FILM- If on a Winter’s Night

FIPRESCI–IIC SHOWCASE: STORIES FROM CONTEMPORARY INDIA

If on a Winter’s Night
(2025;100 minutes; Malayalam with English subtitles)
Director: Sanju Surendran

With Bhanu Priyamvada, Roshan Abdul Rahoof, Raichel Samuel, Arathy K. B. and Shobhana Sharma.

Recipient of the Hylife Vision Award at the 30th Busan International Film Festival (2025); North American Premiere, New Directors/New Films 2026, Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

Sarah and Abhi, a young couple from Kerala, move to Delhi in search of a new life together, hoping to build a future shaped by love, creativity and independence. Far from home, however, they find themselves confronting the realities of life in an unfamiliar city, precarious employment, financial uncertainty, language barriers and the subtle prejudices faced by outsiders. As mounting pressures begin to test both their ambitions and their relationship, the promise of reinvention gives way to a more complex understanding of adulthood and belonging.

(India International Centre Film Club in collaboration with FIPRESCI-India, presents a selection of acclaimed contemporary Indian films from across the country. Representing diverse languages, regions and cinematic traditions, these films offer compelling reflections on identity, community, memory and social change, while highlighting some of the most exciting voices in Indian cinema today.)