A woman goes on a virtual reality date and is transported to a speakeasy bar from the prohibition era of Mumbai. April 20, 2024 at 6:15:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 North America Premiere Next, Please India | Short 2023 | 10 mins | Hindi, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Best Short Film - Rome Indie Film Festival Best Short Film - Heart of Europe Film Festival A woman goes on a virtual reality date and is transported to a speakeasy bar from the prohibition era of Mumbai. Restoration Process About the Artist Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Rishav Kapoor Writer: Chaitanya Tamhane Producer(s): Chaitanya Tamhane Film Editor: Vedant Joshi Featured Cast: Jim Sarbh, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Shardul Bhardwaj Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Problems in a relationship come to the surface during a cinematography group exercise. Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Faces USA | Short 2023 | 11 mins | English In-Person Q&A with Texas director Kumar Mayank TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Restoration Process About the Artist Kumar Mayank completed his engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi and worked a few corporate jobs before getting into filmmaking. Since then he has assisted on and off in TV commercials and feature length films in Mumbai and has worked as a freelancer. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in filmmaking from UT Austin. His short films have screened internationally at Split Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, Carmarthen Bay Film festival, Filipino Arts and Cinema International, Trenton Film Festival and IntimaLente Ethnographic Film Festival among others and have been awarded at Festival International Signes De Nuit, Bare Bones International Film Festival etc. He is interested in exploring new ways of filmic storytelling to bring to screen the tragedy, comedy and the not-so-extreme of the human condition. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Kumar Mayank Writer: Kumar Mayank Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Olivia Tovar, Jasper Jones Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Filmmaker-actor couple, Tithi and Farhan are subjects of criticism and troll for not taking baby in a patriarchal society. Tithi doesn’t succumb to the pressure of social validation and decides to have a baby when the time is right for her but the question never ends for her. AFS Cinema Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 North America Premiere Something Like an Autobiography Bangladesh, Germany, India | Narrative Feature 2023 | 82 mins | Bengali Recorded Q&A with Filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki Screens with Helena . TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Busan Film Festival, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival Farhan and Titi are a director-actor couple living in Dhaka. In a conservative and patriarchal Muslim society, they are criticized for not having children even after 10 years of marriage. Restoration Process About the Artist Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Mostofa Sarwar Farooki Writer: Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Nusrat Imrose Tisha Producer(s): Redoan Rony Film Editor: Momin Biswas Featured Cast: Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Iresh Zaker, Dolly Zahur Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Victoria, a young beautician treads an overwhelming day, while an unruly offering-rooster serves as an unexpected spiritual witness. April 26, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere Victoria India | Narrative Feature 2024 | 85 mins | Malayalam Virtual Q&A with writer-director-editor Sivaranjini and lead actor Meenakshi Jayan Preceeded by the short film Jasmine That Blooms in Autumn TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL FIPRESCI Award for the Best Debut Director -29th International Film Festival of Kerala IFFK 2024 Excellence Award-Discovery Competition- 27th Seoul Women’s Film Festival, South Korea 2025 Best Film- NETPAC Asian Select- Kolkata International Film Festival 2025 Jury Special Mention for Acting - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 Victoria follows the eponymous heroine through a day on the job as a beauty technician at a parlor in Kerala. Shot almost entirely within this women-only sanctuary of the parlor, the space becomes a backdrop for the anxieties, rants, and friendships of the women who visit. Into this mix come two male presences: the rooster - an offering to the saint - and Victoria’s waffling boyfriend -via videocall- for whom she has put her relationship with her family on the line. Grounded, witty, and whimsical, Victoria celebrates the beauty and strength of everyday women, even as they navigate a patriarchal and casteist world. Funded by the Kerala Government’s landmark initiative for women filmmakers, director Sivaranjini offers a warm, tender portrait of life in the ordinary. Featuring a Golden Goblet award-winning performance by Meenakshi Jayan, this FIPRESCI award-winner is a vibrant slice of life from modern Kerala. Restoration Process About the Artist Sivaranjini is an independent filmmaker and research scholar based in India. An alumna of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, she often returns there as visiting faculty. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Communication Design at the IDC School of Design, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Her short films have been screened at regional and international film festivals. Victoria (2024) is her debut feature. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Sivaranjini Writer: Sivaranjini Producer(s): Kerala State Film Development Corporation Ltd Film Editor: Sivaranjini Featured Cast: Meenakshi Jayan Sreeshma Chandran Darsana Vikas Steeja Mary Jolly Chirayath Jeena Rajeev Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Amber, a happiness agent, travels the Bhutanese Himalayas surveying people's happiness. On his remote mountain journey, he searches for fulfillment. April 13, 2025 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Agent of Happiness Bhutan, Hungary, USA, Czech Republic | Documentary 2024 | 94 mins | Dzongkha, Nepali, English Recorded Q&A with Director Arun Bhattarai TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Jury and Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary - IMFF 2025, Austin, USA Sundance Film Festival 2024 71st Sydney Film Festival 2024 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 How can you measure happiness? The country of Bhutan invented Gross National Happiness to do just that, and Amber is one of the agents who travels door to door to meet people and measure how happy they really are. He is still living with his elderly mother at the age of 40, but is nevertheless a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love: a happiness agent who is in search of his own happiness. We embark with Amber on a cross-country road trip meeting citizens from all walks of life, reminding us of the fragility and beauty of our own happiness. No matter where we live. Restoration Process About the Artist Arun Bhattarai (director, cinematographer, co-producer, Bhutan) premiered his first feature-length documentary ‘The Next Guardian’ (co-directed by Dorottya Zurbó) - an intimate family story set in Bhutan - at IDFA in 2017. The film has been screened at more than 40 international festivals (True/False, Ambulante, SFFILM, MoMA DocFortnight etc.). Before becoming an independent filmmaker, he worked as a TV director at the Bhutan Broadcasting Service for 5 years. He graduated from the first edition of DocNomads Joint Master in documentary directing in 2014. His recent short documentary ‘Mountain Man’, about Bhutan’s only glaciologist won the best pitch prize at If/Then Global Short-Pitch at IDFA 2019 and is supported by the IDA-XRM Media incubator program. The film has been screened at IDFA, DOC NYC, Chicago IFF etc. His new film ‘Agent of Happiness’ is supported by the Sundance Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund and DMZ Docs Fund among others. The project was developed at the Points North Fellowship 2022, True False Rough Cut Retreat 2023 and Doc.incubator 2023. He established his own production company - Sound Pictures - dedicated to creative documentaries in 2015. He is one of the few independent documentary filmmakers in Bhutan. Dorottya Zurbó (co-director, Hungary) premiered her first feature-length documentary ‘The Next Guardian’ (co-directed by Arun Bhattarai), - an intimate family story set in Bhutan - at IDFA in 2017. Since then, it has been screened at more than 40 international festivals (True/False, San Francisco IDFF, MoMA DocFortnight etc.). Parallelly, she worked on her first directorial debut ‘Easy Lessons’, a feature-length documentary about a young Somalian refugee girl who tries to adapt to Hungary, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival Critics Week section in 2018. The film participated in more than 40 international festivals (HotDocs, Camden IDFF, Sarajevo IFF etc.) receiving awards such as the Hungarian Critics Award for Best Documentary in 2019. Her new film ‘Agent of Happiness’ is supported by the Sundance Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund and DMZ Docs Fund among others. The project was developed at the Points North Fellowship 2022, True False Rough Cut Retreat 2023 and Doc.incubator 2023. Besides filmmaking, she has been teaching at the prestigious DocNomads Joint Master program in Europe. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Arun Bhattarai Dorottya Zurbó Writer: Producer(s): Noémi Veronika Szakonyi Máté Artur Vincze Arun Bhattarai Film Editor: Péter Sass Featured Cast: Amber Kumar Gurung Sarita Chettri Guna Raj Kuikel Hemlata Gurung Yangka Lhamo Wangmo Lhamo Dophu Dem Dechen Selden Tshering Lham Tshering Tashi Tshomo Karma Lhamo Kezang Yuden Karma Wangdi Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Bishnu and her family of women navigate patriarchal norms, reflecting on the complexities of identity and freedom within a traditional community. April 24, 2026 at 5:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere Shape of Momo India | Narrative Feature 2025 | 114 mins | Nepali Hybrid Q&A with writer-director Tribeny Rai and writer-editor Kislay TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Busan International Film Festival (Vision Section) - Songwon Vision Award and Taipei Film Commission Award Kolkata International Film Festival - Best Film Singapore International Film Festival Best Narrative Feature Jury & Audience Choice Award - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 Bishnu, 32, returns to her ancestral Himalayan village after quitting her city job, only to face mounting family pressures and rigid societal expectations. Awaiting her are her grandmother, who hopes her son will return from Dubai; her mother, eager to see Bishnu settled and married and her pregnant sister Junu, who has come seeking refuge due to tensions at her in-laws’ home. As old conflicts resurface with Junu’s arrival and a tentative relationship develops with Gyan, a “suitable” local architect, Bishnu is caught between tradition and her desire for independence. Navigating this fragile web of expectations and defiance, she must choose whether to conform or forge her own path. Restoration Process About the Artist Tribeny Rai is a filmmaker from Sikkim. Her work explores female experience within the layered landscapes of the Eastern Himalayas. ‘Shape of Momo’ is her debut feature. --- Kislay is a freelance filmmaker and alumnus of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He has made the feature Aise Hee (Just Like That) and three shorts and co-written the much acclaimed ‘Soni’ (directed by lvan Ayr). Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Tribeny Rai Writer: Kislay Tribeny Rai Producer(s): Dalley Khorsani Productions Kathkala Films Film Editor: Anil Aalayam Kislay Featured Cast: Gaumaya Gurung Pashupati Rai Shyamashree Sherpa Bhanu Maya Rai Rahul Mukhia Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

After a moment of discipline toward his daughter, accusations rise, careers fall, and the home a father built turns away. April 23, 2026 at 6:00:00 PM AFS Cinema Austin Premiere New Moon Rain USA, Nepal | Short 2025 | 17 mins | Nepali, English Live Q&A with writer-director Santosh Dahal Shown as part of the Texas showcase TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Best student film, Dallas Movie Fest, 2025 China International New Media Short Film Festival (CSFF) Semi Finalist, Tianjin International Academic Film Festival, USA/China, 2025 A devoted father from Nepal, a moment of discipline toward his daughter, so ordinary where he came from, leaves marks that speak differently in the USA. Accusations rise, careers fall, and the home he built turns away. As whispers of judgment close in, memories of his parents offer solace before he disappears into the new moon night. Restoration Process About the Artist Born in Urlabari, Nepal, Santosh Dahal is a filmmaker whose work moves between memory, migration, and longing. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Tribhuvan University, and earned his MFA in Cinematic Arts from the University of Texas at Arlington, where he later taught filmmaking. His films explore quiet inner worlds shaped by place and absence. MRIGATRISHNA (Mirage) (2021) premiered at the Raindance Film Festival and received international recognition, including awards at the Nepal America Film Festival. His earlier work, SANKALPA (The Pledge) (2016), was also recognized internationally, including the Singapore internal film festival. He has also worked as an assistant director on the feature film Dying Candle. Santosh is currently developing his debut feature film, The Flowers of Wild Sugarcane. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Santosh Dahal Writer: Santosh Dahal Producer(s): Deepa Guragain Prem Prasad Adhikary Film Editor: Niranjan Raj Bhetwal Santosh Dahal Featured Cast: Raj Ballav Koirala Aruna Karki Biyansha Neupane Bikash Neupane Nandav Raj Das Grishma Upreti Nischal Pokhrel Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A globe-spanning anthology film, comprised of seven short stories directed by women from across the world.S hot in Italy, India, Japan, and the U.S. - each segment is an inspirational and empowering story by and about women. April 15, 2023 at 6:30:00 PM AFS Cinemas Tell it Like a Woman Italy, USA, India, Japan | Narrative Feature 2022 | 112 min | English, Italian In-Person Q&A with Director Leena Yadav TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL 2022 Academy Award Nominee for 'Best Original Song' Tell It Like A Woman is a globe-spanning anthology film, comprised of seven short stories directed by women from across the world. Shot in Italy, India, Japan, and the U.S, each segment is an inspirational and empowering story by and about women. Restoration Process About the Artist Leena Yadav an Indian film director, screenwriter and editor. She is known for her first international feature, PARCHED (2015), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the hit NETFLIX docu-series HOUSE OF SECRETS: THE BURARI DEATHS (2021). Catherine Hardwicke is an American film director, production designer, and screenwriter known for THIRTEEN, LORDS OF DOGTOWN, TWILIGHT, and MISS YOU ALREADY. Taraji P Henson is a Golden Globe & Screen Actors Guild award winning actress known for her roles in HIDDEN FIGURES, EMPIRE, HUSTLE& FLOW and TEH CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Mipo O is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and commercial director known for her feature films including BEING GOOD and THE LIGHT SHINES ONLY THERE. She has been recognized with the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award . Lucía Puenzo is an Argentinian author and film director. She studied at the University of Buenos Aires followed by the National Film Institute. She is known for her acclaimed features, XXY, THE GERMAN DOCTOR, and DIVE. Maria Sole Tognazzi is an Italian director of television and film known for her feature projects including PAST PERFECT, A FIVE STAR LIFE, and ME, MYSELF, & HER - the first Italian feature-length lesbian romantic comedy. Silvia Carobbio is known as an Director and Line Producer. Lucia Bulgheroni is an Italian animation director. After working in commercials, regularly blending live action and stop motion techniques, Lucia completed an MA in Directing Animation at the National Film & Television School in London. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Catherine Hardwicke Taraj i P. Henson Lucía Puenzo Leena Yadav Maria Sole Tognazzi Mipo O Silvia Carobbio Lucia Bulgheroni Writer: Catherine Hardwicke Lucía Puenzo Tatiana Menenuk Mipo O Giulia Louise Steigerwalt Leena Yadav Shantanu Sagara Krupa Ge Chiara Tilesi Lucia Bulgheroni Silvia Carobbio Producer(s): Lucas Akoskin Monika Bacardi Andrea Iervolino Chiara Tilesi Film Editor: Josie Azzam Anne-Sophie Bion Featured Cast: Cara Delevingne Marcia Gay Harden Eva Longoria Jennifer Hudson Margherita Buy Anne Watanabe Pauletta Washington Marcia Gay Harden Jasmin Luv Leonor Varela Jacqueline Fernandez Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A fisherwoman takes on a powerful local politician by hosting a feast for him using an unforgettable secret dish that could save her dying lake. April 12, 2025 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase Texas Premiere Virundhu (The Feast) India | Short 2024 | 25 mins | Tamil TICKETS WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. Jury Award for Best Short - IMFF 2025, Austin, USA Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, February 2024, World Premiere - Special Jury Prize Winner, International Competition Sydney Film Festival, June 2024 A fisherwoman takes on a powerful local politician by hosting a feast for him using an unforgettable secret dish that could save her dying lake. 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 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 Rishi Chandna is a self-taught independent filmmaker based in Mumbai and Goa. Currently he is in development of his first feature-length fiction film titled GHOL/THE CATCH. The project has been mentored at the 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and selected at the Cannes Film Market 2021, the 2021 NFDC Film Bazaar Co-Production Market and the 2021 Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum where it won the top HAF Fiction Award for a non – Hong Kong project. The Feast (‘Virundhu’ in Tamil) is his first work of short fiction and was awarded the Special Jury Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in February 2024. The film is part of an anthology of three short fiction films Rishi is making, that represent marginalised communities dealing with issues of climate change and political disenfranchisement in the context of water pollution, access and inequality. His debut short film, TUNGRUS (2018), a black comedy about a Mumbai suburban family divided over eating their dominating pet rooster, was shown at Hot Docs, Visions Du Reel, BFI London Film Festival, IDFA and became an Oscar-qualifying short documentary after winning at Slamdance Film Festival. Tungrus has released online on the prestigious New York Times’ OP-DOCS, PBS POV SHORTS, The Criterion Channel and several other platforms such as Atlantic Selects, Amazon Prime, Vimeo (Staff Pick) and Aeon Magazine. His second short film, PARTY POSTER (2022), a satirical documentary about the political poster culture in India, has shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, DocAviv, Glasgow Short Film Festival and more, and was also launched online on New York Times’ OP-DOCS. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Rishi Chandna Writer: Rishi Chandna Rahul Srivastava Producers: Rishi Chandna Anita Arjundas Jessica Seddon Rahul Muralidharan Film Editor: Ashwin Arvind Featured Cast: D. Antony Janagi GeorgeVijay Anbarasi 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) Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

"Manthan" is a compelling film about an idealistic veterinarian who sparks a milk cooperative movement in a village, challenging deep-rooted caste hierarchies and exploitation, facing fierce resistance, false accusations, and political strife, but ultimately igniting change and hope for a better future. April 9, 2025 at 6:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase Manthan (The Churning) India | Narrative Feature 1976 | 134 mins | Hindi Virtual Q&A with actor Naseeruddin Shah TICKETS WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. Cannes Classics 2024 "Manthan”, a fictionalized version of the beginnings of the remarkable dairy cooperative movement that transformed India from a milk-deficient nation to the world’s largest milk producer inspired by Verghese Kurien, the Father of the White Revolution, is also India’s first crowdfunded film produced by 500,000 dairy farmers who contributed Rs. 2/- each towards the production of the film. 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 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 Shyam Benegal, a pioneer of Indian parallel cinema, is renowned for his socially conscious films tackling caste, gender, and socio-political issues. Born on December 14, 1934, he debuted with Ankur (1974), followed by acclaimed films like Nishant, Manthan, and Bhumika. Manthan was uniquely crowd-funded by 500,000 farmers, highlighting India's White Revolution. Benegal has collaborated with legendary actors like Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah and directed the iconic TV series Bharat Ek Khoj (1988). Honored with the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and multiple National Film Awards, his work continues to inspire and challenge societal norms. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Shyam Benegal Writer: V. Kurien Shyam Benegal Vijay Tendulkar Producers: Shyam Benegal/Sahyadri Films for Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. Film Editor: Bhanudas Diwkar Featured Cast: Girish Karnad Smita Patil Naseeruddin Shah Anant Nag Amrish Puri Kulbushan Kharbanda Mohan Agashe Sadhu Meher Rajendra Jaspal Abha Dhulia Anjali Paigankar and the people of Sanganva 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) Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

2023 Against the Tide Documentary Koli, Marathi, Hindi mins 97 Texas Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2023 India Documentary Bombay fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system—a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology. Against the Tide is a tale of deep friendship and rising resentment between the two men, as close as brothers, against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is increasingly turning hostile because of climate change. Sundance Film Festival 2023 World Cinema Documentary Competition Recorded Q&A with Filmmaker Sarvnik Kaur Tickets 4/21/24, 12:45 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Director & Producer Sarvnik Kaur Sarvnik Kaur is a documentary filmmaker whose work takes a skeptical stance towards the ‘grand narratives’ of modernism and ‘Scientific Certainties’. Made of moments that hide anxiety and conflict just beneath the surface of the normal and the mundane, her films speak of the predicament of being human in our times. Her latest feature documentary ‘Against the Tide’ premiered at Sundance 2023 where she bagged the Special Jury Award for Verite Filmmaking. The film since then has received several awards including the Grand Jury at the Seattle International, the Best Documentary Award at IceDocs, the UN Perception Change Award at Visions-du-Reel, the Sustainability Award at Sydney International, The Warsaw Peace Award and also the Paznun City Freedom Award at Millenium Docs Against Gravity. Her first film ‘Soz - A Ballad of Maladies’ was awarded the President of India’s 64th National Award for best debut direction besides bagging the best film at IDSFFK 2017 and the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film at the Film South Asia 2018. Her films have been part of several PHD thesis of film scholars at New York University, Harvard University, JawaharLal University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences etc. She is a HotDocs Accelerator Lab, Chicken & Eggs Eggcelerator lab and IDFA Academy fellow. Her films have been supported by Catapult Film Fund, Sundance Documentary Fund, San Francisco Film Fund, IDFA Bertha Fund etc. Made of moments that hide anxiety and conflict just beneath the surface of the normal and the mundane, her work speaks of the predicament of being human in our times. Director: Sarvnik Kaur Producer: Koval Bhatia, Sarvnik Kaur Writer: Cast: Editor: Atanas Georgiev, Blagoja Nedelkovski Crew: Ashok Meena, Igor Vasilev Novogradska, Moinak Bose This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

Metal, electronic, and rap are not associated with Mumbai because it’s hidden in Bollywood’s shadow, but found in every suburb. The misfits who conspire to pervert the course of pop culture are our protagonists in the nostalgia trip called Back Then. April 12, 2025 at 8:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Texas Premiere BACK THEN - The Story of Live Music in Bombay India | Documentary 2024 | 57 mins | English Recorded Q&A with directors Anindita Dutta Roy and Abhishek Chandran Preceded by a 10-minute music set by Specific Thing. TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Yellowstone International Film Festival Best Documentary Film Winner 'BACK THEN - The Story of Live Music in Bombay' is a documentary film that takes the viewer back 30 years in time to explore the sounds of the city's musical counterculture as it was. It puts you into the shoes of its mercurial artists, passionate folks behind the scenes, and misfits who went to gigs through the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s. The film puts a spotlight on what happened in the shadowy world of underground live music and answers questions like what it meant to watch an artist live in 1994, what it’s like today, and what kind of underground music was played in 2006. Over the span of 53 minutes, it cruises through real and rare DIY stories all the way from the 1990s, right up to 2023. Restoration Process About the Artist Director: Director Anindita is from Calcutta. She has a Master’s in Journalism and experience in acting/directing student films, and digital films in her advertising career. Her husband’s gig-going stories and her discoveries of counterculture having lived across India inspired this debut. With her background in journalism, she never imagined that her first film would be about the subject of ‘live music.’ In the process of making this film, she has tried to recreate her desired youth days in a way the rebel in her would have wanted to live. The inspiration for this movie comes from attending several alternate and underground live music gigs with her partner. She wanted the entire world to see Bombay through this sub-culture lens and witness the magic of ‘these misfits’ featured in the movie. She is a keen observer of the cultural nuances of India and the world and has absorbed more than most, having lived across India. Next, she will document brown women and their esoteric communities. Co-Director: Director Abhishek Chandran has his roots in a small town in Thrisshur, Kerala but grew up in the maximum city, Mumbai. While pursuing mass communication, he made multiple music-videos and short films. While he’s had a career in advertising, his avocations have been musical. Next, he will archive his family tree of 120+ members across the world.This documentary is hugely inspired from his own coming-of-age story with different forms of live music in Mumbai. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Anindita Dutta Roy Abhishek Chandran Writer: Abhishek Chandran Producer(s): Ritwik Ghosh Jitin Hingorani Film Editor: Featured Cast: Thank you to our community partners for this screening! This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.