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.
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