Ticketing is required for the in-cinema presentation of this title, but tickets are free. Limit 2 tickets. This event will have open seating – sit anywhere in the venue that isn’t specifically reserved.
India202472 minHindi, KurukhCanadian PremiereAvailable Online
Nehma belongs to the Oraon tribe and lives with her children on the outskirts of Jharkhand, India. Embroiled in a custody battle and a messy divorce, she secures a job at an AI data-labelling centre under the supervision of a stern manager. As we watch her navigate the steep learning curve of her new job and quickly confront the stark realities of biased data, the distortions in the very systems designed to help us become impossible to ignore.
In this remarkably fresh and timely narrative, director Aranya Sahay invites us to consider the volume of marginalized labour and detailed proficiency required to uphold the current growth of AI and our reliance on it. Serving as a cautionary reminder that technology may never replace human wisdom and indigenous knowledge systems, Humans in the Loop is as bold as it is urgent in its depiction of the cracks in widely held perceptions of progress and modernity.
– Mariam Zaidi
Sonal Madhushankar
Ridhima Singh
Gita Guha
OFFICIAL SELECTION
MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, 2024
International Film Festival of Kerala, 2024
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, 2025
AWARDS
Grand Jury Prize, Best Feature, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, 2025
Aranya Sahay
Aranya Sahay is an Indian filmmaker based out of Mumbai. He studied direction at the Film and Television Institute of India and went on to assist Imtiaz Ali and Patrick Graham as an associate director and director’s assistant. Sahay has directed five short films, of which two have screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival, SiGNS Film Festival and Jaffna International Cinema Festival.
12 Nov, 2025 7:30 pm
Innis Town HallPG
Ticketing is required for the in-cinema presentation of this title, but tickets are free. Limit 2 tickets. This event will have open seating – sit anywhere in the venue that isn’t specifically reserved.
IN PERSON & ONLINE ACCESSIBILITY
IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).
Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.
Join us for a virtual Q&A immediately after the screening with director Aranya Sahay and Anita Li, moderated by Mariam Zaidi.
Anita Li
Publisher & CEO
Anita Li is publisher and CEO of The Green Line, an award-winning news outlet in Toronto that delivers community-driven solutions journalism. She also recently served as Journalism Innovator-in-Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. With over two decades of industry experience across North America, Anita is recognized for her expertise in community-driven journalism, news entrepreneurship and media innovation.
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Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian and Asian diasporic artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
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