Boat Repairs - Sunderbans (1935)

A Punjab Village

Richly detailed amateur ethnographic film on the agrarian economy and society in rural Punjab.

Lighthouse

After the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, widowed women struggled to receive aid due to their social status. Following the story of Mrs. Manjula along with many other women from Tamil Nadu, the challenges faced by millions of widows across the country are illuminated. From being ostracized to denied basic rights and economic opportunities, widows in India endure a cycle of discrimination and marginalization. “Kalangarai” meaning "lighthouse" in Tamil, is an organization dedicated to empowering women through initiatives such as self-help groups and educational programs. Throughout the film, "Lighthouse" illustrates the emotional journeys and resilience of these women, as well as the active change that Kalangarai strives to achieve. This documentary urges global awareness and support for widowed women’s rights, as the women’s struggles depict the intersectionality of gender, poverty, and social injustice.

Broadstairs and Margate Items

The Thanet coast featuring boat rides, horses and family outings.

Panorama of Calcutta

One of the earliest films to be shot in India apparently shows the Calcutta ghats - or does it?

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.

Top Gear: India Special

The gang embarks on a trade mission to India. Equipped with three old British cars and a range of uniquely British products, they set off on an epic road trip across one of the world's most fascinating and challenging countries.

Writing with Fire

In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.

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.

The Fearless Freaks

Equal parts punk and psychedelia, the Flaming Lips emerged from Oklahoma City as one of the most bracing bands of the late 1980s. The Fearless Freaks documents their rise from Butthole Surfers-imitating noisemakers to grand poobahs of orchestral pop masterpieces. Filmmaker Bradley Beesely had the good fortune of living in the same neighborhood as lead Lip Wayne Coyne, who quickly enlisted his buddy to document his band's many concerts and assorted exploits. The early footage is a riot, with tragic hair styles on proud display as the boys attempt to cover up their lack of natural talent with sheer volume. During one show, they even have a friend bring a motorcycle on stage, which is then miked for sound and revved throughout the performance, clearing the club with toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Great punk rock stuff. Interspersed among the live bits are interviews with the band's family and friends, revealing the often tragic circumstances of their childhoods and early career.

Ask the Sexpert

A sex columnist gains popularity even while a ban on comprehensive sex education in schools is adopted by approximately a third of India’s states.

Ladakh

A stunning trek from the vale of Kashmir, via Sind Valley and Kargil and Lamayaru Monastry.

Picturesque India or, In and About Calcutta

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

Auroville: L'esquisse d'un monde

Plot unavailable

India Cabaret

A documentary exploring the "respectable" and "immoral" stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of 2 strip-tease dancers in a cabaret house in Bombay.

The Power of Utopia: Living with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh

With the construction of the Indian planned city of Chandigarh, the Swiss and French architect Le Corbusier completed his life's work 70 years ago. Chandigarh is a controversial synthesis of the arts, a bold utopia of modernity. The film accompanies four cultural workers who live in the planned city and reflects on Le Corbusier's legacy, utopian urban ideas and the cultural differences between East and West in an atmospherically dense narrative.

A Suitable Girl

A Suitable Girl follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. The film examines the women's complex relationship with marriage, family, and society.

Delhi Durbar and Coronation

Jaw-dropping pomp and pageantry at the 1911 Delhi Durbar

Nehru

Divided into three parts — The Awakening, The Struggle, and Freedom — this is a biographical film on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Relying on Nehru's writings and speeches, the film traces the evolution of Nehru from his birth through his life. It also deals with the effect of history on Nehru and in turn his impact on the world.

Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.

Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs

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

India on Film: 1899 – 1947

As part of the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture, the British Council and British Film Institute share a unique collection of films documenting the sights and culture of a bygone India. Filmed between 1899-1947, and preserved in the BFI National Archive since then, these rare films capture many glimpses of life in India, from dances and markets, to hunts and pageantry.

Variations on Iserois Landscapes

Thirty-three shots based on the landscapes of the Isère region near Vienne. A work of observation on light, the dilation of Time, wind, calm and storm.

Maya, la tigresse du Maharashtra

Plot unavailable

Veteran Car Rally, Brighton

Vintage vehicles on parade in this amateur film record of the longest-running motor event in the world.

A Rifle and a Bag

Somi is pregnant with her second child. A girl, she hopes. Together with her husband she prepares for this new phase of their parenthood. It means that their son has to go to school, but as an ex-Naxalite that is tough to achieve in contemporary India, where people like them are third-rate citizens. They lack the certificates and an opaque bureaucratic process doesn't help. Directors Isabella Rinaldi, Cristina Hanes and Arya Rothe of the NoCut Film Collective concentrate on Somi's close family ties, painting a portrait of ex-Naxalites in India. Once, Somi and her husband were communist rebels fighting for the rights of Indian tribes. However, to safeguard their family's welfare, they surrendered to the government in exchange for marginal compensation and simple accommodation.

Arrowhead

Learn how to climb Great Gable in the Lake District, via the Arrowhead ridge climb.

Hilton Hotel Construction

The Hilton Hotel rises from the ashes, surrounded by derelict houses and bomb damaged streets.

Canoe

Boys’ canoe trip on the Thames in London.

Benares Chungking Ichang

Arresting early film images of both northern India and central and south western China.

Randolph Bezzant Holmes India Films

Military occasions around India and Pakistan, featuring the Khyber Pass, Srinagar, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

The Quetta Earthquake

Amateur footage of the devastation caused by one of South Asia's worst earthquakes.

Edward Prince of Wales' Tour of India: Malakand, Kapurthala and Dehra Dun

The future Edward VIII visits Malakand, Kapurthala and opens the Royal Military College at Dehra Dun

Boys' Home in Ahmednagar

What’s the hidden message inside this intriguing film, shot at a Salvation Army establishment in western India?

Uti

Snapshots of colonial life around Tamil Nadu, plus a visit to the Toda tribe.