Punishing the Professor
(28 minutes;2025; Tamil with English subtitles)
Director: Aayna, documentary filmmaker at People’s Archive of Rural India.

Special mention at Panchajianyam International Film festival (Kerala)

Dr.P. Senrayaperumal a Dalit folk artist was forced to drop out of school to play his part in the ancestral caste-bound genre of Raja Rani Attam folk performance. He and his brothers spent their childhood playing female roles — enduring slurs, sexual harassment, and bearing the burden of tradition. After 12 years at age 23, he made a desperate gamble to reclaim education all by himself, even while dancing through nights to survive. But his education, the very tool meant for liberation, became the reason for his punishment. Today, he is being questioned: Why did you even get educated?

Bollywood calling Lal Singh
(19 minutes;2026; Hindi with English Subtitles)
Director:  Aayna, documentary filmmaker at People’s Archive of Rural India

Pechanan (Identity)" traces Lal Singh's ongoing struggle to claim his identity. Hailing from a small agricultural labour family, he works as a cook in Mumbai to survive while over a decade tirelessly pursuing a dream that is questionable not for his lack of hard work and talent but for the space that he wishes to be a part of. This documentary follows Lal’s persistent journey through this intimidating and inspiring city space, where he navigates a capitalistic world to arrive at his individuality by claiming his aspirations.

The film screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the Director

(Collaboration: People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI Network)

Samanvay - Melodies That Build Us

Piano Recital by Gauri Mishra, distinguished pianist, awarded the National Award-Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, All India Radio graded artist.

An immersive experience taking one through the depth of Indian classical music and the pianist’s signature fusion compositions, filled with musical surprises along the way. Accompanied by renowned artists, each performance creates a seamless blend of tradition, innovation, and harmony, promising an unforgettable and enriching musical journey.
 

AAJ KAVITA
Bodhisattva, Shailja Pathak (Mumbai); Rakesh Renu (Delhi) and Nand Bharadwaj (Jaipur) will read their poems.

(Collaboration: Raza Foundation)
 

Piano Recital by Balázs Fülei

Balázs Fülei, Professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, recipient of the Liszt Ferenc Prize, the Kodály Prize, the Artisjus Award, and the Junior Prima Award.  Since 2015, Professor Fülei has served as Head of the Chamber Music Department at the Academy

(Collaboration: Delhi Music Society)

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION
Music in the Cinema of Ritwik Ghatak 
An illustrated lecture by Partha Chatterjee

Ritwik Ghatak used music in his eight feature films, and several documentaries both as a counterpoint, and even as a counter-melody in conjunction with the image that unravelled the story or the narrative thus adding clarity and richness to the whole film. He used Folk melodies of both East and West Bengal, Hindustani music – both vocal and instrumental, Rabindra Sangeet, and on occasions small selections from Western Classical instrumental music.

Partha Chatterjee is a filmmaker, journalist and rasika of the Arts.

SUMMER SONATA – A FESTIVAL OF OPERA, BALLET AND CONCERT FILMS 
Curated and Introduced by Sunit Tandon

CONCERT
A Mozart Gala from Salzburg
(106 min; 2006; dvd)

Anna Netrebko, soprano; Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano; Patricia Petibon, soprano; Ekaterina Siurina, soprano; Thomas Hampson, baritone; Michael Schade, tenor; René Pape, bass

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Daniel Harding
Harpsichord: Anton Holzapfel
Directed by Brian Large

Mozart was born in Salzburg and, except when touring Europe as a Wunderkind, spent his formative years there. His relationship with the Salzburg was not always happy, but the city more than made amends in 2006 when it celebrated the 250th anniversary of his birth. Besides staging every one of his operas, it mounted this very special gala concert on 30th July that year, with what amounted to a United Nations assembly of distinguished Mozartians. The conductor was British, the orchestra Austrian, the singers were, in order of appearance, German (René Pape), Canadian (Michael Schade), French (Patricia Petibon); Czech (Magdalena Kožená), American (Thomas Hampson) and Russian (Ekaterina Siurina and Anna Netrebko). Yet they all spoke a common language: Mozart.

Opening with the Don Giovanni Overture, the Gala included arias from that opera, from Mitridate, re di Ponto, La Clemenza di Tito, Cosi Fan Tutte, the Overture and excerpts from Idomeneo and was rounded off with a performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D major, K.504, which was premiered under the composer’s direction in Prague.
 

RELEASE OF THE IIC QUARTERLY (WINTER 2025–SPRING 2026)

Chair: Dr. Karan Singh

Discussants: K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC; Dr. Jyotsna Singh, cultural activist and heritage conservationist; others (tbc)

India is home to a rich plurality of religions, faiths, and belief systems, where a deeply syncretic ethos has long shaped the lives of mystics, intellectuals, ordinary people, and even non-believers. This volume draws upon a seminar held at the India International Centre on the theme “Syncretic Traditions of the Indian Subcontinent.”
 

SUMMER SONATA – A FESTIVAL OF OPERA, BALLET AND CONCERT FILMS 
Curated and Introduced by Sunit Tandon

OPERA
Gaetano Donizetti: La Fille du regiment
Opéra-comique in two acts
(121 min; 2005; dvd; English subtitles)

From the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, with Patrizia Ciofi (Marie); Juan Diego Flórez (Tonio); Francesca Franci (La Marquise de Berkenfeld); Dario Benini (Hortensius); Nicola Ulivieri (Sulpice); Filippo Bettoschi (a Corporal); Maurizia Burlando (La Duchesse de Crackentorp)

Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Stage Director: Emilio Sagi
Costume and Set Designer: Julio Galán
Lighting: Daniele Naldi

Top bel canto tenor, Juan Diego Florez, and acclaimed Italian soprano Patrizia Ciofi lead a superb ensemble cast in Donizetti’s sparkling French language opéra-comique in a production that sets the action in the final days of World War II. Marie is the daughter of an American army captain, Tonio is a young French villager whose love for her leads him to join the American ranks. When the secret of Marie’s birth is revealed and her mother insists on an aristocratic suitor, only an appeal to the memory of young love can reunite them.