Friday, October 3, 2025

International Folklore Film Festival, Chennai

International Folklore Film Festival, Chennai 

17,18 October 2025

DakshinaChitra, Chennai


Organised by DakshinaChitra

Curated by Amudhan RP



Schedule (yet to get approval from filmmakers)


11 am Inauguration 


11.30 am to 1 pm 


In the Forest hangs a Bridge
Dir: Sanjay Kak; 39 min; Documentary; 1999

In The Forest Hangs A Bridge is a documentary film that follows the good folk of Damro village which is situated in Siang valley of Arunachal Pradesh. A dense, forest region, it is hard for people from Damro village to travel from one part of the jungle to another, especially when there is an obstacle such as a river. This documentary sees the people of Damro village coming together in order to build a 1000 foot-long suspension bridge using only bamboo and a small steel blade.


In the footsteps of the Andalusi clay 

Dir: Dany Ruz; 28:00 min; Documentary; Spain



Traditional pottery is a production method and way of life on the verge of extinction. In the province of Almería, this ancient craft is still alive. Through interviews with potters and their work on the wheel, painting, decanting clay, lead glazing, placing ceramics inside the kiln or firing in an old kiln, we have recreated this ancient tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation, surviving and transforming itself


The Legacy from Beyond

Dir: Harsh Raj Gond; 26:21; India; Documentary



The Legacy from Beyond is a documentary provides an insightful exploration of Gond art and depicts the lives and struggles of Gond artists who are passionately keeping the Gond art form alive even today. Residing in Patangarh village, they carry forward this art legacy left by the legendary Gond tribal artist Late Shri Jangarh Singh Shyam.


2 pm to 5 pm 


Herd Walk

Dir: Ankit Pogula; 01:02:53 min; Documentary; India



After 70 years of herding, Neelkanth Mama's walk is coming to a cruel halt. Meanwhile, Vajir’s attempt to keep walking his sheep is getting thwarted within his home. ‘No girl wants to marry a shepherd’, says his youngest son. Set on the Deccan plateau, Bhed Chal follows the gritty journey of the two Kurba shepherds as they negotiate through new aspirations, barricaded commons and a changing climate. All this to preserve what they call is the last connection between the civil and the wild.


Echelon Threads

Dir : Achin Phulre; 17.40 min; Documentary; India



Experience life on the rugged Changthang plateau, where each day is a symphony of tradition and survival. Witness as dawn unveils the delicate art of combing pashmina wool from goats, followed by men guiding herds to graze at 5400m. Women masterfully weave sheep wool into carpets and garments. Pashmina, sold to co-ops and buyers, carries dreams. Amidst breathtaking altitudes, resilience, and rich meals, this documentary paints a vivid portrait of a timeless community crafting its destiny.


They are not meant to tell this story

Dir : Deepanwita Goswami ; 13.21 min; Documentary; India; Student film


It is one of the regular days in the life of one Santhal family where 3kg of rice yields up to 9 litres of handia approximately. It is mostly the womenfolk who participate in the making of this drink. The film addresses further points of the conflict in the intersection of culture and economics.


In Memories 

Dir : Jayshankar Ramu; 23.41 min; Documentary; India 



An exploration of memory, utilizing a hybrid of digital video and 35mm black-and-white film photographs, through the contrast in the old and new spaces and faces of Pune city. While relating to, and visualizing the people’s memories of the space, time, art, sound and objects around them in relation to the changing city. 


NAMARALI

Dir: Tim Mummery; 52:11; Australia; Documentary 


NAMARALI is a documentary on the charting artist Donny (Yorna) Woolagoodja's quest to rekindle deep connections with his traditional ancestral culture. Yorna's spiritual beliefs revolve around the wandjina - creator beings whose images adorn the caves and rock ledges throughout the Kimberley in Western Australia. Refreshed with new ochre each year by his ancestors the wandjinas are now fading away with the absence of Yorna's people.


NAMARALI was created over 20 years by Tim Mummery and senior knowledge keeper Yorna Woolagoodja (2021 Red Ochre lifetime achievement award).


18 October 


11 am to. 1pm 


Thirai Virutham

Dir: Sugumar Shanmugam; 56:15; India; Documentary



All constituent components of Therukkoothu, the folk performing art that exists in Southern India, particularly in North Tamilnadu, has enormous scope to speculate and research.


In this documentary, Sugumar Shanmugam, a research scholar of Performing Arts Department, who comes from a Therukkoothu family background, using his experiences and explorations, compares Western Acting Theories and Acting Strategies in Therukkoothu.


Where the Mask Speaks the Mind 

Dir : Malay Das Gupta; 66 min; Documentary; India 


A tribute to the master mask-maker, Kanhaiyalal Maharana, this is an exploration of the meaning and structure of the mask that despite it being frozen comes to life as soon as the performer dances. His body magically seems to imbue the mask with a thousand expressions.


2 pm to 5 pm


Taanaa-baanaa 

Dir : Shubhangi Bansai; 19.25 min; Documentary; India 



Set in one of the last surviving weavers’ colonies of Delhi, the film follows the journey of a thread while intricately weaving the rhythms of the space with the conversations of the people who inhabit it. 


My Radio My Life

Dir : Bidit Roy, Makarand Waikar; 68 min; Documentary; India 



Set in the 21st century, the film revisits the golden era of radio in India, when it was the dominant, popular, and only source of entertainment, news, and knowledge.


Bird Trapper or Beggar (79min); Director: Vinod Raja)

The Hakki Pikkis are a free spirited nomadic tribe who began their wandering many generations ago in the North Western part of the Indian subcontinent. Over time they travelled through and settled in different states of the country. As they moved, they survived through trapping birds and hunting small game in the forests and selling them in cities and towns along with lucky charms and trinkets. 


If the trap failed, begging was the next best bet! Exiled from the forest, reviled by the city, their traditional ways of life outlawed the Hakki Pikkis share their stories of wit and survival in the film that emerged through a series of community conversations held when we travelled with friends from a settlement in Bannerghatta, Bangalore to other settlements across Karnataka.


Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Science Film Festival, Madurai

Science Film Festival, Madurai
28 Sep, LENS Media Centre
10 am to 5 pm

Curated by Amudhan RP
Jointly organised by LENS Media Centre & MARUPAKKAM





Schedule

10 am to 1 pm

Hanna
Dir: Vinu Janardanan; 17:07 min; Documentary; India
Synopsis: Amid her work away from home, Hanna, a lactating working mother and staff member of
Ernakulam General Hospital, Kerala, India discovers solace in alleviating her pain by donating her
breast milk. This is the story of her transformation from considering sharing her baby's milk to
wholeheartedly embracing it. With unwavering support from her family and the hospital staff, who
makes the journey easier. Hanna's little one also becomes a symbol of sharing through her mother's
act. In a scenario like an infant loses its life every minute, and early breastfeeding stands as a
crucial preventive measure against infant mortality, Hanna's story transcends her personal
journey, becoming a narrative larger than herself.

I'm Afraid it's Not Good to Say
Dir: ZHU YUAN KUN; 13:00 min; Documentary; China
Synopsis: In a cacophony of lively phone messages and news clippings, a 15-year-old boy juggles
academic pressures and new romance, while celebrating low expectations and homemade film.The
dialogues in the film were all taken from an old cell phone that the director had forgotten about for
12 years. I plugged in my phone and turned it on. Welcome aboard the Time Travel Machine and
step into the middle school era of the generation born in 1995 of mainland China.

My Dad is a Lightning Researcher
Dir: Iryna Shostak; 18:00 min; Documentary; Ukraine
Synopsis: My Dad is a Lightning Researcher is a documentary film reflection. A daughter attempts
to decipher and memorize the "universe of her dad", a lightning researcher, whom, as it turned out
after his death, she never fully got to know. Neither him nor his lasting legacy. This is her attempt
to think about how long our memory lasts about the people who meant something to us, who did
something and created something next to us. The film attempts to fix the fleeing clues of memory
in time to keep it longer. And, of course, it is her attempt to remember everythingor at least
something he was for her.

Under The Scorching Sun
Dir: Prathap Ramamurthy, Jagannath Radhakrishnan; 17:08 min; Documentary; United States
Synopsis: A short documentary that shows the toil of everyday workers in Chennai, India, under
extreme heat.

Dream to Cure Water
Dir: Ciril Jazbec; 21:54 min; Documentary; Slovenia
Synopsis: Two remote mountain communities in Peru that depend on the water try to fight back
against the effects of climate change through innovative adaptation, combining ancestral tradition
with state-of-the-art science.

I Told You So
Dir: Malak AlSayyad; 26:21 min; Documentary; Egypt
Synopsis: After years of debilitating period pain and unexplained symptoms, Malak finally gets a
diagnosis: she has endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disease that affects 1 in every 10 women
and people who menstruate worldwide. Despite being so prevalent, the disease has no known
cause, no cure, and is not taken seriously, even by her own mother.

2 pm to 6 pm

Meteorite Hunter
Dir: Natalia Anisimova; 01:01:00; Russian Federation; Documentary; Non Competition
Meteorites are the oldest unchanging substance, that a person living on Earth can hold in
his hands. Almost all meteorites are the same age as the Solar System. They are about 4,6 billion
years old. More ancient particles, pre-solar matter, can often be found in some meteorites.
However, there are also younger meteorites, primarily dislodged from Mars, where the processes of
rock formation ended not so long ago by astronomical standards.

Seed Stories
Dir: Chitrangada Choudhury; 42:00; India; Documentary; Competition
In a village in the Niyamgiri mountains of the Eastern Ghats in Odisha, eastern India, a heroic
effort is underway: barefoot ecologist Dr. Debal Deb and his 3 member-team are conserving over
one thousand endangered heirloom varieties of rice, the world’s largest project of its kind.
Odisha’s Eastern Ghats region is one of the world’s surviving biodiversity hotspots, with farmers
and shifting cultivators, particularly from Adivasi (Indigenous) communities like the Kondhs
possessing the knowledge of growing multiple crops with their own heirloom seeds, evolved over
centuries. At the same time, the village and the wider region is irreversibly changing with the
coming of genetically modified Bt and herbicide-tolerant cotton seeds and associated
agrochemicals.

‘Seed Stories’ takes a worm’s eye view of how the swift expansion of a chemical-intensive cotton
monoculture is reshaping a geography and a people steeped in agro-ecological knowledge, and
altering their attitudes towards farming, food and ecology. It invites audiences to reflect on the
question, ‘What is sustainability?

My Radio My Life
Dir: Bidit Roy, Makarand Waikar; 01:08:00; India; Documentary; Competition
Set in the 21st century, the film revisits the golden era of radio in India, when it was the dominant,
popular, and only source of entertainment, news, and knowledge. Being a medium that is heard
across national borders, the radio has been instrumental in expanding horizons and enriching the
lives of generations. Besides giving companionship to individuals, the radio brought families
together and inspired people to make life choices.

God Vulture and Human - A hero's dichotomy
Dir: Rishiraj Agarwal; 49:27; India; Documentary; Competition
The film explores the subject of organ donation through the lens of transplant coordinators,
highlighting their role in the process of organ donation, retrieval and transplantation. Through the
lives of 4 transplant coordinators, the film deals with the intensities of life and death, and an
attempt to humanise the coordinators.

For more details. : 9444025348

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Tuesday, August 19, 2025

International Folklore Film Festival, Madurai

International Folklore Film Festival, Madurai 

24 August; 11 am to 6 pm 

LENS Media Centre

Curated by Amudhan RP


Entry free! All are welcome!




Schedule (yet to be finalised)


11 am


Yuban

Dir : Yaasib Vázquez Colmenares; 30 min; Mexico


Bird Trapper / Beggar

Dir : Vinod Raja; 80 min; India



2 pm 


The Ebb Tide

Dir : Renu Sawant; 60 min; India


Brave

Dir : Vimarc Val; 30 min; France / Haiti


NAMARALI

Dir: Tim Mummery; 52:11; Australia


4.30 pm 

Her Story  -Tracing the Kannagi-Pattini Cult of Sri Lanka

Dir: Someetharan; 58 min; India / Sri Lanka 



Monday, July 14, 2025

Students Film Festival, Madurai : We welcome you!

Students Films Festival, Madurai 

26 July; 10 am to 5 pm

LENS Media Centre


Films made by students!

Curated by Amudhan RP

Jointly organised by 

MARUPAKKAM & LENS Media Centre


Schedule (yet to be finalised)



9.30 am : Registration and refreshments


10 am : Inauguration 


10.30 am to 11.30 am 


Ore Vaathiyam

Dir: Karthika P; 5:51 min; Animation films; India

Synopsis: A documentary which unveils the challenges faced by mridangam makers across generations, portraying a quiet evolution towards positive change within their craft's cultural legacy.”


Punal 

Dir: Arun Kumar; 17:59 min; Short fiction; India 

Synopsis: Tilaga, 30, works as a maid occasionally, but primarily in Shanthi's (40) home. She cleans Shanthi's house, doing tasks like sweeping and mopping. Tilaga and Shanthi appear to have a cordial relationship up until Tilaga feels the need to urinate.


Topsy-Turvy

Dir: Mashrukur Rahman Khan; 26:50 min; Documentary; Bangladesh

Synopsis: Cyclone Remal rages on the coast of Patuakhali, the villagers are pushed through the edge to survive the storm.


11.30 : Tea break


11.45 am to 12.45 pm 


Never Say Die

Dir: Diya Gambhir; 9:37 min; Documentary; India 

Synopsis: Never say die is the title I have chosen for my film. Since the work is inspired by the life of my aunt, I have titled it as she would like it to be. My aunt is the sister of my father. This project is an attempt to understand personal experiences and transform them into cinema. 


Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi- Vintage Cars in Indian Weddings 

Dir: Urvi Varshney; 15:31 min; Documentary; India 

Synopsis: A collector's dream, an owner's pride, a groom's delight, and a sight for sore eyes; vintage cars are far from being forgotten. This documentary delves into the timeless beauty and enduring charm of vintage cars, capturing the dynamic genres of action, drama, and the fast-paced love for these classic vehicles. With a mix-media touch, including animation and motion graphics, it brings a cinematic and filmi flair to the storytelling. From their meticulous manufacturing in workshops to the customizations tailored to individual needs, the film explores every facet of these automotive masterpieces. 


GALINA PETROVNA

Dir: Nikita Lovetsky; 16:59 min; Documentary; Kyrgyzstan

Synopsis: For several years now, Galina Petrovna has not left her house in Mayevka Village near Bishkek. There is a cozy blue house with fish garland in which a lonely grandma Galina tells us a story about her ghostly husband who died fifteen years ago. Every day she takes care of the house and even runs a small business. She sells chicken eggs and does laundry for some of her neighbors in her own washing machine. In a house full of pets, Galina Petrovna tells us about her alcoholic husband, pain and a new life after his death.


Birth of Men 

Dir: Dhanush J Sankaranarayanan; 8:11 min; Short fiction; India 

Synopsis: In the merciless grip of a ragging ritual, a med student's ambitions crumble, exposing the dark reality of drug addiction and the ragging culture festering within the Indian student community. 

Name: Another Her Beneath the Sea 


12.45 pm to 2 pm : Lunch break



2 pm to 3 pm 


Debtors

Dir: Andrzej Danis; 23:33 min; Documentary; Poland

Synopsis: As a gesture of solidarity with his mother, a grown-up son decides to stage a court drama in which they win the child support they were entitled to. While working on the scene, he meets people who also have been wronged by non-paying parents. 


Daisy

Dir: Aditi Dixit, Joffrey Atienza Zamora, Shecid Domínguez Aguilera; 4:47 min; Animation films; Spain

Synopsis: In the depths of darkness lies a music box which opens to reveal a young girl dressed in a petal dress. As the spotlight illuminates her, she discovers her ability to make music with her movements, which engages her to dance. 


Another Her Beneath the Sea

Dir: Steve Zhao; 8:31 min; Short fiction; China

Synopsis: A fisherman girl's life is broken by an old classmate from the city, and when she discovers the secret of her old classmate, their friendship is greatly shaken.


The Wall

Dir: Kevin Jerome; 9:32 min; Short fiction; India

Synopsis: In a town divided by a towering wall separating the rich from the poor, a father struggles to provide for his son due to systemic oppression, economic hardship and the barriers created by deeply ingrained social inequality.


Swachh Rashtra

Dir: Logesh S; 9:21 min; Short fiction; India

Synopsis: A content creation team's attempt to make a propaganda video for their clients clean nation campaign is jeopardized by the truth behind the flawed campaign.


One Day in the Afternoon

Dir: Nikhilesh Mishra; 12:18 min; Short fiction; India

Synopsis: On a summer afternoon in rural Odisha, a seven year old boy realizes that human beings are mortal and has a conversation with his ageing grandfather about this.


3 pm : Tea break


3.15 pm to 4.15 pm 

Walk in and screen; local student filmmakers can bring their films and showcase their work (conditions apply).


4.30 pm : Closing ceremony


Note : For delegate / audience registration : 9994770050

For filmmakers registration : 9940642044