April 26, 2026 at 3:45:00 PM AFS Cinema AASMANI India 2026 Live Q&A with writer-director-producer Sayani Gupta moderated by Rubi Sanchez Shown as part of the Family Shorts Program TICKETS BUY A BADGE Best Short Script at the Independent Short Awards LA. Honourable Mentions at Tokyo Film & Screenplay Awards Best Short Audience Choice Award - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 An elderly woman struggles with the choice of selling her beloved vintage car, Aasmani. Restoration Process Film restoration process Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation About the Artist Sayani is an acclaimed Indian actor. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII, Pune), she has built a 14-year career defined by fierce & unconventional choices across film, theatre, and streaming. This has been a 17 year long dream that has finally come to fruition. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Sayani Gupta Writer: Sayani Gupta Producer(s): Sayani Gupta Movies Sumitra Gupta Foundation For Arts One India Stories Film Editor: Paramita Ghosh Featured Cast: Revathy Asha Daria Bedi Abhay Kaul Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

April 25, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere Listy z Wilczej (Letters From Wolf Street) Poland, Germany 2025 Virtual Q&A with writer-director Arjun Talwar Preceeded by the short film Showtime TICKETS BUY A BADGE Jury Special Mention for Best Documentary - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 After a decade of living in Warsaw, Indian filmmaker Arjun Talwar still feels like an outsider. In a witty and deeply personal attempt to finally "fit in," he turns his camera toward his neighbors on Ulica Wilcza (Wolf Street). What begins as a quest for integration quickly evolves into a soulful, cinematic exploration of a single kilometer in central Warsaw—a street that holds the secrets of both the past and the present. Guided by his friend Mo, a fellow immigrant-turned-filmmaker, Arjun uncovers a kaleidoscope of charming, eccentric, and melancholic inhabitants. Through his lens, the supposedly homogeneous and politically rigid landscape of modern Poland is revealed to be a place of deep contradictions and unexpected connections. Fresh from its World Premiere at the 2025 Berlinale, Letters from Wolf Street is a poignant reflection on the meaning of home, the solace of the everyday, and the invisible threads that connect us all. Restoration Process Film restoration process Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation About the Artist Arjun Talwar grew up in Delhi. He first studied mathematics before being admitted to the cinematography department of the Polish Film School in Łódź. His short films have screened at various international festivals including Visions du Réel, the Big Sky Documentary Film festival, FID Marseille and Tampere. His first feature-length documentary, Der Esel hieß Geronimo (A Donkey Called Geronimo), premiered at DOK Leipzig and went on to be released in cinemas. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Arjun Talwar Writer: Arjun Talwar Producer(s): Uni-Solo Studio: Karolina Śmigiel, Jarosław Wszędybył Film Editor: Binga Tomschin Featured Cast: Piotr Chadryś Mo Tan Feras Daboul Barbara Goettgens Kazimierz ”Oskar” Paczkowski Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

The film depicts village fishermen in East Bengal as they struggle with hunger and exploitation by money lenders. Jago Hua Savera FRIDAY, March 3rd 2016 7-9pm, Avaya Auditorium (POB 2.302), UT Austin campus The screening is Free & Open to Public. SYNOPSIS Indie Meme is co-sponsoring a film at the South Asian Institute UT - A.J. Kardar’s Jago Hua Sawera (The Day Shall Dawn, 1959). It is the first time we are digressing from the path of contemporary south asian cinema but are very excited to partner with SAI on this classic film. The film depicts village fishermen in East Bengal as they struggle with hunger and exploitation by money lenders. With a screenplay by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz based on a short story by Bengali writer Manik Bandhopadhyay, lead actress Tripti Mitra from India, and German-born British cameraman Walter Lasally, the film’s production was truly an international undertaking. Jago Hua Sawera is considered a classic in avant garde and neo-realist Pakistani cinema. Iftikhar Dadi, Cornell University, will discuss the film after the screening

April 25, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere Blessings (Maaybaapache Aashirwaad) India 2025 Recorded Q&A with writer-director Apurva Bardapurkar Shown as part of the Saturday shorts program TICKETS BUY A BADGE Tasveer Film Festival IFFSA Toronto - Winner Critics' Choice Awards 2026 Bengaluru International Short Film Festival Best Short Audience Choice Runner Up - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 Suryakant and Sangeeta, like any other parents, care only for their son - Dharma’s happiness. When Dharma accidentally kills his cousin, they go all the way to keep it hidden from the world. Even if keeping the secret means getting blood on their hands, they don’t stop. They justify to themselves, “Whatever we do, we do it for our son”. Seventeen years later when Dharma visits home for a day with his girlfriend, Suryakant and Sangeeta are exhilarated. But they soon understand that she knows about Dharma's cousin's death and to top that, she is an aspiring cop. Their anxiety skyrockets. They panic and start planning to kill their future daughter-in-law. But they go about in a shaky, non-killer comedic manner. Hoping that their son agrees with their justification, “Whatever we have done, we have done it for our son”. Restoration Process Film restoration process Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation About the Artist An independent filmmaker from the historical small town of Aurangabad in India, Apurva’s love for storytelling began in childhood, inspired by legends and folktales. In college, she went on to direct and lead an all-girls team to win prestigious theatre competitions. After graduating from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Apurva worked with ‘Paani Foundation’- an organization run for farmers, during which she got an opportunity to interact with people on ground. Apurva’s directorial debut MAAYBAAPACHE AASHIRWAAD (BLESSINGS) was an official selection at prestigious festivals like Tasveer, IFFSA Toronto, CSAFF, iSAFF and the likes. MAAYBAAPACHE AASHIRWAAD (BLESSINGS) was also selected at the Cinvesture Film Market to be developed into feature and Apurva is currently working on it as her debut feature. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Apurva Bardapurkar Writer: Apurva Bardapurkar Producer(s): Sumit Kanjilal Film Editor: Featured Cast: Smita Tambe, Suhas Shirsat Pratiksha Khasnis Swapnil Kanase Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

With 11 different parts directed by 11 different directors, X: Past is Present represents the next level of the average anthology film. X : Past is Present 2015/ India/ 106 minutes/ Hindi, English, Tamil & Bengali with English subtitles Interested in screening this in your hometown? Write to us With 11 different parts directed by 11 different directors, X: Past is Present represents the next level of the average anthology film -- with all of its stories woven together to make one overarching narrative. SYNOPSIS A filmmaker with a mid life crisis meets a mysterious young girl who reminds him of his first girlfriend at first, and subsequently, of every woman in his life. Who is she? Is she real or imaginary? A stalker or a ghost? His past catching up or a character from the script he is writing? A bold and original take on man-woman relationships, X: Past Is Present is a one-of-its-kind feature where 11 Indian filmmakers with strikingly different cinematic styles have come together to make different parts of the same film. One story told through the eyes of 11 unique storytellers. COMMUNITY PARTNER Tickets TICKETS NOT AVAILABLE TRAILER MEET THE FILM MAKERS Abhinav Shiv Tiwari Anu Menon Hemant Gaba Nalan Kumarasamy Prat im D Gupta Qaushiq Mukherjee aka Q Raja Sen Rajshree Ojha Sandeep Mohan Sudhish Kamath Suparn Verma MEET THE WRITERS Abhinav Shiv Tiwari Anu Menon Hemant Gaba Prat im D Gupta Q Raja Sen Rajshree Ojha Sandeep Mohan Sudhish Kamath Suparn Verma Thiagar ajan Kumarar aja

Overprotective parents Sangeeta & Suryakant will go to any lengths to protect their son's childhood secret from his girlfriend. April 25, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere Blessings (Maaybaapache Aashirwaad) India | Short 2025 | 20 mins | Marathi Recorded Q&A with writer-director Apurva Bardapurkar Shown as part of the Saturday shorts program TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Tasveer Film Festival IFFSA Toronto - Winner Critics' Choice Awards 2026 Bengaluru International Short Film Festival Best Short Audience Choice Runner Up - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 Suryakant and Sangeeta, like any other parents, care only for their son - Dharma’s happiness. When Dharma accidentally kills his cousin, they go all the way to keep it hidden from the world. Even if keeping the secret means getting blood on their hands, they don’t stop. They justify to themselves, “Whatever we do, we do it for our son”. Seventeen years later when Dharma visits home for a day with his girlfriend, Suryakant and Sangeeta are exhilarated. But they soon understand that she knows about Dharma's cousin's death and to top that, she is an aspiring cop. Their anxiety skyrockets. They panic and start planning to kill their future daughter-in-law. But they go about in a shaky, non-killer comedic manner. Hoping that their son agrees with their justification, “Whatever we have done, we have done it for our son”. Restoration Process About the Artist An independent filmmaker from the historical small town of Aurangabad in India, Apurva’s love for storytelling began in childhood, inspired by legends and folktales. In college, she went on to direct and lead an all-girls team to win prestigious theatre competitions. After graduating from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Apurva worked with ‘Paani Foundation’- an organization run for farmers, during which she got an opportunity to interact with people on ground. Apurva’s directorial debut MAAYBAAPACHE AASHIRWAAD (BLESSINGS) was an official selection at prestigious festivals like Tasveer, IFFSA Toronto, CSAFF, iSAFF and the likes. MAAYBAAPACHE AASHIRWAAD (BLESSINGS) was also selected at the Cinvesture Film Market to be developed into feature and Apurva is currently working on it as her debut feature. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Apurva Bardapurkar Writer: Apurva Bardapurkar Producer(s): Sumit Kanjilal Film Editor: Featured Cast: Smita Tambe, Suhas Shirsat Pratiksha Khasnis Swapnil Kanase 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.

12 year old Bhyal, a lower caste black-smith boy, and his friend, Laba, are bullied into making iron wheels for their upper-caste peers. Exhausted by the situation, they're compelled to break social conventions and take matters into their own hands. A cinematic examination of the caste system in a small mountain village in Nepal. April 15, 2023 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Wheels on the Bus Nepal | Short 2022 | 16 mins | Nepali, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Best Director - Short Film at Hanoi International FF Restoration Process About the Artist Surya Shahi received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) and a BA in International Studies from Elon University, USA in 2018. Since graduating, he has been in Nepal building a school and hostel in his home region of Humla, where WHEELS ON THE BUS was shot. He works part time as an acting teacher at Oscar International College of Film Studies in Kathmandu, Nepal. Surya worked on the Nepali short film A CURIOUS GIRL (2017) as a casting director, acting coach and assistant director. He was the creative producer and an actor in the musical short RATO TALO (2019) and also worked as an acting coach on the short FILAM (2020). He is currently working on his second short film as director, THE CURTAIN. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Surya Shahi Writer: Surya Shahi Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Man Bahadur Tamata, Damaru Bhatta, Suman Bohara 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.

An Indian family in the USA faces a pivotal choice for their child, caught between moral dilemmas and tough decisions. April 10, 2025 at 6:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase Texas Premiere Nirmalya USA | Short 2024 | 18 mins | Marathi, English TICKETS WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. An Indian family in the USA is confronted with a difficult decision regarding the future of their newborn child. What choice will they make, and what factors will influence their decision? 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 Aniket grew up in Kolhapur, Maharashtra with aspirations of storytelling through cinema. Throughout his career as a software engineer, he has continued to chase his filmmaking dream, creating short films in his free time. Over the years, he has taken on various roles, including director, editor, cinematographer and producer, in numerous short films. His work has been recognized with several awards. Most recently, he directed and edited a short film titled Nirmalya, which premiered at the California Theater in San Jose as part of the North American Film Association’s Marathi Film Festival. Nirmalya was also screened at the Pune International Film Festival on February 16, 2025, the official festival of the Government of Maharashtra. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Aniket Chandrakant Dhavale Writer: Dr. Bhagyashree Barlingay Mukund Marathe Gautam Pangu Producers: North American Film Association Film Editor: Aniket Chandrakant Dhavale Featured Cast: Priyanka Shinde Jachak Saurabh Jachak Radhika Hingwe Sakshi Pingle Ashley Hufford Alex Pina D'ann Connelly Michael Edenbaum Joseph Branch Monica Dani 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!

On the verge of turning forty, how should Sona face the problem of her loneliness? Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Sona Iran | Short 2023 | 15 mins | Farsi, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Restoration Process About the Artist Zahra Torkamanlou is a filmmaker from Iran whose work has screened at numerous international film festivals. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Zahra Torkamanlou Writer: Zahra Torkamanlou Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Zahra Torkamanlou 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 the neighbourhood, chess is a popular passtime with roadside games bringing together men from different strata. Their pawns include morality and religion, causing social and political tensions to erupt when a tournament gets underway. But the men are only the most visible players. Eventive Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Turup India | Narrative Feature 2017 | 72 mins | Hindi TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL In the neighbourhood, chess is a popular pastime with roadside games bringing together men from different strata. Their pawns include morality and religion, causing social and political tensions to erupt when a tournament gets underway. But the men are only the most visible players. Against this simmering backdrop, a domestic worker with a secret hobby, a young woman in love and a former journalist struggling with married life must make their moves with care. When caste, class, religion and gender come into play, there are boundaries to be negotiated, and the very rules of the game stand challenged. Restoration Process About the Artist Ektara Collective is an independent, autonomous, non-funded group of people who seek to combine creative efforts and imagination and collaborate with trained and untrained people to make films that are content wise and aesthetically located in people’s subjective, contextual realities and experiences. Through this process, Ektara has made and produced 2 short fiction films earlier (Chanda Ke Joote, 22mins, 2011; Jaadui Machchi, 38mins, 2013). This is our first fiction feature film. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Ektara Collective Writer: Producer(s): Ektara Collective Film Editor: Puloma Pal Featured Cast: Moulina Midde Anil Singh Madhu Bhagat Syed Saim Ali Nidhi Qazi Hariram Darshyamkar Aakash Jhamra Kuldeep Arakka Sheela Rawat Abhinav Kumar Deepak Nema Hasanuddin Madhu Dhurve, Geeta Dhrve Preeti Jagat Bali Jagat Neelam Borkar Seema Deshmukh Pushpa Yadav Tushar Pawar 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.

April 23, 2026 at 6:00:00 PM AFS Cinema World Premiere Texas Jaanu USA 2026 Live Q&A with writer-director-producer Aliza Khan and producer Mase Kerwick Shown as part of the Texas showcase TICKETS BUY A BADGE South Asian Film Festival of Montreal NewFilmmakers Los Angeles ZOYA (26), a bold immigrant from India, is navigating Austin on her own terms when she meets amateur filmmaker NATHAN (23). She joins him and his friends LUCY (24) and HAWKE (22) to make a zero-budget film, discovering her creative voice in the process. Her husband AAMIR (29), a rigid software engineer, feels threatened by her eccentric new life. To reconnect with Zoya, Aamir must shed his rigidity and embrace spontaneity, discovering his own capacity for joy and romance. Restoration Process Film restoration process Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation About the Artist Aliza Khan is a filmmaker based between India and the U.S. A University of Southern California graduate, she trained in Hollywood and worked in Los Angeles with producer Deepak Nayar (Bend It Like Beckham, Netflix’s Sense8). She later joined Guneet Monga’s ‘Sikhya Entertainment’, developing and producing across features, shorts, documentaries, and podcasts in collaboration with Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify. Her projects include the Academy Award–winning documentary The Elephant Whisperers and Netflix’s Pagglait, as well as the independent short Mirage, winner of the NALIP x Netflix Grant for Women of Color filmmakers. Her directorial debut, Texas Jaanu, filmed in Austin, is set to premiere in 2026, with grant support and recognition from director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air). Upcoming work includes Love on the Rocks (Hyderabad, spring 2026). Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Aliza Khan Writer: Aliza Khan Dini Parayitam Producer(s): Aliza Khan Mase Kerwick Film Editor: Jessica Lund Poorva Bhat Featured Cast: Sajel Parekh Oelerich Srinivas Chilukuri Thank you to our community partners for this screening!

Set in India during 1992, the film follows 11-year-old Supriyo, who struggles with poor vision and faces challenges that extend beyond his eyesight amid the country's rising sociopolitical tensions. April 13, 2025 at 5:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 International Premiere Chashma India | Short 2024 | 20 mins | Hindi Followed by the film Boong . TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL An 11-year-old boy with poor vision must confront more than his physical limitations when a school conflict forces him to make a difficult decision. Set against the backdrop of 1992 amidst India's rising sociopolitical tensions, Supriyo's journey boldly explores the emotional and societal blind spots around him. Restoration Process About the Artist Nitin Baid is an acclaimed Indian film editor known for his nuanced storytelling and impactful contributions to Bollywood. He gained recognition with Masaan (2015) and went on to edit films like Raazi (2018), Gully Boy (2019), and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023). His ability to craft seamless narratives has earned him multiple accolades, including Filmfare Awards. Recently, he ventured into directing with the short film Chashma: Blind Spot, showcasing his versatility in filmmaking. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Nitin Baid Writer: Nitin Baid Varun Grover Producer(s): Dimpy Agrawal Meena Agrawal Film Editor: Nitin Baid Vaishnavi Bhate Featured Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma Ayan Khan Kabeer Shah Shafeen Patel Shishir Sharma Vijay Shrivastava 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.