India202510 minHindi with English subtitlesAvailable Online

On a rainy afternoon, somewhere between innocence and awareness, three adolescent girls find themselves in the middle of a dance that takes on a life of its own.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Directors Bio

*Rhea Shukla

Rhea Shukla is an award-winning writer and director based between New York and India. Studying at Columbia University, Shukla’s debut short, Ruse, premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.

France, India202513 minKannada with English subtitles

On his return home, androgynous-looking Madhu attempts to seduce Ratnakar, his rickshaw driver, who is staying celibate in preparation for a religious pilgrimage.

IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Directors Bio

Ashok Vish

Ashok Vish was one of eight filmmakers selected for Directors’ Factory Philippines. He works as a film programmer at the New York Indian Film Festival and at Arthshila in India.

Canada, France, India, Taiwan, USA2024–202571 minVarious languages with English subtitlesAvailable Online

These films explore desire, both interpersonally and intrapersonally. Between quietly blossoming desires and glowing inner temptations, this collection strides toward you with a sly wink, a shy smile, and a glimmer in its eye.

For: the sensually curious, tenderhearted yearners, audacious flirts, thirst-driven floaters

*Directors in attendance starred.

India2024108 minAssamese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Drama, Family-friendly

Reuniting with the cast of her highly acclaimed 2017 festival hit, Village Rockstars, Rima Das returns with a standalone sequel centering Dhunu, now a teenager, who lives in a small village in Assam, India, and dreams of becoming a musician. While Dhunu and her friends navigate the vulnerable transition between childhood and adulthood, weighing new responsibilities and priorities, the elders around them face harsher circumstances brought on by predatory land developers and climate change, affecting their livelihoods and sense of community.

The impeccable camerawork of director and cinematographer Das oozes poetic beauty and electric energy at every turn, in this intuitive and lyrical story showcasing the rich and diverse cultural landscape of Assam, where ancient traditions meet contemporary aspirations. Evocative, tender, and deeply human, Village Rockstars 2 solidifies Das as a singular voice in independent Indian cinema, committed to capturing the bittersweetness of life and the understated courage of daily survival with profound authenticity and grace.

– Mariam Zaidi

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

India202415 minKonkaniAvailable Online, Drama

Two young women from a small village discuss the recent mysterious vanishing of Leela. Is there any truth in the rumours about her disappearance?

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)

ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)

Directors Bio

Tanmay Chowdhary

Tanmay Chowdhary is a filmmaker who works across a breadth of mediums including music videos, narratives, documentaries, and commercials. He founded a boutique production house called Peru Films in 2020 to champion underrepresented voices.

Canada, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar, South Korea2023-2024TRT: 89 minVarious languages

Seemingly stagnant on the surface, in motion underneath. These five short films trace and retrace what movements and stories might exist within us and beyond, pulling us in unexpected directions.

For: those asking questions; seeking mood-setting films and non-linear narratives

India20227 minEnglish, Kannada with English subtitlesAboriginal + Indigenous, Animation, Directed By Women, Environment, Family-friendly, First Feature

A little girl stumbles into a sacred grove near her village in south India.

Directors Bio

Nandini Rao, Nirupa Rao, Kalp Sanghvi

Nandini Rao was the winner of the 2021 Cannes residency program and is based in Paris.

Nirupa Rao is a botanical artist based in Bangalore whose work is inspired by field visits and close collaboration with natural scientists.

Kalp Sanghvi is an animation filmmaker who graduated from the Indian National Institute of Design and is based in Sydney.

Canada, India, Sri Lanka202318 minTamil with English subtitlesDrama, History

In a small village in northern Sri Lanka, a young girl is forced to confront the consequences of a deadly civil war as a wounded freedom fighter is brought into their home.

Directors Bio

*Kalainithan Kalaichelvan

Kalainithan Kalaichelvan is a Tamil Canadian writer, director, and producer whose films have screened at festivals such as the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival, and Reel Asian.

India202291 minutesHindi with English subtitlesToronto PremiereDocumentary

Brothers Saud and Nadeem live in a working-class, predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in New Delhi, where they have made it their lives’ work to care for injured black kites falling from the polluted skies of the city. Having grown up with a fascination for the birds and learning early on that caring for them would keep troubles at bay, the brothers are all consumed with a mission that feels deeply as noble as it is overwhelming, with a record number of birds falling from the sky every day. 

Set in an atmosphere of social conflict with protests stemming from India’s anti-Muslim Citizenship Act, director Shaunak Sen masterfully creates a layered and visually breathtaking look into the interconnectedness of a rapidly changing ecosystem. In an evolving and increasingly hostile city, especially for their community, the brothers show us how life endures in awe-inspiring ways and how both cruelty and tenderness can be found everywhere around them. 

- Mariam Zaidi