Discover Movies

In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women’s Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over 12 districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more. Deepa Dhanraj follows several cases, shining a light on how the women’s Jamaat has acquired power through both communal education and the leaders’ persistent, tenacious and compassionate investigation of the crimes. In astonishing scenes we watch the Jamaat meetings, where women often shout over each other about the most difficult facets of their personal lives.

Dhoolpet Ganesha is a Telugu documentary that follows a small, marginal community in South India as they attempt to throw the best Ganesha Festival in town.

Under cover of darkness and with no word of his plans, much-beloved Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche walked away from his life on the international stage to live that of a wandering yogi. Unheard of among eminent teachers today, such a practice is rife with hardships. For Mingyur Rinpoche, these challenges—begging, finding food and shelter, illness, and all the attendant risks of wandering incognito from place to place with the barest of possessions—present fertile ground for deepening insight into the true nature of the mind. Wandering . . . But Not Lost is an intimate account of Mingyur Rinpoche's four-and-a-half-year retreat (June 2011 – November 2015) interspersed with Rinpoche’s own guidance in applying Buddhist wisdom to our daily modern lives that will touch—and inspire—audiences everywhere.

A desperate filmmaker drives a neurotic actress and an aging musician to a village of trauma.

In 1990s Mumbai, a crime boss and his network wield unchecked power over the city — until the rise of "encounter cops," who brazenly kill their targets.

One of the most traumatic of the early stages of the evil war in Srilanka that has been raging for over 25 years is the burning of Jaffna public library, which housed more than 97,000 books and irreplaceable palm leaf manuscripts, the wanton burning of the most important library of the Tamils was a major loss to the cultural heritage. This documentary attempts to document war scarred life of the library and the socio-political violence connected with it.

Set in the aisles of Eloor Library, filmmaker Cyril Abraham Dennis documents conversations based on life and art in Kochi.

The second entry in Velu Viswanadhan's series of experimental documentaries. This film traces the Ganges river upstream.

Showmen riding cinema lorries have brought the wonder of the movies to faraway villages in India once every year. Seven decades on, as their cinema projectors crumble and film reels become scarce, their patrons are lured by slick digital technology. A benevolent showman, a shrewd exhibitor and a maverick projector mechanic bear a beautiful burden - to keep the last traveling cinemas of the world running. A critically acclaimed, poignant documentary that celebrates India’s travelling picture shows and laments their demise, filled with exquisite visuals and marvellous eccentrics.

An intimate exploration of how everyday lives intertwine with personal and political borders in the Indian subcontinent.

A documentary tracing the lives of three tribal communities from Idukki district of Kerala in India, narrating their daily encounters.

"Discover Dr Anil Prakash Joshi's Himalayan journey in 'A Son Of Himalaya". From rural roots to ecological visionary, witness his symphony of sustainability, GEP innovation, and the transformative power of nature's whispers.

The film sketches the creative life of the protagonist Kapila. The film’s narrative is structured as one day in the life of a Koodiyattam performer.

A retelling of Sun Tzu's The Art of War through sports.

Amala tells the story of the Dalai Lama’s younger sister Jetsun Pema, her struggles, loss and success that earned her the epithet Amala or ‘mother’. Using rare footage from her historic visit to Tibet in 1980, the film also gives insight on the state of education inside Tibet. After her sister died, she took charge of the Nursery for Tibetan Refugee Children in a small town in northern India. Under her leadership, the nursery transformed into one of the most successful Tibetan refugee schools – the Tibetan Children’s Village schools (TCV).

Follows the final days of Chika Kapadia, given four months to live, who has chosen to end his life through physician-assisted suicide at Dignitas in Switzerland. The filmmakers, tasked with documenting Kapadia’s countdown to death, capture both his journey and their own emotional response.

A charismatic Indian-Nepali boy, lives a bohemian life in a remote Himalayan village. As he transitions from childhood to teenagehood, his poetic journey of perseverance echoes issues that span across ages and communities.

The history of trance music between Goa and Tel Aviv. During their annual leave, young active duty Israeli soldiers discover the path to a new techno music genre: Goa trance is born.

The divergent paths of poppy farmer Vardibai and her activist son Mangilal intertwine in this powerful documentary about a Dalit family’s resistance against systemic oppression.

Widely considered an important milestone in Indian Architectural history, the Kanade brothers are a testimony of how life and work can coexist with honesty as the fundamental driving factor. The film ‘Kanade’ gives an insight into the journey and experiences of Shankar & Navnath Kanade as architects and teachers.

“Can I be nostalgic about something I’ve never experienced?” asks debut filmmaker Pranami Koch. She has in mind her grandmother, a person she never knew who belonged to the Koches, a people in India with their own culture and traditions. In her search for connection and identity, Pranami travels to the countryside and immerses herself in the Koch community.

When New York based Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol's father passes away in exile with an unfulfilled wish to take his last breath in Tibet, Tenzing realizes that his father's dream to return home to his lost nation is shared by all exiles. Driven by this realization, the artist embarks on a mission to reunite the Tibetan land with its people, literally, through an art project that involves smuggling 20,000 kilograms of native Tibetan soil to India.

Following Israeli author Amos Oz over two years, as he meets readers and discusses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Along the way, Oz offers advice to Israeli president Shimon Peres, and is seen with fellow writers Salman Rushdie, Paul Auster and Nadine Gordimer, and the Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh.

A personal portrait of director Shyam Benegal, made by his collaborator, Khalid Mohammed

Only about 50 people in a nation of 1.4 billion make a living working as a stunt driver in the Maut Ka Kuan (Well of Death). A profession and passion this niche deserves nothing but appreciation for carrying on a legacy that has kept millions of Indians entertained over decades. Raju, Sukhwir, Atul, Narendra, and Manovar are part of this niche cohort and have dedicated their lives to their craft, bringing smiles to people's faces. But the road to pursuing an occupation like this never comes easily. Through this short documentary, we explore the high-stakes world of the riders - where passion, risk, and sacrifice collide.

Tigers are solitary hunters. But in the forests of Central India, a gang of four tigresses is rewriting the rules of tiger behavior.

A documentary that traces the life and times of Bhagat Singh, a committed Marxist who most ably exemplified the spirit of revolutionary resistance against British imperialism in undivided India.

Exploration of the ordinary lives led by women of different classes—a college professor, an unmarried woman, and a seasoned drama artist. They unveil the societal intricacies woven into their social backgrounds, with typical evening talks besides them. Gripping tales of yore immersed in the metaphorical embrace of their surroundings, their familial shelters are emblematic of resilience and protection, where profound truths lie hidden within the depths of the commonplace.

The documentary traces the history and legacy of Poona Guest House, a place situated in the heart of Pune, and how early cinema gave rise to this establishment, its delicious traditional food, and a mother's home to many dreamers.

Haunted by questions of disappearance, loss, and revolutionary struggle, An Impossible Address continues Sanzgiri’s examination of the life of Sita Valles and the bonds of solidarity that developed between India and Africa against the Portuguese empire. Combining 16 mm film with digital animation, hand processing, and 3D scanning, the film is a kaleidoscopic and sonically vibrant experimental personal essay shot across Angola, Goa, and Portugal.

The Invisible Other is a documentary film that explores the presence of caste in films and film production in Tamil cinema, especially since the 1990s.

In an effort to improve feminine hygiene, a machine that creates low-cost biodegradable sanitary pads is installed in a rural village in Northern India. Using the machine, a group of local women is employed to produce and sell pads, offering them newfound independence and helping to destigmatize menstruation for all.

Satyajit Ray's poetic documentary was commissioned by the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim at a time when he felt the sovereignty of Sikkim was under threat from both China and India. Ray's documentary is about the sovereignty of Sikkim. The film was banned by the government of India when Sikkim merged with India in 1975. The ban was finally lifted by the Ministry of External Affairs in September 2010. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

Sumukhi Suresh forces Debbie Rao to speak in front of the camera about the making of Pushpavalli Season 1 and 2.

In a poetic hour and a half, director Mani Kaul looks at the ancient art of making pottery from a wide variety of perspectives.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching in the Buddhist cultures of the Himalayas.

The multilingual Bombay, the Bombay of intolerance, the Bombay of closed textile mills, of popular culture, sprawling slums and real estate onslaughts, the metropolis of numerous ghettos, the El Dorado. This film is a tale of the cities of Bom Bahia / Bombay / Mumbai, through a tapestry of fiction, cinema vérité, art objects, found footage, sound installation and literary texts. It is a chronicle of the journey of a scattered bunch of insignificant fishing hamlets to the coveted stature of a prime metropolis. The narrative is structured around fictional exchanges between Ismat Chugtai and Sadat Hasan Manto, the two legendary writers who lived in this metropolis, over the art of chronicling these multi-layered overlapping cities.

The river Yamuna, known to the locals as 'Jamna', the lifeline of Delhi, is going through a major crisis due to pollution, mismanagement and sheer ignorance. A documentary crew tries to make sense of the situation by talking to different stakeholders and Shyam - a boatman who relies on the river for his livelihood.

Filmed in India over six years and narrated by Academy Award winning actor, Helen Mirren, YES MADAM, SIR is a ‘David and Goliath’ epic story profiling Asia Nobel Prize winner, Kiran Bedi – India’s first woman police officer.

After the anti-corruption protests, Arvind Kejriwal along with his team members forms a new political party to fight the Delhi elections.

In a far suburb of Bombay, residents from slums are moved into high-rise apartment complexes with the promise of a better life. While these complexes are built allegedly to house the poor, they have been seen as moves to free prime slum land for commercial development. The complexes soon degenerate into places worse than slums. The film lets the viewer experience the living conditions of places hidden away in a 21st century metropolis.

A humorous yet raw and authentic study of women’s reproductive labour across the marriage-market continuum, including, sex work, erotic dancing, surrogacy and egg donation, paid domestic work and unpaid domestic/care work across India, while also offering a comparison of the law’s highly differential regulation of these apparently disparate forms of female reproductive labour.

The coronavirus pandemic has made social distancing essential in waging a victorious battle against it. Consequently, the Indian national lockdown is intrinsic to fighting it, even though there still might be people indifferent to it. This short film draws attention to the same concern, and how not taking our quarantine with earnest intent might lead to disastrous results. It chooses the metaphor of an inconsequential insect to communicate the same.

In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.

The film presents the life and work of the writer Sukumar Ray, Satyajit Ray's father. Ray made this film as a tribute to celebrate the centenary of his birth.

Captured during the early days of production, this unreleased film offers a glimpse into its rehearsal sessions — an intimate icebreaking moment where the cast come together through song and rhythmic clapping.

Mundane life of person who is constantly observing and in search for peace.

Fifty years after the fall of his country, can the Dalai Lama make a breakthrough in his efforts to find a solution to the Tibet question?

Loknayak is a 2004 biographical film based on the life of Bharat Ratna Jayaprakash Narayan (JP).[1] It was directed by Prakash Jha in 2004.[2] Actor Chetan Pandit enacted the role of Jayaprakash Narayan and Tisca Chopra played role of Prabhavati Devi, wife of JP Narayan.

In the 1970s, Satish Bhaskar became a turtle walker: He walked nearly the entire coastline of India and the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands in search of sea turtles. Carrying a camera and a notepad, he documented turtles’ nesting areas and tried to save them from extinction. Then the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck, putting all his work and the creatures he loved in peril.

A glimpse into the lives of tabla makers in Pune, this documentary captures their quiet dedication, craftsmanship, and the joy they find in shaping rhythm with their hands.

Far from the mainland and mainstream consciousness, in a region ridden with uncertainties, Tora is a quaint village with bad roads, erratic transport service, a dysfunctional school, no hospital, no power supply, no mobile network and no job opportunities.

When a watchman finds a half-burned Japanese letter in Pune’s Okayama Friendship Garden, it unlocks hidden conversations on fleeting friendships, shifting media, and life’s uncertainties.

A group of sex workers and brothel youth form a film production house in the Kalighat redlight area, Kolkata, India. Despite the opposition from the conservative society, they are determined to become filmmakers, resist prostitution among the second generation, survive through the art of cinema, and aspire to transform the redlight area into a professional film colony in the post-pandemic time.

Highlights Rajamouli’s influence on Indian and international cinema, with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

An impressionistic sketch of ‘the public’ as created by our cinema and its relationship with cinema itself.

During social and political turmoil, what is the manifestation of divine intervention? How do the gods and goddesses act in the volatility of the contemporary world? If they walk on earth as men and women, how do they endure the chaos of modernity? Centering on the terrible and majestic incarnations of Goddess Kali and her celestial avatars, this film is a metaphysical contemplation in times of perpetual emergencies. Avikunthak’s remarkable sense of forms finds expression in the extraordinary combination of performance and essayistic cinematic practices.

It Was Here Before Our Time immerses viewers in the enigmatic world of Maari Theyyam, an ancient ritual performed along the southern coast of Kerala, India. The documentary captures Maari Theyyam's raw energy and mysticism through intimate observational footage, revealing how the ritual serves as a communal act of healing and resilience.