Anjali Monteiro is a former Professor from the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is involved in documentary production, media teaching and research. She played a key role, along with her colleague and partner, Prof. K.P. Jayasankar, in setting up of the MA and Ph.D. programmes in Media and Cultural Studies at TISS, the first of its kind in India and has done pioneering and innovative work in critical media education in India. In recognition of their contribution, the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad conferred the Prof. Satish Bahadur Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film Education on them, at the 6th Alpavirama — International Youth Film Festival, in November 2022.
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Whispering Walls (Eylem Kaftan) Turkey
Whispering Walls
Eylem Kaftan
Turkey. 2025. 70 min
Whispering Walls is a creative, cinematic, and artistic meditation on a Turkish artist in New York in 1960’s trying to navigate his way in a complicated time in American history when people were out on the streets for civil rights and when art was a true act of struggle expressing itself in the most intense way on street walls.
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Maroun Returns to Beirut (Feyrouz Serhal) Lebanon
Maroun Returns to Beirut
Feyrouz Serhal
Lebanon, Qatar. 2024. 125 min
2023 marked the thirtieth anniversary of Maroun Baghdadi’s sudden and tragic death. Maroun was a Lebanese filmmaker who wrote and directed films during the Lebanese civil war and contributed to documentary and fiction filmmaking from 1973 up until his death in 1993. In this film, Feyrouz Serhal embarks on a day trip in Beirut and navigates the city that profoundly shaped Maroun’s journey in life and cinema. Here she encounters individuals who were close to him and who shared his experiences. And as she traverses Maroun’s life and career, the social and political backdrop moves to the foreground. The film reflects on the last fifty years of the history of the country from a present standpoint. Through Maroun’s story, we perceive how cinema can, beautifully and dramatically, portray our stories and discourse our life events.
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What will People Say (Rafina Khatun) India
What will People Say
Rafina Khatun
India. 2024. 40 min
Gulnaaz remains committed to using community radio to shed light on injustices and oppressions faced by marginalised communities, despite constant scrutiny and control by her family and community. Through her empathetic storytelling, she brings attention to untold narratives and advocates for unity and harmony. Amidst her fight for social change, Gulnaaz grapples with her own struggles for freedom and autonomy. This is the story of a young Muslim woman dreaming differently in a patriarchal society determined to silence her.
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Sepideh Abdolvahab, Jury at Imagineindia
Sepideh has incorporated as Jury Member for Best Editing Award.
Sepideh Abdolvahab is an Iranian-born film editor based in the
United States. She comes from a prominent filmmaking family: her
mother, Haydeh Safiyari, is an internationally acclaimed editor
with two Oscar-winning films and a member of the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, while her father, Mohsen
Abdolvahab, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and
screenwriter recognized with honors such as the Silver Wolf Award
at Amsterdam and the Asia Pacific Screen Award.
The First Film (Piyush Thakur) India
The First Film
Piyush Thakur
India. 2023. 19 min
In a small town in 1960s India, deep-rooted in orthodox traditions, cinema is believed to corrupt young minds, and women are forbidden to watch films. Devi, a 14-year-old girl, is obsessed with films and dreams of watching one in a theater. Her neighbor, Mohan, a 14-year-old mute cinephile boy, narrates stories from his favorite films to her at night. When an unforeseen incident shakes their world, Devi has one last chance to pursue her dream. The First Film celebrates friendship, courage, and the magic of cinema.
PIYUSH THAKUR
Piyush Thakur is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). His student short film The Real Millionaire was nominated for the International Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and traveled globally to more than 75 film festivals, winning multiple awards. He was selected from India for the International Student Film Camp in Serbia.
After FTII, he worked as an assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the film Bajirao Mastani. He was also selected for the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab in Japan and Platform Busan at the Busan International Film Festival.
His latest short film, The First Film, had its world premiere at the Festival de Cortos de Bogotá – BOGOSHORTS in Colombia and was recognized as a ‘Short Film Market Pick’ by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and ‘Film Bazaar Recommends’ by NFDC Doc Film Bazaar. It won The German Star of India – Audience Award at the Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart and Best Short Narrative International Award at the Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival.
DIRECTOR´S NOTE
The period from the early 1950s is considered the ‘Golden Age’ of Indian Cinema. Movie theaters were flooded with iconic hits, and the newly Independent nation was discovering new fantasies through films. I have been inspired by many stories told by my grandparents, who, like me, were obsessed with films. The magic of being transported to another world and experiencing it up close has always excited me, both as an audience member and a storyteller. I began to ponder: How far would a cinephile go to watch a special film?
The First Film is about recreating the magic of watching films, an emotion that binds us all.
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Catharsis (Valeria Popova) Russia
Catharsis
Valeria Popova
Russia. 2024. 21 min
After the next cancellation of his performance, an old Actor makes s decision to die. Having met with a young untalented Colleague at the poster of his native theater, the Actor is convinced of the correctness of his decision. He gets on a strange bus, in which he meets a woman, who becomes a “victim” of the acting of her new acquaintance.
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Norah (Tawfik Alzaidi) Saudi Arabia
Norah
Tawfik Alzaidi
Saudi Arabia. 2023. 95 min
Set in a small remote Saudi Arabian village, in the 90s when artistic expression was banned, NORAH is a story about the basic human need to communicate through art, in all its forms.
Nader, a new schoolteacher and an artist in secret, arrives at the village and meets Norah, a young woman who ignites the creativity inside him and inspires him to paint again. At great risk, they develop a delicate connection and a quiet bond. Nader enlightens Norah on the wider world outside of her tiny community and she realises she must leave, to find a place where she can be free to express her artistic self.
Give a Way (Maria Melenevskaya) Russia
Give a Way
Maria Melenevskaya
Russia. 2024. 22 min
An intelligent woman, a seller in a second-hand bookstore, unconflicted and comfortable. It seems that she has long forgotten about herself and will endlessly tolerate, forgive and adjust. On a narrow road, her car can not separate with the car of a man who never backs up. What will she do? Will she give way or will she finally assert her rights?
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Ann Hui, A career spanning independent cinema to the mainstream
Anyone trying to slot Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui into a particular genre will be at a loss, for all through her 45 year-long career, she has moved easily between varied spaces, from independent cinema to the mainstream, from personal films to a bit of action too. For that matter, she has made a horror film too. Ask her about it and the 77-year old, who was conferred with the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK)‘s Lifetime achievement award, says with disarming candour that she was just trying to see what she was good at.
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