To Mark International Women’s Day 2026
The 21st IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival: 12 to 15 March 2026
 

The 21st edition of the Asian Women’s Film Festival (AWFF) presents films from across Asia and beyond, spanning documentary, fiction, animation and curated regional programmes. The films reflect a wide spectrum of concerns – from labour, ecology, migration, memory, and identity to interior landscapes of desire, belonging, and resistance – articulated through diverse cinematic languages. The festival includes a special focus on animation through collaborations with partner festivals and initiatives such as AniMela, foregrounding women’s creative leadership in a field historically shaped by gendered exclusions. A curated package from Central Asia (Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic). The festival includes workshops, masterclasses, and discussions that address both practice and pedagogy. As the festival enters its third decade, it carries forward a simple yet powerful belief: that women’s stories, images, deserve visibility and celebration – and that feminist film cultures are sustained through shared spaces of watching, thinking, and being together.

Organised in collaboration with the India Chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT); NFDC; Ministry of Information & Broadcasting; French Institute in India; French Embassy in India; Goethe Institut; Japan Foundation.

Screenings will be held in the Auditorium on 13, 14 and 15 March 2026 from 9:30 onwards. Some of the filmmakers will be present for post-screening discussions. The opening film will be I, The Song by Dechen Roder (Bhutan), while the closing film is Shadowbox by Tanushree Das and Soumyananda Sahi (India & France). The leading lady of the closing film, Tilottama Shome will also be present at the screening.  

Highlights of the festival include: Three masterclasses with celebrated Japanese editor, Keiko Okawa sharing insights from her long and influential engagement with cinematic form and editing practice.; Paromita Vohra; the Asanjo Collective, on filmmaking and Animation; one round table on Filmmaking Pedagogy, Discussions with present filmmakers on their films. All masterclasses, workshops, seminars are planned and driven by women.

Registration at the venue on a first come first serve basis.