Travelling Film South Asia 2025 - A Festival of South Asian Documentaries

Date and Time: 1-3 September 2025, 6pm

Entry: Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served Basis)

Note: Call 011-24619431 (IIC) to re-confirm any last-minute change or cancellation of the event.

Venue: C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, Main Building, India International Centre (IIC), 40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003, India

Venue Info: Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Stations - 'Khan Market(Vilolet Line)' & 'Jor Bagh(Yellow Line)'

Area: Lodhi Road Area Events

Event Description: Travelling Film South Asia 2025 - A Festival of South Asian Documentaries. 

Schedule: 

01 September 2025, 06:00 pm

Travelling Film South Asia 2025 - A Festival of South Asian Documentaries. 

Programme Type Festivals

Venue C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, IIC main building

End Date 04 September 2025, 08:30 pm

A festival of 16 exceptional nonfiction films from South Asia produced in the last two years. The festival encapsulates the flavors of the Subcontinent with films about people from India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

At 18:00

Films South Asia Introduction

At 18:15

Hello Guyzz

(24 min; 2023; English/Hindi/Bengali)

Director: Samiksha Mathur

The film explores the life of a mother, wife, daughter who is also a TikTok and social media influencer. Based in a small town in West Bengal- Liluah- it aims to highlight how her social media engagement has a massive influence on her life- both in big and small ways.

At 18:45

Whispers by the River Shore (Bangladesh)

(19 min; 2024; Bengali)

Director: Saimur Rahman

It is a compelling documentary that delves into the profound impacts of climate change on the lives of a family in the remote river island of Kurigram, Bangladesh. Through the lens of seven-year-old Rashedul and his resilient grandfather Amzad, the film explores the devastating consequences of recurrent floods, erosion, and displacement.

At 19:10

6-A Akash Ganga

(80 min; 2023; Hindi/English)

Director: Nirmal Chander Dhandriyal

Can a musician exist without an audience? To find an answer, the film enters 6-Akash Ganga, on one of India’s most renowned classical musicians and guru—Annapurna Devi. But in the mid-1950s, she vowed never to perform in an effort to save her marriage to musician, Ravi Shankar, who had grown insecure with the acclaim she was receiving. Her disciple, Nityanand Haldipur, cuts through the myths to tell her story

Followed by a discussion with the Director

02 September 2025, 06:00 pm

TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA 2025 - A FESTIVAL OF SOUTH ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES

Programme Type Festivals

Venue C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, IIC main building

At 18:00

Abundance: Living with a Forest

(22 min; 2024; Lotha Naga)

Director: Dolly Kikon

It is a biography of foraging, forest and jhum cultivation. It follows Zareno, a Lotha forager in the forest of Khumtsü. The film gestures to an impending loss that Indigenous communities encounter across the world. It highlights indigenous foraging practice in the Eastern Himalayan region and the commitment of foragers and community members to work towards renewal of Indigenous values, courage, and sustainable practice.

At 18:30

Love like Ours (Myanmar)

(18 min; 2024; Burmese/English)

At 18:55

A Forgotten Summer

(24 min; 2023; Hindi/English)

Director: Aliya Z S, Fatima Rahman, Isha Singh, Minha Fathima, Shreya Mishra

Living at an elder care facility called Panchvati in Delhi, Uttama Rashk, a former Hindustan Times correspondent and proof-reader of Indira Gandhi’s speeches, suffers from Alzheimer’s. The film is an intimate sketch of her life and the challenges of remembering. Capturing Rashk’s light-hearted moments with her sister, Gautami Uttam and caretaker, Sarita.

Followed by a discussion with the Director

At 19:35

Trans Kashmir

(61 min; 2022; Hindi/English/Urdu)

Director: Surbhi Dewan, S A Hanan

For generations, the transgender women of Kashmir have worked as matchmakers and performers. But their gender, economic and socio-political realities make them some of the most vulnerable people in the world today. This documentary chronicles their growing movement to secure basic human rights.

Followed by a discussion with the Director

04 September 2025, 02:00 pm

Travelling Film South Asia 2025 - A Festival of South Asian Documentaries

Programme Type Festivals

Venue C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, IIC main building

At 14:00

Rooted Across Borders: Transnational Ecological Solidarities in South Asia

Panel Discussion with South Asian University

At 14:55

Sometimes Even the Shores Drowns (Pakistan)

(17 min; 2022; Urdu)

Director: Mahera Omar

Inspired by Rachel Carson’s 1955 book The Edge of the Sea, this short film showcases forms of marine life on the intertidal mudflats of Karachi. The city’s exposed shoreline is home to a fish that walks on land, mud crab that clings to mangrove tree trunks, the periwinkle, the bubbler crab and many other fascinating creatures. In and around mangrove forest creeks, the film takes you on a silent journey through a delicate wetland ecosystem on the shores of an industrial city that might soon disappear

At 15:20

Wagging Tale (Nepal)

(23 min; 2024; Nepali))

Director: Samagra Shah

Wagging Tale is the story of Rupak, who walks the streets of Kathmandu carrying 80 kgs of chicken bones every day with an unwavering mission: to feed the city’s street dogs. The film captures how, despite living with HIV and confronting the isolation that comes with having an estranged family, he finds a sense of purpose and a chance to forget his painful past while feeding dogs.

At 15:50

#GoHomeGota (Srilanka)

(51 min; 2023; English)

Director: Sulochana Peiris

This documentary looks at Sri Lanka’s 2022 Aragalaya (struggle) protests from a movement building and centres around interviews with several key core activists belonging to different ethnic, linguistic, and professional backgrounds. The leaders also discuss how they define and are working towards a “system change” which they envisioned to achieve through the movement.

At 16:45

A Flaming Forest

(48 min; 2024; Kanadda)

Director: Salman Javeed, Vivek Singh Sangwan, Satya Ambasta

The Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve in Karnataka is home to the Soliga adivasis. This film traverses the rich tapestry of the BRT forest and the intricate relationships that the Soligas hold with it.

Followed by a discussion with the Director

At 17:50

When Pomegranate Turns Grey

(37 min; 2024; Urdu)

Director: Thoufeeq K, Khurram Muraad Siddiquie

The documentary follows Muraad’s journey to uncover the traumatic memories of the police action in Hyderabad in 1948. Through his grandmother, Gulnar, a living repository of time, he connects to a violent past. As she slowly recollects the indelible patches of a forsaken chapter in the history of the subcontinent, the past, present, and future are interwoven.

Followed by a discussion with the Director

At 18:50

Chardi Kala- An Ode to Resilience

(96 min; 2023; Hindi/Punjabi)

Director: Prateek Shekhar

In September 2020, the Indian government passed three agricultural laws aimed at liberalising the farm economy. Soon after, farmers from across the country gathered at the borders of India’s national capital, New Delhi, for one of the biggest non- violent protests in modern history. Farmers articulated detailed and nuanced criticism against what they believed were unjust laws. Chardi Kala (Eternal Optimism) follows the journey of the farmers’ protest until their victory.

Followed by a discussion with the Director

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