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All films are subtitled in English. This is not the final list.
Director: Nisha Ganatra Indian-born Gopal is shocked when his wife and daughter desert him in the American suburb he has called home for twenty years. Alone for the first time in his life, Gopal turns to women's magazines and the Bollywood films of his youth for advice on navigating a romance with his next door neighbor, Mrs. Shaw. Starring Roshan Seth, Madhur Jaffrey, Kal Penn.
Directors: Ben Addelman, Samir Mallal As CEO of a rapidly expanding telemarketing company, Kas Lalani is eager to cash in on the swell of telemarketing opportunities ushered into India by globalization. Lalani taps into Bombay's (Mumbai's) highly educated, English-speaking youth base and pinpoints the most ambitious and enthusiastic among them to man telephone lines connecting them to the US, UK and Canada. This generation reared on MTV and fast food culture is more than eager to don westernized accents and work late night shifts in their pursuit of the American dream…Indian style.
Hindi Director: Afia NathAniel It is 1947. The newly created governments of India and Pakistan wish to exchange lunatics. Bishan Singh, a Sikh lunatic in Pakistan, wants to know whether his hometown, Toba Tek Singh, has gone to India or Pakistan. No one seems to know. A search for an identity in a world gone suddenly mad.
Director: Deepika Daggubati Set against the rich backdrops of video games and Bollywood fantasies, this culture clash comedy explores the hopes and aspirations of a diverse group of characters of a Telugu-American family in a small West Texas town. Recent college grad Latha forsakes medical school and stumbles toward an uncertain future, while her parents’ marriage strains under new temptations and old sacrifices. Holding fast to their dreams, the characters discover romance and opportunity in unexpected places.
Director: Ashvin Kumar Nominated for Oscar at the 2005 Academy Award and winner of many prestigious international awards, this short film tells the story of a 10 year old Pakistani boy who crosses the border with no way of getting back.
Director: Biju Viswanath This black comedy follows the travails of Mithalesh, an independent film director as he struggles to get his film screened despite a film culture is dominated by Bollywood. His optimistic friend Raja plans to show it by holding a small film festival in their hometown, though many obstacles remain, from an ancient film projector to the weak electric power to a sponsor company that’s only interested in their bottom line. The single biggest problem, however, is that no one in town understands his film...
Director: Dishad Husain This award-winning short film is a dark comedy about a British Muslim whose holiday in America takes a detour to a detention facility called Camp Liberty.
Director: Theresa Thanjan The award-winning film provides a glimpse into the post 9/11 world of three youngsters impacted by the federal policy of Special Registration and prejudice in the USA.
Director: Ligy J Pullappally The Journey has been honored with the
Chicago Award from the Chicago International Film Festival, The Lankesh Award for
India's Best Debut Director and the John Abraham Special Jury Award for Best Malayalam
Feature Film. Kiran and Delilah meet as young girls when Kiran's family returns
to their ancestral home. The two form an instant friendship that continues into
adolescence despite their divergent personalities. During an all-night study session,
Kiran realizes that her feelings for Delilah have taken a new and unfamiliar turn.
Unable to express herself openly, Kiran becomes Cyrano to local boy, Rajan, as he
attempts to woo Delilah for himself. Delilah soon discovers the source of Rajan's
inspired words and reciprocates Kiran's love. Their relationship flourishes in secret
until a jealous Rajan tips off their parents. Swift action is taken to arrange a
marriage for Delilah as Kiran tries desperately to find an avenue to happiness.
Chicago filmmaker Ligy J. Pullappally approaches territory rarely navigated in Indian
film and in doing so delivers a sensitively drawn love story.
Directors: Atul Gupta, Shabnam Ara Rampant insurgency and international conflict in the beautiful Kashmir valley have led to heavy military presence in the region. National security takes precedence over all other issues. While the Indian army is stationed for the protection of the valley's denizens, the flip side is seldom talked about. Women, young and old, whose husbands and sons have disappeared upon being picked up by the Indian army for interrogation, await their return -- some for as long as two years. A hostile environment further threatened by the country's security forces is leading many people to question their allegiance to a country they have long called their own.
Director: Raghu Jeganathan MEN OF BURDEN showcases touching stories of cycle-rickshaw drivers in the South Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Having practiced a lucrative profession during the years of French colonialism, rickshaw pullers today battle poverty, homelessness and hunger, struggling to survive the decline of their trade’s value. Amidst the stories about struggle and survival, the men of burden find happiness and humor in life's simple surprises. An ode to the toils of these breadwinners, the film scores through its unexpected humorous moments and heartfelt compassion.
Director: Ankur Khanna Bad Habits is about a pair of kleptomaniacs, a man who isn't happy with his glasses and a boys who dislikes cars. Three interwoven narratives of whim, anxiety and anonymity in the city starring Konkona Sen Sharma.
Director: Samir Patel An evocative film about an established Indian motel owner in rural America haunted by visions of his late wife. He must realize the purpose of his life’s journey or else succumb to his maddening grief.
Director: Mridu Chandra Imran Butt is a young Pakistani
office worker caught in a soul-crushing, dead-end job at an international service
center in Lahore. Having reached the end of his rope, Imran makes the drastic but
seemingly logical decision to take control of his life once and for all -- by ending
it. Director: Tanuj Chopra In this feature debut, set during
the sweltering heat of summer in post-9/11 Queens, Chopra, delves into heady issues
of racism and identity, rage and redemption. Chopra heads an emerging wave of South
Asian American filmmakers moving beyond formulaic family melodramas and exotic cultural
ethnographies. His piercing look into the contemporary experience of desi youth
difficult questions about America’s delicate social balance, and refuses to indulge
in easy resolutions. Director: Stephanie Argy, Alec Boehm Based on a short story by Chet Williamson that originally appeared in New Yorker in 1983, the film is a faithful recreation of a 1930s-style newsreel. This movie includes over 75 shots which transform the actual shooting location into a faithful recreation of Yankee stadium as it was over seventy years ago.
Director: Helene Klowdawsky A story of love, revolution, and betrayal, No More Tears Sister explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka over decades, the film beautifully renders the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Wartime mother, university professor, wife, activist, and symbol of hope, Rajani was assassinated at the young age of thirty-five. This critically acclaimed film is superbly photographed, using rare archival footage and intimate correspondence; the story of Rajani and her family delves into a rarely explored theme - revolutionary women and their dangerous pursuit of justice.
Director: Abu Sayeed Winner at the Goa Film Festival, 2006 and the Kerala International Film Festival, 2006. A lower-middle class Bangladeshi family struggles after the father goes blind and the family's money has been wasted on a layabout son, forcing beautiful daughter Tithi to work as a prostitute to help out in this steady-eyed, non-judgmental look at the lives of Tithi and the people she comes in contact with through her job.
Director: Hyder Bilgrami, Tirthankar Das When Bob and Rex, both homeless and
originally from India, meet each other, the experience is far from pleasant. Bob
is the bully and Rex gets pushed around. Food and shelter are their only goals in
life, and they remain distant from ambition and desires. Things start to change
when they meet Sahana, a homeless Indian girl. Her views appeals to Bob’s senses.
He slowly starts questioning the very existence of his self and wants to face the
truth and change. Rex is content with the present. Sahana’s presence slowly causes
a rift in their friendship. Emotions heighten to huge proportions resulting in nerve-wrecking
climax. Do they survive the ordeal? Is Sahana able to eradicate the homeless mindset
of Bob and Rex? Is Rex able to stop Bob?
Director: N. Rashed Chowdhury A 6-year old girl struggles to deal with the absence of her father and her mother’s dalliance with other men.
Director: A K M Zakaria The film focuses on the complexities
of man-woman relationship in a modern society, resulting in the breaking apart of
a family. Director: Aminul Islam A documentary on acid violence
in Bangladesh. Directors: Madhuri Mohindar and Vaishali Sinha Set in a South Asian beauty parlor
in the Queens borough of New York City, 'Red Roses' is a sociological portrait of
women negotiating between the cross currents of two cultures. This gender oriented
film is an exploration of how most South Asian women who come to the United States
via marriage and family obligations seek to assert their individuality and freedom
within their new cultural environment. Director: Arun Singh After years of ups and downs,
countless auditions and struggling to make it happen in New York, Meera realizes
her true karma.
Director: J. P. Chang No one hides more secrets than a dry cleaner. A disillusioned dry cleaner has his night interrupted by a blood-covered couple who demand a late night cleansing. What the couple don't know is that this young man has seen more than his fair share of dirty laundry.
 Pria
(Narrative Short) Canada/ 12 min/ English, Hindi
Director: Theodore Bezaire In hope of impressing the object of her affection, 15-year-old Pria tries to lose her heavy South Asian accent by imitating lines from her favorite movies.
Directors: Richie Mehta, Stuart McIntyre In a classic western showdown, a tabla player and a beat-boxer face off.
 Tales of the Night
Fairies
(Doc Feature) India/
74 min/ English
Director: Shohini
Ghosh A groundbreaking documentary made by queer academic activist Shohini Ghosh about the struggles of a collective of about 60,000 sex workers in West Bengal, India who come together to fight for their legal and social rights. Through the stories of five sex workers (four women and one man) working in different red-light areas of Calcutta, the documentary makes an important feminist intervention into the divisive debate around the issues of trafficking and sex work. Pushing the envelope of sexual choice and self determination, the film shows how the collective deals with both the sexism of men and the heterosexism of some feminists to create deeply thoughtful ways of addressing what happens when sex becomes public and for profit.
 The Children We Sacrifice
(Doc Feature) India, Sri Lanka, Canada, USA/
61 min/ English
Director: Grace Poore Shot in India, Sri Lanka, Canada and the United States, and screened in 18 countries, this evocative, visually powerful documentary is about incestuous sexual abuse of the South Asian girl child. By interweaving survivors' narratives, including the producer's own story, with interviews with South Asian mental health professionals, and with statistical information, as well as poetry and art, THE CHILDREN WE SACRIFICE discloses the many layers of a subject traditionally shrouded in secrecy. Insights into the far-reaching psychological, social and cultural consequences of incest are accompanied by thoughtful assessments of strategies that have helped adult women cope with childhood trauma. The video also analyzes social and cultural resistance in South Asia and the Diaspora to dealing with incest's causes and its effects on its victims. This personal and collective letter from South Asian incest survivors and their advocates is both a validation of their struggle and a compelling charge to protect future generations of children better.
 The Restaurant
(Narrative Feature) India/
125 min/ Marathi
Director: Sachin Kundalkar A film that gently revolves around food and life. Two dynamic ladies - Janhavi (Jini) and Padmakka Patwardhan, descendants of a Maharashtrian royal family, run a restaurant. Food is entwined with their lives in various ways…Jini's loss of interest in cooking after the untimely death of her lover Paul; the conflict between the old and the modern as she wants to introduce new recipes in the menu; and ultimately, the realization that it is best to blend old and new for a harmonious relationship. That's what happens in people's lives as well.Due to a family dispute a court case looms large and it is possible that Jini could lose the beautiful bungalow, which is also the location of the restaurant. The livelihood of the two women is at stake. People close to Jini and Padmakka, like the old cook Rehmanchacha and the new chef Sameer, the young guitarist Chaitanya who entertains the guests, the workers Sangeeta and Angad and Advocate Deshpande who represents Jini in the court case, are concerned about the fate of the restaurant and extend their moral support at all times. Does Jini win the case and retain the bungalow? Does she get over the loss of Paul and return to her old ways? Will she ever regain her love for cooking... and consequently learn to enjoy life once again? Does Sameer make a mark in Jini's life and will Padmakka get back the Jini she once knew? Starring Sonali Kulkarni
Director: Joy Chatterjee Apu represents the simple village boy of rural Bengal. He is the creation of the writer Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay and he was immortalized on celluloid by the great film director Satyajit Ray. In this film, Apu himself narrates his story from book to film.
Director: Sangita Shresthova Sangita, a dancer of Czech-Nepali
origin, journeys to Kathmandu to explore how practitioners in the Himalayan kingdom
negotiate Nepal’s dance traditions in a period of rapid cultural change. In her
attempts to map the current situation of dance in Kathmandu valley, she encounters
her own teachers as well as younger dancers currently finding their way. Dancing
Kathmandu tells stories of nostalgia, passion and survival through dance and dancers
in the age of globalization. Director: Konkona Sen Sharma A family of pickpockets in Kolkata
and a naming ceremony full of novelty. Director: Shila Datta The film explores the multi-dimensional
facets of internationally acclaimed Bengali film actress Madhabi Chakraborty. Starting
from her childhood to present period – the struggles and the achievements are shown
here in three distinctive stages: professional theatre, amateur theare (office club)
and the silver screen. Includes interviews with film personalities like Satyajit
Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Singha, Harisadhan Dasgupta, Purnendu Patri and Soumitra
Chatterjee along with clippings from films in which she has proved her artistic
virtuosity. Director: Valarie Kaur, Sharat Raju A turbaned Sikh man is murdered
on Sept. 15, 2001 by a man who calls himself a patriot. In the aftermath of 9/11,
as grief turns into rage on American city streets, temples are burned, homes vandalized,
people assaulted. Armed with only a camera, an American college student journeys
across the country to find out who counts as one of us in a world divided into us
and them. Valarie Kaur captures hundreds of stories never before told - stories
of fear and unspeakable loss, but also of resilience and hope - until she finally
finds the heart of America, halfway around the world. Director: Sanjeev Tiwari “One Long Night” is a story about
the desperation to see a dawn that will signal the end of a darkness representative
of scarcity, helplessness, and a losing battle for identity. This desperate bid
is a metaphor for the eternal struggle between hope and despair. This is one long
night indeed. Director: Riaz Mehmood, Nadia Kurd A cameraless, experimental video that examines Iraq’s cultural history.
Director: Sabyasachi Dey About a nuclear family and alienation. |
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Cosmopolitan (Narrative Feature) USA/
53 min/ English 
Bombay Calling (Doc Feature) Canada,
India/ 71 min/ English 
Toba Tek Singh (Narrative Short) USA,
India/ 18 min/ English, Urdu, Punjabi, 
Waking Dreams (Narrative Feature) USA/
104 min/ English, Telugu 
Little Terrorist (Narrative Short)
India/ 15 min/ Hindi 
Grand Festival / Mahotsav (Narrative
Feature) India/ 100 min/ Hindi 
Viva Liberty (Narrative Short) UK/
20 min/ English 
Whose Children Are These? (Doc Short)
USA/ 27 min/ English 
The Journey (Narrative Feature) USA,
India/ 107 min/ Malayalam 
Waiting
(Doc Short) India/ 39 min/ English, Hindi, Kashmiri 
Men Of Burden - Pedaling Towards A Horizon
(Doc Feature) USA, India/ 78 min/ Tamil 
Bad Habits (Narrative Short) India/
43 min/ English, Hindi 
Time and The Hour Run (Narrative Short)
USA/ 15 min/ English, Hindi 
The Goodbye Man (Narrative Short) Pakistan/
14 min/ English, Urdu 
Punching at the Sun (Narrative Feature)
USA/ 82 min/ English, Hindi 
Gandhi at the Bat (Narrative Short)
Canada/ 11 min/ English 
No More Tears, Sister: An Anatomy of Hope and
Betrayal (Doc Feature) Sri Lanka, Canada/ 79 min/ Sinhalese, English
Forever Flows/ Nirontor (Narrative
Feature) Bangladesh/ 112 min/ Bengali 
Chath – A Roof Without Walls (Narrative
Feature) USA/ 100 min/ Hindi 
Bishmwaraner Nadi/
The River Lethe (Narrative Short) Bangladesh/ 35 min/ Bengali
Iti, Salma / Salma (Narrative Short)
Bangladesh/ 8 min/ Bengali 
Facing the Future (Doc Short) Bangladesh/
26 min/ Bengali 
Red Roses (Doc Short) USA/ 17min/ English,
Bengali, Hindi 
1001 Auditions (Narrative Short) USA/
26 min/ English 
Dry Clean Only
(Narrative Short) USA/ 6 min/ English
All Roads Lead To Here
(Narrative Short) Canada/ 5 min/ English
Apur Galpo / Apu’s Story (Narrative
Short) India/ 15 min/ Bengali 
Dancing Kathmandu (Doc Feature) Czech
Republic, Nepal/ 41 min/ English, Czech, Nepali 
Naamkoron / Naming Ceremony (Narrative
Short) India/ 15 min/ Bengali 
Portrait of an Actress (Doc Short)
India/ 38 min/ English, Bengali 
Divided We Fall (Doc Feature) USA/
110 min/ English 
One Long Night (Narrative Short) India/
17 min/ Hindi 
Baghdad 1001 (Narrative Short) Canada/
5 min/ English 
Winter Light (Narrative Short) India/
21 min/ English