2022 Amar Colony Narrative Feature Hindi mins 75 Texas Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2022 India Drama Amar Colony is a desperate tour of the human condition in reality and fantasy. The film is set in a small hill town in the lower Himalayas in India. Meera (20), a lonely pregnant woman is caught in a maze of desires and disappointments. Devki (45), a widow confined to a wheelchair, demands respect for her pigeon. Durga (60), a religious fanatic begins to experience delusions. When mundane lives of these three women intertwine in a lonely chawl in India, we encounter an existential underworld of raw impulses, desires and fears in this human wilderness with no respite and no resolution. Special Jury Prize - Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2022 Best Debutant Director - International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) 2022 Recorded Q&A with Filmmaker Siddharth Chauhan Tickets 4/18/24, 2:00 PM All Badges, Debut Showcase Ticket AFS Cinema Writer / Director Siddharth Chauhan Siddharth Chauhan is a filmmaker based in Shimla/Mumbai. He has continuously taken his locally produced films to festivals in UK, US, Sarajevo, Belarus, Indonesia, New Zealand, Italy, China, Canada and France. His short film 'Pashi' won 6 International Awards including Best Director, Best Film, Audience Choice, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. Indie Film Magazine reviewed and called Pashi – 'India's Finest Short Film'. Amar Colony is Siddharth’s debut feature film. Director: Siddharth Chauhan Producer: Nisheeth Kumar Writer: Siddharth Chauhan Cast: Nimisha Nair Sangeeta Agrawal Usha Chauhan Deepak Sharma Aayush Srivastava Rohit Agrawal Sreejith Vijay Yash Thakur Jasleen Gulati Ishan Azad Anuj Sharma Editor: Paresh Kamdar Crew: Modhura Palit, Marc Marder, Susmit Bob Nath This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

A man tries to keep himself together as he waits in a university canteen for his beloved from yesteryear. April 12, 2025 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 International Premiere Pyaar Andaaz (Love Undoes) India | Short 2024 | 6 mins | English, Hindi TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL 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. Restoration Process About the Artist 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. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Laksh Banthia Writer: Laksh Banthia Producer(s): Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Film Editor: Hitesh Panwar Featured Cast: Saayak Chakraborty Dora Bhattacharjee Shreya Acharyya Prem Vatsa Digvijay Andhorikar 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.

Taking its inspiration from a feminist sci-fi short story written in Bengal in 1905, Inés sets out on a voyage of discoveryaround India in search of Ladyland, the Utopian land of women. April 17, 2024 at 6:15:00 PM AFS Cinema Virtual May 3 - May 5, 2024 United States Premiere Sultana's Dream Spain, Germany, India | Narrative Feature 2023 | 83 mins | Basque, Spanish, English, Italian, Hindi, Bengali Screens with So, That Happened & The Road Not Taken TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL World Premiere - San Sebastián International Film Festival, Spain Inés, a Spanish artist, lives in India and stumbles upon Sultana's Dream a science fiction story written by Rokeya Hossain in 1905. It describes Ladyland, a utopia in which women rule the country while men live in seclusion and are responsible for household chores. Fascinated by the story Inés embarks on a journey across the country to search for the one place where women can live in peace. Restoration Process About the Artist Isabel Herguera is a Spanish animation film director with an international background. She studied fine arts at the Universidad del País Vasco and continued her studies at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf. She later earned a master's degree from Calarts in Los Angeles, where she directed Los Muertitos (1993), an animated short about the wall separating Mexico and the United States. In 1997 she founded her own studio Loko Pictures (1996-2004), with which she produced numerous commercials and her animated short The Balloon (2003). In 2003, Isabel returned to Europe, where she became director of Animac, the Catalonia International Animated Film Festival (2003-12) and coordinator of the Laboratorio de imágen en movimiento at Arteleku in San Sebastian (2003-14). She directed various animated short films that won awards and were nominated for the Goya Prize. Isabel has been a professor at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, since 2005, at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing since 2012 and has been a professor in the animation department at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne since 2017. She has held workshops on animation in many places around the world such as Ethiopia, China, Cuba, Australia, Korea, Colombia, Mexico and Italy, although this is the place where she has most recently developed her work, in India, which gave rise to the Sultana's Dream project, is her first feature film. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Isabel Herguera Writer: Isabel Herguera, Gianmarco Serra Producer(s): Isabel Herguera, Chelo Loureiro, Mariano Baratech, Fabian Driehorst, Iván Miñambres Film Editor: Gianmacro Serra Featured Cast: Miren Arrieta, Dedjani Mukherjee, Miren Gabilondo, Nausheen Javeed, Ranjitha Rajeevan, Mary Beard, Paul Preciado, Roberto Bessi, Manu Khurana 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.

May 1992. A state-sanctioned 'Operation' has put the city of Karachi in a state of unrest. Abdul Aziz Ansari wakes up at night and is informed that his son hasn’t returned home. April 15, 2023 at 3:00:00 PM AFS Cinema Murder Tongue Pakistan | Short 2022 | 18 min | Urdu TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL 'Excellence in Short Filmmaking' - Asian American International Film Festival 'Programmer's Choice - Narrative Short' - Bushwick Film Festival (2022) In May of 1992, a state-sanctioned “Operation” has put the city of Karachi in a state of unrest. Abdul Aziz Ansari wakes up at night and is informed by his daughter-in-law Naseema that his son hasn’t returned home. As a knock on their door later that night summons them to the hospital, what they witness along the way is one of the most brutal chapters of the city’s history, a sentiment of hatred towards their race, deeply rooted in the state system. Restoration Process About the Artist Ali Sohail Jaura is an independent filmmaker from Karachi, Pakistan who has been highly awarded for both his narrative and non-fiction shorts. In 2017, he made a travel short ARZ E PAKISTAN (Land of Pakistan) based on the Northern Regions of Pakistan which won many accolades in international tourism film festivals. It was ranked in the Top 10 Tourism films of 2018 by Comité International des Festivals du Film Touristique. His recent short, DRY LEAVES screened at prestigious events including the Newport Beach Film Festival, Indie Memphis, and the Sedona International Film Festival. MURDER TONGUE is his latest film. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Ali Sohail Jaura Writer: Ammar Zafar Producer(s): Zafeer Khan Anas Lania Film Editor: M. Yusuf Ramzan Featured Cast: Munawwar Saeed Amtul Baweja Muhammad Zamaan Ibad Alam Sher Raja Shahid Ali 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 young boy convinces a fisherman to take him out to sea, but once they are far from shore, the boy’s true intentions are revealed — leaving us to wonder if his plan succeeds. April 12, 2025 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 North America Premiere Blue India | Short 2024 | 12 mins | Tamil TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Special prize from Arctic Open International Film Festival 2024, Russia A young boy persuades a fisherman to take him out to sea. Once there, he reveals his true intentions, sparking the fisherman’s anger. The film leaves us wondering whether the boy ultimately succeeds in his plan. Restoration Process About the Artist Praveen Kumar Nagendran is an engineer-turned-filmmaker in the Tamil film industry, in India. He worked as the first assistant director in the film Maaveeran (Tamil). In 2024, he directed his first short film "Blue". Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Praveen Kumar Nagendran Writer: Praveen Kumar Nagendran Producer(s): Philomin Raj Film Editor: Tamilselvan Sakthivel Featured Cast: Palani Murugan Hemanathan 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.

2023 Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family) Documentary Marathi, English, Hindi mins 96 Texas Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2023 India Documentary ‘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. Best Editing, International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) In-Person Q&A with Director Anand Patwardhan Tickets 4/20/24, 3:30 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Production, Direction, Editing Anand Patwardhan 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”. Director: Anand Patwardhan Producer: Anand Patwardhan Writer: Cast: Editor: Anand Patwardhan Crew: Anand Patwardhan, Simantini Dhuru This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

A fisherwoman takes on a powerful local politician by hosting a feast for him using an unforgettable secret dish that could save her dying lake. April 12, 2025 at 10:30:00 AM AFS Cinema Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 Texas Premiere Virundhu (The Feast) India | Short 2024 | 25 mins | Tamil TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Jury Award for Best Short - IMFF 2025, Austin, USA Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, February 2024, World Premiere - Special Jury Prize Winner, International Competition Sydney Film Festival, June 2024 A fisherwoman takes on a powerful local politician by hosting a feast for him using an unforgettable secret dish that could save her dying lake. Restoration Process About the Artist Rishi Chandna is a self-taught independent filmmaker based in Mumbai and Goa. Currently he is in development of his first feature-length fiction film titled GHOL/THE CATCH. The project has been mentored at the 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and selected at the Cannes Film Market 2021, the 2021 NFDC Film Bazaar Co-Production Market and the 2021 Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum where it won the top HAF Fiction Award for a non – Hong Kong project. The Feast (‘Virundhu’ in Tamil) is his first work of short fiction and was awarded the Special Jury Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in February 2024. The film is part of an anthology of three short fiction films Rishi is making, that represent marginalised communities dealing with issues of climate change and political disenfranchisement in the context of water pollution, access and inequality. His debut short film, TUNGRUS (2018), a black comedy about a Mumbai suburban family divided over eating their dominating pet rooster, was shown at Hot Docs, Visions Du Reel, BFI London Film Festival, IDFA and became an Oscar-qualifying short documentary after winning at Slamdance Film Festival. Tungrus has released online on the prestigious New York Times’ OP-DOCS, PBS POV SHORTS, The Criterion Channel and several other platforms such as Atlantic Selects, Amazon Prime, Vimeo (Staff Pick) and Aeon Magazine. His second short film, PARTY POSTER (2022), a satirical documentary about the political poster culture in India, has shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, DocAviv, Glasgow Short Film Festival and more, and was also launched online on New York Times’ OP-DOCS. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Rishi Chandna Writer: Rishi Chandna Rahul Srivastava Producer(s): Rishi Chandna Anita Arjundas Jessica Seddon Rahul Muralidharan Film Editor: Ashwin Arvind Featured Cast: D. Antony Janagi GeorgeVijay Anbarasi 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.

Norwegian academic Samuel died in Santhali village. Bidu wants to keep Samuel's last wish of burying him in the village. With a broken heart and a broken dream, Bidu's five-year-old son Kherwal started looking for a new way of going to Norway, which Samuel promised. Eventive Virtual May 2 - 4, 2025 United States Premiere Kherwal India | Narrative Feature 2023 | 122 mins | Santhali, Bengali, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL 29th Kolkata International Film Festival 28th International Film Festival of Kerala 2023-Best Debut Director Indian Cinema Now 16th Jaipur International Film Festival -Awarded for Best Original Script, Best Released Film, Best Cinematography, Best Actor Lead Norwegian academic Samuel passed away in an Indian tribal village, leaving behind a final wish to be buried there. Bidu, a Santhali man, is determined to honour Samuel’s last request. Meanwhile, Bidu's young son struggles with the painful realisation that his cherished dream of visiting Norway, a promise made by Samuel, may never come true. However, hope flickers anew with the arrival of Samuel’s daughter, Lauren, in the village, rekindling the boy’s aspirations and bringing new possibilities to light. Restoration Process About the Artist Uttam Kamati is an independent Indian filmmaker and photographer with a strong passion for storytelling. His creative journey began by taking on different roles in filmmaking, where he gained experience as an assistant director, and scriptwriter for independent projects. Recently, Uttam Kamati completed his first feature-length film, Kherwal, which showcases his dedication to exploring diverse narratives. His short films, including Hope, have received international recognition. Hope won awards at the Dresden Sustainability Contest in Germany and the FINI Festival in Mexico. As a photographer, Uttam Kamati has earned several prestigious awards, including the Environmental Photographer of the Year (London, 2015), the DMZ International Half and Half Photography Award, and the DMZ Global Peace Award (South Korea), as well as the FIAP Bronze (Turkey). His work has been exhibited in major cities like New York, London, Turkey, and Boston, as well as at renowned institutions across India. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Uttam Kamati Writer: Uttam Kamati Producer(s): Uttam Kamati Film Editor: Featured Cast: Debanshu Saren Rabi Baskey Krista Smligdriva Monimala Saren 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.

2021 Man & Wife Short Bengali, English mins 9 Virtual 2021 India Drama Tickets 4/28/23, 12:00 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

A newlywed girl is left to live with her mother when her husband leaves to find work in India. She waits patiently for her husband to call, but in vain. As days pass, longing turns to loneliness, then resignation and resolve. The girl and her mother ultimately find solace in each other in this affecting film about solitude, abandonment, and self-actualization. Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Junko Nepal | Short 2021 | 15 mins | Nepali, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL 'Best Cinematography' - Linz Int'l Short Film Festival Restoration Process About the Artist Minsho Limbu is an Independent filmmaker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He holds graduation in screenplay writing and direction from Everest Film Academy. JUNKO is his directorial debut short film. It has been screened at film festivals including; Fribourg, Torino, POFF Shorts Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Washington DC Film Fest, Anchorage Int'l Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, Ajyal Film festival, Tel-Aviv Int'l Student Film Festival, VGIK Int'l Student Film Festival and Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival. It won best film, best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography Award at VGIK, Early Bird, Inter-University and Linz International Short Film Festival,2022; Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Minsho Limbu Writer: Minsho Limbu Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Garima Singh, Sarita Giri 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.

2023 Pushtaini (Ancestral) Narrative Feature Hindi, Kumaoni, English mins 90 Texas Premiere In-Person, Virtual 2023 India Drama A struggling Bollywood actor involved in an embarrassing scandal flees to his birth village in the Himalayan foothills and by happenstance picks up a determined young woman along the way. Once at home he is unpleasantly surprised, and must, against his will, deal with a disputed inheritance. His new friend becomes an ally as he travels through the mountains, unaware of what the journey has in store for him. Film Columbia 2023 MAMI 2023 South Asia Selection In-Person Q&A with Filmmaker Vinod Rawat Screens with Shera Tickets 4/21/24, 3:30 PM All Badges, Individual Tickets AFS Cinema Writer / Director / Producer Vinod Rawat Vinod Rawat, an acclaimed director, writer, and actor, recently showcased his debut feature film "Pushtaini" at the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) to an enthusiastic audience response. Hailing from a working-class neighbourhood in Delhi and his ancestral village in Uttarakhand, Vinod's journey has evolved after graduating from the Film & Television Institute. Renowned as a leading acting coach in the Hindi Film Industry, his short film "MAD" won at the Mumbai Film Festival in 2017, while the 2021 Emmy-nominated series "Aarya" and showcase his diverse talents as a director and writer. With a rich resume spanning independent and mainstream films, Vinod Rawat stands as a multifaceted force in the industry. Director: Vinod Rawat Producer: Lotus Dust Pictures, VinRaw Films Writer: Rita Heer, Vinod Rawat Cast: Vinod Rawat, Rajkummar Rao, Rita Heer, Hemant Pandey, Shashi Bhushan, Nitin Goel, Prema Karayat, Maya Darakoti, Mahavir Singh, Sakshi Darakoti, Mithilesh Pandey, Mukesh Dhasmana, Baljinder Kaur, Deepti Rawat, Bhavya Dhami Editor: Charu Takkar Crew: Dhawalika Singh, Krishna Purohit, Subash Sahoo This Event is supported in part by a Mini Grant from Humanities Texas. Community Partners for the Film More Films

Birdsong explores the dying whistling traditions of the Hmong people of northern Laos, whose sonic exchanges straddle the boundary between music and speech. The film follows the personal stories of three individuals from Long Lan village, as they reflect on their experience as practitioners of a vanishing musical language. Filmocracy Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023 Birdsong Laos | Documentary 2022 | 18 mins | Hmong, English TICKETS DONATE TO NEPAL Restoration Process About the Artist Omi Gupta and Sparsh Ahuja are filmmakers based between London, Melbourne and New Delhi. Their first collaboration, 'Child of Empire', a VR experience of the 1947 Partition of British India, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The film opened to glowing reviews in The Economist, and was also the front page article of The Hindu weekend following Sundance. Sparsh is lead producer on 'Lost Migrations', a series of three animated shorts on postcolonial South Asia. Omi has written one episode in this series, called ‘Seabirds’, which follows the story of the Tamil exodus from Burma following the Japanese occupation in the Second World War. Their work has exhibited at the BFI and V&A, London. Trailer For English subtitles, make sure to turn on the YouTube closed captions. Credits Crew: Director: Sparsh Ahuja & Omi Gupta Writer: Sparsh Ahuja & Omi Gupta Producer(s): Film Editor: Featured Cast: Neng Chue Vang Neng Chi Lee Chia Por Lee 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.