Film and Television Institute of India

Once upon a time in a village, an old lady steals the rooster and the sun never rises again.

Set in 1944, against the backdrop of Mahatma Gandhi's visit to a village, it is the story of a mother who faces a crisis and whose faith in Gandhi's message is put to test.

People are involved in daily encounters without ever being aware of how they are connected with one another. A taxi reveals all.

Sea of Lost Time is an allegory set in an undefined time and space, evoking the magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, inspired by his characters. A soldier comes back from the dead to a seaside village. He reminisces on the time lost while he was away, like a sea between his past and the dysfunctional present. Through him we discover a motley of characters: a rag-tag musical band, a man locked up inside an abandoned horse stable, his sister, also the soldier’s lover and who has been bemoaning the loss. An impressionistic view of the intertwined lives of those inhabiting imaginary spaces, with an underpinning of social and political metaphors.

An ethnographic film exploring the legend of Mahadeo Koli Goddess Kalsu, whose presence remains impregnated in the consciousness of the women of the tribe today.

This experimental documentary explores the complex intersection of queerness and illness, examining how these experiences shape both the body and identity. Set against the backdrop of medical spaces, the film delves into the visible and invisible imprints left by diagnostic processes, surgeries, and medical interventions. While drawing from deeply personal experiences, the narrative expands into a collective exploration, integrating voices and documentation of others to offer a more layered and multifaceted portrayal. The documentary also addresses the internal impact of sexual violence, highlighting how individuals navigate crises of body and identity within this context. Through its experimental approach, the film offers an intimate yet expansive reflection on queerness, illness, and survival, inviting viewers to engage with its themes in a deeply contemplative way.

Tackling the theme of identity from the perspective of Asian and Afro-Caribbean actors, the film emerged from an acting workshop exploring the relationship between acting idioms in theatre and cinema led by Kumar Shahani and Alaknanda Samarth.

FTII Diploma film by Mani Kaul

Ambika has just come to know that she has failed once again, and she will not be given any more chances. At first, she leaves the city for her home in another city. But very soon the city takes over and her confusions return even more intensely this time.

Set in a dimly lit, nearly deserted cinema hall, the film follows a protagonist whose encounters with a fellow moviegoer, a projectionist, and the presence of an unseen voyeur take on a charged, sexual undercurrent. As boundaries between experience and liminality blur, the cinema hall becomes a space of shared, ambiguous encounters where desire, tension, and vulnerability intertwine.

Documentary chronicling the 101 year old ex Mr. Universe Manohar Aich

An act of violence resonates through the night, touching upon the lives of different characters, who otherwise would not necessarily exist in each other’s daily narrative. The story is seen through the self contained world of seven characters as they drift along the otherwise mundane night meandering around the graphical symmetry of a ‘modern’ city. The story is based on excerpts taken from a novel by Haruki Murakami by the same name

Snippets of events in an urban police station unfold the relationship between SI Piyush and ASI Ratika. Though they share an intimacy, Ratika is not yet ready to be in a relationship. Another SI Vishwanath has a sense of affection towards her, but he can not express his feelings to her

Kaki is a 60-year-old widow who lives with her Nepali maid, Malti. The film takes place on one afternoon in their house where a flower blossoms in the balcony. Malti meets a boy (a sailor) from her hometown unexpectedly.

The story deals with a professional hitman, who falls in love with the woman he sets out to murder.

FTII Diploma film for acting students of 1964-65 by Ritwik Ghatak

Madhav, a playful 8-year-old boy who has spent most of his time playing outdoors in the village, is being sent to town for educational purposes.

Glimpses of lives from a village in Assam reveal the relationship between its history and the present. People’s lives and beliefs are entangled with ecological strings , as nature stands witness to the narratives that unfolded there. A young boy, Rahul, hopes to write a book on his experience of growing up in this village. His mother, being deeply connected with nature can sense messages and signs arising from nature.. Urmila, a pregnant lady, is driven by sensorial experiences. But, In contrast to the serenity and harmonious living; there lurks a violent societal past.These peaceful and quiet lives intersect in a space where traumatic memories of death and loss in Assam’s thirty years of secessionist movement keep resurfacing.

Through faces and bodies of real life labourers emerges an epistolary account of a daily wage owner who suddenly finds himself out of work one day. As rampant industrialisation surges, a new class is born - a crowd of nomadic migrant workers whose lives are a series of transitions in search of work. Folk tale and memory as witnesses to this rapidly changing world through their eyes.

Three siblings, brother Dinu and two sisters Anu and Buri meet on a seashore one morning after their mother's death. They reminiscence about their mother and her relentless journey in search of 'home'. Gradually as they dwell through their personal memories of 'mother' they unknowingly enter into unknown dark zones of mother and their own lives. The spirits of their ancestors too become part of their stories as the two sisters preform their memories. Dreams, fantasies, memories and reality starts to overlap to form a complex image of 'mother' in search of home.