A film based on relationships and family written and directed by Shubhashish Bhutiani and produced by Sanjay Bhutiani. Top of Page Tickets Top of Page Tickets Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation) India /99 minutes / 2016 / DRAMA / Hindi with English subtitles SYNOPSIS An ominous dream convinces 77-year-old Dayanand Kumar that his end could be near. He takes the news to his son Rajiv, knowing he wants to breathe his last in the holy city of Varanasi and end the cycle of rebirth, by attaining salvation. Being the dutiful son he is, Rajiv, is left with no choice but to drop everything and make the journey with his stubborn father. Daya and Rajiv check into Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation) in Varanasi, a guesthouse devoted to people to die there. But as the days go by, Rajiv struggles to juggle his responsibilities back home, while Daya starts to bloom in the hotel. Rajiv gives his father a shot at salvation but as family bonds are tested, he finds himself torn, not knowing what he must do to keep his life together. Interested in screening this in your hometown? Write to us TICKETS NOT AVAILABLE Tickets TRAILER STILLS DIRECTOR'S PROFILE Shubhashish Bhutiani grew up in a small Himalayan town in lndia and attended Woodstock School, Mussoorie. He specialized in Direction as an undergraduate from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2013. Mukti Bhawan has been invited to reputed festivals like Busan International Film Festival, 2016, DIFF 2016, Dubai, GIFF2017, Sweden, Berlinale EFM and Vesoul Film Festival, France where it won the Critics Choice Award. The film is now scheduled to travel at International Festivals across the globe and theatrical release in India and other countries from April 2017. Shubhashish’s first directorial feature film, Mukti Bhawan-Hotel Salvation World Premiere was held at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival 2016. He was honoured with the XXlIIrd PRIX "ENRICO FULCHIGNONI" Award and UNESCO Gandhi Medal 2016 for the film. His thesis film at SVA, titled ‘Kush’ had its World Premiere at the Venice International Film Festival 2013, where it won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film. Kush was also shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2014 and won over 25 International Awards, including the prestigious National Award by the President of India in 2013. Shubhashish was also Nominated and Finalist for the Financial Times/ Oppenheimer Funds as Emerging Voices in Cinema for Asia Pacific 2015. And Forbes India recognized him in 30under30 list in January 2017 for his achievements as a Writer-Director KEY CREW Writer & Director Shubhashish Bhutiani Producer Sanjay Bhutiani Producer Sajida Sharma Producer Shubhashish Bhutiani Executive Producer Dina Dattani Associate Producers Rajkumar Menda, Pravesh Sippy Director of Photography Michael Mcsweeney, David Huwiler First Assistant Director Abbas Raza Khan Dialogues Asad Hussain Production Design Avyakta Kapur Editor Manas Mittal Music Composer Tajdar Junaid Sound Design Ajay Kumar PB, Akhilesh Acharya Costume Design Shruti Weditwar Make Up Jyotika Mirpuri Casting Gopal Dey KEY CAST Adil Hussain Lalit Behl Geetanjali Kulkarni Palomi Ghosh Navnindra Behl Anil K Rastogi

2021 Learning Not To Drown Short English mins 20 Virtual 2021 USA Drama In-Person Q&A with Texas director, Prithvi Raj Karreddula & award-winning composer Mickey J. Meyer Tickets 4/28/23, 12:00 PM Free with IMFF Badge Director Prithvi Raj Karreddula Prithvi Raj Karreddula is a Dallas filmmaker from Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He's been a writer and director for both English and Telugu films since 2017. He also possesses a handful of additional skills in film production such as cinematography, editing, and music composition. Prithvi Raj is most known for his short films "Audible Frequency" (2021), "Humans" (2019) and "Bhoomi" (2021). Director: Prithvi Raj Karreddula Producer: Writer: Prithvi Raj Karreddula Cast: Sri Chilukuri, Corey Pratt, Raymund C. King Editor: Crew: This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

April 25, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema North America Premiere Kanippu (The Prediction) India 2026 Shown as part of the Saturday shorts program TICKETS BUY A BADGE Jojga-NETPAC Asian Film Festival A grieving boatman and an earnest meteorologist share their knowledge of the seas and weather, but find themselves helpless in the face of unpredictable climate. Restoration Process Film restoration process Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation About the Artist Rishi Chandna is a self-taught independent filmmaker based in Goa, India. His short films, TUNGRUS, PARTY POSTER & THE FEAST have shown and won awards at Hot Docs, Visions Du Reel, BFI London FF, IDFA, Clermont-Ferrand, Slamdance and more. His feature film in development, GHOL, was selected in 2021 at the Sundance Script Lab, Cannes Film Market and won the top Fiction Award at Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Rishi Chandna Writer: Rishi Chandna Rahul Srivastava Producer(s): Rishi Chandna Anita Arjundas Jessica Seddon Rahul Muralidharan Film Editor: Ashwin Arvind Featured Cast: Charles Vinoth Aditi Balan Pranav Theophine Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

Our 2026 Leadership Circle Members Thank you to our generous Leadership Circle members for their support of Indie Meme's Festivals & Programs. Our donors sustain our work and further the presence of independent South Asian Cinema in Texas. We appreciate all of your support, and could not do it without you! Producers Guild Directors Guild Alice Mechaley-Saigal & Anuj Saigal Tushar Patel Writers Guild Anonymous Lead Cast Sonia & Chandrajit Bajaj Aditi Bhargava & Alok Bhanot Suja & Animon Jose Anurag Kumar Samira Mehta Jaya Ramanathan & Ram Raghavan Nanditha & Shawn Siram Anjali & Pamposh Zutshi Supporting Cast Anonymous Bob Bowne Ann McGinley Nora Predey & Ananyaa Ravi Chaula Rana Kala Malini Ranganathan & Vijay Sankaran Shilpa & Venu Shamapant Jaya Thakkar We are grateful to our 2025 donors . DONATE TODAY!

When a mowing man comes to cut down the grass in a field, he finds a girl is sleeping there - determined to protect the insects who call it home. U.S Premiere Back to Film Program Virtual Exclusive WATCH ONLINE: April 22-25th, 2022 Navozande, Le Musicien France I 15 mins I Romance, Historical Drama I 2021 I No Spoken Dialogue BUY & WATCH ONLINE At the time of the attack of the Mongols, a young musician and the love of his life are separated from each other. A story of love, war, and hardship in 13th-century Persia. This film plays with the A MATTER OF SURVIVAL shorts program online. About the Artist Born in Tehran, Iran in 1988, Reza Riahi studied studying Fine Arts in Iran and France while actively collaborating on several cartoon magazines and series. He completed his Masters at the Ecole de la Poudrière in Bourg-Les-Valences for animation. Reza is the writer/director of several award-winning animated shorts: including the highly acclaimed ENTRE CHIEN ET LOUP (Between Dog and Wolf). Broadcast on ARTE in 2014, the short film was selected by festivals in Annecy, Paris, Brussels, Morocco, Hungary. Reza served as artistic director on Nora Twomey’s film The Breadwinner, nominated for major awards including The Oscars®, Golden Globes & Annies and winning both the Audience and Jury Prizes in Annecy. His latest short NAVOZANDE, LE MUSICIEN, premiered at Toronto Int'l Film Festival and has been selected by 70+ world festivals including SXSW, Anima, Aspen Shortfest, Palm Springs and Sonoma. The film won 'Best Animated Short' at Tribeca, Nashville and Ficie. Reza is working on his next short, Songs of the Valley , as well as on the script for his 1st animated feature. Parallel to his activity in animation, Reza Riahi collaborates on fine art & illustration projects, as well as mentoring animation talent in France. He is preparing his next exhibition in Paris for 2022. Trailer

2023 Mithya Narrative Feature Kannada, Marathi mins 98 International Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2023 India Drama, Coming of Age Mithya is a journey along- side Mithun, a 11 year old, who is coming to terms with the loss of his parents. We walk in step with his tottering feet, as they search for solid ground. Can a new house be home, can friendships be forged again or is it all just a search for something long gone! Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival - 2023 Bengaluru International Film Festival - 2024 Virtual Q&A with Filmmaker Sumanth Bhat Tickets 4/18/24, 6:15 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Director Sumanth Bhat A software engineer, turned entrepreneur, turned filmmaker, Sumanth has written & directed 4 of the 7 episodes in Ekam, a yet to release web-series, presented by Paramvah Studios. He is also an active member of the writing team at Paramvah. Mithya is his first feature film. Director: Sumanth Bhat Producer: Rakshit Shetty Writer: Sumanth Bhat Cast: Athish S Shetty, Prakash Thuminad Editor: Bhuvanesh Manivannan Crew: Udit Khurana, Midhun Mukundan, Shreyank Nanjappa This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

2023 Helena Short English, Hindi, Nepali mins 13 North American Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2023 Nepal, United Arab Emirates Drama Helena works in the UAE as a waitress. Her son in Nepal has been asking for a laptop for the last four months and has now stopped going to school. Finally, when she’s saved enough money to buy one, she finds out that she’s lost a small amount of cash. When the son calls her, she lies to him saying that she’s bought the laptop and is sending it with her friend. Deep into the lies, in between the pressure from work and from her family, how will she get through this? Official Selection - Focus South Asia, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023 Tickets 4/20/24, 1:00 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Director Ayarush Paudel Ayarush Paudel was born and raised in Nepal. After high school, Paudel moved to the United Arab Emirates in order to pursue his passion for storytelling while studying undergraduate education at New York University Abu Dhabi. With his interest lying primarily in narrative stories, Paudel has written and directed a number of projects in the last five years revolving around different issues in Nepal such as the schooling system, gender inequality, the impact of the pandemic, and racism. Director: Ayarush Paudel Producer: Sophiya Paudel Writer: Ayarush Paudel Cast: Ayushma Shrestha George Jose Yoshina Gautam Sajil Jimmy Samman Sharma Ramesh Rijal Editor: Ayarush Paudel Crew: Pu Jia, Daniel Nivia, Kate Ezubova This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

A contemporary tale of reincarnation about two lovers meeting in the present day after several centuries of longing, yet still trapped in their destiny of a perpetual cycle of love and death. February 4, 2024 at 3:00:00 PM AFS Cinema The Cloud Messenger India | Narrative Feature 2022 | 148 mins | English, Malayalam, Sanskrit In-Person Q&A with Director Rahat Mahajan TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL "An avant-garde marvel" - Nidhi Verma (Platform) Restoration Process About the Artist After finishing school at the Lawrence School Sanawar in the Himalayan mountains, Rahat enrolled for an M.F.A. at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He developed various projects at the school in collaboration with mentors with diverse backgrounds, helping him grow through a deepening understanding of the craft and an ongoing consolidation of his own worldview. His debut feature film “Meghdoot/The Cloud Messenger” was in the Tiger Competition at The International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2022 and further travelled to BFI London Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival and several other festivals across the globe. The film recently won the Special Jury Mention at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Rahat Mahajan Writer: Rahat Mahajan Producer(s): Sanjay Singh, Rahat Mahajan, Nalin Agarwal Film Editor: Featured Cast: Ritvik Tyagi, Ahalya Shetty, Raj Zutshi, Kapila Venu, Peesappilly Rajeevan 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.

In a dystopian world where memories are stored on external drives, a 65 year old man tries desperately to hold on to memories he no longer has space for. April 26, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere A door to my memory Pakistan | Short 2025 | 15 mins | Punjabi Followed by the film Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Tasveer Film Festival Peshawar International Film Festival - Finalist Best Short Film Bollywood International Film Festival - Nominee In this Punjabi sci-fi / drama based in a dystopian Lahore where memories are stored on external drives, we meet 65 year old Ashfaq who is still relying on older technology that is readily available and affordable for the masses. In order to make new memories he has to delete old ones because of limited storage. A relative visiting from abroad introduces him to a much more sophisticated and expensive piece of tech that is commonly used in the west that doesn’t require you to delete older memories. This makes Ashfaq hopeful that he may just be able to hold on to memories of his late wife that he holds near and dear to him. But the hope slowly starts vanishing as Ashfaq’s journey makes him realise, this fancy new tech is far beyond his reach. Simultaneously, we dive into those very memories Ashfaq is clinging on to, and explore the life he used to live with his wife, the events that led to his current situation, and why these memories mean so much to him. Restoration Process About the Artist Sheryar Ali is a filmmaker drawn to grounded, emotionally resonant stories about complex human beings. He began making films in 2016 with nothing more than a phone propped against a table, a moment that sparked his dedication to the craft. He graduated with distinction from the National College of Arts in Lahore, where his thesis film Bach Malanga became an audience favorite at the annual display. He is currently completing a Master’s in Film & Television Production at the University of Portsmouth. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Sheryar Ali Writer: Sheryar Ali Producer(s): Suhail Ahmad Film Editor: Sheryar Ali Featured Cast: Syed Tanveer Hussain Saad Naseem Aimen Zahra Shiraz Baig Syed Zeeshan Haider Faiz Chuhan 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.

In an arranged marriage, just before the ceremony, the groom comes out to his would-be bride that he secretly cross-dresses. Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Man & Wife India | Short 2021 | 9 mins | Bengali, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Restoration Process About the Artist Born in Kolkata, India in 1993, Rahul Roye has been working as an independent filmmaker and screenwriter since 2018. Being a queer feminist, they feel strongly against any form of social suppression. They describe themselves as a welfare worker, while writing and filmmaking are their vocations to pave the way for the desired world devoid of divisions. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Rahul Roye Writer: Rahul Roye Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Atif Ally Dagman, Kankana Chakraborty 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.

The continuous surprising and endless playful visual animation accompaniment to the lively and taboo-busting discussion of a group of young women. April 20, 2024 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 This is TMI India | Short 2023 | 6 mins | Bengali, English, Hindi, Nepali In-Person Q&A with Filmmaker Vidushi Gupta TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Toronto International Film Festival South by SouthWest (SXSW) Big boobs vs. small boobs, who has it worse? A group of women, over a drink, discusses in what ways being a part of a conservative society affects how we feel about our own breasts- which, at the end of the day, are just lumps of fat. Restoration Process About the Artist Subarna Dash is an animation filmmaker based in India. She pursued her studies in Animation Cinema at the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata. She was awarded as one of the “75 creative minds” by the Ministry of I&B, at IFFI, Goa in 2022. Her films have been screened and awarded at prestigious festivals such as Berlinale, TIFF, SXSW, Annecy, etc. Vidushi Gupta is an animator, filmmaker, and storyteller from India. With a background in Animation Cinema from Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute and a current Master's in Visualization at Texas A&M University, she focuses on animated short films, both fictional and documentary. Her animated documentary "This Is TMI" has been screened at prestigious festivals like TIFF, SXSW, Kaboom Animation Festival, and Animafest Zagreb. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Subarna Dash, Vidushi Gupta Writer: Producer(s): Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Film Editor: Featured Cast: Sneha Das Priyadarshini Subba Rituparna Saha Monjima Mullick Vidushi Gupta Subarna Dash 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.

"Land of Dreams" is a documentary by filmmaker Ambarien Alqadar that intimately chronicles the journey of Virender Rana, a Sikh taxi driver from India, as he navigates the challenges and aspirations of immigrant life in America. Eventive Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase Texas Premiere Land of Dreams USA, India | Documentary 2025 | 40 mins | Punjabi, Hindi, English TICKETS WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. Filmed for nearly a decade, Land of Dreams is an intimate portrait of Virender Rana, a taxi driver from India, chasing his dream of telling his story in America. While he points the camera at his own life and films a Bollywood style movie, the film follows his journey of coming to America, finding joy as part of a larger Sikh community and that of taxi drivers and laying roots as an immigrant. As he joins the elite Uber Black fleet hoping for his dreams to come true, he faces challenges of being a brown immigrant on the streets of post 9/11 America. Land of Dreams is a letter of solidarity and hope to anyone who has searched for a home and a land for their dreams in a place where they were not born. 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 Ambarien Alqadar is a filmmaker, screen writer and a first generation immigrant. Shaped by the experience of growing up in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, the metaphor of border crossing is central to her creative practice as she works between documentary, narrative and experimental forms. Her first documentary- Who Can Speak of Men? was acclaimed as a "revolutionary for its portrayal of Indian Muslim women" at BFI Flare and selected to several prominent festivals. Four Women and a Room and The Ghetto Girl are experimental video essays exploring intersections of history, embodied experience and memory. Currently she is working on Stray Girls- a short narrative presented by Anurag Kashyap and her first feature narrative- Nisa (WOMAN). Ambarien is an alum of Jamia Millia Islamia, India and Temple University U.S. where she was a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow. She was a speaker at the International Documentary Association 2020, Decolonizing the Documentary and Rising Beyond the Ceiling: 100 stereotypes shattering Muslim women from India in the United States (Film & Media Arts). She lives between New Delhi and Chicago where she teaches at School of Cinematic Arts, DePaul University. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Ambarien Alqadar Writer: Producers: Ambarien Alqadar Film Editor: Ambarien Alqadar Featured Cast: 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!