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Weeks after the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, seven migrant labourers, on the verge of starvation, decided to go to their village just like millions of others.

A 96-year-old woman in a Kerala village pursues her lifelong dream of getting an education. Having never gone to school, she must start at the beginning...first grade.

A true story, interwoven with a fictional poignant love story between a Rohingya girl and an Indian Special Forces Officer. It focuses on the peril, uncertainty, betrayal and misery of life in the Rohingya refugee camp.

During the pandemic, a 14 year old boy remains stuck in his school dormitory while his mother tries to contact him.

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.

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.

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.

An ethnographic film exploring the legend of Mahadeo Koli Goddess Kalsu, whose presence remains impregnated in the consciousness of the women of the tribe today.

Anaben Pawar is an elderly tribal woman accused of witchcraft in rural India. Through Ana's story, we delve into a deep-rooted culture of patriarchy and examine one of the most monstrous attacks on women's bodies in modern India: the witch-hunt.

Journalists and fans await Ma Anand Sheela as the infamous former Rajneesh commune's spokesperson returns to India after decades for an interview tour.

A rare glimpse of a man and his community as they come together to celebrate Pulikali—a 200-year-old tiger festival.

Shabnam was attacked with acid when she was a teenager. Today she is a Shero, a women's rights activist from India who is raising her daughter by teaching her the value of beauty and feminine strength, beyond social conventions.

A prismatic meditation on pollution in the capital of the World’s biggest free-market democracy and the most polluted and populated city, Delhi – a film about the pollution inside of the human mind.

Two men are in dialogue with each other. It's implied dialogue, an attempt to give structure to what lies beneath the surface, yet always brewing and active. Of course, there are women all around.

A young woman, Srishti Bakshi embarks on a monumental journey, walking almost 4000km over 240 days, from Kanyakumari in the south, to Kashmir, in the North, along the way meeting and learning first hand about the experiences of many women from all corners of India. WOMB is a poignant and heart warming documentary exploring the social and political issues faced by women of today’s India. It is a unique testament to seemingly insurmountable challenges in these unprecedented times and the everyday sheroes who are battling to overcome.

In a small village in the mountains of Uttarakhand, a daughter is lured by the possibilities of city life, while her mother is haunted by the prospect of their land’s desolation.

The film explores the spatial dimensions of a being who alternately enters and exits a fragmented world of projections where thoughts, memories and dreams blend into a strange loop of treacherous images. The film explores multiple layers of in-ness such as inclusion, depiction and representation.

After industrialization, human dominance over animals has changed in another way. The film portrays the world shrinking beyond the "Orwellian" era of questioning exploitation and establishing another revolutionary dictatorship, with dictatorships unrecognizable or isolated defenses.

Without a love of my own.

Science, religion and politics collide amidst a raging pandemic, when a group of laundrymen set out to design a poster celebrating a hugely popular annual festival worshipping the deity Ganesha.

The age old tradition of making samadhi is a dying practice in modern Haryana. A sacred ritual which originated in north Indian villages is now facing the brunt of modern times.

A palliative care team visits homes of terminally ill patients to help them come to terms with the inevitability of death.

Sahitya Akademi Telecast from its Archive Documentary Films during the period 25-30 October 2021 on eminent Indian Writers.

The journey from ashes to idols through the eyes of a teenager who has created many jobs in the process The documentary shows how a teenager decided to get rid of temple's waste by making idols from them and how few jail inmates became his helper in the process.

Dhruv, a goodhearted but complacent wildlife researcher from the city, is faced with the task of conducting a 'mammal survey' of the 600-square-kilometre Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Armed with 40-year-old maps of the area and a GPS device, he must navigate the park on foot and he recruits a local tribesman from the area - Dorai, to serve as his guide. The severity of the task immediately becomes apparent to Dhruv. Aside from the physical challenge posed, he struggles with his wayward assistant. Not only is Dorai addicted to alcohol, but he also appears to be terrified of officials and uniforms. Through the course of their journey, however, the two forge an unlikely friendship and a relationship between equals. When an accident takes him to Dorai's village, the wool of 'civilisation' is lifted from Dhruv's eyes and his attitudes towards the marginalised are transformed.

The film is the story of Radhika Gill and lakhs of other victims of Article 35A in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The subjective phases humans encounter during the consumption of standard amount of Lysergic acid Diethylamide or LSD.

A watchman at an apartment complex in Assam, India, spends an ordinary evening. A surreal, expressionistic landscape unfolds.

The documentary talks about of the devastating earthquake of 2001 and captures first-person accounts of survivors, rescuers, journalists, photographers, and earth scientists.

“Special,” “Gifted,” “Different,”… Despite the vast inventory of words to describe children who are on the Autism Spectrum, we still understand so little about their worlds outside of the medical lens. In Our World follows 3 children in their day-to-day lives – swimming classes, horse-riding, music lessons, special moments with their parents and therapists – and so much more, converging into a narrative that spells hope. The documentary aims to reveal the intricacies of their world and perhaps pave the way for OUR world, and for both to coexist with empathy and kindness.

Fool's Gold is a peek into the life of an old man who has refused to vacate a dilapidated house in a prime location in Kolkota. The old man feels that it is important to guard it from various encroachers, and even though he has a better house and his son's family waiting for him, he chooses to stay in this broken down one where even electricity and power supply has been blocked. It starts becoming apparent that there is a role reversal, as if the house is not for him, but he is the one trapped in the house bound by an unexplained duty towards guarding it.

Transwomen consider the Milk Function their most important Ritual. They also celebrate the ritual as their life-time unique festival. So what is the Milk Function? This documentary describes the ritual and explore its celebrations and traditions.

Tracing the memefication, redubbing and recycling of the final scene of Hindi box office hit Krantiveer (Brave Revolutionary), Kush Badhwar and Renu Savant call the authority of authorial voice into question, and unveil the power of subjective interpretation.

Prantik Basu paints a sensorial portrait of a village located in East India and its traditional rites.

SWA: the ‘Self’ is metaphorically hidden in a multi layered 5 sheath formation of interlocking caves we lose touch with our true subtle selves, when we identify with a fluctuating mind and the multiplicity of a manifest reality the film explores a vision... to experience and merge with the Universal Absolute; is the culmination of Inner Spiritual Wealth we need to be at peace with ‘Wholeness’ thus in our lucid states of meditation... our consciousness experiences a joyful sharing of the same space as the ETERNAL INFINITE; an eternal infinite, that supports all mutations... the effortless sublime state of ‘Samadhi’ we are enlightened... as the film, elevates human consciousness

A musical documentary woven around the endangered musical culture of the Rangdani Rabhas from Manikganj, Meghalaya, North East India.

Shot in the West Bank, Palestine, this documentary follows young, disenfranchised, Palestinians who have chosen the path of creativity as a response to the world around them.

Based on the life of Dr. Harish Gershom and about the journey of his achievement Harishophone. He is the only Indian who can play three octaves in the smallest saw (26.3 inches). He is recognized for his unique achievement including Limca Book Records 2003, State Award 2005, Guinness World Record 2015, British World Records 2021, IMAS Award 2011. Get along the journey of Dr Haris Gershom whose invention of the 'Harishophone' made wonders around the globe for its therapeutic impact. He is known to be the only individual in the world capable of producing three octaves on a saw that have a healing effect.

Njattyela Sreedharan, a fourth standard drop-out, compiles a dictionary connecting four major Dravidian languages. Travelling across four states and doing extensive research, he spent twenty five years making the multilingual dictionary.

A documentary that distances the roots of Hitler's famous symbol from India's Swastika.

Some potted plants, odd hours of wakefulness, and the view from my window. A heliotropic film from the lockdown in Budapest.

A short film about the magic of kindness, empathy and the triumph of the human spirit. It is also about a twelve-year-old girl who resides in a slum in India, she is single-handedly destroying patriarchy and enabling change as she paves the way for equality and economic freedom in her family. She is also enabling experiences for herself and for the children in her slum community. When change transpires at the grass-root level it paves way for miracles. It is a true documentation of the day a group of Mumbai children who live in a slum embark on an adventure. The story is a metaphor for hope, manifestation and the power of dreams in ‘New India,’ and a ‘New World’. A more empathic world is possible if all of our work together in manifesting its destiny selflessly with passion and integrity.

In this bilingual Manipuri film the desire for ethnic supremacy and emergence of politics of identity had put the people of Manipur to an unceasing violence, amplifying further mistrust and animosity amongst its population. Yet, in the face of distressed memories, hope thrives.

Aruna Vasudev, Founder of Netpac, Cinemaya & Cinefan Film festival has touched the lives of many in the world of Cinema. This documentary traces her roots from her humble origins in an undivided British India, to corridors of cinematic universe. It brings together her journey as a film critic, cinema activist and an impresario, weaving a tapestry that connects the dots that make the large canvas that we know as Asian Cinema Renaissance. This film explores her dynamism painted through a narrative unfolding lives of critics, filmmakers, curators and programmers – who are hidden maestros that largely make the cinephilia culture and by large remain unsung in histories of Cinema.

The Lost Paradise is a short documentary that tells about a rare rags to riches to rags story of a tiny Pacific nation of Nauru. It tells how Nauru, through phosphate mining, became the world's richest nation per capita and how corruption, exploitation of environmental resources, poor decisions, and a musical made it one of the poorest countries in the world.

In the dreamlike world of a rural Indian mela (fairground), enigmatic tales of love and betrayal unfold. A fortunetelling donkey pulls in the crowds, while a stuntman is caught in a romance with showmanship…

The local train is a sight to behold in the morning, overloaded with crowds fighting to get inside. A special compartment reserved for women appears as a temporary oasis – a haven for solitude and contemplation. Director Rebana Liz John questions the women, who reveal what it means to keep ambitions alive within an oppressive patriarchal system. Black and white imagery evocatively captures the details of the women’s experience in this world. They reflect on their lives, across generations, with humour, disappointment and defiance, forming a complex tapestry whose common ground is endurance and survival.

From the second floor of his coincidental new home, the filmmaker observes his surroundings; a vast green marshland with birds, animals, a pond and people. The filmmaker wonders whether there could be a space in the absence of stories or whether the camera forces spaces to create stories for its own survival.

From his home in Lisbon, Lebanese-Palestinian writer Saleem Haddad reflects on memory, his family and the strangeness of the sea. He chases his grandmother’s fast-fading recollections of Palestine, where she lived many decades ago, and thinks about writing the homeland from a distance.

The film exposes the life of women who have been trafficked in various parts of India. Some of them have been trafficked because of debt bondage and some for sexual exploitation.

The children of the Mahalle family make up just two of the 320 million students across India who have had to transition to e-learning because of the Covid pandemic. Both are excited when their new online school opens, due to the extra time and freedom they have. But problems arise with the learning platforms, and the family must unite in response.

Shot as Delhi emerged from COVID’s second wave, the film plays phone calls from the worst of the pandemic. Anonymous participants, some who lost loved ones, and others who worked on the frontlines, share their deeply personal accounts. What emerges is a story of survival, remembrance, & resilience.

A diaristic work told in episodes, ‘Every Film’ traces the various homes the filmmaker comes across or concocts - both tangible and intangible in his two years as a student in Ghent, Belgium. In that brief duration of time which coincided with the global pandemic, he had to move between three completely different housing setups - a subletting situation, the cheapest AirBnB in town and eventually a student house. As much as the film is an intimate glimpse of the filmmaker`s encounters with various people, places and memories while away from home, it also becomes a fleeting document of the various quirks of cohabitation in Belgium when looked at from an outsider’s point of view.

In the Himalayan region of Ladakh—a land of high passes, cold deserts, monasteries and Buddhist prayer flags—an alarming number of stray dogs are constantly on the prowl, upsetting the ecology, hunting endangered wildlife, and even attacking humans.

Multiple residents of the ancient city express their grievances with respect to the imminent destruction of their ancestral homes.

Hailstorm is based in the Narmada valley in central India, an area with extremely low levels of groundwater. Farmers here battle for survival, pitched against the vagaries of climate change. Following the events of a freak hailstorm over four seasons, the film unfolds the vulnerability and precarity of those that are at the sharpest end of global capitalism’s rapacious greed and the furthest from its benefits.

Made to commemorate Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi on his birth centenary, this documentary by FTII faculty has its focus on learning and presentation of music. Gems of advice in own voice of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is bound to inspire those engaged in music education, because he was not only a legendary artiste, but also a legendary teacher who has given eminent disciples to the world. Simplicity of his spoken words and euphony of his singing, including a rare Kumar Vyasa verse in Kannada, create a collage of education, inspiration and biography in this no frills short documentary that suits fast life of the day.

On 16 December 2007, a powerful IED blast at Pourabi in the countryside of the Northeastern Indian state of Manipur claimed seven lives, injuring more than 30 people. Among them was artist Maikel Meetei whose leg was blown away, leaving him dependent on a prosthetic limb for life. Overcoming his personal tragedy, Maikel resolved to use his paintbrush and canvas to embark on a quest for peace both within and without in the conflict-ridden state.

A documentary on Kerala's rising hip hop culture. Dive deeper into this culture that is making waves across Kerala with its distinctive style and form. Catch the talented artists of South India speak about the evolution of this expressive musical genre right here.