Family Shorts Block

Sunday Shorts Program

A carefully curated selection of three incredible independent short films: AASMANI, Deva Aaj Pan Vhay, Little Fishies, and Waagh (The Leopard).

AASMANI

India | Hindi, English | 2024 | 33 mins | Dir. Sayani Gupta

A grandmother and granddaughter connect over the journey of a well-loved, vintage car.

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Deva Aaj Pan Vhay

India | Marathi | 2024 | 15 mins | Dir. Amol Jadhav

Deva Aaj Pan Vhay follows the journey of Deva, a playful and inquisitive young boy living in a rural village. Each day he crosses rough terrain and faces unpredictable weather to reach his school. Through everyday experiences, relationships with his mother, teacher and mentor Dadu, he learns that education is not limited to textbooks but is shaped by life itself.

Little Fishies

India | English, Hindi, Punjabi | 2025 | 20 mins | Dir. Mallika Juneja

On the day of their father’s funeral ceremony, 13-year-old Raya and her younger sister Mia find themselves engulfed in the absurd and chaotic atmosphere of a grieving Punjabi household. Relatives assign duties, rituals unfold, and Raya feels a widening disconnect between the culturally appropriate way of grieving and her own instinctive way of grappling with the loss. This internal dissonance, coupled with Raya’s desire to shield Mia from the heaviness around them, drives her to hatch a plan to slip away from the stifling ceremony and escape to the beach.

The sisters’ mission gets derailed when their mother catches them and forbids them from leaving — she chides Raya for not supporting her, and insists that they grieve in the "correct” way. Raya pushes back, questioning the contradictions in her mother’s argument, which leans heavily on duty and tradition. This difference in philosophies sets off a heart-wrenching conflict between mother and daughter, each struggling to cope with the same pain.

As Raya and Mia fight against all odds to escape, they are forced to navigate judgment from their own family members, who deem their behavior unfit for the ceremony. Not only must Raya now fight their expectations of what a daughter in mourning must look like, but also reckon with a startlingly heavy question — is there really a right way to grieve?

Waagh (The Leopard)

India | Marathi, English | 2025 | 20 mins | Dir. Mukti Krishan

When a leopard wanders into a redeveloped apartment complex in Mumbai - its natural habitat long since encroached upon - fear quickly spreads. Mumbai is the only city in the world with a forest nestled within its limits, where leopards co-exist with malls, highways, and high rises. When the leopard is found dead, 8-year-old Apu’s world begins to distort.

Waagh is a tense psychological drama that explores childhood paranoia, silent fears, and the primal instincts simmering beneath the fragile surface of urban life.

Live Q&A with Sayani Gupta (AASMANI) & Amol Jadhav (Deva Aaj Pan Vhay).

The program will begin promptly at the time listed. Please show up early to ensure that you are in the theater 5 minutes before the film starts - we don't air 15 minutes of commercials.

Thank you to our community partners for this screening:

Indie Meme is supported in part by the City of Austin Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment

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