April 12, 2025 at 3:30:00 PM
AFS Cinema
Online May 2 - 4
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Indie Meme Special 10th Year
Retrospective Showcase
Aloo Poori
USA | Short
2025 | 13 mins | English,Hindi
Limited tickets available on site.
Chicago South Asian Film Festival
Red Rose International Film Festival
Planet Female Global StoryFest (Best Student Film)
Aloo Poori follows the story of a mother and daughter during their last day of living together in a small town in Western Pennsylvania. Sejal is on the cusp of leaving her home and mother behind, unsure if she’s scared to go, or scared to stay. Her mother Madhuri is avoiding a recent mental health diagnosis and her daughter's departure by throwing her heart into her cooking. The two have
never had to function without each other, and on the eve of Sejal’s departure, they realize they might not know how to-- grappling with what forgiveness and farewell truly mean to them.
Film Heritage Foundation used the best surviving elements for the restoration – the original camera negative and the 35 mm print preserved at the NFDC – NFAI. Unfortunately, the sound negative was not available. We digitized the sound from the 35 mm print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation. The film elements were repaired by the Film Heritage Foundation conservators and the scanning was done in Prasad Lab in Chennai We found that due to the deterioration of the print, there were vertical green lines on many parts of the film. While the scanning and digital clean-up was done at Prasad under the supervision of L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, the grading, sound restoration and mastering was done at the lab in Bologna. Both Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani, the cinematographer of the film, have been involved in the restoration of the film.
Restoration Process
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Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
The screening will be preceded by a performance by Specific Thing.
Specific Thing is the project of local musician Román. Sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes he plays with his snazzy band — he loves to do both! And the music? It draws from folk, punk, pop, latin, communism, animals, friends... He likes to keep it cartoony, quick, and catchy. The band released an album in 2025 called "Now Is Actually Not A Good Time". Find more at @specificthing on Instagram.
Meet Specific Thing
About the Artist
Photo courtesy:
Film Heritage Foundation
Aditi Sridhar (she/her) is a narrative and documentary filmmaker dedicated to telling culturally specific stories that challenge perspectives and foster action-oriented conversation. Raised in small town Pennsylvania, her storytelling practice is deeply rooted in the intersection of community, identity, and place.
She recently produced a feature-length documentary on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, exploring how his Pittsburgh roots shaped his iconic body of work. Aditi has worked at Warner Brothers Pictures and is an alum of the AMPAS Gold Rising Program, where she was selected as a Trophy Presenter at the 95th Academy Awards.
Her directorial debut short film, PIVOT, was featured at festivals across the country, including the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, and DC South Asian Film Festival. She is currently developing new projects that blend homegrown storytelling with global perspectives, with a focus on amplifying underrepresented voices in media.
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Director:
Aditi Sridhar
Writer:
Aditi Sridhar
Producers:
Aditi Sridhar
Owen Gambill
Film Editor:
Sangeeta Agrawal
Anvita Gattani
Advika Ravishankar
Mike Puthumana
Restoration Effort Led By: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation
Restoration Credit:
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul), the cinematographer Govind Nihalani and the director Shyam Benegal. Funding supported by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul)