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2023 Terrestrial Verses Narrative Feature Farsi mins 77 Texas Premiere In-Person 2023 Iran Drama Terrestrial Verses follows everyday people from all walks of life as they navigate the cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social authorities, from school teachers to bureaucrats. These stirring vignettes, humorous and affecting, capture the spirit and determination of people amidst adversity, offering a nuanced portrait of a complex society. Cannes Film Festival BFI London Film Festival Live, ZOOM Q&A with Filmmaker Alireza Khatami Tickets 4/21/24, 2:00 AM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Writers / Directors Ali Asgari & Alireza Khatami Ali Asgari is a prominent Iranian cinema figure with more than 200 awards to his name. Two of his short films, More Than Two Hours (2013) and The Silence (2016), were nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes. The Baby was featured in the short film competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2014. Ali's films focus on the precarious lives of individuals living on the margins of society in his native country, Iran. His debut film, “Disappearance”, was developed at the Cinéfondation Residency of the Festival de Cannes and had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in 2017. "Until Tomorrow," his second feature film, at the Berlinale in 2022. Ali is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Alireza is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker based in Canada. Born into the indigenous Khamse tribe in Iran, he is influenced by his heritage's rich storytelling traditions. His films poignantly investigate the interconnection of memory, trauma, and power dynamics, often through filmmakers such as Asghar Farhadi. His debut feature, "Oblivion Verses," developed at the Cinéfondation Residency of the Festival de Cannes, premiered at the Venice Film Festival, winning three awards, including the Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay and the FIPRESCI Prize. Alireza also co-wrote "Until Tomorrow," which premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival. He is currently working on an auto-fictional psychological thriller in Turkey. Director: Alireza Khatami, Ali Asgari Producer: Ali Asgari, Milad Khosravi, Alireza Khatami, Cyrus Neshvad, Reyhaneh Rad Writer: Alireza Khatami, Ali Asgari Cast: Bahram Ark, Arghavan Shabani, Servin Zabetian, Sadaf Asgari, Faezeh Rad, Hossein Soleymani, Majid Salehi, Farzin Mohades, Gouhar Kheir Andish, Ardeshir Kazemi Editor: Ehsan Vaseghi Crew: Adib Sobhani, Hamed Aslani, Masoud Fayaz Zadeh This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

2022 Kamathipura Short Hindi mins 7 Texas Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2022 India Horror Named after Mumbai’s historic red light district, Kamathipura explores the decaying neighborhood with nightmarish strokes of fantasy. We follow the nervous virgin Sid as he makes a pilgrimage of sorts to a much-vaunted temptress in the area. But the mythical seductress has other plans. She turns Sid’s first time into a terrifying supernatural ordeal, where he is forced to reckon with the violence and sexual slavery that ensnares Kamathipura’s workers. Atlanta Horror Film Festival 2022 (Atlanta, GA) – Nomination for Best Animated Short Tickets 4/20/24, 3:30 PM All Badges, Shorts Program Ticket AFS Cinema Director Aayushman Pandey Aayush is an experiential creative, filmmaker, and new media artist who is happiest working on something entirely different from the last project he worked on, a road which has led him through the worlds of VR installations, real-time animation, Amazon Prime dramedies, and more. Ever since his mother went to see The Silence of the Lambs just before giving birth to him, he has been fascinated by the idea of gifting strange, meaningful experiences to audiences. https://vimeo.com/aayushman/mixtape Director: Aayushman Pandey Producer: Wasim Khan, Priya Sreedharan Writer: Sneh Sapru Cast: Akshay Oberoi, Priti Shroff Editor: Crew: Adnan Siddiqui, Naren Kapoor, Anita Kushwaha This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

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, 5:00 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

A 9-year-old boy in a remote village begins a lifelong love affair with cinema when he bribes his way into a rundown movie palace and spends the summer watching & learning from the projection booth. Back to Film Program $15 TICKETS ($12 for members) Fri. April 15th, 2022 @ 6:15PM Venue: Austin Film Society 6259 Middle Fiskville Rd, Austin, TX Texas Premiere Last Film Show India I 110 mins I Drama, Coming of Age I 2021 Gujarati w/ English subtitles IN-PERSON TICKETS Tribeca 2021 - 'Audience Award' Winner (2nd Place) A mischievous nine-year-old boy, Samay, gets into the habit of visiting the rundown local movie theater, against his father’s wishes. Without the money to attend, he strikes up a deal with the laissez-faire projectionist, who welcomes him into the projection booth in exchange for home-cooked meals. Samay’s fascination with movies inspires him and his friends to start their own secret screening operation, but when the 35mm theater’s future is threatened , they must struggle to maintain their new connection to cinema. NOTE: This film is playing only in theaters. "an ethereal take on the magic of movies" - IndieWire "revels in the liberation of a childlike point-of-view." - PopMatters About the Artist Pan Nalin was born in a remote village near Gir Forest in Gujarat, and he left his home at an early age to pursue filmmaking. He is a self-taught filmmaker who achieved worldwide critical and commercial triumph with his debut feature Samsara Pan Nalin's latest feature Last Film Show won the ' Best Picture, Golden Spike' at Valladolid International Film Festival, the 'Audience Choice Award - 2nd Place' at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the 'Audience Favorite Award' at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Last Film Show will be theatrically released worldwide in 2022. Nalin is currently developing English language features and series with Gotham Group in Los Angeles. Trailer Thank you to our community partners for this screening! Credits Crew Writer/Director: Pan Nalin Producer(s): Pan Nalin Dheer Momaya Marc Duale Exec Producer(s): Hemant Chaudhary Yash Gonsai Shubham Pandya Co- Producers: Virginie Lacombe Eric Dupont Cast: Bhavin Rabari Bhavesh Shrimali Richa Meena Dipen Raval Alpesh Tank Paresh Mehta Vikas Bata Rahul Koli Vijay Mer Kishan Parmar Shoban Makwa

< Our Team Ramdas Menon Festival Team Festival Programming A long-time resident of Austin, Ramdas got hooked onto films at a very young age, for reasons that he has only shared with his therapist. He joined Indie Meme (IM) in 2015 as a volunteer, and has been associated with all the IM film festivals. As an IM volunteer, he has performed several duties: chauffeur, delivery guy, ticket collector/clicker, vote counter, theater manager and also served on the 2018 programming team. In 2019, he served as the interim Chief Executive Officer at IM.

2021 Man & Wife Short Bengali, English mins 9 Virtual 2021 India Drama Tickets 4/28/23, 5:00 PM Free with IMFF Badge Director Rahul Roye 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. Director: Rahul Roye Producer: Writer: Rahul Roye Cast: Atif Ally Dagman, Kankana Chakraborty Editor: Crew: This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

Raised by his siblings after his mother and father passed away in quick succession, director Dinesh Sabu sets out to understand who his parents were. Unbroken Glass Austin : SUNDAY, NOV 6th 2016 @ 12:45pm Blanton Auditorium USA / 55min / English / Documentary Raised by his siblings after his mother and father passed away in quick succession, director Dinesh Sabu sets out to understand who his parents were in this personal documentary. UNBROKEN GLASS is remarkable in its candor, both in its investigation of how an immigrant couple dealt with the challenges of cultural assimilation and family expectations, and in its frank conversations about mental illness in a culture where such subjects are often taboo. FILM MAKER DINESH SABU IS EXPECTED TO BE IN ATTENDANCE Interested in screening this in your hometown? Write to us Tickets SUNDAY, NOV 6th 2016 @ 12:45pm At Blanton Auditorium 200 E MLK Jr Blvd Austin TX 78701 TICKETS NOT AVAILABLE Co-presented with: TRAILER STILLS unbroken1 unbroken2

< Our Team Mugdha Mahalanabish Festival Team Festival Programming Mugdha is a writer based in the US. Her debut feature screenplay won the 2025 Writers Ink Screenwriting Lab competition. She is currently using the awarded grant money to write and direct her first short film.

< Our Team Shivani Mittal Festival Team Festival Operations

2023 Bahadur: The Brave Narrative Feature Nepali, Kumaoni, Hindi mins 84 North America In-Person, Virtual 2023 India Drama A nationwide lock-down is imposed in India during the coronavirus pandemic. While all Nepalese migrant labourers are boarding the vans to leave for Nepal, Hansi sees this as an opportunity to earn more money for his ailing son in the emerging labour crises. His brother-in-law, Dil Bahadur, offers him illegal work in a godown. One day they find alcohol there that they sneak out for fun. Things take a tragic turn when Dil Bahadur is accused of stealing money instead. Hansi encourages him to leave for Nepal. However, Nepal has closed its border during the pandemic and the migrants have no place to go. Their innocent mischief has led to a tragedy of an irretrievable accord, ignorant of the pawns they have become at the mercy of the bigger powers at play. Kutxabank New Director’s Award — San Sebastián International Film Festival Recorded Q&A with Filmmaker Diwa Shah Tickets 4/21/24, 3:30 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Director Diwa Shah Diwa Shah is the recipient of the Kutxabank New Directors Award at the 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival. She has studied Creative Writing from the esteemed Durham University, UK. Bahadur The Brave is her first feature length project that got selected in the WIP Lab by NFDC Film Bazaar and won the Prasad Lab DI award. It world premiered at the 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival and won the Kutxabank New Director’s Award. It also won the Silver Gateway Award at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival. Her second project was selected for the screenwriters lab by NFDC Film Bazaar and is currently under development. Director: Diwa Shah Producer: Visvesh Singh Sehrawat, Thomas AjayAbraham Writer: Diwa Shah Cast: Rupesh Lama, Rahul Mukhia Editor: Viraj Zunjarrao Crew: Modhura Palit, Rakesh KJ, Thomas AjayAbraham This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

< Our Team Alka Bhanot Advisors Co-Founder & Advisor Co-Founder of Indie Meme, Alka has extensive experience producing for Indian Television and was the Executive Producer for the first Late Night Show, ‘Movers & Shakers’ in India, which won numerous awards. In Austin, since 2003 her film credits include Bryan Poyser’s ‘Dear Pillow’ (2003) Winner, Best Narrative Feature, Atlanta Film Festival, Margaret Brown’s ‘Be Here To Love Me’ (2006) a film about the life and music of Townes Van Zandt and ‘Sunshine’(2009) a documentary about adoption and single parenthood by Karen Skloss which aired as part of the Independent Lens series on PBS. She also worked on the ‘Trevor Romain Video Series’ (2005) an animated kids show which aired on PBS.

< Our Team Staff Laura Donnelly Director of Development Laura Donnelly founded and scaled Latinitas, one of the nation’s most culturally relevant STEAM education nonprofits. What began as a University of Texas at Austin class project grew into a national and international organization empowering over 45,000 girls, teens, and non-binary youth through media and technology programs across 25 states and 10 countries. Under her leadership, Latinitas raised more than $10M in funding and was selected as a charity partner by JCPenney and the Barbie Foundation, commemorated with a Latinitas STEM Barbie. A former journalist and PR executive, Donnelly now consults with nonprofits on strategy, development, communications, and operations. She joined Indie Meme Film Festival in 2025 to expand its development efforts and is also an award-winning filmmaker, educator, and founder of Street Genius, a creative nonprofit for boys.