Screening Details

THE EMPTY NEST (China)

(84 min; 2020; Chinese with English subtitles)
Director: Zhang Wei  

The Empty Nest is about an old woman who is an empty nester. It is a melancholic story based on the novel by Xue Yiwei. The film ends with hope and realization by the central character Zhao Yemie that life is about moving on and not about pondering over the sad moments.

Zhao Yemie is played by Zhu Xijuan, a superstar of 1960s in China
 

Screening Details

ANA. UNTITLED (Ana. Sem Titulo/Brazil)

(110 min; 2020; with English subtitles)
Director: Lúcia Murat 

Stela, a young Brazilian actress, decides to make a work on the letters exchanged between Latin American plastic artists in the 70s and 80s. She travels to Cuba, Mexico, Argentina and Chile looking for her works and testimonies about the reality they lived during the dictatorships that most of these countries faced at the time. In the midst of the investigation, Stela discovers the existence of Ana, a young Brazilian artist who was part of this world, but disappeared. Ana went from southern Brazil, from a small town in the interior to Buenos Aires. Obsessed by the character, Stela decides to find her and find out what happened to her. A road movie about Latin American reality.  The film won the 2020 Havana Film Festival and at the 6th BRICS festival in Goa for the best director. 

Screening Details 

WE ARE STILL HERE (Australia)

(90 min; 2022; English)
Directors:  Beck Cole, Dena Curtis, Tracey Rigney, Danielle MacLean, Tim Worrall, Renae Maihi, Miki Magasiva, Mario Gaoa, Richard Curtis, Chantelle Burgoyne.

Recipient of the CGA Award for Best Casting in a Feature Film, Casting Guild of Australia Awards 2022; and Best Dramatic Feature Award, ImagineNative Film +Media Arts Festival 2022

Ten leading Indigenous filmmakers interweave eight powerful tales to tell a sweeping story of hope and survival, traversing 1000 years from the past to the present and future.

Screening Details

Presented by India International Centre and G20 Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India 

INAUGURATION
By Shri Victor Banerjee, well-known actor; and Shri Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa, Govt. of India

Followed by
PATHER PANCHALI (Song of the Little Road/India)
(112 min; 1955; b/w; Bluray; Bengali with English subtitles)
A film by Satyajit Ray

With Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Subir Banerjee

Multiple award winner including Best Human Document & OCIC Award – Special Mention, Cannes Film Festival 1956; National Film Awards for Best Feature Film & Best Feature Film in Bengali, National Film Awards, 1956; Golden Gate Awards for Best Director & Best Picture, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1957; among others

With the release in 1955 of Satyajit Ray’s debut, Pather Panchali, an eloquent and important new cinematic voice made itself heard all over the world. A depiction of rural Bengali life in a style inspired by Italian neorealism, this naturalistic but poetic evocation of a number of years in the life of a family introduces us to both little Apu and, just as essentially, the women who will help shape him: his independent older sister, Durga; his harried mother, Sarbajaya, who, with her husband away, must hold the family together; and his kindly and mischievous elderly “auntie,” Indir—vivid, multifaceted characters all. With resplendent photography informed by its young protagonist’s perpetual sense of discovery, Pather Panchali, which won an award for Best Human Document at Cannes, is an immersive cinematic experience and a film of elemental power.

Full day break-up of Khabar Lahariya programme

Organised in collaboration with Chambal Media with the support of Google News Initiative

The day-long programme includes an exhibition of photographs; panel discussions on “Voices from the Margins”; “Behind the Scenes: Reclaiming Public Spaces, Offline & Online”; “Next Generation Storytellers”; and “The Future of Indian Media”. The programme also includes an expert talk on “”Building a Company with Diversity and Inclusion”; screening of a film “Meelon Door” – a film on migration and its impact on women; and closes with Bundeli Folk Songs presented by Neha Rathore and troupe
 

Kathak Recital
By Nayanika Ghosh, disciple of late Pt. Birju Maharaj.

At 19:00
Bharatanatyam Duet Recital
By Bhadra Sinha and Gayathri Sharma from Delhi, disciple of Dr. Ratheesh Babu 

Manipuri Recital
By Sudip Kumar Ghosh from Kolkata, disciple of Guru Th.Chourajeet Singh & Smt N Amusana Devi

At 19:00
Odissi Recital
By Arunima Ghosh, disciple of Guru Sharon Lowen  
 

Premier of
Bay of Blood (India; 90 min; 2023; English)
A feature documentary on the Bangladesh Genocide
Director: Krishnendu Bose who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

March 25th 1971, a horrific ‘Genocide’ was unleashed on the unarmed civilians of East Pakistan. Bay of Blood draws upon rare archival footage from agencies around the world to investigate why and how it was executed. By piecing together eyewitness accounts interspersed with analysis of the events, by those who have closely studied the genocide, the film is constructed as a deposition to unravel the truth 

(60 min; 2022; English/Urdu with English subtitles)
Director: Yousuf Saeed who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

The film traces the cultural history of north India’s Rampur town through its food and culinary heritage. Among India’s wide variety of regional cuisines, the former princely state of Rampur in Uttar Pradesh is known for its traditional foods, mostly perfected under the patronage of its erstwhile nawabs or royalty. The film includes interviews with food historians, members of Rampur’s nawabi family and also traditional khansamas or chefs of Rampur who prepare various delicious dishes for the camera. Since music and singing was part of serving food in the court of the Rampur nawabs, the film also briefly explores the evolution of classical music and its Rampur gharana

Hop, Skip and Jump: Peregrinations of a Diplomat’s Wife
By Reba Som (Om Books International: 2023)

Discussants:  Shri Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts; Ms Namita Gokhale, writer, editor, festival director and publisher; Dr. Malashri Lal, writer and academic who has specialized in literature, women and gender studies; Dr. Reba Som, writer, academic, historian, vocalist and author of the book 

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC