28th Madurai Film Festival 2026 : Indian Documentaries

28th Madurai Film Festival 2026 : Selected films

Indian Documentaries 

Between Threads

Dir : Anoushka Poddar; 11.16 min; Documentary; India 

Between Threads explores the fading tradition of Kantha embroidery through the women who continue to stitch it across rural West Bengal. Once woven from worn saris and layered with memories, Kantha carries stories of family, labour, resilience, and everyday life in every running stitch. Yet as mass-produced imitations and changing consumer preferences reshape the craft, its cultural meaning risks being reduced to a pattern worn without knowledge of the hands and histories behind it.

Lunar Birds

Dir : Srishti Garg; 23.25; Documentary; India 

Set against the nightscape of an Indian city, this documentary explores women’s desire to reclaim the night not just as an act of rebellion , but as a claim to ordinary freedom. Through layered audio interviews, women speak about their complex relationships with the night, a space of longing and solitude, of livelihood and pleasure, but also of fear, harassment, and sexual violence.

Heartbroken

Dir : Sandeep Keshari; 12.36 min; Documentary; India

A documentary exploring teenage emotional worlds—friendship, love, family, and bullying—through intimate lived experiences.

The film was made during a 4 month intensive filmmaking and social justice program run by Nazaria. All members of the film team, including the director, cinematographer, sound recordist and editor are teenagers. Nazaria Arts Collective is a grassroots organization that equips marginalized youth and women with high-quality multimedia arts training and social justice education so they can harness their creative potential, amplify their voices and pursue meaningful careers in the arts.

Meera Aur Meera ki Beti

Dir : Vandana Gupta, Shruti Tripathi, Shreya Tripathi; 11.52 min; Documentary; India 

A mother-daughter story reflecting on inherited labour, gender roles, and quiet resistance within everyday domestic life.

The film was made during a 4 month intensive filmmaking and social justice program run by Nazaria. All members of the film team, including the director, producer, cinematographer, sound recordist and editor are teenagers. Nazaria Arts Collective is a grassroots organization that equips marginalized youth and women with high-quality multimedia arts training and social justice education so they can harness their creative potential, amplify their voices and pursue meaningful careers in the arts.

The Khamyang Story

Dir : Samujjal Kashyap; 24.47 min; Documentary; India

In a quiet corner of Upper Assam lives Bhogeswar Thomung, 83, the last living keeper of the Khamyang language. He is the only person who can still read, write, speak, and fully understand the tongue of his ancestors. Within his voice rests generations of stories, prayers, songs, and wisdom that have never truly existed anywhere else.

Legacy in Tunes

Dir : Gaurang Bhati; 17.56 min; Documentary; India 

Legacy in Tunes chronicles the life of Chanan Khan, the last surviving surmandal player in the Manganiyaar community of Rajasthan. Through his story, the film preserves an endangered musical tradition and honors a family's fight to keep their legacy alive.

The Atomic Weight of Death

Dir : AB; 21.23 min; Documentary; India

The Atomic Weight of Death follows the quiet devastation of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna region, where the very water that sustains life is a slow-acting poison. Through the eyes of Mohitosh Das, a man undergoing chemotherapy for arsenicosis, and the women of the region's 'widow villages,' the film exposes a chilling landscape of institutional neglect. While local NGOs struggle to provide stop-gap relief, crumbling government infrastructure continues to serve toxic water to the next generation in schools.

Technocats

Dir : Gautam Sonti; 85 min; Documentary; India 

Seven young people from seven parts of the country (the Seven Samurai) dream of joining the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Competing against one million applicants, they gain admission, but are soon disillusioned. Will they make their presence felt on the world stage? Or burn out along the way? The filmmaker, an IIT alumnus, follows the Seven Samurai over seven years—from their first semester to the third year of their careers. Interwoven with their journey are four of the filmmaker’s classmates from 35 years ago, including one who made an audiovisual on IIT student life.

A Women’s Court

Dir : Samiksha Kherde; 18.18 min; Documentary; India

The documentary follows women who gather in Nari Adalats in rural Bihar to address conflicts within their communities. Many once came here with their own disputes and now return to listen and help work things out.

The film stays with the Adalat as a space where women sit, listen, question, and mediate in sometimes brutal cases.

Street by Street

Dir : Sandeep S; 10 min; Documentary; India

In the bustling streets of Delhi, Manoj Kumar Rai, a migrant from Bihar, has spent over two decades as a street vendor. From selling paan to becoming a leader, he now fights for the rights of unorganized workers throughout the city.

For Every Breath

Dir : Priyanka Mukherjee; 14.45 min; Documentary; India

In a remote village in India, Surbhi navigates a high-risk pregnancy, bound by age-old traditions that often overlook maternal health. Facing silent dangers for her and her child, she meets Geeta, a community health worker in her village who intervenes to help her access the critical care Surbhi requires. This is a powerful story of resilience, community, and the fight to ensure safe motherhood.

Karangi Karangi Karangi

Dir : Neeraj S A; 19.55 min; Documentary; India 

Untitled Kitchen’s, an artist collective's "Karakkam" is a journey from Gujarat to Kerala on cycle, meandering along the coasts while engaging with communities through shared kitchen practices. Along the way, the collective creates music, art, and murals, while gathering oral histories shaped by each place they pass through.

Made with Love : The Eau Chew Legacy

Dir : Shloke Chatterjee; 14 min; Documentary; India 

Awaaz Do - the world will listen

Dir : Yuvaan Pandey; 71 min; Documentary; India 

In a country where cricket is celebrated with near-religious fervour, the Indian Women’s Blind Cricket Team has spent years fighting for a place in the national imagination. For a group of women from across India, cricket is more than a sport. It is a path towards independence, community, and a future of their own making.

Inheritance of the Sea

Dir : Fateh Jahaan Singh Dhaliwal; 22.24 min; Documentary; India

Inheritance Of The Sea explores the evolving relationship between people and the sea in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, tracing shifts in livelihoods and economic well-being since the 2004 tsunami. Through the lived experiences of fishers, students, guides, and researchers, it reveals how the ocean continues to shape culture, identity, and survival.

A Damaged Furnace

Dir : Darshan Abhay Raikar; 16.47 min; Documentary; India 

In India, elderly people are spending more and more time in front of their phone screens. This daily gesture, seemingly trivial, gradually reveals a deeper loneliness. As family conversations fade and everyone retreats into their own screen, the phone becomes a presence for them, a refuge, sometimes the last link to the world. The film thus explores the silent erasure of the elderly within the family and emotional space.

Echoes on the Walls

Dir : Nilesh Arun Kunjir; 44 min; Documentary; India

Echoes on the Walls journeys across India’s cities, villages, and indigenous landscapes to document artists who transform public walls into sites of cultural memory and living heritage. 

The Cluster Fig Flowers

Dir : Aronn Miitr; 19.20 min; Documentary; India 

Set in rural India, Goolar Ke Phool is a sensitive and gently humorous film that unfolds through the conversations of two farmers—Murari, an elderly man shaped by years of agricultural hardship, and his young nephew, Puttu. Most of the film takes place beneath the shade of a tree, where the two sit, observe life around them, and reflect on their personal struggles and the changing world.

28th Madurai Film Festival 2026 : International Documentaries

28th MIDSFF 2026 : Selected Films

International Documentaries

Kite
Dir : Thanos Psichogios; 14.34 min; Documentary; Greece

Clean Monday. Panos, now grown, returns to a childhood ritual—flying a kite with his father, a tradition marking the start of Lent in Greece. But memories are never simple. Sounds and images, fragments of the past, weave together to reconstruct their bond. A documentary about the fragile father-son relationship and the restless power of memory.

To Cristianny Fernandes
Dir : Anaïs Carton, Pauline Fonsny, Maria José Freire; 29.56 min; Documentary; Belgium

As night falls over Brussels, Maria remembers her late friend Cristianny. Like her, she was Brazilian and an undocumented domestic worker.

She reflects on the sexual assault her friend endured and the struggle they shared in their quest for justice. This film is a prayer and a song that rise together until dawn. For Cristianny, for Maria, and for all others.

A New Pastor
Dir : Stan Bakker; 25.57; Documentary; Belgium

In a Flemish village where churches are emptying and traditions are fading, an Indian priest arrives to take charge of a community that is no longer sure it needs him. Far from home and culture, he struggles with loneliness, expectations, and quiet resistance from within the parish itself. The New Pastor is an intimate documentary about faith in transition, cultural collision, and the question of who is truly searching for belonging.

Not My Film
Dir : Astra Zoldnere; 30 min; Documentary; Germany, Latvia

What happens if older people challenge stereotypes in films about aging? Six seniors re-perform scenes of poor health, sexual invisibility, and gendered stereotypes of the wise old man and the bad witch. Toward the end of the film, the participants rebel against these cinematic images, proving that older age can be associated with love, sexuality, and self-revelation.

Rangerlu tuku pirra ngalypa warrarn
Dir :Salty Davenport; 27 min; Documentary; Australia

In November 2024, two Indigenous ranger teams set out on a 1,900-kilometre journey from the remote community of Bidyadanga in Western Australia to Uluru.

Their destination: the largest gathering of Indigenous desert rangers in Australia — the Indigenous Desert Alliance Conference.

Along the way, they were joined by 12 other ranger teams from across the Western Deserts.

What began as 20 rangers became a powerful convoy of over 90, arriving together in the heart of Australia.

On Melting Snow
Dir : Mojtaba Bahadori; 73 min; Documentary; Belgium, Iceland

Each landscape reflects a memory of our planet, memories that have been cruelly divided by time and man-made political borders. For the past 33 years, Sophie Cauvin has been on a journey to engage with these transformed landscapes, collecting and reuniting these fragmented memories, and immortalizing them in her astonishing art creations.

Crushed Time
Dir : Alain Dufau, Nadia Dutreuil; 78 min; Documentary; France, Reunion

Nadia, a Kafrine* from Réunion, Alain, a Zorey* from Marseille, together we question our desire for history. From one hemisphere to another, we set out in search of our ancestors.
To listen to the echoes of the forces of life and survival inscribed in our genealogies.
Reunion Island, where we live, has been marked by 250 years of official and clandestine slave trade, slavery, and then indentured servitude.

Animananda
Dir : Jenn Lindsay; 19.51 min; Documentary; Italy, United States

A poetic interweaving of voices across six spiritual traditions, Animananda traces the human journey through Nietzsche’s three metamorphoses–camel, lion, and child–where at times we submit, at times we resist, and at times we create.

Head in the clouds
Dir : Alexandru-Petru Badelita; 13.15 min; Documentary; France, Romania

Under the olive tree, on the sea shore, the children are so happy, so free. So many of them have their heads up in the clouds. To dream ?

Nena Sena
Dir : Dino Omerovic; 30 min; Documentary; Bosnia and Herzegovina

Nena Sena follows 92-year-old Senija, living with dementia, as she returns to her hometown of Vlasenica years after being displaced by the Bosnian War. In her daily routines and the objects she cares for, she quietly asserts her sense of belonging and defiance, turning her return into an intimate act of reclaiming home and self. Through her presence, her grandson, whom she raised in Turkey, films her, tracing the roots of his own identity as the world moves on around them.

We, women
Dir : Laura Gabay; 11 min; Documentary; Spain, Switzerland

This film essay proposes an historical approach to think feminism, connecting the past with the present. The images shot in the present (March 8, 2024 in San Sebastián, Spain) merges with the sound and archive of the film ‘L'aggettivo donna’ made in 1971 by the Collettivo Femminista di Cinema-Roma.

The Open Five
Dir : Majid Movasseghi; 66 min; Documentary; Germany, Iran, Switzerland

Never Stand Down
Dir : Elena Chang; 17 min; Documentary; United States

For Indian Pakistani American Khalid Quraishi, his daughter Zunaira’s announcement that she was ready to marry the woman of her dreams was a joyous, even miraculous, occasion. Having lived through the Partition, persecution, and the harrowing threat of nearly losing Zunaira to illness, Khalid never once doubted what his Muslim faith had taught him to believe was most important of all: his love for his family.

A Gender fluid World
Dir : Andonis Theocharis Kioukas; 29 min; Documentary; Greece

A poetic journey across Greece and Albania, where fashion becomes an act of resistance and self-definition.

Human rights activist Elton Ilirjani travels through cities shaped by shared histories, dictatorship, and fractured identities, using genderless fashion to challenge national, gendered, and historical borders.

Passions
Dir : Patrycja Skawska; 29.55 min; Documentary; Poland

A dream becomes the first thread in a story where time no longer separates two lives. Władysław Reymont, who preserved the spirit of rural Poland through words, and Tadeusz Modrzejewski, who spent more than thirty years rewriting those words by hand and bringing them back to life through painting, become part of the same quiet dialogue.

Basti
Dir : Tabea Werhahn; 9.57 min; Documentary; Germany

Basti (33) has been living on the streets for nearly eleven years and says that he consciously chose this life. The film follows him during a period of transition; he is not yet ready to let go of his life on the streets, yet at the same time, he says that something must change in the long run.

Uncommitted
Dir : Razi Jafri; 88 min; Documentary; United States

"Uncommitted" follows Arab and Muslim grassroots leaders and their elected allies as they spearhead the Uncommitted National Movement, striving to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and redefine American political priorities far beyond the 2024 Presidential Election.

New Person in an Old City
Dir : Amir Salyanov; 24.29 min; Documentary; Turkey

2022. The large wave of new Russian emigration. Many of these people ended up in Istanbul. Perhaps they will settle there temporarily, but perhaps forever. In this film you can see their new life. Through their own eyes.

Beloved
Dir : Vaida Vaitkutė Nairn; 10.40 min; Documentary; United Kingdom

Annie, a 74-year-old professional dancer navigates life after the loss of her beloved husband through dance. Holding a simple bolster in his place, she confronts not only the grief of emotional absence but also the enduring longing for his touch and embrace.

Post Truth
Dir : Alkan Avcıoğlu; 102.45 min; Documentary; Turkey

A fake film about the real world, Post Truth explores our relationship with technology and examines how we arrived at a world where facts no longer matter. The film documents an era of endless information overload and cultural dissonance, using the very language of the era it reflects. Blurring the line between real and fake, the film questions not only what we see, but what we choose to believe. Widely cited as the first AI-generated feature-length documentary in history, Post Truth draws inspiration from the cinematic vision of Godfrey Reggio and the archival essay style of Adam Curtis and Chris Marker.

Goddess Bunny Superstar
Dir : Matthew Kuhara Patrick; 84.54 min; Documentary; USA

Sandie Crisp, better known as Goddess Bunny, is a one-of-a-kind icon: a disabled, transgender drag queen whose presence is shocking, hilarious, abrasive, and unexpectedly tender all at once.
There has simply never been anyone like her. This documentary is a wild, emotional ride through a life lived without apology. It begins in 1991, when Sandie is 31 years old, and follows her extraordinary journey across three decades.

Dreams for a Better Past
Dir : Albert Kuhn; 20.41 min; Documentary; Netherlands, Spain

My Antartica
Dir : Igor Levin; 67.42 min; Documentary; Russian Federation

A research expedition sets sail for the place where the Southern Ocean ties its coldest knot, the ice-bound continent itself. On board: an international crew from Russia, Argentina, and Spain. Seven people. Each has a role. Each has a dream. Their route cuts through the most dangerous stretch of water on our planet known as the Drake Passage. This is the story of a voyage that changed seven lives. And each of them now carries something they simply call: My Antarctica.

Just to say I am fine
Dir : Danièle Wilmouth, Peter Carpenter; 15 min; Documentary; United States

Through the lens of dance and documentary, ‘Just to Say I’m Fine’ follows four performers as they take a candid look back on transformative moments from their pasts. A collaboration between choreographer Peter Carpenter and filmmaker Danièle Wilmouth, 'Just to Say I’m Fine' translates vulnerable, highly physical diaristic accounts of personal experience into movement and choreography for the camera.

Melody of Loss
Dir : Foad Asadi; 19.17 min; Documentary; Canada, Iran

Five years after losing his wife in the Flight PS752 tragedy, an immigrant living in Toronto searches for meaning in the heart of the loss through sound and music, in an intimate documentary that explores grief, memory, and the enduring power of art.

Disconnected Echoes
Dir : Indronath Pk; 17.48 min; Documentary; Bangladesh

In July 2024, filmmaker Palash participated in a documentary workshop in Ladakh, India. During this time, an unexpected and extraordinary event unfolded—his communication with his family in Bangladesh was abruptly cut off. A massive civil unrest broke out in Bangladesh during July and August, leaving him unable to reach his loved ones.

Drunk Hearing the Rain Drops Fall
Dir : Santiago Gómez Ramírez; 21.25 min; Documentary; Columbia

An elderly couple, burdened as the land that was meant to provide their retirement now slowly kills them due to state abuse. Multiple violences have turned this land into a purgatory, reflecting the resignation of old age, uprooting, and territorial resistance.

Mahwash
Dir : Sam Javadi; 61.23 min; Documentary; USA, Afghanistan

"Mahwash: A Documentary Film" follows the extraordinary journey of Mahwash, Afghanistan’s pioneering female singer, whose voice transcends borders, exile, and political turmoil. Encouraged by her devoted husband, Farooq, she rises to fame despite cultural barriers, only to face severe backlash when her identity is revealed. As she dreams of a final concert in her homeland, the Taliban’s rise shatters her hopes, banning music and silencing artists.

Offside
Dir : Abril Schmucler Iñiguez; 15 min; Documentary; Mexico

A game, a gunshot, a heavy padlock. A portrait of football pitch that is no longer a pitch. A space that is nothing now. A walk in the city, walls in many forms. The cost: the city’s desire to be a place.

Tirrenica
Dir : Rosario Minervini; 61 min; Documentary; Italy

Along the edges of the Salerno–Reggio Calabria highway, the stories of local inhabitants unfold in an original narrative that travels between present and past, revealing Southern Italy beyond its stereotypes.

Early Saturday Morning
Dir : Bruno Pavić; 70 min; Documentary; Croatia

Public rosary prayer in Zagreb’s main city square has become one of the focal points of social tensions in Croatia. This observational documentary film juxtaposes two groups and their messages: men gathered in prayer and protesters who consider the intentions of those praying socially dangerous. Comments on social media reflect broader public opinion, further deepening the conflict. 

Babushka’s Secret
Dir : Natalia Anisimova; 70 min; Documentary; Russian Federation

More than 10 years ago, photographer Maria Ageeva came up with her project "Fragile Happiness," which helped her find her place in the world of photography. Usually photographers stay behind the frame, but Maria will become a guide to the world of four families in which great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers are still alive. She explores the most fragile and the shortest connection in human life.

Motherless
Dir : Valeria Popova; 65 min; Documentary; Russian Federation

25 years ago, Nadezhda was deprived of parental rights by her own mother. She took her three children from her daughter and began raising her grandchildren. The grandmother became the only bright memory of the children's childhood. She died many years ago, but the children warmly remember the time when they lived without their mother. Today, Nadezhda and her children are trying to build a relationship, but the shadows of the past remain between them.

Bajau Laut - the sea is our home
Dir : Joo Peter; 62 min; Documentary; Malaysia

Their stilt houses are burnt down, their boats destroyed: indigenous people like the sea nomads in Malaysia are denied citizenship and passports as they are disenfranchised as stateless people. But centuries of history and the graves of their ancestors on the Malaysian islands are proof of their roots.

The film portrays three Bajau Laut communities and their activists fighting for basic rights: in Tetagan, Omadal and Semporna.

A Watched Life
Dir : Vsevolod Chinilov; 5.49 min; Documentary; Russian Federation

The film is a monologue of model Polina Zvyagintseva. Through her voice and looks, she reflects on how she’s being watched, her evaluation, dependence on other people's opinions, and the struggle to hear herself. This is the story of a person who has spent most of her life under the scrutiny of others and who is gradually learning to see herself differently.


Before the Silence Breaks
Dir : Stanislav Zhdanov; 35 min; Documentary; Russian Federation

Two brothers, older and younger. Memories of carefree happiness and dreams. Dima is a conductor. He is preparing to step onto the stage. As he does, he recalls his childhood and is haunted by a quarrel with his younger brother. They have not spoken to each other for many years.

No one remembers what the argument was about. Different interests, different paths. The younger brother, Denis, stayed in their hometown of Yaroslavl and works as a welder, choosing his own way in life. When the brothers meet, they remain silent. They try to start a conversation, but cannot. 

A Shared Light
Dir : Zhang Xiquan; 51 min; Documentary; China, Italy

A Shared Light is a documentary set against the backdrop of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Filmed in Milan, Cortina and the valleys of northern Italy, the film follows a Chinese para ice hockey player, an Olympic poster artist, a Winter Olympic champion, a former figure skater from the 1956 Cortina Games, a keeper of sports film memory, and the family of the designer of the FIFA World Cup Trophy. Rather than focusing on victory or biography, the film asks what remains after competition is over. Through bodies, images, photographs, sound, medals, trophies and old studios, it explores how sport enters human experience, and how people, places, families and histories continue to be seen across time. 

Free Fish
Dir : Bisan Owda; 22.13 min; Documentary; Palestine, State of, Portugal

Free Fish is an intimate short documentary filmed entirely in Gaza during one of the deadliest years in recent history. The film follows two brothers, Mohammad and Ahmad Kaloob, separated by siege and displacement, yet bound by the sea.

The Wind Blows Whenever it Wants
Dir : Ivan Boiko; 69 min; Documentary; Georgia

In the mountains of Tusheti, shepherds guide thousands of sheep along an ancient migratory route. Each year they travel between snow covered peaks and the deserted steppes, following a path shaped by the seasons, the weather, and the needs of their animals.

Along the way, the flock moves through landscapes marked by different eras. Stone towers, abandoned churches, and traces of earlier settlements appear beside oil pipelines, roads, and other signs of expanding industry. The shepherds continue their route across a terrain where traditional movement meets a rapidly changing world.

Man from the Mountain
Dir : Vlado Železňák SR.; 21 min; Documentary; Slovakia

The Man from the Mountain is about a former prisoner and drug addict who found his way to the well-known pilgrimage site of Mount Zvir, where he found release from a hopeless life and discovered faith in a better future. He embraced this modest life as a second chance, learning to be content with what he has, able to endure hardship and appreciate times of abundance. In the film he shares this openly and humbly. Like an expressionist portrait, it shows his everyday life on the mountain, which he tends and improves so that the pilgrims who go there feel welcome and uplifted.