Film and Television Institute of India

Once upon a time in a village, an old lady steals the rooster and the sun never rises again.

Glimpses of lives from a village in Assam reveal the relationship between its history and the present. People’s lives and beliefs are entangled with ecological strings , as nature stands witness to the narratives that unfolded there. A young boy, Rahul, hopes to write a book on his experience of growing up in this village. His mother, being deeply connected with nature can sense messages and signs arising from nature.. Urmila, a pregnant lady, is driven by sensorial experiences. But, In contrast to the serenity and harmonious living; there lurks a violent societal past.These peaceful and quiet lives intersect in a space where traumatic memories of death and loss in Assam’s thirty years of secessionist movement keep resurfacing.

The story deals with a professional hitman, who falls in love with the woman he sets out to murder.

How a river carries a curse and a never ending game of betrayal that flows with it, Mula and Mutha two rivers, fighting death, one current at a time.

An act of violence resonates through the night, touching upon the lives of different characters, who otherwise would not necessarily exist in each other’s daily narrative. The story is seen through the self contained world of seven characters as they drift along the otherwise mundane night meandering around the graphical symmetry of a ‘modern’ city. The story is based on excerpts taken from a novel by Haruki Murakami by the same name

Shama and Ravi are members of a Marxist party. Shama loves classical Indian music, a luxury of a few, and Ravi is in love with quotations and the philosophy of Marx - a need of the masses. Due to a strike, Ravi is compelled to work full-time for the party. Shama decides to give up music reluctantly and joins Ravi.

FTII Diploma film for acting students of 1964-65 by Ritwik Ghatak

People are involved in daily encounters without ever being aware of how they are connected with one another. A taxi reveals all.

FTII Diploma film by Mani Kaul

Set in a dimly lit, nearly deserted cinema hall, the film follows a protagonist whose encounters with a fellow moviegoer, a projectionist, and the presence of an unseen voyeur take on a charged, sexual undercurrent. As boundaries between experience and liminality blur, the cinema hall becomes a space of shared, ambiguous encounters where desire, tension, and vulnerability intertwine.

Sea of Lost Time is an allegory set in an undefined time and space, evoking the magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, inspired by his characters. A soldier comes back from the dead to a seaside village. He reminisces on the time lost while he was away, like a sea between his past and the dysfunctional present. Through him we discover a motley of characters: a rag-tag musical band, a man locked up inside an abandoned horse stable, his sister, also the soldier’s lover and who has been bemoaning the loss. An impressionistic view of the intertwined lives of those inhabiting imaginary spaces, with an underpinning of social and political metaphors.

A contemplative exploration of the intertwined experiences of queerness and illness, this experimental documentary navigates personal and collective journeys through medical spaces, sexual violence, and survival, revealing the profound impact on body and identity.

Kaki is a 60-year-old widow who lives with her Nepali maid, Malti. The film takes place on one afternoon in their house where a flower blossoms in the balcony. Malti meets a boy (a sailor) from her hometown unexpectedly.

Near Mogulmari in the south of West-Bengal in India lies a mountain known locally as Sakhisona. The stories about it are still sung by local musicians. A dig nearby recently uncovered the remains of a monastery as well as 6th-century objects. The film shows the objects unearthed and re-enacts the stories and folklore.

A man has gone missing while teleporting. His pregnant wife must fight the system to try to get him back.

Documentary chronicling the 101 year old ex Mr. Universe Manohar Aich

An ethnographic film exploring the legend of Mahadeo Koli Goddess Kalsu, whose presence remains impregnated in the consciousness of the women of the tribe today.

Tackling the theme of identity from the perspective of Asian and Afro-Caribbean actors, the film emerged from an acting workshop exploring the relationship between acting idioms in theatre and cinema led by Kumar Shahani and Alaknanda Samarth.

Madhav, a playful 8-year-old boy who has spent most of his time playing outdoors in the village, is being sent to town for educational purposes.