is a study of faith in all its power, strangeness, and cruelty; a look at the particularities of human nature and experience that account for the existence, perhaps even the inevitability, of religion—all of which is to say that it’s an attempt to depict the invisible in what is foremost a visual medium.Lee Chang-Dong directed his first film in his fourties, born in 1954, he was a successful novelist and scriptwriter before making films. His body of work has made him one of the foremost Asian filmmakers working in World Cinema. His film Oasis (2002) won multiple prizes at Venice Film Festival, Poetry (2010) won the screenplay award at Cannes Film Festival, Secret Sunshine (2007) won the best actress award at Cannes for the actor Jeon. The films Oasis and Poetry have been screened earlier at FSB . November 2022 6:30 pm 24 City Director: Jia Zhang-Ke (China/2008/112 mins) The second film of the evening will be 24 City, made in the year 2008 by Jia Zhang-Ke. The film is about the generations of people who worked in a state factory at Chengdu, which is just about to be demolished; it is a docu-fiction hybrid, an essay in contemporary history and an experiment in cine-portraiture, vividly shot on high-definition video. The result is a deeply serious and sombre film, trying to find a way of telling the stories of people affected by the gigantic political and economic changes sweeping the nation – 21st Century China. The focus on Jia Zhang-Ke would continue in the screening of Touch of Sin(2013) and Mountains May Depart (2015) during December 2022. Jia Zhang-Ke is one of the most influential Chinese filmmakers working in world cinema today. His films Unknown Pleasures (2002) and Still Life(2006) were screened at FSB earlier. November 2022 3:00 pm The Housemaid Director: Kim Ki Young (Korean/1960/111 mins) Middle-aged composer Dong Sik has his hands full trying to provide for his pregnant wife and two kids. He hires a housemaid to help out around the house, but the strange and sultry young woman has other plans in mind as she sets out to seduce Dong Sik. Wadjda Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour (Arabic/2012/97 mins) Young Wadjda dreams of owning a green bicycle. She wants to race a boy from the neighborhood, but the law prohibits girls from riding bikes. Just as she is losing hope, she hears about a cash prize for a Quran recitation competition at her school. Wadjda decides to earn the cash to fulfil her dream. 3:30 pm Akaler Sandhaney Director: Mrinal Sen (Bengali/1982/115 mins) The first film of the evening will be Akaler Sandhaney (In Search of a Famine), made in the year 1982, directed by Mrinal Sen, A film unit led by its director (Dhritiman Chatterjee) arrives at a village called Hatui to shoot a film on the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 (Akal, in vernacular). The units shoots and resides in a semi-dilapidated zamindari palace, which has an old lady (Gita Sen) and her paralysed husband as it sole inhabitants. At the outstet, everything is fine, complications arise when one of the actors (Debika Mukherjee) starts throwing starry tantrums and is dismissed. The director’s attempt to replace her by the daughter of a village bigwig stirs up the hornet’s nest – the villagers take this as an insult and refuse to co-operate with the film unit. Finally, the unit is forced to pack-up and leave. Akaler Sandhaney employs the ‘film within a film’ structure (and the trials and tensions of the film crew) to explore Sen’s favourite themes – poverty, exploitation and the ensuing human misery. In the process of doing so the film also turns a critical gaze into the politics of artistic representation of such misery. The film is searing cross-examination of the ethics and morals of the petit-bourgeois filmmaker/s who, as one of the villagers comment at the very beginning of the film, “invade the village in search of famine”. Dhritiman Chatterjee, who plays the nameless film-director – a deliberate choice, as all other members of the film-crew ostensibly play ‘themselves’ being addressed by their actual names – assumes the persona of Mrinal Sen himself – the concerned and intellectual filmmaker attempting to make films that tackle the “real histories of India’s poverty.” The film won the Silver Bear (Special Jury Prize) at Berlin film festival, 1981 and a clutch of National Awards. March 2020 6:30 pm Bhuvan Shome Director: Mrinal Sen (Hindi/1969/96 mins) The second film of the evening will be Bhuvan Shome, made in the year 1969 by Mrinal Sen, the film revolves around Bhuvan Shome (Utpal Dutt), a ruthless Bengali bureaucrat working in the Indian Railways. Greatly feared by his subordinates, the middle-aged widower has spent his life trying to be righteous and has zero tolerance for the corrupt or the incompetent. As the narrator informs, he once even went to the extent of firing his own son. He is highly respected by everyone around him but being a martinet he is forced to live in abject solitude. One day, bored by his monotonous office routine, he decides to go on a bird hunting trip to Saurashtra, a region located on the Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat. Doomed to live in solitude, Bhuvan Shome, trapped in an alien land, quickly realizes that he has inadvertently pushed himself a bit too far out of his comfort zone. The rest of the movie takes us on unfolds as a journey of self-realization for Bhuvan Shome, who gradually learns to appreciate the importance of human company.A classic Hindi film written and directed by Mrinal Sen, stars the renowned Bengali actor Utpal Dutt and Marathi actress Suhasini Mulay (making her film debut) in the pivotal roles. Bhuvan Shome also marked the debut of Amitabh Bachchan, who narrates the film in a playfully sardonic voice. Sen's screenplay is based on a Bengali story by Banaphool (aka Balai Chand Mukhopadhya). The recipient of three National Awards -- Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor -- Bhuvan Shome is also said to have pioneered the Indian New Wave. Perhaps, the most striking thing about Bhuvan Shome is that it is minimalistic without being devoid of style. The plot is bereft of any structure and Sen adopts a documentary style to devise the movie's narrative. The film’s use of improvisation and humour, its naturalistic depiction of rural India established it as a landmark of Indian cinema. January 2020 3:30 pm Woycezek Director: Wener Herzong (German/1979/82 mins) The first film of the evening will be Woyczek, made in the year 1979, directed by Wener Herzog, the screenplay is based on the unfinished German play written by Georg Buchner in 1836 shortly before he died, was itself based on the true story of Johann Christian Woyzeck, a barber-solider who was beheaded in Leipzig in 1821 for murdering his mistress. Woyzeck, played by Klaus Kinski, is occupied by demons, furiously going through calesthenics that seem to be some kind of punishment. Woyzeck supplements his meager soldier's pay by allowing himself to be the guinea pig for the town's doctor, a loony man-of-science whose grand experiment requires Woyzeck to stay on a diet of nothing but peas. The doctor is bent on proving that it's possible to turn a man into a donkey. The film won the Oscar under the foreign film category. 3:30 pm Mephisto Director: Istvan Szabo (German/1981/184 mins) The first film of the evening will be Mephisto, made in the year 1981, by Istvan Szabo. Mephisto is the story of German actor Hendrik Höfgen, a successful leftwing radical in the Weimar days, who does an apparent volte-face when the Nazis take power. After securing Hermann Göring's (one of the powerful leaders of the Nazi party) patronage, Höfgen becomes a leading member of the Nazi cultural establishment. “What do they want from me now? After all, I am just an actor. December 2019 6:30 pm The Diary of a Chambermaid Director: Luis Bunuel (French, Italian/1967/97 mins) The second film of the evening will be The Diary of a Chambermaid, made in the year 1967, by Luis Bunuel is an adaptation of the Octave Mirbeau novel. Jeanne Moreau is Celestine, a beautiful Parisian domestic who, upon arrival at her new job at an estate in provincial 1930s France, entrenches herself in sexual hypocrisy and scandal with her philandering employer (Buñuel regular Michel Piccoli). Filmed in luxurious black-and-white Franscope, Diary of a Chambermaid is a scathing look at the burgeoning French fascism of the era. The screenings will be followed by an interview with Jean Claude-Carriere (Screenplay of The Diary of a Chambermaid) . December 2019 3:30 pm The Match Factory Girl Director: Aki Kaurismäki (Finland/1990/70 mins) The first film of the evening will be The Match Factory Girl, made in the year 1990, Kaurismäki took his penchant for despairing character studies to unspeakably grim depths in the shockingly entertaining The Match Factory Girl. Kati Outinen is memorably impenetrable as Iris, whose grinding days as a cog in a factory wheel, and nights as a neglected daughter living with her parents, ultimately send her over the edge. Yet despite her transgressions, Kaurismäki makes Iris a compelling, even sympathetic figure. Bleak yet suffused with comic irony, The Match Factory Girl closes out the “Proletariat Trilogy”. 6:00 pm La Promesse Director: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Belgium/1996/90 mins) The second film of the evening will be La Promesse, made in the year 1996, La promesse is the breakthrough feature from Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, who would go on to become a force in world filmmaking. The brothers brought the unerring eye for detail and the compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs developed in their earlier documentary work to this absorbing drama about a teenager (Jérémie Renier) gradually coming to understand the implications of his father’s making a living through the exploitation of undocumented workers. Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, La promesse is a brilliantly economical and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening. November 2019 3:30 pm Ariel Director: Aki Kaurismäki (Finnish/1988/72 mins) The first film of the evening will be Ariel, made in the year 1988 by Aki Kaurismäki. In Kaurismäki’s crime drama, a coal miner named Taisto (Turo Pajala) attempts to leave behind a provincial life of inertia and economic despair, only to get into ever deeper trouble. Yet a minor-key romance with a hilariously dispassionate meter maid (Susanna Haavisto) might provide a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Ariel, boasts an interesting soundtrack of Finnish tango and Baltic pop music and lovely cinematography by Kaurismäki’s longtime cameraman Timo Salmimen, put its director on the international map. 6:00 pm Through the Olive Trees Director: Abbas Kiarostami (Persian/1994/103 mins) The second film of the evening will be Through the Olive Trees, made in the year 1994, the final film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing Koker Trilogy, Abbas Kiarostami takes metanarrative to masterful heights in the final installment of The Koker Trilogy. Unfolding “behind the scenes” of And Life Goes On, this film traces the complications that arise when the romantic misfortune of one of the actors—a young man who pines for the woman cast as his wife, even though, in real life, she will have nothing to do with him—creates turmoil on set and leaves the hapless director caught in the middle. 3:30 pm Shadows in Paradise Director: Aki Kaurismäki (Finnish/1986/73 mins) The first film of the evening will be Shadows in Paradise, made in the year 1986 by Aki Kaurismäki. Lonely garbageman Nikkander (Matti Pellonpää) finds himself directionless after losing his friend and co-worker to a sudden heart attack; unlikely redemption comes in the form of plain supermarket cashier Ilona (Kati Outinen, in her first of many performances for Kaurismäki), with whom he begins a tentative love affair. Boiling down what is essentially a romantic comedy to a series of spare and beautiful gestures, Kaurismäki conjures an unexpected delight that finds hope blossoming even amid gray surroundings. 5:30 pm And Life Goes on Director: Abbas Kiarostami (Persian/1992/95 mins) The second film of the evening will be And Life Goes On, made in the year 1992, the second film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing Koker Trilogy, In the aftermath of the 1990 earthquake in Iran that left fifty thousand dead, Abbas Kiarostami returned to Koker, where his camera surveys not only devastation but also the teeming life in its wake. Blending fiction and reality into a playful, poignant road movie, And Life Goes On follows a film director who, along with his son, makes the trek to the region in hopes of finding out if the young boys who acted in Where Is the Friend’s House? are among the survivors, and discovers a resilient community pressing on in the face of tragedy. Finding beauty in the bleakest of circumstances, Kiarostami crafts a quietly majestic ode to the best of the human spirit. November 2019 3:30 pm Homework Director: Abbas Kiarostami (Iran/1989/77 mins) The first film of the evening will be Homework, made in the year 1989 by Iranian film maker Abbas Kiarostami, the film explores the Iranian education system and raises questions about the systemic oppression faced by young pupils resonating across cultures. October 2019 6:00 pm Where is the Friend's House? Director: Abbas Kiarostami (Iran/1987/83 mins) The second film of the evening will be Where is the Friend's House?, made in the year 1987, the first film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing Koker Trilogy takes a simple premise—a boy searches for the home of his classmate, whose school notebook he has accidentally taken—and transforms it into a miraculous child’s-eye adventure of the everyday. As our young hero zigzags determinedly across two towns, aided (and sometimes misdirected) by those he encounters, his quest becomes both a revealing portrait of rural Iranian society in all its richness and complexity and a touching parable about the meaning of personal responsibility. Sensitive and profound, Where Is the Friend’s House? is shot through with all the beauty, tension, and wonder a single day can contain. August 2019 3:30 pm RAN Director: Akira Kurosawa (France/1985/41 mins) The first film of the evening will be RAN, made in the year 1985 by Japanese Master film maker Akira Kurosawa. A reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear set in feudal Japan, RAN tells the story of Lord Hidetora Ichimonji, an ageing warlord who, after spending his life consolidating his empire, decides to abdicate and divide his Kingdom amongst his three sons Taro, Jiro and Saburo. This leads to a brutal and bloody war between the brothers for absolute power of the kingdom. Kurosawa’s deployment of huge armies in vast landscapes displays a pre-digital mastery that we can only gasp at today, as Kurosawa's last epic, Ran has often been cited as among his finest achievements. The complex and variant etymology for the word Ran used as the title has been variously translated as "chaos", "rebellion", or "revolt"; or to mean "disturbed" or "confused". Ran may be seen as a morality play - something one sees and learns from. It is also, as Kurosawa himself intimated, a final statement. One of the most important film makers in cinema history, Akira Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. His final film, RAN has been beautifully restored in 4K and we will screen the restored version. 5:30 pm AK Director: Chris Marker (France/1985/71 mins) The film screening will be followed by a documentary by French Filmmaker Chris Marker's AK - a film about Akira Kurosawa, as he worked on the making of Ran. There will be a small talk on the 'Art of the Samurai' by Jean Charbonnier. 3:00 pm Climates Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkiye/2006/101 mins) The first film of the evening is “Climates” made in the year 2006, directed by the noted Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan daringly casts himself and his wife, Ebru Ceylan, in the lead roles of this poignant yet hard-edged modernist melodrama, from 2006. During a beachside summer vacation, Isa (Nuri Bilge Ceylan),a struggling university lecturer, senses that his marriage to Bahar (Ebru Ceylan), a television art director, is falling apart, and, at his suggestion, they separate. Lonely and adrift in Istanbul, he learns that Bahar has gone to Turkey’s rural, tradition-bound East to work on a film, and he heads off to find her. Ceylan’s long takes and brooding closeups capture the faces, gestures, and longings of Istanbul’s aging bourgeois bohemians, as well as the moody nuances of actual and emotional weather. Under the guise of the universal theme of love and its mysteries, Ceylan offers a glimpse of harsh and unresolved local particulars. August 2019 6:30 pm Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkiye/2011/157 mins ) The second film of the evening is “Once Upon A Time In Anatolia” made in the year 2011, directed by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan.The film is a rigorous tale of a night and a day in a murder investigation. Police, prosecutors, a doctor and the murderers themselves try to locate a buried body through one long night in the Anatolian steppes. Many long-buried thoughts and fears are also disinterred in the minds of the investigators as they go about their thankless task. With extraordinary photography from Gokhan Tiryaki, the film slowly insinuates itself as a drama of subtlety and complexity.The Film won the Grand Prix prize at 2011 Cannes Film FestivalScreening followed by Interview: i) Interview with director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (24 mins) 3:00 pm Climates Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkiye/2006/101 mins) The first film of the evening is “Climates” made in the year 2006, directed by the noted Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan daringly casts himself and his wife, Ebru Ceylan, in the lead roles of this poignant yet hard-edged modernist melodrama, from 2006. During a beachside summer vacation, Isa (Nuri Bilge Ceylan),a struggling university lecturer, senses that his marriage to Bahar (Ebru Ceylan), a television art director, is falling apart, and, at his suggestion, they separate. Lonely and adrift in Istanbul, he learns that Bahar has gone to Turkey’s rural, tradition-bound East to work on a film, and he heads off to find her. July 2019 6:30 pm Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Turkiye/2011/157 mins) The second film of the evening is “Once Upon A Time In Anatolia” made in the year 2011, directed by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan.The film is a rigorous tale of a night and a day in a murder investigation. Police, prosecutors, a doctor and the murderers themselves try to locate a buried body through one long night in the Anatolian steppes. Many long-buried thoughts and fears are also disinterred in the minds of the investigators as they go about their thankless task.

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2nd Children's Film Festival, 2024 We are super excited to bring you the second edition of the Children’s Film Festival. The festival is exclusively for children (under the age of 16). It will be organized from 24th to 26th July in Odissi Research Centre from 10 am onwards. There is no festival entry fee. Heatwaves. Silence of the forest is disturbed. The forest, once bustling with creatures now lie deserted under a ruthless sun casting short shadows. There is no respite and creatures have started migrating. The world is burning, there is no escape and the elusive Forest Spirit is not spared from it. Out of despair and the loss of its offsprings it finally had to reveal itself. And the witness to this revelation is Dharama.

Be a Member About Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More The Festival Logo: 'Nabagunjara' (ନବଗୁଞ୍ଜର)‘Nabagunjara’, meaning ‘Naba’ (nine) and ‘Gunjara’ (sound), is depicted in traditional Patachitra painting as a composite figure of nine animals. The images of this creature are found in the paintings of the Himalayan Princely states and South India; however, the written version of the story of Nabagunjara is found only in the Sarala Das (15th century) Odia Mahabharata. Lord Krishna here reveals to Arjuna in Nabagunjara form to test his devotion. The depiction of the creature is found in the Jagannath temple, Puri. The creature is also found in the Ganjifa playing cards; it is the king card and Arjuna is the minister card. In the form of Nabagunjara, Krishna expresses the plurality of approaches to the understanding of reality. The ultimate reality that Krishna teaches Arjuna is one, but it may appear different to different people depending on their point of view and their own innate'svabhava' or nature. The Hindu tradition is neither monolithic nor unitarian but instead plural and multifaceted, where multiplicity rather than uniformity is the watchword and, therefore, approaches to this reality also have to be varied. Therefore, we think this symbol of plurality could be a way to look at the composite art of Cinema. Nabangunjara not only represents the essence of acceptance and diversity but also is a representation of different perspectives that cinema throws light on and through. The entire idea of several animals unified through an eternal soul somewhere or the other, shows the unpredictable nature of cinema that keeps exploring and surprising the human mind through sight and sound in varied ways. The spirit of this motif is deeply ingrained in the Odia society, from small Vaishnava temples around the street corners of coastal Odisha to the sanctum of faith in the Jagannath temple. It makes sense that it stands out as the symbol of the work we are trying to do FILM LINE UP AT IFFB 2019 Ee Ma Yau Director-Lijo Jose Pellissery / 120 mins / India / Malayalam / 2018 The story of ‘Ee. Ma. Yau.’ is set amidst the Latin Catholic community in Chellanam beach near Kochi in Kerala. It revolves around the death of Vavachan, a master mason, who comes home after a lapse of time, and suddenly meets with his death. Before his death, he shares with his son Eeshi, memories about the burial of his father and in turn, his own desire to be buried decently. Eeshi readily promises him a grand burial. After Vavachan’s sudden and shocking departure, Eeshi earnestly arranges forhis father’s funeral; he wants it to be performed with due respect, with all the usualrituals, colorful paraphernalia and celebrations that go with it. Abraham Director- Konarak Mukherjee / 127 mins / India / Bengali, English / 2018 This is an interpretation of the mythical tale of Abraham, delving into the dark and macabre world of religious fanaticism and dogma. God is wrathful and His judgement is upon our world. God would burn down the sinful and decadent human civilisation to the ground. He, the preferred child of the lord, pleaded with God in order to delay the apocalypse and took up the task of ridding the civilisation of sin… one sinner at a time. Ajji Director - Devashish Makhija / 128 mins / India / Hindi, Marathi / 2016 Little Manda is found raped and dumped in a trash heap in her slum. Her parents are more concerned with survival than dignity and want to forget and move on. The cops are powerless to help as the rapist is a local politician's son. But Manda's grandmother Ajji cannot accept the injustice of it all. Can a frail, arthritic and powerless old woman grapple with the big bad wolf? Is there still hope for justice in a cruel world?. There are no easy answers. Eeda Director - B. Ajithkumar / 152 mins / India / Malayalam / 2018 Anand and Aiswarya who hail from nearby villages in North Malabar. A chance meeting in their native place develops into a passionate affair in Mysore. But their lives suddenly become intertwined in a series of violent events. Separated from each other, they try to overcome the obstacles and unite once again. And their frantic attempts to escape tightens the knot further. Will their love weather this storm? Teen Aur Aadha Director - Daria Gai / 121 mins / India / Marathi, Hindi / 2017 Teen Aur Aadha unfolds a unique narrative through three unbroken 43-minute shots, exploring one house across three eras. Fifty years ago, it housed a school and an apartment where a young boy shared a cramped room with his paralyzed grandfather, who harbored sinister plans for the boy's leap-year birthday. Twenty years later, it became a brothel, focusing on a naive concubine and her peculiar client. Thirty years on, the same walls hold a mysterious serenity. Mishing Director - Bobby Sarma Baruah / 75 mins / India / Sherdukpan / 2018 A Manipuri Army deserter grows roots in the Sherdukpan community of Arunachal Pradesh and suddenly disappears only to resurface decades later and once again vanish behind a curtain of curious questions. Aamrityu Director - Arup Manna / 81 mins / India / Assamese / 2018 After four years away fighting a lost cause, Amrit returns to a changed village. His brother is wiser, his father weaker, and the once-familiar community now whispers and stares. Struggling to adapt and haunted by doubts, Amrit grapples with the harsh realities of life. Will he find hope or succumb to fear as he seeks his path forward? Chuskit Director: Priya Ramasubban/ 89mins/ Ladakhi/ 2018 Young Chuskit dreams of going to school, but after an accident leaves her paraplegic, her strict grandfather, Dorje, insists school can't accommodate her. As tensions rise at home, her family is torn between honoring Dorje's traditional views and supporting Chuskit's determination. Chuskit must either change her grandfather's mind or accept the limits he sets. Ave Maria Director:Vipin Radhakrishnan/ 75mins/ Malayalam/ 2018 Rex, a diffident, pervasive man who works as a driver in the holy town of Velankanni meet Maria Gomez, a Catholic devotee with strong religious beliefs in a peculiar situation during one of his debaucheries. Maria later takes the help of Rex for completing couple of her errands gets acquainted with him further and it ends up changing both their lives in the most unexpected of ways. Humans of Someone Director- Sumesh Lal/ 95mins/ Malayalam/ 2018 A man gets obsessed with late filmmaker Padmarajan, whose films become inextricably entwined with his own life, including his relationship with his long-time girlfriend, Sarah. While wandering the streets in a daze, a loopy idea strikes him – start filming this situation, and see what happens. Pariyerum Perum BA.BL Director- Mari Selvaraj/ 154mins/ Tamil/ 2018 Pariyerum Perumal, an idealistic youngster, enrolls at the law college optimistic of the future that lies ahead of him. However, a chain of events ensue that wake him up to the realities of the world he lives in. The Young Karl Marx Director- Raoul Peck/ 118mins/ German/ 2017 At 26, Karl Marx, with his wife Jenny, meets Friedrich Engels in Paris in 1844. Engels' insights into the English proletariat complete Marx's revolutionary vision. Amid censorship, raids, and upheavals, they spearhead the labor movement, sparking a transformative political and theoretical shift. Ami O Manohar Director - Amitabha Chatterjee / 118 mins / India / Bengali / 2018 Two solitary individuals meet each other every day in the city of Calcutta and share the stories of their imaginary life. But one day when death makes an appearance, the truth is revealed. Ashwathama Director - Pushpendra Singh / 120 mins / India /Hindi / 2017 After bandits raid their home killing his mother, 9-year-old Ishvaku is sent to his uncle's village to start a new life with his cousins. Still in shock and pain, Ishvaku tries to cope with his loss by entering an imaginary realm. But the difficulties and mysteries of reality won't let him go that easily. Ka Bodyscapes Director - Jayan Cherian / 99 mins / India / Malyalam / 2017 Three young people, Haris, a free-spirited gay painter; Vishnu, a rural kabaddi player and Haris’ object of desire; and their friend Sia, an activist who refuses to conform to dominant norms of femininity, struggle to find space and happiness. '96 Director - C. Prem Kumar / 157 mins / India / Tamil / 2018 Ramachandran, a free-spirited travel photographer, visits his hometown Thanjavur and plans a reunion for the class of '96. At the event, his high school sweetheart, Janaki, arrives, sparking nostalgia and unresolved emotions. The two reflect on their bittersweet love story from 22 years ago, sharing life updates in a single night. Bulbul can sing Director - Rima Das / 95 mins / India / Assamese / 2018 Bulbul, a young girl, living in village in Assam, India, fighting her way through love and loss as she figures out who really she is! . Haanduk Director - Jaicheng Jai Dohutia / 83 mins / India / Assamese, Moran / 2016 Heramoni, mother of untraced extremist Mukti, whose last rites she had performed receives intimation that his death cannot be confirmed by the outfit and knows not how to respond while Biplob, who had left the outfit and is alone, unable to be part of the mainstream surrendered rebels, has his own problems of existence. Kyoyang Ngarmo Director - Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam / 91 mins / India / Tibetan / 2018 When a young, exile Tibetan woman unexpectedly sees a man from her past, long- suppressed memories of her traumatic escape across the Himalayas are reignited and she is propelled on an obsessive search for reconciliation and closure. Oath Director- P.K. Bijukuttan/ 82mins/ Malayalam/ 2018 Oath proceeds through the depth and expanse of tender human love and the movie breeds the seed of melancholy and agony in the heart of spectator visualising the tragic life of a mentally challenged son and his helpless father. The thread of the movie is the never ending quest for the reason behind tragedy and the lethargic solitude after this fatal incident.finally it turns the finger towards the spectator himself.Blood relationship abandoned by the senseless society. Sudani from Nigeria Director - Zakaria / 115 mins / India / Malayalam / 2018 Majid, a football passionate from Malappuram , is working as a Soccer club manager in the region. Samuel, a Nigerian footballer who is recently hired by Majid is unfortunately met with a severe back injury in an accident. Having Samuel being prescribed for a two-month bed rest Majid is obliged to take him his own home promising a perfect nursing. They form an unlikely bond despite their cultural differences. Bhayanakam Director- Jayaraj/ 124mins/ Malayalam/ 2018 A First World War veteran is coming to a small Backwater village in Kuttanand, India as a Postman. He is distributing money orders and letters to the family of soldiers as a symbol of happiness. He turns out to be an Omen of death once Second World War starts. The pain and impact of Second World War is shown through the telegrams and postman’s dilemma. Udalazham Director - Unnikrishnan Avala/ 119mins/ Malayalam/ 2018 The protagonist, Gulikan, was married in childhood, as part of their custom, to Mathi. He, being a transgender, is unable to fulfil his marital vows, and is constantly abused and raped by the predatory men he encounters both in the village and the city. Change of jobs, friendship with a dance teacher and a Tile Company owner doesn't make much of an impact in his life. Gulikan is unable to thrive in a racist and hostile city. Udalazham is about his plight, back to nature. Pratibhasam Director- Vipin Vijay/ 158mins/ Malayalam/ 2018 Maya the protagonist, on her way to the college, hears a radio news of a strange geometrical figure with the shape of a ‘tetrahedron’ that appears from nowhere besides the Nazca lines in Peru. In the mean time, Maya’s friend Divya's father, Neelan, goes missing. Few days later he is found from a distant land with signatures of pre-historic habitats around the place. Maya meets a few people from distant lands, of different races, roaming around a desolated architecture. Are they humanoid creatures? By the end of the film, through a dream passage that connects both Maya and Divya, we get to know about the disappearance of Maya. Nayinte Hrudayam Director- Sreekrishnan KP/ 120mins/ Malayalam/ 2017 Based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog, the film explores philosophical themes, questioning human constructs and anthropomorphism. With an ultra-experimental approach, it blends fragmented, hybrid imagery to deconstruct conventional storytelling and representational realism. By breaking spatio-temporal continuity, the film creates a poetic, polyphonic, and kaleidoscopic narrative, challenging traditional cinematic forms with a refreshing and epistemological vision. Victoria Director- Sebastian Schipper/ 138 mins/ German/ 2015 Victoria, a young woman from Madrid, meets four local Berliners outside a nightclub. Sonne and his friends promise to show her a good time and the real side of the city. But these lads have gotten themselves into hot water: they owe someone a dangerous favor that requires repaying that evening. Shot in a single take over the night and filmed in 22 locations of Berlin. Aedan Director- Sanju Surendran/ 130mins/ Malayalam/ 2017 Hari, a young writer in the countryside, lives a quiet life with his mother, finding brief excitement in the doctor’s wife. He visits Peter Sir, a retired teacher, where they play a morbid game, betting on obituary notices. Among the picks, Peter recognizes two men, Shaji and Kuriakose, whose deaths reveal stories of murder and love. Toni Erdmann Director- Maren Ade/ 162 mins/ German/ 2016 Winfried, a prank-loving music teacher, surprises his career-driven daughter Ines in Bucharest, disrupting her corporate life. Adopting the eccentric alter ego "Toni Erdmann," he poses as her CEO's life coach, pushing boundaries with bold antics. Despite their clashes, the father-daughter duo grows closer through their unconventional connection. FATITH AKIN RETROSPECTIVE Impulsive, raw, and wild, Fatih Akin’s films explore the intersection of cultures, freedom, and reconciliation. His breakout masterpiece Gegen die Wand (Head-On) (2004) tells the story of Sibel, a German-Turkish woman, and her unconventional marriage with Cahit, a broken alcoholic, sparking redemption for both. This marked the start of his “Love, Death and the Devil” trilogy, followed by The Edge of Heaven (2006), weaving tales of six lives across Germany and Turkey, bridging religions, cultures, and histories. Akin’s work, rich in music blending punk and Turkish folk, breaks boundaries, with highlights like Crossing the Bridge, an exploration of music subcultures, Soul Kitchen (2009), a comedic gem, and The Cut (2014), tackling the Armenian genocide. His cinema is a vivid blend of raw emotion, cultural intersections, and rhythmic storytelling. Girish Kasaravalli’s films are full of rituals, ceremonies, legitimization games, legal procedures and codes of communication and social conduct. These narratives are all structured around notions of inclusion and exclusion, of inclusiveness and exclusivity. They are all about who is in a particular game and who is not. Even though Kasaravalli’s films are about rituals, the films, themselves, are never rituals. Even though they have been present in one form or another throughout his filmography, the key question that Kasaravalli’s films have put emphasis on has moved from that of socio-religious institutions and their laws, through that of authorization of those laws by those whom it applies to, to that of justice and its many conflicting definitions that seek to pin down its meaning, all the while having at their focal points the effects that these questions have on the social standing of women. Ghatashraddha delves into a system of social legitimation that is built on suppressing differences, deviances and dissent. (Having a homosexual teenager in the school is provocative even today). Kasaravalli portrays these rituals – religious and social – in high detail that they seem to almost possess a power beyond the people who perform them. Shot mostly indoors with the production design dominated by deep red and brown colours, Thai Saheba is reminiscent of similarly-themed films of the same decade by Hou and Zhang, especially in the way the women orbit the largely unseen patriarch of the house and how the personal becomes inseperably entagled with the political. His debut film Piravi (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the first academy for film and TV in India and was also the executive chairman of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) from 1998 to 2001. He is best known for his award-winning films Piravi (1988), Swaham (1994), Vanaprastham (1999) and Kutty Srank (2009). He won the National Award for Best Director for his debut film Piravi. He also won two Kerala State Film Awards for Best Director for his films Swaham and Vanaprastham. Based on the controversial Rajan case, Piravi presents a sombre picture of the missing man's family. The mental anguish resulting from the young man's disappearance is too much for his 80-year-old father Raghava Chakyar (Premji) to bear. It has mostly to do with the fact that the son was born much later: there is a 60-year gap between father and son. Despite having an elder daughter (Archana), it's obvious that both parents have a soft corner for the son. In Vanaprastham, an illicit relationship between a Kathakali dancer and a young woman from an upper caste family, results in an illegitimate child. He faces hardships when she refuses to let him see their child. "Film-making is not an esoteric thing to me. I consider film-making – to start with – a personal thing. If a person does not have a vision of his own, he cannot create." Ghatak, Ritwik (1987); Cinema and I. Ghatak was born a rebel. He questioned the ideas and attitudes towards culture and art prevalent at the time. When he was forced to appear before a one-man commission, so-called progressive thinkers branded him a Trotskyite. He criticized commercial cinema, which he felt left no scope for creativity and research. Ghatak put things on screen that worried him, made him happy or sad. He was basically an aesthetic artist and was personal in his films. Films that failed to highlight Indian culture were meaningless so far as he was concerned. Ritwik Ghatak made his second feature, Ajantrik (The Pathetic Fallacy, 1958), based on a short story by renowned writer Subodh Ghosh (1909-1980). The film depicts an obsessive relationship between an eccentric, lone-wolf cabdriver, Bimal (Kali Banerjee), and his 1920s Chevrolet jalopy, affectionately called Jagaddal (which literally means “immovable” in Bengali). Ghatak’s narration style was the exact opposite of Ray’s — making the audience uncomfortable. His last film, Jukti Takko Aar Gappo, bore his trademark rebellion, with the director himself playing the lead character of an alcoholic, disillusioned intellectual who comes across the first band of Naxalites in Bengal, though he denied basing it on a political ideology. “In it, the political backdrop of West Bengal from 1971 to 1972 — as I saw it — has been portrayed. There is no ideology. I saw it from the point of view of not a politician. I am not supposed to please a political ideology,” he said in an interview.

Film Society of Bhubaneswar is community of local cinephiles focusing on cinema literacy. We screen films from across the world and conduct master classes with leading artists. Our members help us organize film festivals and regular film screenings and shows in Bhubaneswar. Be a Member Screenings Festivals Members' Cafe More Film Society of Bhubaneswar (FSB) was started in 2004, by a group of Cinephiles. FSB has focused on creating cinema literacy among its members, screened over 500 films from across the world, conducted master classes with leading visual artists. The film society encourages its members to get involved in the film screenings and festivals. Support Us Upcoming Events About Screenings Services Membership Shop Festivals More Our focus is on building community using cinema literacy. We screen films from across the world and conduct master classes with leading artists. We encourage our members to get involved in film screenings and organizing film festivals. Over the past decades, we have organized more than 15 festivals covering Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar (2018-20, 23-24), Indian Documentary Film Festival of Bhubaneswar (2018-19, 22-24), Children's film festival (2023-2024), World Cinema (2012), Asian & African Cinema (2007), Journeys and Migration (2010), Short films (2011). We enable screenings and film festivals in schools and universities working with students. Support Film Society Bhubaneswar Be a Member