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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 TICKETS 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 New York actor & playwright investigates the pasts of his Bangladeshi immigrant parents, unearthing a lost history in which South Asian Muslims, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans forged an extraordinary multiracial community in mid-20th century Harlem. April 15, 2023 at 4:45:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Texas Premiere In Search of Bengali Harlem USA, Bangladesh | Documentary 2022 | 85 min | English, Bengali In-Person Q&A w/ directors Alaudin Ullah & Vivek Bald TICKETS TICKETS Official Selection of DOC NYC & CAAMFest 2022 As a teenager in 1980s Harlem, Alaudin Ullah was swept up in the revolutionary energy of hip-hop. He rejected his working-class Bangladeshi parents and turned his back on everything South Asian and Muslim. Now, as an actor and playwright contending with the Islamophobia of post-9/11 Hollywood, Ullah wants to tell his parents' stories - but he has no idea who they really were. In Search of Bengali Harlem follows Ullah from the streets of New York to the villages of Bangladesh to uncover the pasts of his father and mother. In doing so, he discovers a lost history - in which South Asian Muslims, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans forged an extraordinary multiracial community in the tenements of mid- 20th century Harlem. Restoration Process About the Artist Alaudin Ullah is a playwright, actor, and the son of one of the first Bengali Muslim men to settle in Harlem. Ullah is the author of the acclaimed one-man show, "DISHWASHER DREAMS," based on his father’s life in New York City in the 1930s-60s. Ullah premiered the show at the New Works Now! Festivalat New York’s Joseph Papp Public Theater, and was subsequently awarded one of the Theater’s prestigious Emerging Writers Group Fellowships. Ullah has since performed DISHWASHER DREAMS across the US, including most recently a 2021-22 run at Chicago's Writers Theater and at Connecticut’s Hartford Stage. Ullah’s three-act play "HALAL BROTHERS" centers on the interactions between African American and Bengali Muslims in a Harlem halal butcher’s shop on the day of Malcolm X’s murder in 1965. This emotionally charged ensemble drama is in development for stage production in 2022. --- Vivek Bald is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, digital media producer, and scholar. His work over the past twenty-five years has explored the stories and experiences of South Asians in the U.S. and Britain. Bald’s first documentary TAXI-VALA/AUTO-BIOGRAPHY (1994) which examined the lives and activism of New York City taxi drivers from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, was showcased by the Whitney Museum, the San Francisco Int'l Asian American Film Festival and PBS. His second documentary MUTINY: ASIANS STORM BRITISH MUSIC (2003) focused on South Asian youth, music, and anti-racist politics in 1970s-90s Britain. It premiered in New York as part of Lincoln Center’s Independents Night series and screened at two dozen film festivals in thirteen countries. In 2020, Bald consulted upon and appeared in the Peabody Award winning PBS documentary series, ASIAN AMERICANS. He is the author of Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America (Harvard University Press, 2013) and the faculty Director of MIT’s Open Documentary Lab, a unit devoted to the analysis and incubation of new forms of documentary: including VR & AR projects. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Alaudin Ullah & Vivek Bald Writer: Alaudin Ullah & Vivek Bald Beyza Boyac ioglu Producer(s): Susannah Ludwig Film Editor: Beyza Boyac ioglu 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.

In a remote Kashmiri village, Karun, a reserved security guard, forms a forbidden bond with Faheem, a man torn between tradition and desire. Through stolen glances, online flirtation, and secret visits, their connection forces them to confront their beliefs and loyalties. Faheem’s angry brother and a society drowning in conflict clash with their tenderness, embodying the tension of a conservative culture and challenging their love in ways they never expected. But Karun’s hope shines in his eyes, just as his love does. October 5, 2025 at 6:00:00 PM AFS Cinema We Are Faheem & Karun India | Narrative Feature 2024 | 75 mins | Kashmiri Q&A with filmmaker Onir The film will be proceeded by a live musical performance by Ramesh Srivastava (of Voxtrot). TICKETS TICKETS Best Director, UK Asian Film Festival 2025 Onir and co-writer Fawzia Mirza venture into the complex terrain of Kashmir with this quiet love story that finds poetry in the most unlikely circumstances. Set in Gurez, a remote border region of Kashmir, We Are Faheem & Karun follows an unexpected connection between Karun, a young security officer from Kerala on his first posting, and Faheem, a local student. Their romance develops through lingering glances and shared moments against the backdrop of one of the world's most militarized regions. Rather than sensationalizing its setting, Onir captures Kashmir as a place where people live, love, and dream despite ever-present tensions. Anchored by emotionally rich performances from Akash Menon and Mir Tawseef, this groundbreaking film treats its characters as people first, not symbols. Produced by Deepa Mehta, We Are Faheem & Karun offers a work both intimate and political, proving that the most personal stories often carry the deepest universal truths. Restoration Process About the Artist Onir is an Indian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, and editor born in Bhutan. He is best known for his film "My Brother... Nikhil" (2005) , based on the life of Dominic D'Souza, starring Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla, and Purab Kohli. It was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. He won the Indian National Film Award for Best Film (Hindi) in 2011 for the anthology "I AM". This film is considered one of the first and largest crowd-funded and crowd-sourced films through social media in India. The film dealt with single motherhood, child sexual abuse, displacement, and LGBTQI+ rights. In March 2024, Onir’s "Pine Cone" screened at BFI Flare, a queer love story written by Ashwini Malik and Onir. It is loosely based on Onir’s memoir "I Am Onir and I Am Gay", which he co-wrote with his sister Irene Dhar Malik and was published by Penguin Viking. Onir’s directed one of the 4 stories of the anthology “My Melbourne” which was shot in Melbourne by 4 Indian film makers with an Australian cast and Crew telling stories of diversity and inclusion. Onir’s "We Are Faheem & Karun” had its international premiere at BFI Flare (March 2025) Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Onir Writer: Onir Fawzia Mirza Producer(s): Onir Deepa Mehta Film Editor: Irene Dhar Malik Onir Featured Cast: Akash Unimenon Mir Tawseef Bashir Lone Mir Salman Sana Javeid 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.

Kennedy is an insomniac ex-cop, long though to be dead... still operating for the corrupt system, while looking for redemption. April 11, 2025 at 10:00:00 PM AFS Cinema Special Screening Kennedy India | Narrative Feature 2023 | 144 mins | Hindi Live Q&A with writer-director Anurag Kashyap TICKETS TICKETS 1. Festival de Cannes - France 2. Sydney Film Festival - Australia 3. Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival - South Korea (Republic of Korea) Kennedy is an insomniac ex-cop, long though to be dead... still operating for the corrupt system, while looking for redemption. Restoration Process About the Artist The most influential Indian filmmaker of recent times with a superlative career including more than 50 films as a Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Editor and Actor. He was awarded the Knight of the order of Arts and Letter by the French government, in 2013, when India was the guest country at Cannes Film Festival, to commemorate 100 years of Indian Cinema. He is also one of the Directors of Netflix's first India show called Sacred Games, and also various films like Choked, and short films for the anthologies - Lust Stories & Ghost Stories, for them. He was voted as one of the top 50 influential Indians by India Today, a leading Indian current affairs magazine, and continues to bring change to the Indian Film Industry. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Anurag Kashyap Writer: Anurag Kashyap Producer(s): Ranjan Singh Kabir Ahuja Film Editor: Tanya Chhabria Deepak Kattar Featured Cast: Rahul Bhat Sunny Leone Mohit Takalkar Abhilash Thapliyal Megha Burman 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.

Sid plans to come out to his conservative, community-oriented parents at a local diner. If anything goes wrong, Sid could lose the support of the people who matter to him most. Luckily, he has the power of time travel on his side—and he’ll do everything in his power to emerge from this encounter unscathed. Coming Out With the Help of a Time Machine gives a heartfelt sci-fi twist to tales about family dynamics and acceptance. Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Coming Out with the Help of a Time Machine India | Short 2022 | 15 mins | English TICKETS TICKETS "Best LGBTQ+ Short Film" - DFW South Asian & Cleveland International Film Festival Restoration Process About the Artist Naman Gupta is an award winning director and writer who has gained recognition for his work that reflects a commitment to diversity and inclusivity.He has a talent for integrating contemporary social issues into entertaining narratives, creating thought-provoking and emotionally engaging stories. Naman is an alumni of Ryan Murphy's Director Shadowing program and the winner of NETFLIX sponsored Tasveer Film Fund, as well as a semi-finalist of NBCUniversal's Launch Director Shadowing Program. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Naman Gupta Writer: Naman Gupta Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Karan Soni, Sangeeta Agrawal, Raghuram Shetty 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 man tries to keep himself together as he waits in a university canteen for his beloved from yesteryear. April 12, 2025 at 3:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase International Premiere Pyaar Andaaz (Love Undoes) India | Short 2024 | 6 mins | English, Hindi TICKETS WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. A man tries to keep himself together as he waits in a university canteen for his beloved from yesteryear. "Pyaar Andaaz" is a short experience attempting to capture the ephemeral nature of love and human connection in a single continuous take. 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 Laksh is interested in exploring themes such as visibility, alienation and shame in contemporary society. This interest emerged through his ongoing training at SRFTI, but really takes root in his experience of watching films alone in theaters since the age of eight. In college, apart from studying English Literature, he engaged with cinema by completing a concentration in film studies, founding the film society, and making a short film for his undergraduate dissertation. He also participated in the Ji.Hlava Academy in Czech Republic in 2024. To him, cinema is about the unknown, and he strives to tell stories of the unknown with emotional authenticity and visual flourish. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Laksh Banthia Writer: Laksh Banthia Producers: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Film Editor: Hitesh Panwar Featured Cast: Saayak Chakraborty Dora Bhattacharjee Shreya Acharyya Prem Vatsa Digvijay Andhorikar 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!

A Documentary about a Filmmaker’s aunts, in the spring of their lives Eventive Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase Aunty Sudha Aunty Radha India | Documentary 2019 | 49 mins | Hindi ORIGINAL FILM PAGE WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. Madrid International Film Festival – Spain JIO MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival New York Indian Film Festival – NY Three hours outside India's capital is a village called Lahra. This film follows two widowed sisters, aged 86 and 93, who have retired to this village, and whose days are spent with their adopted family of domestic help. Pulling along with their walkers (because of bad knees that turned inoperative a decade ago) the sisters do as they please, pay heed to no one and don’t bother with unsolicited advice. They don’t let their ailments unsettle them much and remain largely unfearful of death. With a rare acceptance of old age and all that it brings, they spend their time gossiping, watching T.V., soaking in the sun and bonding with the help of a hearty sharing of community life. With the filmmaker being their niece who visits their home for the first time, the film resolutely assumes the tone of this oddball group of people – a facile easy-going manner, that gazes lightly at the passing of days. And yet, from this light-heartedness, emerge lessons. Of courage and perseverance, of camaraderie and care-giving, of destiny and faith, and the most significant one: when we engage in conversations of death, we improve the quality of life. 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 After receiving a B.A. degree in English Literature in Mumbai, Tanuja Chandra completed further studies towards a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film Direction and Writing in the U.S.A. She returned to India and directed the television shows and co-wrote the scripts of Mahesh Bhatt’s films, Zakhm and Tamanna, both of which won National awards, and Yash Chopra’s Dil Toh Pagal Hai. She began independent film direction in 1998 with Dushman and directed Sangharsh, Sur, Zindaggi Rocks, and the English language, Hope and A Little Sugar in 2008, amongst others. Several of her films received awards and her English film received recognition in international film festivals. In 2017, her most recent film, Qarib Qarib Singlle released, a romcom starring Irrfan Khan and Parvathy, and a collection of short stories by her, called Bijnis Woman was published by Penguin Random House. Two short films by her streamed on Zee5 and Eros Now. She’s working on the script of her next feature, along with developing content for longer format projects. In the past, she has written articles for newspapers and magazines regularly, and is working on her next book. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Tanuja Chandra Writer: Producers: Anupama Mandloi Film Editor: Chandan Arora Featured Cast: Radha Rani Sharma Sudha Garg 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!

An imaginative kid in a water scarce slum realizes a superpower and decides to help his struggling mother to make her life easy. Eventive Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 United States Premiere Waterman India | Short 2023 | 24 mins | Marathi, Kannada TICKETS TICKETS 16th IDSFFK - Best Film Award in Short Fiction Category 14th Bengaluru International Short Film Festival 2024 - 1st Runner Up in Kannada category In a low-income neighborhood in Pune, 'Kitty', an eight-year-old boy, lives with his mother 'Saroja' amidst severe water shortages. During Kitty's summer vacation, Kitty fills his days playing with his imaginary friend while Saroja struggles to manage household tasks and water collection alone, due to her husband's absence. Their neighbor Gullamma suggests Kitty should grow-up quickly to help his mother. Meantime Kitty becomes intrigued after encountering a stiltwalker and playing with Gullamma's son, Dasthgir. He convinces Dasthgir to get him a pair of stilts. Later, Kitty discovers that whenever he walks on stilts, all the taps around him start running with water. When he shares this news with other people, he gets laughed at. His own mother gives him a scolding. Angered, Kitty runs away but is found and brought back home by Dasthgir. Saroja reassures Kitty that they will use his ability to bring water to the neighborhood. Soon after, in the middle of the night, stilts emerge from Saroja's house, and wherever Kitty's shadow passes, taps and containers start running with water, flooding the lanes and roads. Kitty continues to walk as his stilts echoes through the neighborhood. Restoration Process About the Artist Vishwas K is alumni of FTII, and he graduated in Direction and Screenplay Writing. His diploma film Waterman won the Best Short film award at the 16th IDSFFK in July 2024, and first runner up in Kannada competition at the 14th Bengaluru International Short Film Festival in Aug 2024. The film has also been screened in March 2025 at Bengaluru International Film Festival organized by Govt of Karnataka. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Vishwas K Writer: Vishwas K Producer(s): Film & Television Institute of India Film Editor: Gokul Gopinathan Featured Cast: Kartik Pujari Shwetha Rani H K Jahida M A Sanju Chavann Pruthviraj Lodga 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 film is about the propagation of evil curses in the form of a beautiful ring that invokes greed. The story revolves around a simple man who stumbles upon the ring and steals it. April 12, 2025 at 5:45:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Indie Meme Special 10th Year Retrospective Showcase International Premiere Ouroboros India | Short 2024 | 6 mins | N/A Followed by the film The Glassworker . TICKETS WATCH ONLINE Limited tickets available on site. Birsa Munda international film awards- best horror short film 13th Mumbai shorts international film festival - best student animated film 17th jaipur international film festival - best upcoming film award The film is about the propagation of evil curses in the form of a beautiful ring that invokes greed. The story revolves around a simple man who stumbles upon the ring and steals it. 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 Animation Film student at Satyajit Ray film and television institute of India, writer, director, animator, CS Engineer. I make 2d animations and dabble with all aspects of an animated film production pipeline from writing to storyboarding to actual animation and post. A story teller striving to show the world things never seen before! Bringing to light all that shrouded in the realm of thoughts! Films inspire perspectives in me, molded me in more ways than one, perhaps a film can change the world for the better! Ever since I can remember, drawing and doing crafty things with my hands has been a lot of fun and a huge part of my identity. I have dabbled in all kinds of art techniques, from oil paintings to sculptures, from making posters to graphic design, But my life as an artist truly began the day when for the first time I made an animation, seeing my drawings living and breathing, I knew that I wanted more. I wouldn't have known it at the time that it would forever change me. The medium of storytelling has helped me to identify my ultimate goal as an artist- to move the masses for the better. Films and art have a profound effect on the masses, it has the power to bring about real change, like it did with me. I feel that if a story can bring about change from within an individual, perhaps it can change the world for the better as well! I put my heart and soul to every artwork I create. Every film I make, every time my drawings come to life, it always has elements that are a reflection of my own deepest inner self. Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation Trailer Credits Crew: Director: Anuj Choudhary Writer: Anuj Choudhary Producers: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Film Editor: 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!

Two hearts navigate the shifting tides of love, marriage, and self-discovery, as their relationship teeters on the edge. April 10, 2025 at 11:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 World Premiere Fragments of Us USA | Short 2024 | 24 mins | Telugu, English TICKETS TICKETS Fragments of Us follows Drithi and Arjun, a south asian couple navigating the intricate challenges of love, marriage, and self-discovery. As cultural expectations and personal ambitions collide, they confront the fragile nature of their bond through a non-linear narrative that reveals defining moments from their past, present, and possible future. Each fragment of their journey invites reflection on whether there is ever a "right" time to address issues within a relationship, or if it ultimately comes down to resilience and choice. Restoration Process About the Artist Sushanth Nallapareddy is an emerging filmmaker with a distinctive voice in contemporary cinema, known for weaving intricate narratives that explore the complexities of human relationships. His passion for storytelling is rooted in capturing the emotional and psychological depths of his characters, with a focus on life's subtleties and nuances. Deeply influenced by Telugu mainstream cinema in his early years, Sushanth later found inspiration in world cinema, which reshaped his understanding of film as a powerful art form. His previous works including the short films Anveshana and Inkosaari, and the music video Head over Heels have garnered significant viewership on YouTube, solidifying his presence in Telugu cinema. While his previous work leaned toward mainstream appeal, Fragments of Us marks a more introspective approach, delving into a personal style of cinema. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Sushanth Nallapareddy Writer: Sushanth Nallapareddy Krishna Poojitha Producer(s): Dundinath Gunda Anil Sankaramachi Prithvi Raj Karreddula Film Editor: Sachin Dheeraj Sushanth Nallapareddy Featured Cast: Shalini Bathina Sri Chilukuri 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.

On a quiet night, a lonely man spends an hour engaging in his favorite activities, but soon he must face the consequences of his actions. April 10, 2025 at 11:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Texas Premiere Lost. USA | Short 2024 | 9 mins | N/A TICKETS TICKETS Hyperreal Film Club Official Selection, Reale Film Festival - Best Super Short, Tamizhagam International Film Festival - Best Actor Life Lost is not the same as Life Taken. Lost is a story that explores the themes of loneliness, inner battles, and helplessness. The protagonist has no “name” in the film and is seen going through a series of emotions that feel both rushed and deliberate, each serving a purpose within the narrative. In the opening two minutes, the film symbolizes the struggle and mental turmoil that one experiences in intense situations at a thought level, particularly when grappling with the desire to escape from the reality. As the story progresses, the character becomes both expressive and reactive, engaging in a series of mundane activities that seem to provide some comfort to him. A timer, counting down an hour, heightens the tension as the character grows increasingly anxious as time passes. The film ends with a moment of revelation, where the character's journey becomes clear, tying together the events shown and offering clarity to the emotions and experiences portrayed. Restoration Process About the Artist Rohit Battepati is a self-taught filmmaker whose passion for storytelling developed from his exposure to a diverse array of films. With a deep appreciation for various genres, he aspires to create genre-driven cinema that resonates with audiences. Born in India, Rohit was profoundly influenced by South Indian films during his childhood, an experience that later fueled his curiosity to explore world cinema after relocating to the United States in 2015. Rohit gained valuable experience as an assistant director on the anthology web series Maranam, a project entirely filmed in Texas. He took a significant step forward in his career by directing his debut short film, Lost. , showcasing his emerging talent. Passionate about pushing creative boundaries, Rohit is eager to make films that span a wide range of genres and explore a spectrum of emotions on screen, solidifying his commitment to versatile and impactful storytelling. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Rohit Battepati Writer: Producer(s): Film Editor: Santosh Vemula Featured Cast: Raviteja Cherughattu 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.

Personal memories of a secular freedom struggle at a time when India’s history is being rewritten by ruling fundamentalists. April 20, 2024 at 8:30:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 Texas Premiere Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family) India | Documentary 2023 | 96 mins | Marathi, English, Hindi In-Person Q&A with Director Anand Patwardhan TICKETS TICKETS Best Editing, International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, an ancient Sanskrit phrase meaning "the world is family" is a universalist idea that competes with dominant, exclusivist Hindu notions of caste. Anand grew up in a milieu that questioned the latter. The family's elders had fought for India's Independence but rarely spoke about it. 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity', words enshrined in India's Constitution, became subconsciously internalized. As his parents aged, Anand began to film with whatever equipment was at hand. Soon birthdays and family gatherings gave way to oral history. Revisiting home movie footage a decade after his parents had passed was a revelation. Today as self-confessed Hindu supremacists whose ideology once inspired the murder of Mahatma Gandhi rewrite India's history, memories of the past have become more precious than mere personal nostalgia. Restoration Process About the Artist Anand Patwardhan has been making documentary films for over five decades pursuing issues at the crux of social and political life in India. Many of his films were at one time or another banned by state television channels and became the subject of censorship rulings that Anand successfully challenged in court. Active in movements for communal harmony and against unsustainable development, militarism and nuclear nationalism, Anand describes himself as “a non-serious human being forced by circumstances to make serious films”. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Anand Patwardhan Writer: Producer(s): Anand Patwardhan Film Editor: Anand Patwardhan 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.