April 12, 2025 at 8:15:00 PM
AFS Cinema
Online May 2 - 4
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Indie Meme Special 10th Year
Retrospective Showcase
And, Towards Happy Alleys
India, Iran | Documentary
2023 | 75 mins | Persian,English
Preceded by the short film The First Film.
Live Q&A with director Sreemoyee Singh and lead actress Aida Mohammadkhani
Limited tickets available on site.
Best Film in the International Competition at BAFICI, Argentina, April 2023
Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari award for Best Debut Director at Mumbai International Film Festival, June, 2024
Best Documentary in World Cinema Festival, Calcutta, 2024
Fascinated by Iran’s film culture and the poetic works of the feminist poet Forough Farrokhzad, Indian filmmaker Sreemoyee Singh sets out in search of the protagonists of Iranian cinema. The numerous interviews she conducts over a period of six years with filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Shirvani, and human rights activist Nasrin Sotudeh, among others, show the precarious situation in which critics of the regime find themselves, including the constant threat of imprisonment and being banned from practicing their profession. With a keen eye for unusual situations, she documents the effect of the Islamic Republic’s strict and omnipresent censorship on the daily lives of Iranian women whose uncompromising struggle has put them at the forefront of the protests that are currently rocking the country.
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.
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
Sreemoyee is a filmmaker and producer from Kolkata, India. 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 which launched at the Berlinale International Film Festival (Panorama section) in February 2023 and has screened at prestigious film festivals such CPH:DOX (Denmark) Thessaloniki (Greece) Sheffield (UK) DMZ Docs (South Korea) Antenna Film Festival (Australia) Jio MAMI (India), Docpoint Helsinki (Finland) winning the ‘best film’ in the International Competition at BAFICI, Argentina. Sreemoyee also won the Best Debut Director award at the Mumbai International Film Festival for her film along with the FIPRESCI (International) Critics Jury award. Sreemoyee has also worked as an Assistant Professor of Film Studies at St. Joseph’s University, Bangalore, and a Guest Lecturer at New York University, Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). She is the recipient of the Golden Globe Foundation Residency for International Filmmakers in Los Angeles in February-March 2024.
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Director:
Sreemoyee Singh
Aida Mohammadkhani
Writer:
Sreemoyee Singh
Producers:
Sreemoyee Singh
Happy Alley Films
Film Editor:
Joydip Das
Pradyatan Bera
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)