A mother and son communicate through Jugalbandi (a conversation through art), and come to accept each other through dance and music. Eventive Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 Kalã Canada | Short 2023 | 12 mins | English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Kalã is a film about a mother coming to terms with her only son's sexuality through music, dance, and the help of a healing beautician. It is a journey of self-acceptance for a Pakistani mother. The lead is played by Pakistan's superstar actress Bushra Ansari. Kalã is every South Asian mothers warm embrace of their queer child. Restoration Process About the Artist Arshad Khan is a Montreal-based filmmaker. Khan’s internationally acclaimed, award-winning autobiographical documentary Abu (2017) has played at film festivals around the world and won the INSPIRIT Foundation grant for 2018/19. Abu documents his rocky relationship with his father after Khan came out as a gay man. It also chronicles the wider story of young gay people fighting homophobia and invisibility within South Asian and Muslim cultures. Khan is developing two fiction features, FARA and ANYONE BUT HIM about the tribulations of second generation immigrants to Canada. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Arshad Khan Writer: Arshad Khan Producer(s): Bobby Bajaj, Arshad Khan Film Editor: Featured Cast: Bushra Ansari 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 filmmaker and his producer launch an underground mission to screen their banned film in Iran, in this comedy about the absurdity of repression. April 25, 2026 at 5:45:00 PM AFS Cinema Divine Comedy Iran, Turkey, Italy, France, Germany | Narrative Feature 2025 | 96 mins | Persian Virtual Q&A with writer Alireza Khatami TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Venice Film Festival 2025 - Orizzonti Bahram is a 40-year-old filmmaker whose Turkish-Azeri arthouse films have been systematically silenced by Iranian censors. When his latest work is once again denied a screening permit by the Ministry of Culture, he embarks on an underground mission to bring his art to the public. Alongside his sharp-tongued, Vespa-riding producer Sadaf, he embarks on a defiant underground mission to bring his art to the public, dodging absurd bureaucracy and his own creeping self-doubt. Never the one to shy away from exposing the heavy-handed interference of his country’s regime, director Ali Asgari (working with Alireza Khatami) adopts a tone of playful irreverence to celebrate the audacity of artists whom regimes seek to silence. In a brilliant meta-textual turn, real-life filmmaker Bahram Ark plays a fictionalized version of himself, blending stark realism with a wit that mocks the very idea of repression. Sarcasm and wit abounds yet Asgari never once trivializes his protagonist’s suffocation as he fights for his art. Restoration Process About the Artist Ali Asgari is a writer, director, producer and prominent figure in Iranian cinema which films focus on the precarious lives of individuals living on the margins of society in his native country. Two of his short films, More Than Two Hours (2013) and The Silence (2016), were nominated for the Short Film Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes. His short film The Baby was also featured in the short film competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2014. In 2017, his debut feature film, Disappearance premiered in Orizzonti at the Venice International Film Festival and was selected at the Toronto Film Festival in Discovery section. After staging several other short films, he directed his second feature film, Until Tomorrow, which premiered at the 2022 Berlinale in Panorama section. Ali’s third feature film, Terrestrial Verses, a cross-genre film, premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard and was theatrically released in more than 10 territories across the world. Terrestrial Verses has drawn over 100,000 spectators in France and 26,000 in Italy. His fourth feature film, Higher than Acidic Clouds, is a boundary-pushing hybrid film that has been selected for IDFA 2024. Most recently, Ali Asgari was chosen as a jury member for the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival. Ali is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His latest feature film, Divine Comedy, will premiere at Venice Film Festival 2025 in Orizzonti section. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Ali Asgari Writer: Alireza Khatami Bahram Ark Ali Asgari Producer(s): Milad Khosravi Ali Asgari Film Editor: Ehsan Veseghi Featured Cast: Bahram Ark Sadaf Asgari Bahman Ark Faezeh Rad 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.

2024 The Road Not Taken Short Telugu mins 13:30 North American Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2024 India Drama ‘The Road Not Taken’ revolves around a woman who decided to quit her day job to pursue her acting career, only to encounter a challenge that compels her to reconsider her decision. Indian World Film Festival 24, Hyderabad Tickets 4/17/24, 6:15 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Director Sarthwik Bollu Born and Grew up in India, Sarthwik's debut as a filmmaker came to life with a short narrative, "The Road Not Taken." As a self-taught writer/director, he cultivated a versatile taste for storytelling, finding inspiration in a varied spectrum of Indian and global cinema. This exploration led him to recognize the profound influence films can wield in navigating personal narratives intertwined with universal themes. Having contributed to various short film projects in supporting crew roles, Sarthwik recently wrapped up the shooting phase of his latest project, “ORGANIZIZED,” which is currently in the post-production stage. Inspired by Martin Scorsese's wisdom that "You can train to become a better filmmaker by being YOURSELF,” Sarthwik is learning to explore the realm of cinema through authentic artistic expression. Director: Sarthwik Bollu Producer: Prithvi Raj Karreddula Writer: Sarthwik Bollu Cast: Sirisha Andavolu Editor: Crew: Prithvi Raj Karreddula This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

A schoolboy, Boong, navigates racial tensions and border challenges in Manipur, driven by resilience and determination to reunite his divided family. April 13, 2025 at 5:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Texas Premiere Boong India | Narrative Feature 2024 | 93 mins | Manipuri Virtual Q&A with writer-director Lakshmipriya Devi Preceded by the short film Chashma . TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature - IMFF 2025, Austin, USA The story centers on a young schoolboy named Boong, portrayed by Gugun Kipgen, who embarks on a journey to reunite his divided family amidst the backdrop of Manipur's socio-political unrest. Facing challenges such as racial tensions and border issues, Boong's resilience and determination drive him forward. The film delves into themes of childhood innocence, family bonds, and the impact of geopolitical divisions on personal lives. Restoration Process About the Artist Laksmipriya Devi always wanted to tell stories but chose never to direct one if the story did not come from within. That story organically emerged while seeking closure from an uncomfortable part of her childhood, in Manipur - a place called 'home', in the northeastern corner of India. A graduate in Economics Honours (Mirinda House) and a post-graduate in Mass Communications (MCRC, Jamia), she has drawn from her experience as a First Assistant Director in landmark Indian productions such as Luck by Chance, Talaash, PK, A Suitable Boy, etc. to make her directional debut with 'Boong'. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Lakshmipriya Devi Writer: Lakshmipriya Devi Producer(s): Excel Entertainment Chalkboard Entertainment Suitable Pictures Film Editor: Featured Cast: Gugun Sanamatum Bala Hijam 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.

2022 Shivamma Narrative Feature Kannada mins 104 United States Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2022 India Drama, Family Shivamma (46), a mother of two and the wife of an ailing bedridden husband, works as a government school mid-day meal cook in a small village. She is the only active working member of her family. Her entire family is in the process of finding a suitable groom for her daughter, though she has her own affair running alongside. Shivamma is introduced to a nutritional product and, looking at it miraculously bettering her husband condition, she tries to explore it further and learns about its network marketing scheme and its financial benefits. Getting highly inspired at a motivational event, she decides to take the risk of setting up her own nutritional club, putting everything at stake. But one unfortunate event derails all her attempts and also threatens her daughter’s wedding. Despite all the opposition and the blame from her own family, Shivamma’s determination stays unaltered. New Currents award, Busan International Film Festival, Busan, Recorded Q&A with Filmmaker Jaishankar Aryar Tickets 4/18/24, 11:30 AM All Badges, Debut Showcase Ticket AFS Cinema Director Jaishankar Aryar Jaishankar is a Filmmaker and an IT engineer from Bangalore, India. “Shivamma” is his debut feature film which was a part of NFDC Film Bazaar Work- in-Progress lab 2022 where it won the Prasad Lab DI Award and Movie buff Appreciation Award. His short film “Lacchavva” won special mention at Mumbai international film festival 2020. It also won Toto awards 2020, Best film in Bangalore international short film festival 2019 and many other awards. The Short film is part of a Kannada anthology “Kathasangama” (available on amazon prime). Director: Jaishankar Aryar Producer: Rishab Shetty Writer: Jaishankar Aryar Cast: Sharanamma Chetti, Chennamma Abbegere, Shruthi Kondenahalli, Shivu Abbegere Editor: Chandancm Crew: Vikas Urs, Shreyank Nanjappa This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

A curious Deva journeys through everyday challenges to reach school, discovering kindness, resilience, and the power of education. April 26, 2026 at 3:45:00 PM AFS Cinema North America Premiere Deva Aaj Pan Vhay India | Short 2024 | 15 mins | Marathi Shown as part of the Family Shorts Program TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Taiwan International Children's Film Festival-2026 Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth - winner Young Jury and Best film Jharkhand National Film Festival (International) - winner Best Director and Best Film Best Short Audience Choice Runner Up - Indie Meme Film Festival 2026 Deva Aaj Pan Vhay follows the journey of Deva, a playful and inquisitive young boy living in a rural village. Each day he crosses rough terrain and faces unpredictable weather to reach his school. Through everyday experiences, relationships with his mother, teacher and mentor Dadu, he learns that education is not limited to textbooks but is shaped by life itself. Restoration Process About the Artist Amol Jadhav is an award-winning advertising photographer and filmmaker based in Mumbai, India. He has created visual campaigns for brands including Tata Motors, Mahindra, Toyota, Volkswagen, Thums Up and Hindustan Unilever. With Deva Aaj Pan Vhay, he brings his visual storytelling experience into a heartfelt narrative about childhood, resilience and education. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Amol Jadhav Writer: Amol Jadhav Producer(s): Jalandhar Jadhav Madhuri Jadhav Film Editor: Pankaj Bangde Featured Cast: Dilip Prabhavalkar Hrishikesh Joshi Kalyanee Mulay Devdatt Ghone 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 life of an expat Nepali woman in the United Arab Emirates turns upside down when she loses a small amount of money while trying to buy a laptop for her son in Nepal. April 20, 2024 at 1:00:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 North America Premiere Helena Nepal, United Arab Emirates | Short 2023 | 13 mins | English, Hindi, Nepali TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Official Selection - Focus South Asia, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023 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? Restoration Process About the Artist 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. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Ayarush Paudel Writer: Ayarush Paudel Producer(s): Sophiya Paudel Film Editor: Ayarush Paudel Featured Cast: Ayushma Shrestha George Jose Yoshina Gautam Sajil Jimmy Samman Sharma Ramesh Rijal 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.

Mumbai authorities plan to axe thousands of trees to expand a mass transit system. Home to the 10,000-strong Warli tribe, a scuffle unfolds to protect the forest and the leopard the tribe worships. The Bhoir family finds they are at the forefront of a battle to save the green lungs of India’s financial capital, the last natural forest in a megapolis. October 27, 2024 at 3:00:00 PM AFS Cinema The Leopard's Tribe India | Documentary 2022 | 40 mins | English, Hindi, Marathi In-Person Q+A with Director Miriam Chandy Menacherry TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Mumbai authorities plan to axe thousands of trees to expand a mass transit system. Home to the 10,000-strong Warli tribe, a scuffle unfolds to protect the forest and the leopard the tribe worships. The Bhoir family finds they are at the forefront of a battle to save the green lungs of India’s financial capital, the last natural forest in a megapolis. Restoration Process About the Artist Miriam Chandy Menacherry is a Keralite documentary filmmaker and producer based in Mumbai, India. She founded Filament Pictures in 2005, a production house that creates socially relevant feature-length documentaries. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Miriam Chandy Menacherry Writer: Producer(s): 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.

As legions of birds fall from New Delhi’s darkening skies, and the city smolders with social unrest, two brothers race to save a casualty of the turbulent times: the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to their city's ecosystem. April 12, 2023 at 5:15:00 PM AFS Cinemas All That Breathes India, USA, United Kingdom | Documentary 2022 | 94 min | Hindi TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Winner of Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival Awards for 'Best Documentary' (2022) In one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for the creatures in their makeshift avian hospital. Director Shaunak Sen (CITIES OF SLEEP) explores the connection between the kites and the Muslim brothers who help them return to the skies, offering a mesmerizing chronicle of inter-species coexistence. Restoration Process About the Artist Shaunak Sen is a filmmaker and film scholar based in New Delhi, India. CITIES OF SLEEP (2016), his first feature-length documentary, was shown at various major international film festivals (including DOK Leipzig, DMZ Docs and the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, among others) and won 6 international awards. Shaunak received support from the IDFA Bertha Fund (2019), the Sundance Documentary Grant (2019), the Catapult Film Fund (2020), the Charles Wallace Grant, the Sarai CSDS Digital Media fellowship (2014), and the Films Division of India fellowship (2013). He was also a visiting scholar at Cambridge University (2018) and has published academic articles in Bioscope, Widescreen and other journals. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Shaunak Sen Writer: Producer(s): Shaunak Sen Aman Mann Teddy Leifer Florrie Priest Film Editor: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen Featured Cast: Nadeem Shehzad Mohammad Saud Salik Rehman 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.

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Living in a small village in Himachal, Jyotsana is still in denial of her husband’s demise. Her endless search for her husband proves futile every time and the turmoil of living a life between the past and the present make her more hostile towards motherhood. Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 What Are You Searching For? India | Short 2022 | 35 mins | Hindi, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Restoration Process About the Artist Princy Pal is filmmaker based out of Delhi. She is an alumnus of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, 2019, where she completed a postgraduate degree in cinema, specializing in direction and screenwriting. Pal's is deeply interested in exploring film as a medium of narrative, non-narrative, imagery, sound, and vision that can transcend the world of the audience's experience. Pal also has hobbies in photography, creative writing, and music. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Princy Pal Writer: Princy Pal Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Indira Tiwari, Shabnam Thakur, Jaivanti Devi 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 middle-aged Indian woman accused of murdering a rich American woman; an innocent husband who loves his wife; a journey of this couple where karma proves at the end “what goes around comes around”. June 18, 2024 at 6:45:00 PM AFS Cinema The Verdict India | Narrative Feature 2023 | 135 mins | English, Tamil TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL A middle-aged Indian woman accused of murdering a rich American woman; an innocent husband who loves his wife; a journey of this couple where karma proves at the end “what goes around comes around”. Restoration Process About the Artist Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Krishna Sankar Writer: Krishna Sankar Producer(s): Prakash Mohandas Film Editor: Sathish Suriya Featured Cast: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Sruthi Hariharan, Prakash Mohandas, Vidyullekha Raman, Suhasini. 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.