Rajputana, Jhalawar, Bundi & Katakali Dancers (1940)

Tight: The World of Indian Bodybuilding

Can Aji's talent and triumphs elevate him from his poor, Tamil background to succeed on the national stage at Mr India? Or will his dreams be shattered by corruption and discrimination? The booming world of Indian bodybuilding is a captivating window through which to observe a rapidly changing society, while Aji's journey is a story of unity, brotherhood and celebration of India's incredible diversity.

The Last Maneater: Killer Tigers of India

Sunderbans (Forest of Beauty) is in West Bengal, India, and is the only place on Earth that is the natural habitat of Royal Bengal Tigers that have never known to be fearful of humans. One tiger has been known to kill three fully grown men, leaving behind orphans and widows who belong to poor tribes, dependent on harvesting wild honey and fishing, in a swampy mangrove region. About 80 people are killed annually by these ferocious beasts with razor-sharp jaws, whose forepaws can shatter bones, and sharp teeth can pierce a skull in one bite. Amidst religious superstitions, the narrator attempts to explain the cause behind their taste for human meat in a region devoid of electricity, roadways, firearms and safe drinking water, and why the villagers continue to live there despite of being stalked and mauled on land and water alike.

Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs

Documentary short about the disastrous dangers of aging, ailing dams.

L'âme indienne Martiniquaise

Plot unavailable

Marching in the Dark

In a drought-struck region in India, suffering from climate change and a high suicide rate amongst farmers, a group of resilient women farmers, who recently lost their husbands, is coming together with a local psychologist to learn counselling and help others in grief.

Picturesque India or, In and About Calcutta

Botanical gardens in Bombay plus the highly decorative Jain Temple in Calcutta.

India: Introduction to Its History

This film describes the nature and impact of major religions in India, artistic monuments and contributions of each dynasty and cultural development of the people in different regions of the vast subcontinent.

India Cabaret

An exploration of the 'respectable' and 'immoral' stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of two striptease dancers in a Bombay cabaret.

Kolkata with Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins immerses herself in the complex life of Kolkata and sees how it is reinventing itself as a megacity with a reputation for eccentricity, culture and tolerance.

Fascinating India

"Fascinating India" spreads an impressive panorama of India’s historical and contemporary world. The film presents the most important cities, royal residences and temple precincts. It follows the trail of different religious denominations, which have influenced India up to the present day. Simon Busch and Alexander Sass travelled for months through the north of the Indian subcontinent to discover what is hidden under India’s exotic and enigmatic surface, and to show what is rarely revealed to foreigners. The film deals with daily life in India. In Varanasi, people burn their dead to ashes. At the Kumbh Mela, the biggest religious gathering of the world, 35 million pilgrims bathe in holy River Ganges. This is the first time India is presented in such an alluring and engaging fashion on screen.

A Native Street in India

Early film of a crowded street scene in an unidentified Indian city.

Millions Can Walk

Hundreds of thousands of Indian men and women – indigenous inhabitants and landless farmers – demand their right to existence by making a 400 kilometre protest march from Gwalior to Delhi. How can one fight for one’s rights without using violence? With such an important contemporary question, the film spreads far beyond the borders of India. It shows the multiple facets of this imposing protest march and focuses as well on the daily realities of these proud people.

Purdah

The inspiring story of a young Indian Muslim woman who trades her burka for dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women's Cricket Team and how the harsh realities for women in her country creates an unexpected outcome for her own family, ultimately shattering and fueling aspirations.

Gwalia in Khasia

The story of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists' Mission (1841-1969) to the Khasi Hills in north-east India, written and presented by Welsh poet Nigel Jenkins.

Meru

Meru is the electrifying story of three elite American climbers—Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk—bent on achieving the impossible.

The Leopard Rocks

The documentary “The Leopard Rocks” accompanies Neelam, a female leopard, as she fights for the lives of her offspring, and provides a fascinating insight into the lives and adventures of one of the world's most interesting big cat species in a unique, unusual environment.

Meena

Meena is a documentary film about sex trafficking in India based on a true story.

India: Spreading Hate

Since the rise to power of Hindu nationalists in 2014, India has been gradually moving away from democracy towards a regime where ethnic identity prevails. This transition is driven by Hindutva, a Hindu supremacist ideology embodied by Narendra Modi. For the past 10 years, Prime Minister Modi has relentlessly pursued his fascist policy based on Hindu supremacy. This ideology of hatred towards other religions in the country, particularly Islam, has also spread globally. Those who follow this belief want India to be only for Hindus, treating people of other religions, like Muslims or Sikhs as second-class citizens. Attacks against Christians have surged by 400% since Modi's election, accompanied by discriminatory laws targeting Muslims and widespread lynching incidents. Hindutva's influence permeates all levels of Indian society. This documentary thus unveils a darker side of India, far from its portrayal as the world's largest democracy and Gandhi's dream of peace among communities.

Vaikhari

Vaikhari, which in Sanskrit means intelligent and articulate utterances, primarily focusses on "padhant" which is the art of recitation of mnemonic syllables used in Hindusthani Classical Music and Dance. The film incorporates different artistic streams in allusion to padhant, thereby aiming at a profound aesthetic experience of rhythmic utterances in its multiple manifestations. Kalidasa's immortal Meghdootam serves a template for narrative development while creating a realm of different temporal designs fabricated by various rhythmic elements (percussion, dance) where padhant lies at the nucleus of contemplation and subsequent artistic expansion.

India's Daughter

The story of the short life, and brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi in December 2012 of an exceptional and inspiring young woman. The rape of the 23 year old medical student by 6 men on a moving bus, and her death, sparked unprecedented protests and riots throughout India and led to the first glimmers of a change of mindset. Interwoven into the story line are the lives, values and mindsets of the rapists whom the film makers have had exclusive and unprecedented access to interview before they hang. The film examines the society and values which spawn such violent acts, and makes an optimistic and impassioned plea for change.

The Arms Drop

One night in December 1995, 4 tons of weapons fall from the sky over India. A few days later a Danish man returns to Denmark with a grave secret. Only when an English arms dealer is arrested in India and faces death sentence, does the Dane appear in the large-scale international investigation of the case. With reconstructions and scenes resembling a feature film, the docu-thriller The Arms Drop tells the nerve-racking story of two men who gamble their lives on a joint mission with each their secret agenda, and the political, personal and diplomatic consequences 20 years later.

Indocam

A travelogue about India. But it is more than a video about a foreign place. We follow the director's itinerary and witness his chance encounters with people and also public events, some of which continue to shape India's politics today.

Father Lenin

An evocative and unsettling journey through christian and also deeply communist Kerala. Amidst red flags and altar boys, between the sea and the jungle, mixing the language of reportage and that of fable, the unedited docufilm tells the touching, profound, at times funny stories of a group of priests and nuns in the days leading up to Easter.

Kumbh Mela - The Greatest Show On Earth

February 2013, Allahabad, India. Over the next 55 days, nearly a hundred million people will come here, to the Great Kumbh Mela. This incredible and awe-inspiring celebration of the world's oldest religion happens every 12 years at the place where Hindus believe two sacred rivers meet. For many Hindus this is their most important pilgrimage, and it happens at one of the most holy sites in India. Hindus come to cleanse themselves in the sacred waters of the river Ganges, to pray and emerge purified and renewed. This follows British pilgrims as they embark on a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey. A journey that will take them into the heart of Hinduism - its philosophy, its beliefs and its traditions. A journey that will culminate in the largest ever gathering of humans in one place.

World's Biggest Festival - Kumbh Mela

Welcome to the largest human gathering ever in this one-hour special, World’s Biggest Festival: Kumbh Mela. Imagine a crowd so massive, it is visible from space. A crowd, likely 100 million strong, intent on just one thing: bathing in a sacred river to wash away sins and gain a chance at a new beginning. In the World’s Biggest Festival: Kumbh Mela, experience the dazzling spectacle of spiritual fervour and collective diversity as Hindus from across the globe converge on the Maha Kumbh Mela. Not only is it the world’s largest religious festival, but it is also believed to be the largest gathering of humans in one place, at one time on Earth.

Leopard Dynasty – The Rise of Rana

Jhalana’s refuge, India's urban leopard habitat, is controlled by the strong and experienced Bahadur. But his dominance is being challenged – by his son, Rana! Once a quiet youngster, Rana has grown into an ambitious young male. But in the animal kingdom, power is not inherited – it is fought for with strength and persistence. Rana is not content with just securing his place; he wants more. To fulfill his ambitions, he forms a bond with one of his father's females, and what begins as a simple interaction soon turns into a powerful partnership. The aging Bahadur has held his territory for six years and will not tolerate his son's claim. Rana faces a decision: retreat or fight. But Rana follows his instincts.

Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur

Jag Mandir is a quiet and often overlooked film in the vast oeuvre of Werner Herzog. Apparently, 20 hours of footage was shot that covered the whole fest and the film hardly presents us a twentieth of that. A native walking into the film in between may well fail to immediately realize that it is his country that is being shown and these are figures from the mythology of various sections of his nation. The bulk of the film consists of footage of an elaborate theatrical performance for the Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar at the City Palace of Udaipur, Rajasthan staged by André Heller.

A Good Question

In Punjab’s Doaba region, a rooftop sculptor grapples with leaving home as his art and community reflect the hopes and sacrifices of migration.

The Mission

American Christian missionary John Chau was murdered when he tried to illegally contact and convert some of the world’s last uncontacted indigenous people. Through exclusive interviews and archival footage of John’s journey, THE MISSION explores themes that strike deep at the heart of religion, colonialism, and anthropology, questioning where we draw the line between faith and fanaticism, exploration and exploitation, imagination and destruction.

A Pat On The Head Causes A Dream

A filmmaker and rapper duo revive Michel Gondry’s “Be Kind Rewind” protocols - a set of filmmaking “rules” with which groups of strangers can conceive, shoot, and screen a film in just two and a half hours. Against the grim backdrop of the stringent Shanghai lockdown, the event soon turns into a sanctuary for individuals to forge collective dreams.