3rd i

American Hasi
2019-11-08 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
Comedian Tushar Singh in person!!
West Coast Premiere
Official Selection, New York Comedy & Chicago South Asian Festivals, 2019
Equal parts comedy, awkward moments, and self-discovery, Laura Asherman’s intimate doc is a portrait of a comedian at the crossroads of his life and career. After losing his day job, Tushar Singh decides to pursue stand-up comedy full-time, drawing from his own personal experience of growing up as the son of Indian immigrants in a predominantly white neighborhood of Huntsville, Alabama.
In an attempt to accelerate his career, Singh maps out a 35-day tour in India (with his mom in tow), taking part in India’s flourishing stand-up scene. In the process of making audiences laugh through his self-deprecating (occasionally taboo) humor, he discovers the challenges of cross-cultural comedy, and faces his relationship with India head-on. Part verité road trip, part character study, this refreshingly candid doc features interviews with influential comics such as Russell Peters, Bill Burr, and Vir Das.
“American Hasi is a funny and delightfully awkward story that captures the struggles of the brave few who try to make a living out of their creative passion.” – Laughing Skull Comedy Festival
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Cat Sticks
2019-11-08 21:00 | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
Skype Q&A With Ronny Sen!!
SF Bay Area Premiere
Official Selection, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles & Slamdance Film Festival, 2019, and Winner of the International Narrative Feature Jury Award, Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, 2019
A gorgeous and haunting debut film by acclaimed black-and-white photographer Ronny Sen, this raw and gritty narrative follows the stories of several addicts looking for the high of halogen, a synthetic brand of heroin that created havoc in India at the turn of the millenium. Composed of several thematically connected stories that occur over the course of one rain drenched night in Kolkata, the film is not shy to show us the stark brutality of life, whilst also managing to find the beauty in it.
Drawing from his personal familiarity with the world of addiction, Sen foregrounds the human connections between these addicted and forgotten souls, uncannily replicating the intoxication its characters feel while masterfully immersing us in this world with great sensitivity and style.
The film’s bewitching score works in tandem with the mesmerizing imagery – in lush monochrome and grey silhouettes, to create a work that is a must-see on the big screen!
“Cat Sticks is one of the most gorgeous and affecting films Slamdance has presented in recent memory.” – Paul Sbrizzi, Slamdance Film Festival
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Ravening (Aamis)
2019-11-09 12:45 | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
West Coast Premiere
Official Selection to Tribeca, Mumbai and Calgary Festivals, 2019, and Winner, Facebook award for Film with Most Buzz
Bhaskar Hazarika’s quietly shocking film blends gentle romance and body horror into a unique cinematic experience. Niri (a doctor) and Sumon (a doctoral student) find common ground in their shared love for unconventional meats. As Sumon pursues a dissertation on the regional meat-eating traditions across India, he woos Niri with increasingly adventurous delicacies that he lovingly prepares for her.
Hazarika masterfully concocts a tale of love and addiction, that builds slowly – from a lilting rhythm to a pounding finale.
“Bhaskar Hazarika folds in class commentary and dreamlike interludes, but saves the film’s most surprising and shocking gambit—and aftermath—for the third act, capping off an unforgettable meditation on taboo and transgression.” – Frederick Boyer, Tribeca Film Festival

Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence
2019-11-09 15:00 | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
SF Bay Area Premiere
Official Selection to Busan International, BFI London, Dharamshala & Palm Springs, and critically acclaimed, wins Best Feature
A magical and witty, off-beat take on the road movie, Dar Gai’s film is a meditative reflection that takes us through the breathtaking landscapes of Ladakh in the Himalayas. Driven to the end of his wits by the cacophony of Mumbai – the noisiest city in the world – Namdev Bhau, a 65-year-old chauffeur, sets off in search of the fabled Silent Valley. The elderly man’s attempts at maintaining solitude are comically subverted at every turn, until the precocious and talkative young Aaliq becomes a constant companion through the rest of his awe-inspiring sojourn.
Gai – a philosopher by training – weaves a heart-warming odyssey that cleverly keeps everything on the surface until a final revelation brings an unforeseeable twist. In the end, this cinematic journey offers the expedient truth that coming to terms with your internal conflicts and disharmony is an exigency of a happy life.
“Thoughtfully paced and with terrific performances, Dar Gai’s second feature confirms her as an exciting new voice in contemporary Indian cinema.” – BFI London Film Festival
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Children of the Sun (Gaadi)
2019-11-09 17:00 | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
Director Prasanna Vithanage in person!
North American Premiere
Official Selection, Busan International. Director Prasanna Vithanage is an award-winning filmmaker whose narratives and documentaries have screened at festivals around the world and achieved commercial success.
Vithanage’s searing masterpiece is a period drama that takes on caste conflict and British colonial influences in Sri Lanka in the early 1800s. An exceptional narrative and captivating cinematography, Vithanage draws us into the past with great ease.
When the aristocratic Sinhalese community’s plans to oust the Tamil king Sri Wickrama Rajasinhe go awry, the men go into hiding, while their wives are forced to marry men from the Rodiya community – a lower caste group at the bottom of the social ladder – with tumultuous results. Working with a wide palette that ranges from historical drama to nuanced and intimate storytelling, Vinthanage crafts a deeply empathetic film that is simultaneously heart-wrenching and hopeful.
“Our nation went through three decades of a brutal civil war waged in the name of racial and religious identities. Since the struggle to uphold identities has not stopped in post-war Sri Lanka, I believe it is important to raise the question, ‘Is identity more important than the sanctity of life?’” – Prasanna Vithanage, Filmmaker

Bollywood at the Castro - Animated Tribute "Bombay Rose"
2019-11-09 20:00 | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
SF Bay Area Premiere
Official Selection, Toronto International & Venice Film Festivals, Gold Hugo nominee at Venice, 2019
In this gorgeous and evocative hand-painted animated feature, Bombay Rose, a single red rose weaves together three fantastical tales of impossible loves.
In the rich, colorful and layered animation there is an ethereal brightness to the chaotic Mumbai streetscapes where Bollywood cinema is both satirized and romanticized, and small town folks in the big city can be crushed by its mean streets, or redeemed by love. The film moves seamlessly between a documentary feeling of present day struggles in Mumbai, to the lusciously designed dream sequences set in ancient India and inspired by Mughal folk art. Yoav Rosenthal’s original score merges swooning ballads with traditional Bollywood music and a haunting Latin love tribute.
Class and political commentary are subtle and second to the visual evocation of this story about unsung heroes struggling for survival, who live and love across time and memory. Rao’s long awaited feature debut must not be missed.
“ … with its heart firmly beating to the music of Bollywood, Gitanjali Rao’s debut feature is a stunningly realised work of animated filmmaking… cleverly choreographed and painted frame by frame over a six-year production period.” – Fionnuala Halligan, ScreenDaily
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Nishtha Jain: A Master Class
2019-11-10 12:30 | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
SF Bay Area Premiere
Director Nishtha Jain is an award-winning Indian filmmaker best known for her documentary Gulabi Gang. Most notably she has been awarded the Amnesty International Award for Human Rights, and Best Documentary, International Association of Women in Radio and Television.
3rd i is thrilled to offer a free Master Class in film with returning award-winning filmmaker Nishtha Jain (City of Photos, Lakshmi and Me, At My Doorstep, Gulabi Gang). She will engage audiences in a presentation about her filmmaking process, and will screen excerpts from past work and her current work-in-progress, The Golden Thread, which is an immersion into the sense-scape of industrial textile labor.
Jain will also present her first narrative short Saboot (Proof), which was co-directed with Dipti Gupta. A conscientious young gynecologist is confronted with the systemic failures and misogyny of the “women’s ward” at a government hospital in Delhi. The film was shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival, and recently won Best Short Film at the Brooklyn International Film Festival.
A gifted independent filmmaker, Jain’s work holds up a mirror to some of the most pressing concerns in India today. She will address social and political issues, including India’s #metoo women’s movement.

Chippa
2019-11-10 14:30 | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
SF Bay Area Premiere
Winner of the Best Child Actor award for Sunny Pawar at the New York Indian, DFW South Asian and Ottawa Indian Festivals
This humorous and entertaining film is the heartwarming story of Chippa (Sunny Pawar, award-winning child star of Lion) who, on his tenth birthday, armed with a letter he can’t read, sets out into night-time Calcutta looking for a father he has never seen.
What he finds is a city of migrants who speak in a curious mix of languages, play late night football, and drive crazy taxis with roof gardens. It is not an everyday Calcutta that emerges, but a “marvelous realism” that is akin to the works of literary giants such as Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Chippa is not oblivious to the grim reality and communal suspicion surrounding him, but chooses to encounter this world with a mixture of bravado, curiosity and humor. Seen through his eyes, the road ahead is not bleak but full of adventure, surprises – and above all – hope.
“Then a film like Chippa comes by, a filmmaker like Rahman comes by, to tell us… over and over again, that we are what our shared histories make us, and our histories, as Rushdie says, ‘are, despite everything, acts of love.’” – Bedatri Choudhary, First Post
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Bangla
2019-11-10 16:30 | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
West Coast Premiere
In this playful romantic comedy, Bangla, Phaim, an awkwardly charming 22-year-old Italian-Bengali, panics when he falls in love with an impulsive and spirited Italian girl. The attraction between them is immediate, and Phaim will have to figure out how to reconcile his love with his life full of rules.
Echoing the best of recent cinema hit The Big Sick, the film takes its own unique look at the multicultural experiences of second generation South Asian Europeans in the Italian context, and specifically of those living in Rome. The narrative, which puts a whimsical lens on the clash of cultures as an everyday reality for many second-generation immigrants, is based on the director’s own life, who as the lead plays a fictionalized version of himself.
Highlighted in Rotterdam’s International Film Festival in the Big screen competition section and recently screening at the Chicago Film Festival, Bangla brings in a fresh new voice and pioneer of a new generation of Italian filmmakers.
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Coast to Coast: Mumbai to the Mission
2019-11-10 18:45 | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
3rd i’s signature shorts program brings California filmmakers into conversation with filmmakers from South Asia and the Diaspora. With genres ranging from comedy to contemporary music, and short-form documentaries to dramatic narratives, this year’s edition tackles stories of relationships, identity, environment, LGBTQ and social justice with compassion. Be warned, there’s a fair amount of humor!
When the Dust Came In, Abhi Singh (USA, 2019, 10 min). An expose on the minimalist life of sheepherders and their battles against international mining operations in Mongolia.
31 Foot Ladders, Andrew Sturm (USA, 2017, 5 min). A satirical commentary on Trump’s border wall.
Home Girl, Poonam Brah (UK, 2019, 12 min). A British-Pakistani woman’s struggle to reconcile her queerness with her deceased mother’s expectations.
Identity, Pallaví (USA, 2019, 3 min). A criticism of systemic oppression and celebration of an artist’s Indo-Fijian identity and community.
The Plunge, Simon Ryninks (UK, 2019, 10 min). A couple in love finds themselves ready to take the next step.
The Layover, Mahesh Pailoor & Anu Pradhan (USA, 2018, 9 min). An estranged couple reconnect by reliving a memorable date.
Mona Shaikh, Mahesh Pailoor (USA, 2017, 3 min). A portrait of a Pakistani-American comedienne.
Como Mínimo, Micropixie (USA, 2019, 7 min). A sixties French psych-pop inspired take on gender and sexual politics.
The Ice-Man, Heerak Shah (USA, 2019, 3 min). A comedic film about an unconventional encounter between an Indian man and a white woman at a suburban convenience store.
Gabroo, Varun Chounal (USA, 2018, 15 min). A light hearted film about a young Sikh boy’s complicated relationship with his hair.
What’s Your Brown Number? Vinnie Ann Bose (India, 2016, 5 min). An animated short exploring the absurdity of colorism.
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Sivaranjani and Two Other Women
2019-11-10 20:30 | New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115, United States
SF Bay Area Premiere
Winner of the Oxfam Award for Best Film on Gender Equality, Mumbai Film Festival & Winner of the Best Film Award, Fukuoka International Film Festival in Japan, 2019
Vasanth S. Sai’s cinematic homage to the “everyday” woman is a deeply moving work that focuses a critical lens on patriarchy, with outstanding performances by each of the lead actresses. The film captures the micro awakenings of identity and self-worth when family dynamics, early marriage, and pregnancy threaten to usurp the individuality of three women, unfolding across three different time periods. In each of the episodes, it is a simple action that prompts a significant change.
Vasanth’s fluid camerawork immerses us in the mundane lives of the protagonists, making the invisible work of women the center of the action, while revealing their heroic labor with great empathy and authenticity.
“Apart from the tight stories and the crisp storytelling, one of the most striking features of the movie is the use of silence… [serving] as a powerful symbol of their isolation.” Ruchika Agarwal, Feminism in India
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The MisEducation of Bindu
2019-11-16 14:30 | Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
Palo Alto Premiere
Filmmaker Prarthana Mohan in Person!!
This coming-of-age comedy coming straight from Mill Valley Film Festival will resonate with viewers both young, old and in between. The Miseducation of Bindu follows a day in the life of a painfully bright but awkward 15-year-old Bindu, who endures high school and tries to graduate early.
Her mother (Priyanka Bose, Lion) does her best to keep Bindu on track while maintaining her Indian heritage, and her clueless stepfather (David Arquette, Scream), tries to give Bindu advice on boys and high school life in America. Paying homage to Bollywood rock with one fantastical Bollywood dance number, Bindu dreams about escaping and longs for her home in India. The film shines a light on the immigrant experience of a teenager caught between girlhood and womanhood, and India’s traditional past and the promise of a global future where she can blend in to be whomever she wants to be.

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Bangla
2019-11-16 16:45 | Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States

Sir
2019-11-16 19:00 | Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
A beautifully nuanced, sensual and insightful feature film that premiered at Cannes, Sir delves into the spiritual and romantic connections of two people living parallel yet entirely separate lives. Rohena Gera tentatively explores the forbidden attraction between Ratna (Tillotama Shome), a maid, and her employer Ashwin (Vivek Gomber), a wealthy Mumbai bachelor.
The film gains gravity for its insight into Indian social rigidities that tether both impoverished villagers and well-heeled urbanites, with each character quietly yearning to break free from the narrow bounds of their class and gender-based expectations.
Drawing on similarities to two other critically acclaimed films, Lunch Box and In The Mood For Love, Gera achieves a particular delicacy in her directing, combining an appealing, understated sweetness with an edge, and thwarting all expectations and stereotypes of a typical Indian love story.
“Gera is a female Indian director making her mark celebrating women’s empowerment against dire economic odds… her direction exudes a simple grace that transcends local issues.”
– Variety, Cannes Film Festival Review
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Documentary Film Screening: "Reason"
2019-12-05 16:45 - 21:00 | Oshman Hall, McMurtry Bldg, 355 Roth Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Reason/Vivek
by Anand Patwardhan
In what is perhaps his most urgent and thorough exploration of Indian society yet, renowned documentarian Anand Patwardhan charts his country’s slide away from secular democracy and toward divisions of power, caste, and religious belief — and the violence that has followed.
Reason is not an easy film to watch, nor should it be. The film denounces — and depicts — violence perpetrated or fueled by religious nationalists pushing to make India a Hindu state. As Reason builds and expands toward its conclusion, the scale of the dangers India faces becomes clear, and connections are made between the country’s inner conflicts and the similar political fires burning all over the world. Even with countless people of conscience offering resistance, the film ends with yet one more assassination. This time it is a journalist.
Anand Patwardhan is one of India’s most respected documentary filmmakers, known for his socio-political, human rights-oriented films. Reason/Vivek, his most recent film, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018 and won the Best Feature-Length Documentary at the 31st International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam in November 2018.
Moderated by Usha Iyer, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University
Event Sponsor:
Center for South Asia, Stanford Humanities Center, Office of the Vice President for the Arts, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Department of Art and Art History (Film and Media Studies, MFA in Documentary Film), 3rd i Films

Frameline44: Pride Showcase
2020-06-25 08:00 - 2020-06-28 17:30 | Online, CA, United States
SF Pride is here! Celebrate its 50th anniversary with our community
partner, Frameline.
Frameline44
Pride Showcase
June 25-28
From the comfort of your home, view 16 original programs highlighting some of the best new LGBTQ+ films from around the world. Visit frameline.org for more info.

Celebrating Pride with AAM and GAPA
2020-06-25 19:00 | Online, CA, United States
SF Pride is here! Celebrate its 50th anniversary with our community
partner, the Asian Art Museum.
Asian Art Museum
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) Theatre: Celebrating Pride
June 25 at 7pm
Experience spoken word, short plays, and storytelling monologues from an intergenerational collective in a virtual program. RSVP, Free tickets available.

Re-Storying the Ramayana
2021-06-03 16:00 - 18:00 | Online, CA, United States
Join us for Re-Storying the Ramayana: A Role-Playing Game Virtual Program, a FREE event by the Asian Art Museum on THURSDAY, JUNE 3 at 4PM PST.
Be a part of bringing the #Ramayana out of the past and into the future with the most recent episode of the speculative cinema project Forest Tales, a queer/crip ecofeminist retelling of the #SouthAsian epic. In this interactive virtual event presented in celebration of #Pride Month, artist Anuj Vaidya and poet and performer Jessica Stokes reimagine the story of the vulture Jatayu using performance, poetry, collaborative storytelling, and role-playing games. Instead of dying after losing a wing as in the original epic, here Jatayu is resurrected with a prosthetic wing, only to face the extinction of his kind. (In India, three species of vulture are currently facing extinction due to the use of a bovine painkiller.) Can we help Jatayu imagine an alternative future and find healing for our disabled ecologies?
ASL interpretation will be provided. Please register for free tickets.

3rd i's 19th Annual Film Festival
2021-11-12 - 2021-11-16 | CA
3rd i’s 19th annual SF International South Asian Film Festival presents some of the best cinema from South Asia and its Diaspora, including stories from India, Sri Lanka, France, UK and the Pakistani community in the US.
November 12–16, 2021
LIVE stream films online + LIVE Zoom Q&A
FRIDAY, November 12
7:30PM, PST • 7 DAYS – watch in California region ONLY
SUNDAY, November 14
8:00PM, PST • In Process With Nishtha Jain – watch in California region ONLY
ON DEMAND films available to watch
November 12-16
Americanish – watch in California region ONLY
Coast to Coast: From Mumbai to the Mission
Pebbles – watch in California region ONLY
The Ants and The Grasshopper – watch in California region ONLY
The Loyal Man – watch in US region ONLY
The Tenant – watch in US region ONLY
White Riot – watch in US region ONLY
Writing With Fire – watch in California region ONLY

7 Days
2021-11-12 19:30 | Online, CA, United States
Directed by Roshan Sethi
USA/English
2021
86 min
THIS IS A LIVE VIRTUAL SCREENING AND INCLUDES Q&A.
Witty, charming and delightful, 7 Days perfectly captures the absurdity of this contemporary moment. Premiering at Tribeca Film Festival, this feel-good romantic-comedy is about an Indian American couple forced to shelter in place, after their first date.
Very soon, we find that Ravi (Karan Soni) and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan) — pleasant as they are in person — don’t exactly connect. Then the comedy flows effortlessly as they find themselves trapped by COVID’s shelter in place orders (the film was shot during the pandemic as well), and it turns out that neither one is what their parents made them out to be.
The captivating leads, the natural chemistry between them, and the culturally specific spin on romantic-comedy’s familiar tropes provide a fresh and winning take on this old genre.
“Optimistic and full of heart, director/co-writer Roshan Sethi’s debut captures love in the time of COVID and will leave you on a feel-good high.” — The Tribeca Film Festival

Americanish
2021-11-13 08:00 - 2021-11-17 22:00 | Online, CA, United States
Directed by Iman Zawahry
USA/English
2021
90 min
Americanish, directed by Iman Zawahry, is a romantic comedy that highlights the stories of three young Pakistani-American women looking for love in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.
A coming of age narrative, the film follows the joys and tribulations of career-driven sisters (Sam and Maryam Khan) and their newly-immigrated cousin (Ameera), who must navigate the consistent — and sometimes conflicting — demands of romance, culture, work, and family.
Americanish offers a heartwarming and fresh perspective on classic romantic-comedy tropes, delving into the tension that arises between competing societal and cultural norms, and the complexity of trying to both honor and break from cultural traditions.

Coast to Coast: From Mumbai to the Mission
2021-11-13 08:00 - 2021-11-17 22:00 | Online, CA, United States
3rd i’s signature shorts program brings California filmmakers into conversation with filmmakers from South Asia and the Diaspora. With genres ranging from comedy to contemporary music, and short-form documentaries to dramatic narratives, this year’s edition tackles stories of relationships, identity, environment, LGBTQ and social justice with compassion.
Theetu (Untouchability), Haresh Narayanan (India, Canada, 2021, 6:40 mins)
An ironic and humorous critique of how one does not forget their caste, even when buying carrots.
Sunday, Arun Fulara (India, 2020, 10 mins)
When the middle-aged Kamble makes his weekly visit to the neighbourhood barber shop, it’s not just for a shave. He can’t wait to be touched by Jaan, the new young barber he has a crush on.
Turbulence, Mahesh Pailoor (USA, 2021, 3 mins)
A short doc on photojournalist Luis Sinco’s awe inspiring images, documenting a very turbulent year in Los Angeles.
7pm, Vick Krishna & Piyali Syam (USA, 2020, 3:34 mins)
A young couple cling to any form of connection amid a global pandemic that prohibits human interaction.
AGNI (Fire), Alka Raghuram (USA, 2021, 5:45 mins)
A dance meditation on our world burning, featuring music by Alam Khan and
choreography by Charlotte Moraga of the Chitresh Das Institute.
Now That We’ve Met, Nitya Turaga, (USA, 2019, 4:54 mins)
Nina, set up on a blind date, immediately decides the only thing in common she has with her date, Jay, is that they’re both Indian. Jay, a hopeless romantic, begs to differ.
The Shower, Mahesh Pailoor (USA, 2019, 14 mins)
Two worlds collide when Maya’s oldest friend shows up at her baby shower, single and child-free.
The Plunge, Simon Ryninks and written by Omar Khan (UK, 2019, 10 mins)
A hilarious and sexy romp ensues when a couple in love find themselves ready to take the next step.
CONTRACTOR 014352, Simon Ryninks (UK, 2018, 13 mins)
Comedy-Drama Sci-Fi — With Omar Khan . Real and imaginary worlds collide when a lonely data entry clerk reaches through his computer screen, in search of a genuine connection.
Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, Joy Crookes, (UK, 2021, 3:18 mins)
Bangladeshi-Irish-British Singer songwriter Joy Crookes incorporates in this new music video details about relationships, self-reliance, culture, and her South London roots through her music.

Pebbles
2021-11-13 08:00 - 2021-11-17 22:00 | Online, CA, United States
Directed by P.S. Vinothraj
India/Tamil with subtitles
2021
75 min
SAN FRANCISCO PREMIERE

The arid, mountainous landscape of southeast India, Tamil Nadu, makes for a rewarding and sublime visual experience in the gorgeously shot Pebbles. Smart, nuanced, and disturbing, the narrative delves deep into the life of a young boy, Velu, who is dragged between villages by his abusive alcoholic father. Writer-director P.S. Vinothraj’s exquisite and deeply sympathetic lens moves beyond a reductive father-son drama with brief yet significant episodes about the people they casually encounter and the simmering landscape around them.
The film seamlessly and simply digs into a larger, unforced statement about toxic patriarchy, limited resources, and the silent, enduring place of women as enablers of life. Velu is the story’s moral core, powerless in the face of his father’s rage yet aware of right and wrong and the destructive nature of wounded patriarchal impotence. The boy’s eyes, silently registering his father’s abuse, convey everything needed — from bewilderment and hurt to determination and resistance.
Pebbles, P.S. Vinothraj’s debut film, is a sublime stretch of pure cinema and a must-see for cinephiles.
India’s official entry for the Oscars 2022!
Winner of the Tiger Award, 2021 Rotterdam Film Festival

The Loyal Man
2021-11-13 08:00 - 2021-11-17 22:00 | Online, CA, United States
Directed by Lawrence Valin
France/Tamil with subtitles
2020
37 min

French-Sri Lankan director Lawrence Valin offers up a gripping coming-of-age crime romance by immersing us in the gritty Tamil underworld of iconic Paris, France. Valin skillfully performs double-duty in this film, acting and directing with aplomb. In the role of the character Aathi — an enforcer for the mob — he must confront his allegiance to his mob boss when he falls in love with a trafficked woman, Minale, who is under the boss’s control.
The film contrasts the vulnerability of Minnale against the indifference of the enforcer Aathi, offering a complex portrait of displacement and its violence. While their shared loss of culture and homeland has the capacity to bring them together, their vastly different positions of power creates a chasm between them. Does loyalty matter more to Aathi than the cost of human life? Will Minnale gain her freedom from her enforced obligations, and will Aathi gain his humanity and give up his life as a callous trafficker? Experience this cinematic tour-de-force from a fresh new voice from the South Asian diaspora.
Includes a post-screening discussion with director Lawrence Valin

Writing With Fire
2021-11-13 08:00 - 2021-11-17 22:00 | Online, CA, United States
Directed by Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
India/Hindi with subtitles
2021
93 min

In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. With smartphones, they break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their homes, redefining what it is to be powerful.
Investigative reporter Meera emerges as a central character in this triumphant documentary — one of the fearless founders of the online newspaper, Khabar Lahariya. The newspaper and its online YouTube channel are dedicated to uncovering abuses of government malfeasance, patriarchy, and the rampant gender and caste violence that victimizes the voiceless and the powerless in India.
Director-producers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh produce films that have the power to create transformative social impact. They are invested in the power of nonfiction storytelling, with a strong eye on social justice stories. Rintu and Sushmit were recognized for their filmmaking work with a President’s Medal in 2012, the highest honor given to filmmakers in India. Five years in the making, Writing With Fire is their first feature documentary.
Includes a post-screening discussion with director Rintu Thomas, and a panel discussion with Christina Thomas Dhanaraj and Yashica Dutt and Preeti Gamzeh.
Winner Audience Award, World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2021
Winner Special Jury Award: Impact for Change, Sundance Film Festival 2021
“Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s debut feature follows the brave journalists of India’s only women-run newspaper, blending the personal and professional with a deft touch.” – Indiewire
“Rousing, inspirational tribute to the pride of grassroots Indian journalism.” – Variety

In Process With Nishtha Jain
2021-11-14 20:00 | Online, CA, United States
THIS VIRTUAL EVENT WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A LIVE AUDIENCE Q&A (for viewers in California only)
Director Nishtha Jain is an award-winning Indian filmmaker best known for her documentaries Gulabi Gang and Lakshmi and Me. Most notably, she has been awarded the prestigious Chicken & Egg Award which recognises international women documentary filmmakers. She has won numerous awards including Amnesty International Awards for Human Rights, Best Documentary, International Association of Women in Radio and Television and best documentary awards at international film festivals. She is a 3rd i alum, having screened City of Photos, Lakshmi and Me, At My Doorstep, Family Album, Gulabi Gang, and her first short fiction (Proof), at the festival in previous years.
This year, we are thrilled to offer a process-peek into her current research on the farmers’ struggle to retain their sovereignty as food growers. Her research brings a close-up view of the large-scale protests against corporatization of Indian agriculture. As the food growers painstakingly cultivate resistance, they begin to reap an early harvest in the form of camaraderie and re-connection, remembering that theirs is a long history as keepers of this nation’s humanity and independence.
In this program, the filmmaker will share her experiences and reflect on the nuances of storytelling in the documentary form. She will offer her insights as an outsider looking in at one of the most significant protests in recent Indian history that transpired in surprising ways.

A special talk by Robin Sukhadia
2022-04-07 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom from your own device
3rd i Presents
A special talk by Robin Sukhadia on the healing power of tabla, with a live sound meditation
Free live workshop via Zoom
Limited seats available
Register at: 3rditickets@gmail.com

Supported in part by the California Arts Council
In this special and unique workshop focused on the tabla, Fulbright scholar, musician/composer and 3rd i alum, Robin Sukhadia, will share the history of raga (melody) and tala (rhythm) on the subcontinent of India. He will also present a live tabla sound meditation to give context to the effect tabla can have on bringing peace to the body and mind.
The convergence of Persian/Islamic and Hindu cultures over centuries of time has produced a musical tradition that is full of healing power. While these cultures are in some ways diametrically opposed, they align on the importance of sound and vibration and their connection to the body and to cosmology. Listeners and practitioners today are drawn to this healing power, as Hindustani Classical continues to mesmerize listeners the world over. The primary rhythmic instrument of Hindustani classical music, the tabla, holds a special role in grounding and propelling the energy of ragas (melodic scale explorations), which are designed to provoke introspection and uplift the spirits of the listener.
A Spotify playlist has been curated by Robin to accompany the workshop.
A Master in Fine Arts graduate from the World Music program at the California Institute of the Arts, Robin Sukhadia studies tabla (classical north Indian drums) under Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the California Institute of the Arts and the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California. His special focus on the musical traditions and rhythms of south Asia informs his approach to musical arrangement and composition on a wide range of concert, film, and album productions. (tablapusher.com) Robin has traveled internationally on behalf of Project Ahimsa, an organization committed to empowering impoverished youth through music education. He performs and teaches extensively, in both classical and contemporary contexts, and has developed innovative music education programs at the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, the Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Machine Project in Los Angeles and the Sangati Center in San Francisco.

Alka Raghuram, a Filmmaker's Workshop
2022-05-29 14:00 - 15:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
3rd i presents an in-person workshop
FREE admission at the door. Proof of vaccination and masks are required.
In this interactive presentation, Alka Raghuram — filmmaker and artist — will share her works and works-in-progress, her creative process during Covid, and how she creates unique points of view that reflect the characters’ and the filmmaker’s worldview. She’ll offer a sneak peek of her new documentary on mental health, Blueprint of Love.
Supported in part by the California Arts Council
Alka Raghuram is an award-winning filmmaker and a multidisciplinary artist. She has made several fiction, experimental, and documentary films. She was awarded the L’Oreal Woman of Worth Filmmaker Award for her script The Conqueror at Tribeca All Access, and Director of The Year at the IDF Forum, Westlake International Documentary Festival for her feature documentary Burqa Boxers about Muslim women boxers in Kolkata, which won the top prize, Grant Open Doors, at the Locarno Film Festival co-production market. Her script Ayna was a finalist at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Alka frequently collaborates with other artists to create narrative performances and installations. Some of her collaborations include “Yatra” with Kathak and Flamenco dancers Pandit Chitresh Das and Antonio Hidalgo Paz; “Agni” with choreographer Charlotte Moraga and musician Alam Khan, and a photo, video and art installation Inspired by Burqa Boxers at the Locarno Film Festival. She recently received Creative Work Fund for a multimedia project called “Invoking The River” about the river Yamuna’s mythological significance and its environmental degradation in collaboration with Chitresh Das Institute of dance. Alka is currently developing a sci-fi fantasy series, Krishna 0110.

An Encore Special Talk by Robin Sukhadia
2022-06-02 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom from your own device

Grounding, a Film Showcase co-presented with APAture 2022
2022-10-23 12:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Featured artist Pallavi Somusetty will screen Coach Emily, a 9 minute sneak peek into the feature documentary to come, followed by her short doc Escaping Agra, about a transgender Indian teen.
