(97 min; 2022; Hindi with English subtitles)

Director: Shaunak Sen

Multiple award winner including Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema-Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2022; Golden Eye Award, Cannes Film Festival 2022; Grierson Award (Documentary Film), London Film Festival 2022; Recipient of the Pare Lorentz Award, IDA Award for Best Feature, & IDA Award for Best Director, International Documentary Association Awards 2022; among others

In one of the world's most populated cities, cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people. Here, two brothers fall in love with a bird - the black kite. From their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the "kite brothers" care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi's smog-choked skies. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between this Muslim family and the neglected kite forms a poetic chronicle of the city's collapsing ecology and rising social tensions.

Don Quixote (85 min; dvd)
Ballet by Mikhail Baryshnikov
With Cynthia Harvey, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Richard Schafer, Brian Adams
 
Choreography: Mikhail Baryshnikov
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Conductor: Paul Connelly
 
Baryshnikov’s sparkling full-length production of Don Quixote captures all the excitement, Spanish colour and humour of Cervantes’ original masterpiece. It is one of the most popular and joyful ballets surviving from the Imperial Russian ballet’s repertory
 
Introduced by Samaresh Chatterji

SCREEING SCHEDULE

Recital presented by Sigurður Bragson, baritone and Hjálmur Sighvatsson, piano
 
The artist will present Icelandic folk songs arranged by composer Jón Leifs (1899-1968); and songs by Friedrich Nietzsche, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner
 
(Collaboration: Embassy of Iceland)

Curated and Introduced by Sunit Tandon and Samaresh Chatterji
 
Vincenzo Bellini: La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker)
(138 min; 2010; dvd; English subtitles)
With Natalie Dessay (Amina); Juan Diego Florez (Elvino); Michele Pertusi (Count Rodolfo); Jennifer Black (Lisa); Jane Bunnell (Teresa); Jeremy Galyon (Alessio); Bernard Fitch (Notary)
 
A Metropolitan Opera, New York Production by Mary Zimmerman
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet
Conductor: Evelino Pidò
 
International bel canto stars Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez play the young lovers in this tale of a young girl whose sleepwalking puts her romance in jeopardy. Mary Zimmerman’s groundbreaking production offers a teasing interplay of reality and fantasy, with the opera set in a modern-day rehearsal room where the players are preparing a traditional staging of the opera. What is unmistakable is the beauty of Bellini’s haunting melodies and a feast of sublime singing from the matchless duo of Dessay and Florez.
 
Introduced by Sunit Tandon

SCREEING SCHEDULE

We, the People of the States of Bharat: The Making and Remaking of India’s Internal Borders

By Sanjeev Chopra (HarperCollins India: 2022)

Discussants: Shri Raghav Chandra, writer and former Secretary, Govt. of India; Shri V. Srinivas, Secretary, Govt. of India, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and Department of Pension & Pensioner’s Welfare; Ms Rama Lakshmi, Editor, The Print; and Shri Sanjeev Chopra, former Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and author of the book

Chair: Shri Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV)

(40 min; 2023; Hindi with English subtitles)
Produced & Directed by Ruchi Saini who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

The documentary film features conversations with the musicologist and scholar, the late Shri Sushil Kumar Saxena who delineates the finer nuances of North Indian Classical arts through the prism of Kathak dance and is juxtaposed with the works of the late Kathak maestro, Guru Munna Shukla. The film also includes demonstrations by Ruchi Saini

(105 min)
Presented by Pierrot’s Troupe
Directed by Dr. M. Syeed Alam

Script: Salman Khurshid
Adaptation: Ather Farouqui

In Hindostani and English, Sons of Babur presents an entertaining, informative and aesthetic account of the ‘Worlds’ of Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb as seen from far off Rangoon by the last and deposed Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. The play seamlessly connects the present to the past, an introspection of the Mughal era and a unique reading of Indian history

Odissi Recital
By Namrata Mehta from Delhi, disciple of Guru Smt Daksha Mashruwala 
 

At 19:00 
Kathak Recital
By Swati Sinha from Delhi, disciple of Pt. Rajendra Gangani 
 

Presented by Katsura Sunshine, well-known traditional Japanese rakugo artist from Canada

Rakugo storytelling is a 400-year-old Japanese comedic art form. Dating back to the 17th century and originating from Buddhist tradition, rakugo experienced its heyday in the Meiji era (1868-1912) when it adopted its current form and left the streets and private apartments for performance venues. The storyteller, rakugoka, alone on stage, kneels on a cushion and does not move from this position throughout the performance. With no backdrop or music, the rakugo artist uses only his facial expressions, changes in intonation and props to bring humourous stories to life

Katsura Sunshine studied this traditional and unique form of verbal entertainment in Japan as an apprentice to rakugo master Katsura Bunshi VI, then Katsura Sanshi for another three years. He is the only the second Westerner to become a rakugo master in Japan’s history.

(Collaboration: The Japan Foundation, New Delhi)

(92 min; 2021; Kannada with English subtitles)
Written & Directed by Babu Eshwar Prasad who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

The film is a meditation on the act of walking through the lives of three principal characters: Kumar, a photojournalist disenchanted with his regular job; Neelu, a salesgirl in a shoe shop with a set routine; and Amaresha, an elderly prisoner. Moving between dream and reality, the film is an exploration of the inner and outer landscapes they encounter