7 March 2025 | FRIDAY | 5:30 PM IST

WRITING WITH FIRE
92 mins | India | 2021

Director
Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh

Producer
Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh

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Synopsis:
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Academy Award-nominated film 'Writing With Fire' is an exploration of truth, justice and the meaning of power, through the lens of an all-women’s newsroom. With over 40 record setting award wins, including double wins at Sundance and a Peabody for Best documentary, Writing With Fire has played in over 200 film festivals globally. Described by the Washington Post as 'The most inspiring journalism movie, maybe ever,' Writing With Fire went on to become India's first feature documentary to be nominated for an Oscar.

7 March 2025 | FRIDAY | 2:30 PM IST

AGENT OF HAPPINESS
90 mins | Bhutan | 2024

Director
Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó

Producer

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Synopsis:
Can you measure happiness? The country of Bhutan invented Gross National Happiness to do just that, and Amber is one of the agents who travels door to door to meet people and see how they feel. However he hasn’t gotten around to measuring his own happiness level. Still living with his mother at the age of 40, he’s nevertheless a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love. But as one of the Nepali minority who were deprived of their citizenship, Amber isn’t the most eligible bachelor. We embark with Amber on his bittersweet journey to encounter Bhutanese from all walks of life. At the end of the road we are reminded of the fragility and beauty of our own happiness. No matter where we live.

Film Festivals (2023-24)
2024 Sundance Film Festival – World Cinema Documentary Competition; 2024 Biografilm: Best Film Award; 2024 San Francisco International Film Festival: Audience Award Winner; 2024 Margaret Mead Film Festival: Audience Award Winner; 2024 Films from the south: Doc:South Award; 2024 Docs Against Gravity: Special Mention Award; 2024 MakeDox: Onion award for best film; 2024 ISAFF: Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking Award; 2024 MAMI: Special Mention Award; 2024 Film South Asia: Special Mention Award; CPH DOX; 2024 Hot Docs; 2024 Thessaloniki Documentary film festival; 2024 True/False Film Fest; 2024 One World Film Festival; 2024 Zagreb Dox; 2024 Sydney Film Festival; 2024 DocLands film festival; 2024 Sundance CDMX; 2024 Durban International Film Festival; 2024 Sheffield DocFest; 2024 Zurich Film Festival; 2024 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA); 2024 Docs Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival; 2024 DMZ Docs Film Festival, South Korea; 2024 Seattle International Film Festival; 2024 Camden International Film Festival; 2024 Macau International Film festival

6 March 2025 | THURSDAY| 5:30 PM IST

THE GOLDEN THREAD
86 mins | India, NL, Norway, UK, BiH | 2022

Director
Nishtha Jain

Producer
Nishtha Jain (Raintree Films, India), Irena Taskovski (Taskovski Film, UK) Morana Komljenovic (Kolek Doo Dokudum, BnH)

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Synopsis:
Outside Kolkata a few jute mills crank on, virtually unchanged since the Industrial Revolution. Powered by steam and sweat, work is a dance to the rhythms of the century-old machines. The Golden Thread follows the weft and warp of jute work, weaving the 'fibre of the future' with the dreams and desperations of its workers.

Awards:
• Best International Documentary, MIFF 2024
• Best Sound Design, MIFF 2024
• Best Documentary, 42nd Bergamo Film Meeting, Italy 2024
• Best Long International Documentary, Cinema Vérite, Teheran 2023
• Grand Jury Award, Le Grand Bivouac, France 2023
• Grand Jury Award "The Prickle”, Provinziale, Germany 2023
• Audience Award, IFFLA, Los Angeles 2023
• Best Long International Documentary, Cine Eco, Portugal 2023
• Docu Darwin, Doku Baku, Azerbaijan 2023
• Honourable Mention, DOXA Vancouver 2023

Film Festivals (2023-24)
World Premiere IDFA Masters, Amsterdam 2022, FIPADOC, Biarritz France 2023, Movies That Matter, The Hague 2023, DOXA International Film Festival, Vancouver 2023, DOK.fest München 2023, JEAN ROUCH International Film Festival, Paris 2023, Zurich International Film Festival 2023, Vérzio International Human Rights, Budapest 2023, IFFLA, Los Angeles 2023, San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival 2023, Festival Internacional de Cine, Medioambiental de Canarias 2023, 12th Ecofalante Film Festival, Brazil 2023, Doc Cévennes, France 2023, Five Lakes Film Festival, Germany 2023, Opening Film Montrose LandXSea Film Fest UK 2023, DocFest, Hong Kong 2023, Doku Baku Film Festival, Azerbaijan 2023, Buffalo Film Festival, USA 2023, Cine Eco Film Festival Seia, Portugal 2023, Osnabrúck Film Festival, Germany 2023, Le Grand Bivouac, Albertsville France 2023, 3rd i South Asian Film Festival,, San Francisco 2023, MAMI, Mumbai 2023, Dharamshala Film Festival, India 2023, Human World, Vienna 2023, Forum Film Dokumenter, Yogyakarta 2023, Cinema Verité Documentary Film Festival, Iran 2023, Hainan Island IFF, China 2023, Pune Film Festival, India 2024 Kolkata People’s Film Festival 2024, 12th Anthropological Film Festival Jerusalem 2024, Cinemateket, Copenhagen 2024, Govanhill Baths' Climate Action Programme, Glasgow 2024 42nd Bergamo Film Meeting, Italy 2024, Women’s Voices G5A Foundation, Mumbai 2024 FIFOI, Réunion, France 2024, TIDF, Taiwan 2024, MIFF India 2024, Realty Check, NCPA 2024 Kaleidoscope, US Consulate Mumbai, Bangalore International Centre, VIkalp Bengaluru Films from the South Festival, Oslo

6 March 2025 | THURSDAY| 2:30 PM IST

AND, TOWARDS HAPPY ALLEYS
75 mins | India | 2023

Director
Sreemoyee Singh

Producer
Sreemoyee Singh/ Happy Alley Films

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Synopsis:
Fascinated by Iran’s film culture and the poetic works of the feminist poet Forough Farrokhzad, Indian filmmaker Sreemoyee Singh sets out in search of the protagonists of Iranian cinema. The numerous interviews she conducts over a period of six years with filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Shirvani and human rights activist Nasrin Sotudeh, among others, show the precarious situation in which critics of the regime find themselves, including the constant threat of imprisonment and being banned from practising their profession. With a keen eye for unusual situations, she documents the effect of the Islamic Republic’s strict and omnipresent censorship on the daily lives of Iranian women whose uncompromising struggle has put them at the forefront of the protests that are currently rocking the country. And, Towards Happy Alleys is a passionate declaration of love for the cinema and poetry of Iran which also provides a frank view of daily life, and bears witness to a fearless generation raising its voice and implacably demanding its civil liberties.

Awards:
● Best Film in the International Competition at BAFICI (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema) in Argentina, April 2023
● Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari award for Best Debut Director at Mumbai International Film Festival, June, 2024
● FIPRESCI (International) Critics Jury Award at Mumbai International Film Festival, June, 2024.
● Best Documentary at Indo German Week Film Festival, Berlin 2024
● Best South Asian Documentary, Imagine India International Film Festival, Madrid, 2024
● Best Documentary in World Cinema Festival, Calcutta, 2024

Film Festivals (2023-24)
Berlinale (Panorama), Thessaloniki Film Festival(Greece) - Official Selection,
CPH:DOX(Denmark) - Official Selection, Biografilm Festival (Italy) - Art and Music category, Sheffield Doc Fest (UK) - Official Selection BAFICI (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente in Argentina) - Winner - Best Film in the International Competition, Antenna Documentary Film Festival (Sydney), FICCI (Cartagena) - Official Selection, DMZ DOCS International Film Festival - Cinema Verite (South Korea) Women Make Waves Film Festival (Taiwan) Lucania Film Festival (Italy) Jio MAMI (Mumbai) - Focus South Asia Dharamshala International Film Festival (India) - Official Selection Mumbai International Film Festival (India), Free Zone Film Festival Human Belgrade (Serbia) Xenix Film Theatre (Switzerland), Docpoint Tallinn (Tallinn), One World Human Rights Film Festival (Czech Republic), Bangalore International Film Festival (India), Iawrt, Delhi (India) CIFF, Chandigarh (India), Habitat India Film Festival, Visions of Iran, Iranian Film Festival of Cologne, Indo German Film Week, Berlin, Imagine India International Film Festival, Madrid Dokumenter, Indonesia, Sào Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil (International Competition), Beyond Borders Feminist Film Festival, Delhi

5 March 2025 | TUESDAY | 5:30 PM IST

ALL THAT BREATHES
93 mins | India | 2022

Director
Shaunak Sen

Producer
Aman Mann

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Synopsis:
In one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for the creatures in their makeshift avian basement hospital. Director Shaunak Sen (Cities of Sleep) explores the connection between the kites and the brothers who help them return to the skies, offering a mesmerising chronicle of inter-species coexistence.

Awards:

5 March 2025 | WEDNESDAY | 2:30 PM IST

NOCTURNES
83 mins | India, USA | 2024

Director
Anirban Dutta, Anupama Srinivasan

Producer
Anirban Dutta

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Synopsis:
In the dense forests of the Eastern Himalayas, moths are whispering something to us. In the dark of night, two curious observers shine a light on this mesmerising universe. Together, a female scientist and a young man from the indigenous Bugun community are on an expedition to decode these nocturnal creatures in a remote ecological “hot spot” in Arunachal Pradesh. The result is a deeply immersive film that draws us in, urging us to look more closely at our connections with the natural world.

Awards:
* Special Jury Award for Craft, Sundance Film Festival
* Silver Gateway, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival
* WWF Greece Award, Thessaloniki International
   Documentary Festival
* Best Narrative Story, Mediterrane Film Festival

4 March 2025 | WEDNESDAY | 5:30 PM IST

AGAINST THE TIDE
97 mins | India | 2023

Director
Sarvnik Kaur

Producer
Koval Bhatia, Sarvnik Kaur

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Synopsis:
Bombay fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system—a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology. Against the Tide is a tale of deep friendship and rising resentment between the two men, as close as brothers, against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is increasingly turning hostile because of climate change.

4 March 2025 | TUESDAY | 2:30 PM IST

NO WINTER HOLIDAYS
79 mins | Nepal, South Korea, Romania | 2023

Director
Rajan Kathet, Sunir Pandey

Producer
Gary Kam, Rajan Kathet, Sunir Pandey

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Synopsis:
What would you do if your entire village abandoned you for a whole, freezing winter, with no companionship save for the presence of the other wife to your dead husband? Set amidst the high altitude of the Nepali Himalaya, No Winter Holidays records life for Ratima and Kalima as they work to look after their village during a harsh and unforgiving season. Both in their seventies, they are aware that surviving in this climate depends on their relying on each other. Stunningly shot, capturing the full magnificence of the mountain landscape while never losing focus on its subjects, No Winter Holidays is a fascinating portrait of rivalry, loneliness, old age and womanhood.

Awards:
Nativa Award - AlterNativa Film Awards, 2023
Best Feature Documentary - Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival, 2023
Best Cinematography - Mumbai International Film Festival, 2024