Archive
IFFH 2024 FILMS
Documentary: PARAMA: A Journey with Aparna Sen | 81 minutes
Director: Suman Ghosh
Actor(s): Aparna Sen, Konkana Sen, Shabana Azmi
Synopsis: Often described as a ‘Renaissance woman’, Aparna Sen’s six decades in cinema as India’s greatest female filmmaker have inspired generations. Director Suman Ghosh tracks her career, from her early days starring in Satyajit Ray’s Teen Kanya to playing leading heroines. Along the way, we learn of her inspirations and many causes she champions.
Short: GHOST WALK | 15 minutes
Director: Ananth Mahadevan
Actor(s): Shishir Sharma, Kumud Mishra
Synopsis: Great care was taken to portray the rare and special relationship between two individuals in a very beautiful way without leaving room for over-emotions.
Feature: IT’S TIME TO GO | 90 minutes
Director: Ananth Mahadevan
Actor(s): Dilip Prabhavalkar, Rohini Hattangady, Bharat Dhabolkar
Synopsis: Inspired by a true story of an existential riddle in the life of an elderly couple who feel life should have a happy ending, and seek an unusual remedy for a dignified exit. “If you want a happy ending, you must know where to end your story.”
Documentary: COLOURS OF LIFE | 60 minutes
Director: Praveen Morchhale
Synopsis: A Film Director revisits the Himalayan mountain villages after 5 years of shooting a national award-winning feature film, in which local villagers appeared in various roles. He invites them to a cinematic experience at The Himalayan Film Festival where some of them see cinema for the first time in their life.
Short: NAAM (Identity) | 23 minutes
Director: Sooraj Gunjal
Actor(s): Anjali Patil, Palomi Ghosh
Synopsis: A story of a single parent, who changes her identity to get a job as house help in order to survive. Her new workplace was the home of a young married couple who found themselves unexpectedly six months pregnant. Their bond is tested due to a significant misunderstanding.
Feature: KABULIWALA | 106 minutes
Director: Suman Ghosh
Actor(s): Mithun Chakraborty, Abir Chatterjee, Anumegha Kahali
Synopsis: A timeless tale of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore is a story set in the city of Kolkata in 1965. The film revolves around the heartwarming connection between Rahmat, a middle-aged Afghan man, and a little girl, Mini.
IFFH 2023 FILMS
Feature:THE STORYTELLER | 116 minutes
Director: Ananth Mahadevan
Actor(s): Paresh Rawal, Adil Hussain, Revathi, Tannishtha Chatterjee
Synopsis: Based on Satyajit Ray’s short story “Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro” about originality versus plagiarism. Tarini answers an advertisement for a storyteller about 2,100 kilometers across the country. Expecting the job to be in a school, he turns up only to learn that the employer is a rich businessman who has insomnia and wanted a storyteller for himself. Six months later, something unexpected happens that turns the story and its teller on its head.
Short: THE COUNTERPART | 15 minutes
Direction: Abhinandan Ghose
Synopsis: The friendship of two childhood friends is torn when both of them fall in love with the same girl. Betrayed by his childhood friend, Sandeep suffers a major psychological breakdown and leaves town. After two years, Sandeep returns to his old apartment and reveals his true intentions gradually.
Documentary:WOMEN BEYOND BOLLYWOOD | 52 minutes
Director: Rahila Bootwala
Synopsis: India’s cinema industry is the largest in the world, and Bollywood is its flagship – stars, music, drama, not to mention rampant sexism, are its defining features. Today, a new generation of filmmakers is finally showing women as more than eye candy or appendages to larger-than-life male heroes. The film is an interplay of memoirs, cinematic source films, observational material and interviews.
Feature: TIKDAM | 118 minutes
Direction: Vivek Anchalia
Actor(s): Amit Sial, Arisht Jain, Aarohi Saud, Divyansh Dwivedi, Nayan Bhatt
Synopsis: Tikdam is a story of migration. With lack of job opportunities, the father decides to leave for a bigger city to earn a living. The children are inconsolable and want to stop Prakash from leaving at any cost, so they set off on an adventure of a lifetime, where they learn about migration, lack of tourism and global warming.
Short: PREET | 22 minutes
Direction: Jayesh Jaidka
Synopsis: A psychological drama about a newlywed who escapes the confines of her sexually abusive past and finds refuge in New York City through her childhood friend, only to realize that there’s more than meets the eye. As you peel back the layers, Preet is an experience that showcases the deep psychological trauma of a survivor and goes beyond the physical aspect to highlight the often unnoticed mental turmoil of a survivor in society.
Documentary: ALL THAT BREATHES | 97 minutes
Direction: Shaunak Sen
Synopsis: In one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for the creatures in their makeshift avian basement hospital. The film explores the connection between the kites and the brothers who help them return to the skies, offering a mesmerizing chronicle of inter-species coexistence.
IFFH 2022 FILMS: Tribute to Satyajit Ray, Centenary Celebration
Feature: CHARULATA (The Lonely Wife) | 117 minutes
Direction, Scenario, Music: Satyajit Ray
Actor(s): Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhavi Mukherjee
Synopsis: Set in 19th century India, Bhupati, a wealthy man with a bent towards journalism, neglects Charulata, his wife to pursue politics. Amal, his brother, comes for a visit and Bhupati coaxes him to “bring out” her artistic leaning. Amal does, but through their subtle interplay Charulata comes to feel deeply for Amal. He admits to Charulata that a “woman’s mind can only be understood by men”. Amal realizes that Charulata is in love with him. So as not to hurt his brother, Amal leaves unexpectedly, Bhupati sees Charulata crying over Amal and is shocked and sorrowful.
Feature: SHATRANJ KE KHILARI (The Chess Players) | 113 minutes
Direction and Music: Satyajit Ray
Actor(s): Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Amjad Khan, Sir Richard Attenborough, Tom Alter
Narration: Amitabh Bachchan
Synopsis: Satyajit Ray’s basic theme in the film is the message that the self-centeredness, detachment and cowardice of India’s ruling classes catalysed the annexation of Awadh by a handful of British officials. Based on a short story by Munshi Premchand, the film shows in parallel the historical drama of the Indian princely state of Awadh and it’s Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, who is overthrown by the British, alongside the story of two noblemen who are obsessed with the game of shatranj (chess). Amjad Khan plays the ruling Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. He is a languid artist and poet, no longer in command of events and unable to effectively oppose the British demand for his throne. Parallel to this wider drama is the personal tale of two rich, indolent noblemen of this kingdom, Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali. Inseparable friends, the two nobles are passionately obsessed with the game of shatranj. Both effectively neglect their wives and fail to fight the takeover of their kingdom by the East India Company. Instead, they escape their wives and responsibilities, fleeing from Lucknow to play chess in a tiny village untouched by greater events.
IFFH 2021 FILMS
Feature: BITTERSWEET | 101 minutes
Director: Ananth Mahadevan
Actor(s): Vivek Chabukswar, Akshaya Gurav, Anil Nagabhar
Synopsis: BITTERSWEET is the true story of Satya Bhama, the woman who condemned the ritual of having to remove her womb and compared it to the dark slave ages of America. The perpetrators and the victims do not realize that they are toying with the balance of nature and maybe wiping out an entire future civilization.
Short: FOR EACH OTHER | 23 minutes
Director: Rima Das
Synopsis: Malti is an earnest shop owner, whereas Raman is a flamboyant tempo driver and they bridge the quaint Assam neighborhood to the outside world. What happens when the comfortable arrangement is disrupted? Will they still hold hands?
Feature: RICKSHAWALA | 47 minutes
Director: Ram Kamal Mukherjee
Actor(s): Kasturi Chakraborty, Avinash Dwivedi, Bikramjit Mukherjee
Synopsis: Rickshawala is a tribute to great master Bimol Roy’s masterpiece Do Bigha Zameen and Roland Joffe’s The City Of Joy. The hundred year old traditional vehicle of Kolkata that has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court is breathing its last breath in the by lanes of the city. The film depicts the pathos, love and human bond through the two wheeler that keeps the city alive.
Short: COLDFIRE | 34 minutes
Director: Riddhi Sen
Synopsis: Set in 2029, the film is a dystopian dark comedy about the unending class struggle. A salesman seeks to sell a mysterious gadget called Coldfire, a gadget that has been invented to make funerals exclusive for the upwardly mobile class. become the first user and win in life via his death. Sarkar races with himself in this race down the rabbit hole of consumerism as the story unfolds further.
Documentary: WOMB – Women Of My Billion | 104 minutes
Director: Ajitesh Sharma
Synopsis: WOMB is a heart wrenching and heartwarming narrative of the plight, dreams, rights and fight against all forms of violence, that unify the women of today’s India. The film follows Srishti’s 3,800 km journey from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over 240 days, highlighting crisis exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic through an activist’s lens.
IFFH 2019 FILMS
Documentary: BURIED SEEDS – The Life Journey of Vikas Khanna | 75 minutes
Director: Andrei Severny
Starring: Vikas Khanna
Synopsis: A timeless story of human passion, willpower, and resolve in the face of adversity. Told through the eyes of Michelin Star chef Vikas Khanna, the documentary is a journey of overcoming disability, poverty and discrimination. He goes from living in a homeless shelter to owning a restaurant, becoming a Michelin star chef, and a TV star.
Short: DHUT | 12 minutes
Director: Manish Tiwari
Starring: Iqbal Khan and Shakti Anand
Synopsis: A pretentious man returns to his native city to meet up with some of his old college buddies and proceeds to poke fun at some of them who are still struggling. By the end of the reunion, karma strikes back and takes its toll which changes Ravi’s life forever.
Feature: THE LAST COLOR | 91 minutes
Director: Vikas Khanna
Starring: Neena Gupta, Rajeswar Khanna, Aslam Shekh
Synopsis: The inspiration of the movie comes from the day when widows of Vrindavan and Banaras celebrated Holi for the first time, breaking a centuries old taboo. The film is a poignant story of love, friendship, commitment and victory of the human spirit seen through the eyes of a 9 year old flower seller and a 70 year old widow.
KATRAN (The Uncalled) | 15 minutes
Director: Prem Singh
Starring: Eshika Dey and Piyush Mishra
Synopsis: Katran is a story of an elderly couple, who decide to part ways after 36 years of their marriage but in the end realize that in some obscure corners of their house, still resides a little tug of love that brings them together.
Documentary: DAUGHTERS OF THE POLO GOD | 34 minutes
Director: Roopa Barua
Synopsis: A film about an endangered breed of ponies and empowering women in the sport of polo, a traditional male sport. A young polo sisterhood is developing in Manipur that ploughs on in spite of adversity and political turmoil. They are intensely connected to their sacred ponies and play in an international tournament every year.
Feature: PATAAKHA | 134 minutes
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Actor(s): Sanya Malhotra, Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover
Synopsis: Comedy-drama about two sisters from a small village in Rajasthan. The constant war between the siblings has haunted their lives. When they meet their soulmates, they feel relieved that they will finally be free of each other. But, as fate would have it, it seems that they can’t live with, or without each other.
IFFH 2018 FILMS
Feature: ONCE AGAIN | 99 minutes
Director: Kanwal Sethi
Starring: Shefali Shah, Neeraj Kabi, Bhagwan Tiwari, Rasika Dugal
Synopsis: An aging actor gets involved with the widowed woman who caters his meals at home. Their relationship escalates causing hardship for her and embarrassment for him. How they resolve their relationship is the question.
Short: SOUND PROOF | 30 minutes
Director: Aditya Kelgaonkar
Starring: Soha Ali Khan and Vinay Pathak
Synopsis: A young divorced woman rents an apartment in Mumbai hoping for a new beginning in life. She soon finds herself caught up in a maze of peculiar neighbors, strange occurrences and a loud blaring TV from a mysterious apartment.
Documentary: SHALOM BOLLYWOOD | 75 minutes
Director: Danny Ben-Moshe
Synopsis: SHALOM BOLLYWOOD reveals the unlikely story of the 2000-year-old Indian Jewish community and its formative place in shaping the world’s largest film industry. When Indian cinema began 100 years ago it was taboo for Hindu and Islamic women to perform onscreen, so Indian Jewish women took on female lead roles, which they dominated for decades. Infused with music and dancing, the film focuses on the lives of five of the great Jewish actors.
Short: SHAME | 24 minutes
Director: Anusha Bose
Starring: Swara Bhaskar, Anusha Bhaskar, Ranvir Shorey, Sayani Gupta, Tara Sharma, Cyrus Sahukar, Seema Bhargava Pahwa
Synopsis: Shame is the twisted journey of a meek, vulnerable woman who emerges from the background to unapologetically reclaim her dignity, confidence and her right to desire. A guest at a posh hotel fires a housekeeping staff whom he catches trying on his girlfriend’s lingerie. This dark comedy explores the thin line between two worlds; the haves from the have-nots.
Feature: THE MUSIC TEACHER | 109 minutes
Director: Sarthak Dasgupta
Starring: Divya Dutta, Neena Gupta, Manav Kaul, Amrita Bagchi, Niharika Lyra Dutt
Synopsis: Beni is a small town teacher struggling to make ends meet by teaching music and singing in clubs. Jyotsna, his estranged student has become a celebrity singer in Bollywood. When the town comes alive with the news of Jyotsna coming back for a day to sing in a big music concert, Beni has to come to terms with the pains of his past as well as the delusions of his present.
Documentary: PURDAH | 71 minutes
Director: Jeremy Guy
Synopsis: The inspiring story of a young Indian woman who trades her burka for dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women’s Cricket Team and how the harsh realities for women creates an unexpected outcome for her own family, both shattering, and fueling aspirations.
IFFH 2017 FILMS
Feature: MANGO DREAMS | 93 minutes
Director: John Upchurch
Synopsis: A Hindu doctor with dementia and a Muslim auto rickshaw driver form an unlikely friendship as they cross India in search of the doctor’s childhood home.
Short: THE LEFTOVERS | 23 minutes
Director: Tina Thadani
Synopsis: The story of two women who left their reputable jobs to open up makeshifts schools in the heart of Mumbai’s slums. Following their trials and tribulations with the community of the lower income class, who families know that education is the only way out for their kids.
Documentary: LIMITLESS | 59 minutes
Director: Vrinda Samarth
Synopsis: Limitless explores the lives of eight long-distance women runners, who rediscovered themselves through running. It reveals their insecurities, their bruised body image, their battered self-confidence, their guilt at accepting that they need some me-time too. This is the story of women who reached the edge of their bounds, braved against them, pushed them, and, they discovered that the sky is the limit.
Short: AZAAD | 31 minutes
Director: Rahul Chittela
Synopsis: Set against the socio-political backdrop of present-day India, AZAAD unfurls the story of a dysfunctional relationship between a father and his son, within 48 hours of the father going missing.
Feature: KSHITIJ: A Horizon | 100 minutes
Director: Manouj Kadaamh
Actor(s): Manoj Joshi, Upendra Limaye, Vidyadhar Joshi
Synopsis: A 12-year-old girl’s struggle to continue her education in the face of severe adversity. Poverty forces her family to leave their village and go to a neighboring town to do back-breaking labor in sugarcane fields. The girl continues to quietly find time to study amidst days filled with hard toil, much to the irritation of her father who has little sympathy or understanding for her aspiration.
Documentary: THE ARGUMENTATIVE INDIAN | 60 minutes
Director: Suman Ghosh
Synopsis: This documentary traces the life and work of India’s Renaissance man and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest living intellectuals of the world, the film explores his formative years and their influence on his views of the world – both past and present.
IFFH 2016 FILMS
Documentary: DRIVING WITH SELVI | 74 minutes
Director: Elisa Paloschi
Synopsis: Selvi, like so many girls in India, is a child bride in a violent marriage. One day she escapes, and goes on to become South India’s first female taxi driver. This is the ten-year journey of a charming, strong, and courageous young woman who defies all expectations, moving beyond the pain she’s experienced to create a new life.
Feature: BUDHIA SINGH – BORN TO RUN | 112 minutes
Director: Soumendra Padhi
Actor(s): Manoj Bajpayee, Mayur Mahendra Patole, Gajraj Rao
Synopsis: A biopic about Budhia Singh, the world’s youngest marathon runner whose story garnered controversy and inspiration around the world.
Documentary: FAMOUS IN AHMEDABAD | 29 minutes
Director: Hardik Mehta
Synopsis: Set within the kaleidoscopic backdrop of the kite-flying festival in India, ‘Amdavad Ma Famous’, witnesses the transformation of 11-year old Zaid from a boy next door to an aggressive and passionate kite-runner until he comes across a hindrance that prevents him from flying kites on the terrace. And thus begins the fight for the terrace on the day of the biggest kite flying festival in India.
Short: DAARAVTHA – The Threshold | 30 minutes
Director: Nishant Roy Bombarde
Synopsis: An adolescent Pankaj is discovering his sexuality. Torn between a patriarchal Indian upbringing full of gender-stereotypes and his natural urge to identify with the opposite gender, he finds an opportunity to express his desires within the bounds of cultural ethos.
Feature: MOH MAYA MONEY (In Greed We Trust) | 108 minutes
Director: Munish Bhardwaj
Actor(s): Neha Dhupia, Ranvir Shorey, Devendra Chowhan
Synopsis: A young real-estate broker tries to pull off a huge scam, which goes horribly wrong. To fix everything he involves his begrudging wife leading to an end neither could imagine.
Feature: WAITING | 92 minutes
Director: Anu Menon
Actor(s): Naseeruddin Shah, Kalki Koechlin, Jennifer Antony
Synopsis: A poignant and stirring film that is as witty as it is heartrending. Exploring universal and personal experiences of grief in an honest and powerful way, WAITING is a tender film that proves the importance of our bond as humans is sometimes through sorrow and uncertainty.
IFFH 2015 FILMS
Feature: ROUGH BOOK | 104 minutes
Director: Ananth Mahadevan
Actor(s): Tannishtha Chatterjee, Amaan F Khan
Synopsis: A hard look at the education system in contemporary India. Though one of the finest systems in the world, the lacunae in the system have created issues. How one teacher rebels against the system to fight for her students, forms the bulk of the simply told, yet completely thought provoking film.
Feature: FOR HERE OR TO GO? | 105 minutes
Director: Rucha Humnabadkar
Actor(s): Ali Fazal, Melanie Chandra, Rajit Kapoor
Synopsis: An aspiring Indian tech entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley finds himself unexpectedly battling the bizarre American immigration system to keep his dream alive or prepare to return home forever.
Documentary: RIDERS OF THE MIST | 64 minutes
Director: Roopa Barua
Synopsis: A documentary about a century old bareback pony racing tradition in the Indian state of Assam, the jockeys, their lives and these ponies that become part of the tradition every year. The heavy mist that hovers over the area during this time of the year provides a fitting backdrop.
Documentary: JAI HO (II) | 60 minutes
Director: Umesh Aggarwal
Actor(s): Danny Boyle, Andrew Lloyd Webber, A.R. Rahman
Synopsis: The Film brings to its viewers, a hitherto unseen and unheard narrative of one of the greatest musicians the world has ever known – A.R.Rahman.
Short: CLOTH PAPER DREAMS | 12 minutes
Director: Greg Davis
Synopsis: At the confluence of the three holiest rivers in India during the world’s largest spiritual pilgrimage, three men converge, each bringing what connects them to something greater than themselves.
Short: DUM DUM DEEGA DEEGA | 15 minutes
Director: Ayush Kapur
Synopsis: The solution to your problem is often hidden in the problem itself, all you need is a different outlook. Story of a beggar child who lives on the streets of Mumbai, but dreams big. He challenges his unfortunate fate, with nothing but a ‘different outlook’ towards the situation he faces.
Short: INTERNATIONAL CAFÉ NIGHT | 13 minutes
Director: Adhiraj Bose
Synopsis: Two stories set inside a café reinforce the concept of destiny. Victims of circumstances who still held a torch for one another. Love is like a glass of wine, the more you sip, the more you get high on it, the more you crave it.
IFFH 2014: Special Screening – Venue shifted to Asia Society Texas Center
Feature: CITY LIGHTS | 126 minutes
Director: Hansal Mehta
Actor(s): Rajkummar Rao, Patralekhaa Paul, Manav Kaul
Synopsis: Deepak Sing is a farmer in Rajasthan. After a tragedy, he migrates to Mumbai with his wife and child to lead a better life. However, upon arriving, he soon discovers the challenges of life in a big city.
IFFH 2013 FILMS
Feature: THE GOOD ROAD | 92 minutes
Director: Gyan Correa
Actor(s): Ajay Gehi, Sonali Kulkarni, Shamji Dhana Kerasia
Synopsis: A family on vacation lose their son. A truck driver’s last ride. A girl chasing hope. This is a life affirming journey, across a local highway, and into the heart of an unseen India, where acts of great compassion are shown to strangers.
Short: SILVATEIN | 20 minutes
Director: Arati Raval Pandey
Synopsis: Silvatein looks at a relationship through the lens of love. A couple’s predicament subtly mirrors that of a city that’s trying to make peace with its varied shades.
Documentary: WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED | 75 minutes
Director: Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam
Synopsis: When Hari, a small-town taxi driver, has an arranged marriage to a girl he has never met, the result is an intimate and humorous look at the changes taking place in India as modernity and globalization meet age-old traditions and customs.
Short: AFTERGLOW (II) | 20 minutes
Director: Kaushal Oza
Synopsis: Today is the tenth day after minutesocher Mirza’s death. And while his widow Meher is trying to come to terms with her personal grief; friends and relatives, according to Parsicustoms, make their condolence visits and offer mock sympathy.
Documentary: THE GOLDEN HOUR | 60 minutes
Director: Jessica McGaugh, Roma Sur
Synopsis: After witnessing one too many unnecessary roadside deaths and the personal tragic loss of a young cousin, a 29 year old man walks away from his corporate career to take on the convoluted political and social systems of India. Can one man make a difference in facing the monumental task of changing the cultural minutesdset of 1.2 billion people?
Feature: GOYNAR BAKSHO | 136 minutes
Director: Aparna Sen
Actor(s): Moushumi Chatterjee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Srabanti Chatterjee
Synopsis: Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s famous tale of 3 generations of women & their changing position in society, seen in relation to a box of jewels, handed down from one generation to the next.
Feature: CELLULOID | 129 minutes
Director: Kamaluddin Mohammed
Actor(s): Prithviraj Sukumaran, Sreenivasan, Mamta Mohandas
Synopsis: The story of J C Daniel, who made the first ever Malayalam film ‘Vigathakumaran’ in 1928, resulting in his exile and eventual downfall.
IFFH 2012 FILMS
Feature: GATTU | 80 minutes
Director: Rajan Khosa
Actor(s): Naresh Sharma, Mohammad Samad, Jayanta Das
Synopsis: A cheeky nine-year-old boy called Gattu lives in Roorkee. The small town along with Gattu shares an obsession with flying kites and defeating the ruler of the skies above Roorkee.
Documentary: DECODING DEEPAK | 83 minutes
Director: Gotham Chopra
Synopsis: Deepak Chopra’s son, Gotham, spends a year traveling with this father in an attempt to resolve the spiritual icon he is to the world with the man known to his family.
Short: AN UNKNOWN GUEST | 20 minutes
Director: Durba Sahay
Synopsis: When a mysterious woman arrives at their mother’s funeral, the siblings try to make sense of who she is and why she is there. They soon realize a painful truth behind her reasons for attending the service.
Documentary: PAD YATRA, A Green Odyssey | 70 minutes
Director: Wendy J.N. Lee
Synopsis: 700 people trek across the Himalayas with a call to save the planet’s “3rd Pole”. Battling the most treacherous terrain on the planet, they spread their message of ecological compassion through the most basic means, walking on foot, surviving harrowing injuries, illness, and starvation, emerging with nearly half a ton of plastic litter strapped to their backs.
Documentary: WHITE KNIGHT | 25 minutes
Director: Aarti Shrivastava
Synopsis: The film is a tribute to a man and his lone struggle against an insipid bureaucracy, myopic governance and an infuriated, aching planet hitting back in retaliation. A powerful glimpse about determination, ingenuity and perseverance to build 10 artificial glaciers over a decade.
Short: MUMBAI | 16 minutes
Director: Shadaab Mirza
Synopsis: A young man faces housing discrimination when he moves to Mumbai. He visits several housing societies but doesn’t get the no objection certificate because he belongs to a minority community.
Short: JAMEELA | 46 minutes
Director: Arun Kishore
Synopsis: This short film attempts to portray how a change in outlook can overcome negative thoughts. After Jameela loses her father and elder sister in a bomb blast, she stops going to school lest she should be killed. Her mother and neighbors intervene to help Jameela. Finally, things do change. A bad dream sets Jameela free from her fears!
Feature: SHANGHAI | 107 minutes
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Actor(s): Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin
Synopsis: The prime leader of a campaign against a big government project is killed in what appears to be a road accident. A senior Indian Adminstrative Service Officer is ordered to probe the incident and the veils of falsehood begin to drop.
Feature: SHOBHNA’S SEVEN NIGHTS | 105 minutes
Director: Sudipto Chatopadhya
Actor(s): Lillete Dubey, Bharat Kaul, Anupam Kher
Synopsis: The film centers around the evolution and the final resolution of an unusual love story. The two protagonists, a woman in her early forties who is a successful writer with a tragic past and a young man in his late twenties who is still struggling to find his foothold as a film actor. They meet under very unusual circumstances ostensibly for sex for one night. What unfolds is a story that goes beyond the realm of the senses to eventual realization of what true love means in life.
IFFH 2011 FILMS
Feature: I AM KALAM | 88 minutes
Director: Nila Madhab Panda
Actor(s): Gulshan Grover, Harsh Mayar, Pitobash
Synopsis: An impoverished boy forms an unlikely and unstable friendship with the lonely son of a nobleman. The films is inspired by former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and celebrates the survival of the human spirit against overwhelming odds.
Feature: A DECENT ARRANGEMENT | 96 minutes
Director: Sarovar Banka
Actor(s): Shabana Azmi, Diksha Basu, Adhir Bhat
Synopsis: A contemporary comedic drama that explores the complexities of ethnic identity and the choices brought about by the shrinking globe. With subtle comedy and true-to-life drama, A Decent Arrangement shows us a side of India not commonly seen by western audiences and delivers an emotional story that resonates with those of us in search of our place in the world.
Documentary: IN SEARCH OF GOD | 60 minutes
Director: Rupam Sarmah
Synopsis: The transformative journey of an American woman who finds deeper meaning in her life after traveling to a mystical island in India where the inhabitants use artistic expression as a means for communing with God.
Short: FATAKARA (Firecrackers) | 19 minutes
Director: Soham Mehta
Synopsis: Naveen left India to chase his dreams in America. Three years and a recession later, his wife and son finally join him. FATAKRA (“Firecracker”) tells the story of the sparks that fly on their first day together as dreams collide with reality.
Documentary: IT’S CRICKET, NO? | 31 minutes
Director: Sudhir Aggarwal
Synopsis: In a world away from bright stadium lights, far from multimillion dollar franchises, a unique brand of Indian cricket is making history in its own way. Follow the Indian National Blind Cricket Team as they chase their dream to be the greatest national side India has ever produced as they play for country, honor and passion.
Short: THE ECLIPSE OF TAREGNA | 21 minutes
Director: Rakesh Chaudhary
Synopsis: Mr. Pathak is worn out by life, and indifferent to NASA’s announcement that the best place to view the upcoming solar eclipse will be his town, Taregna. However, his grandson Roshan’s curiosity for the celestial event of a lifetime is boundless. When Pathak finally notices that Roshan needs a father figure, he can no longer remain a bystander to life.
Short: KHARA KARODPATI | 19 minutes
Director: Piyush Thakur
Synopsis: A call from ‘kaun banega crorepati’ , an Indian adaptation of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’, changes the ordinary life of a small farmer, Vishnu, who lives in a village. Khara Karodpati is the story of Vishnu, his family and the villagers and their journey towards realizing the actual meaning of victory.
Feature: DELHI IN A DAY | 88 minutes
Director: Prashant Nair
Actors: Victor Banerjee, Siddharth Bhardwaj, Lillete Dubey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Synopsis: When the money of an idealistic British traveler disappears in a nouveau-riche Delhi household, the staff are given twenty-four hours to replace it or face the consequences. Delhi In A Day is a darkly comedic portrayal of upper-class Delhi society, examining how the haves and the have-nots coexist in the context of the contemporary nouveau-riche Delhi home.
Feature: DESPERATE ENDEAVORS | 109 minutes
Director: Salim Khassa
Actors: Ismail Bashey, Gulshan Grover, Lavrenti Lopes
Synopsis: The protagonist’s plight and subsequent transformation by Dada Bhagwan form the basis for this compelling story in 1973’s New York City. Culture-clash and making it in America are the pillars under which many lives are built, or crushed!
IFFH 2010 FILMS
Feature: COOKING WITH STELLA | 104 minutes
Director: Dilip Mehta
Actors: Seema Biswas, Don McKellar, Lisa Ray
Synopsis: When a Canadian diplomat and her chef husband move into the Canadian High Commission in Delhi, they threaten to derail the schemes of the longtime cook Stella who has been skimming off the top for years.
Short: BOOND | 26 minutes
Director: Abhishek Pathak
Synopsis: The headman’s power is threatened when a villager digs a new well bringing this most precious resource to the village.
Feature: SHOB CHARITRO KALPONIK | 102 minutes
Director: Rituparno Ghosh
Actors: Prasenjit Chatterjee, Bipasha Basu, Jisshu Sengupta, Paoli Dam
Synopsis: While Radhika is on the brink of divorce, her husband dies suddenly when she was away taking care of her ill mother. This incident takes her on a journey of reminiscences where she strives to know the unknown from her past.
Feature: HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY | 96 minutes
Director: Paresh Mokashi
Actor(s): Nandu Madhav, Vibhawari Deshpande, Atharva Karve
Synopsis: India’s cinema industry was born from Dadasaheb Phalke’s efforts to make Raja Harishchandra, India’s first feature-length B&W silent film. This period piece is a humorous look at his trials and tribulations in making Raja Harishchandra at a time when no decent woman would dare be an actress, so he used men in wigs instead.
Feature: UDAAN | 134 minutes
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Actor(s): Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Manjot Singh
Synopsis: Following his expulsion from boarding school, Rohan returns home to his strict father and Arjun, a half-brother he did not know. While his father demands he take engineering classes, Rohan just wants to be a writer. In between classes and late-night drinking bouts at the bar, Rohan begins to bond with Arjun, with whom he learns he has more in common than he initially thought.
Documentary: REVEALED: SHAH RUKH KHAN | 45 minutes
Director: Samar Khan
Synopsis: The actor who began his career as dark anti-heroes and rose to become a Mega-Star is the subject of an unusual biography. Film critics and scholars, an advertising brand expert, the Editor of Vogue, India, and a social anthropologist give insight into Shah Rukh Khan’s phenomenal rise.
Feature: THE JAPANESE WIFE | 105 minutes
Director: Aparna Sen
Actor(s): Rahul Bose, Chigusa Takaku, Raima Sen
Synopsis: This is a haunting love story involving three people – an Arithmetic teacher in a school in the interiors of West Bengal, a Japanese girl who became his wife through a strange sequence of letters, and Sandhya, a widow forced by circumstances to take refuge in his home.
Documentary: WOMEN REBEL | 37 minutes
Director: Kiran Deol
Synopsis: 40% of the rebel army over the course of a ten year revolution in Nepal were women. The film follows the incredible story of one such woman, codename ‘Silu’, from the jungles all the way to the halls of Parliament.
Short: SUN BEHIND THE CLOUDS | 79 minutes
Director: Ritu Sarin, Tenzin Sonam
Synopsis: This film takes a look at Tibetans who were born in India and want to go back, at those who were born in Tibet, and how both differ with the Dalai Lama’s philosophy of “The Middle Way”.
Short: YOU CAN’T CURRY LOVE | 23 minutes
Director: Reid Waterer
Synopsis: A “closeted” young Indo-British executive who is obsessed with his boss is temporarily transferred to India to oversee the new office. He resists going, but on the first day meets and begins a relationship with the desk clerk. The film gives a light-hearted look at the two men as they go sightseeing. When the executive returns to London, he is given the choice of a large promotion which means traveling around Europe with his boss, or returning to manage the office in India. What will he decide?
Short: THE ROAD HOME | 21 minutes
Director: Rahul Gandotra
Synopsis: Sent by his parents to an international boarding school in the Himalayas, Pico grapples with his identity as he escapes from his boarding school in search of the road back home to England.
IFFH 2009 FILMS
Feature: DO PAISE KI DHOOP, CHAR AANE KI BAARISH | 104 minutes
Director: Deepti Nawal
Actor(s): Manisha Koirala, Rajit Kapoor, Sanaj Naval
Synopsis: When a sex worker hires a gay songwriter to care for her disabled son, the ensuing bonds that form offer a complex portrayal of love and family.
Documentary: SMILE PINKI | 39 minutes
Director: Megan Mylan
Synopsis: A real-world fairy-tale about the journey of Pinki and Ghutaru, two children in rural India whose lives are forever changed by a simple surgery they never imagined possible.
Feature: JANALA | 107 minutes
Director: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Actor(s): Shankar Chakraborty, Arindra Rai Chaudhuri, Swastika Mukherjee
Synopsis: The story revolves around an urban couple Bimal and Meera and a broken window of Bimal’s school’s classroom. Bimal decides to contribute financially to his old school despite not having much money himself. He uses his fiancee Meera’s savings, which creates a rift between them.
Feature: 7 DAYS IN SLOW MOTION | 100 minutes
Director: Umakanth Thumrugoti
Actor(s): Kishan Das, Nishanti Evani, Paru Gambhir
Synopsis: A middle-class family in India, know only one way for their son, Ravi, to succeed in life – education. Ravi, however, has other aspirations and sets out to achieve them with his friends, when they chance upon a camera from a visiting tourist.
Documentary: WAGAH | 13 minutes
Director: Supriyo Sen
Synopsis: Each night the only border crossing between India and Pakistan on a 1,000 km stretch becomes the sight of an extraordinary event. Thousands of people gather to witness the ritual closing of the border, after which the masses get as close as possible to the gate to greet their former neighbors. It is both, a celebration and the only connecting element. What do separation, home and proximity mean to the people on both sides?
Short: THE FORGOTTEN WOMEN | 88 minutes
Director: Samar Khan
Synopsis: The film aims to create greater awareness of the fact that in the 21st century, there are still numerous and wide spread issues surrounding women’s search for economic independence in order to attain a modicum of dignity, self-sufficiency and basic human dignity.
Feature: ANTARDWAND | 114 minutes
Director: Sushil Rajpal
Actor(s): Raj Singh Chaudhary, Raja Chaudhary, Swati Sen
Synopsis: A young man is kidnapped by a local strongman with the intention of forcing him to marry his daughter to secure a family alliance.
Feature: ORU PENNUM RANDAANUM | 115 minutes
Director: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Actor(s): Said Alharbi, Ashokan, M.R. Gopakumar
Synopsis: The film is about four crimes of different nature that happen in different contexts and situations in the 1940s. The Second World War in Europe was having a terrible impact on colonial British India with increasing scarcity of basic commodities and rising unemployment.
Short: KAVI | 79 minutes
Director: Gregg Helve
Synopsis: The story of a young boy who attempts to escape from the brick kiln where he is forced to work as a bonded labor slave in India.
