August 2, 2026 at 7:30:00 PM

AFS Cinema

I, Poppy

India | Documentary

2025 | 82 mins | Marwari, Hindi

TICKETS

Best International Feature Documentary - Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2025

A son fights corrupt officials while his mother tends their poppy farm in India. As authorities strike back at their lower-caste family, they must choose between keeping food on the table and standing up for what’s right.

Filmed observationally for 5 years, I Poppy is an intimate film about the intertwining but divergent paths of poppy farmer Vardibai and her activist son

Mangilal as they grapple with systemic oppression. Their moral dilemma crystallizes around a painful choice: continue bribing officials so they can survive, or fight for systemic change at tremendous personal cost. This multi-layered narrative transcends its Indian context to explore universal themes of justice, family and the human cost of standing up against institutional power.

Restoration Process

About the Artist

Vivek Chaudhary is a self-taught filmmaker, who has a keen interest for artistic and moving stories of microcosms that shine light on bigger systemic structures around social justice and economic redistribution.

His debut documentary, a mid-length film titled Goonga Pehelwan (The Mute Wrestler) documented the struggles of deaf wrestler, Virender Singh, who on account of his disability was discriminated against by the Indian sporting system. The film won the Indian National Film Award for Best Debut Film in the year 2015. The film was instrumental in changing sporting policies for deaf sportspersons in India.

I, Poppy is his first feature-length film. It has been mentored and supported by top grants and festivals including IDFA Bertha Fund, CNC, Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum, The Whickers Foundation, DMZ Docs Festival (South Korea), Lisbon Docs and DOK Leipzig.