The Queen of My Dreams
2024-10-18 19:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with director Fawzia Mirza!
Vibrant, fun, and romantic, with the colors and spirit that evoke Bollywood musicals, THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS, directed and written by 3rd i alumna Fawzia Mirza (NOOR & LAYLA, SIGNATURE MOVES), is a luminous film about the complicated and intertwined bonds between mothers and daughters.
Queer Pakistani grad student Azra (Amrit Kaur, THE SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS) is worlds apart from her conservative Muslim mother (Nimra Bucha). When her father suddenly dies on a trip home to Pakistan, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined—from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming-of-age in rural Canada.
Mirza’s expansive intergenerational narrative of women seeking to explore and define themselves in different eras (flashing between 1999 and 1969), which traces key moments in the lives of a mother and daughter born three decades apart, is inspired by her own personal experience.
PREMIERED – Toronto International Film Festival, One of Canada’s Top 10 Films of 2023
WINNER – BFI London Film Festival, Sutherland Award 2023
SHORTLIST – Directors Guild of Canada’s Jean Marc Vallée Discovery Award 2023

3rd i’s 22nd ANNUAL SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
2024-10-18 19:15 - 2024-10-20 20:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
3rd i’s 22nd annual SF International South Asian Film Festival presents groundbreaking cinema from India, Pakistan, France, UK, Canada, and the USA. Features take brave risks exploring issues, from class and religion between genders to complicated bonds between mothers and daughters. Documentaries offer up Voices from the Margins and an expansive view of the immigrant experience, and we shine a light on cinematic visions of resistance and nationalism. From witty comedies to nuanced dramas to sci-fi, 3rd i’s celluloid celebration of Women’s Stories and Queer Voices continues as strong as ever. The perennial favorite program, 3rd i Shorts, turns out an impressive array once again from international and local filmmakers. For program information, please visit our list of screenings.

Drawing A Line
2024-10-19 13:15 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Sharp, satirical, and highly popular sociopolitical Indian cartoonist Rachita Taneja is the subject of DRAWING A LINE, a documentary directed by Sama Pana, which premiered at the renowned Hot Docs Festival and won Best Documentary Series at Canneseries 2023. It wonderfully explores Rachita’s inner world and her creative expression as she confronts persecution and censorship with humor and honesty.
Taneja, using the pseudonym “Sanitary Panels,” creates stick-figure cartoons that challenge India’s deep-rooted myths and social and political taboos surrounding topics such as menstruation, mental health, freedom of speech, climate change, and LGBTQIA+ rights.
Taneja’s webcomics have garnered a large following among young liberals, but they also attract government scrutiny and suppression. The film reveals that, despite facing criminal prosecution, Taneja is dedicated to advocating for diverse communities in India and combating the erosion of free speech in the world’s largest democracy. This timely, inspiring and thought-provoking film provides an empowering example of resisting censorship and defending freedom of expression with bravery and creativity.
WINNER – Canneséries 2023, Best International Documentary Series “Draw for Change!”
PREMIERED – Hot Docs 2024
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All We Imagine as Light
2024-10-19 15:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Hypnotic, meditative, and almost spiritually evocative of the human condition, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, directed by Payal Kapadia (A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING, 3rd i’s Film Fest 2023), is a glorious Cannes Film Festival award winner that should not be missed.
The feature begins with a dreamlike ode to the thriving, cosmopolitan, and diverse city of Mumbai, and transitions to a richly textured and delicate poetic portrait of the lives of three women and their journey of self-discovery and friendship.
In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a place in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to the sea and beach town of their displaced friend, Parvati, allows them all to find a space for their desires to manifest.
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT is a magical and poetic masterpiece that is brilliantly unassuming. Filmed with exquisite elegance and precision, it is subtly unconventional and even subversive in its approach to visual storytelling and ways of exploring issues of gender, class and religious inequalities.
“The film confirms Kapadia as one of the most compelling voices of contemporary cinema.” – Paolo Bertolin, film critic
“‘Lyrical’ and ‘delicate,’ Payal Kapadia’s universal, emotional film, premiering at Cannes, will ‘win hearts everywhere.'” – Nicholas Barber, BBC
WINNER – Cannes Film Festival 2024, Grand Prix award

Now and Forever
2024-10-19 17:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Director Shalini Ushadevi in person!
US Premiere
NOW AND FOREVER (ENNENNUM), directed by Shalini Ushadevi, is a unique, nuanced, and thought-provoking sci-fi feature from South India.
In an alternate dystopian present, a married couple in the state of Kerala discusses whether or not to become immortal by taking a new high-cost implant. The couple decides to give immortality a three-day experimental trial period, but things don’t turn out the way they expect.
A relationship drama with a sci-fi twist, the film deftly explores the couple’s complex thoughts and shades of emotions around the idea of identity and love, in a world where “until death do us part” may not be an option.
In addition to writing and producing NOW AND FOREVER, Ushadevi has written and developed narrative and documentary films in English, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu for several production houses across India.
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Dear Jassi
2024-10-19 20:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Pavia Sidhu in person!
San Francisco Premiere
Director Tarsem Singh’s DEAR JASSI revolves around a 19-year-old woman from a wealthy family in Canada. Jassi (Pavia Sidhu) visits relatives in the Punjab and falls in love with Mithu (Yugam Sood), a handsome and enterprising young man from a working-class family.
This Romeo-and-Juliet tale, based on a true tragic event from the 90s, paints a gorgeous filmic landscape of two innocent and romantic young lovers, juxtaposed with the visceral realities of familial and societal taboos and challenges.
Tarsem weaves Punjabi Sufi folklore into the gripping Shakespearean tale to create a striking, artistic film about injustice with a haunting, chilling finale that leaves a lasting impression.
Known for his visually stunning Hollywood films, such as THE FALL, THE CELL and IMMORTALS, as well as groundbreaking music videos for the likes of R.E.M. and Lady Gaga, Tarsem Singh returns to his home state of Punjab to make his first film shot in India.
WINNER – Toronto Film Festival 2023, Platform Prize
WINNER – Dublin Film Festival 2024, Dublin Film Critics Circle Michael Dwyer Discovery Award to Lead Actors (Pavia Sidhu and Yugam Sood)
Content advisory: mature themes; violence; sexual violence

Two Paths, One Nation: Nationalism in LAGAAN and RRR
2024-10-20 13:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Click above for FREE tickets!
Join Robin Sukhadia for a special presentation!
[Photo: ©Najib Joe Hakim]
Robin Sukhadia will present an engaging exploration of two landmark films that have captured the hearts and minds of audiences around the world: LAGAAN and RRR. Set against the turbulent backdrop of colonial India, these Academy Award nominated/winning films offer strikingly different takes on the fight for independence—one rooted in peaceful defiance, the other in fierce rebellion.
Through captivating storytelling, gorgeous film scores, unforgettable characters, and powerful cinematic moments, LAGAAN and RRR present two distinct visions of resistance and nationalism. Featuring video clips from key moments in both films (prepare to dance to Naatu), this lecture dives deep into the symbolism, themes, music, and emotional resonance of these films, revealing how they reflect the broader cultural and political forces that continue to shape modern India.
Whether you’re a fan of historical epics, passionate about cinema’s role in shaping national identity, or simply intrigued by the contrasting approaches to storytelling, this discussion will leave you with fresh perspectives on two of Indian cinema’s most iconic works. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the power of film to inspire, challenge, and ignite conversations about history, identity, and the future.
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. He completed a Senior Fulbright Research Fellowship in India in 2011, where he developed programs empowering street children through Indian classical music. He performs and teaches extensively, in both classical and contemporary contexts, and has developed innovative music education programs at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, 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, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. He presently works as a strategic consultant for non-profit leadership and fundraising and is based in Los Angeles. Robin has served as a Board Member of the Ali Akbar College of Music since 2015. More information at www.tablapusher.com and on Instagram @tablapusher.

Land of Dreams
2024-10-20 14:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Filmmakers Ambarien Alqadar and Shankey Srinivasan in person!
Preceded by short film DOS MUJERES
Filmed over nearly a decade, Ambarien Alqadar’s LAND OF DREAMS is an intimate portrait of Virender Rana, a taxi driver from India, who is chasing his dream in America.
The documentary follows Virender’s journey of coming to America as he finds joy being part of a large Sikh community, a community of taxi drivers, and filming a Bollywood-style movie. When he joins the elite Uber Black Fleet hoping for his dreams to come true, he faces the challenges of being a brown immigrant trying to lay his roots.
LAND OF DREAMS is a message of solidarity and hope to anyone who has searched for a land for their dreams and a home in a place where they were not born.

DOS MUJERES, Shankey Srinivasan
(USA, 2024, 17 min, Hindi and Spanish with English subtitles)
The short documentary examines the broken immigration system in the US through the eyes of two immigrant women – one Indian and one Mexican. All the cast and crew are local artists from the SF Bay Area.

3rd i Shorts: From Mumbai to the Mission
2024-10-20 16:15 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Musician/composer Robin Sukhadia in person!
From light comedy to dark wit, this year’s kaleidoscope of cinematic offerings brings filmmakers into conversation together from South Asia to California and throughout the Diaspora. With genres that range from music videos to documentaries, and from comedy to dramatic narratives, this year’s edition tackles stories of immigration, relationships, identity, and social justice.
MIRAGE, Jhanvi Motla (USA, 2023, 16 min)
A young Indian widow leaves Mumbai to work at a motel owned by her cousin in California. But the motel’s survival depends on sinister forces that conflict with her notions of the American dream.
RAILWAYS, music composed by Robin Sukhadia and Ameet Mehta (SADUBAS); footage by Rusha Bose (USA, 2024, 4 min)
A gorgeous music video, with hypnotic tracks, that takes the viewer through the evocative, lush monsoon landscapes of Bengal.
BIG EARS, Sam Baron; starring Amit Shah (UK, 2022, 13 min)
A struggling actor finds a lump on his testicle and is forced to confront his life choices.
CUPPA CHAI, Amit Kaur ( UK, 2023, 11 min)
We discover Britain’s multicultural fabric through Mira, as she navigates her way through making a cup of tea, and transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries using the enchanting realms of magic.
TALL DARK AND HANDSOME, Sam Baron (UK, 2023, 14 min)
A hilarious commentary on racial stereotypes, xenophobia, and the identity woes that sometimes come with the joys of biracial dating.
SWEET REFUGE, Maryam Mir (USA, 2022, 12 mins)
An endearing and charming comedy about the unexpected rivalry and bonding between two immigrant chefs during turf wars over beloved sweets: baklava vs ladoos.

Girls Will Be Girls
2024-10-20 18:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS is a brilliant, richly layered romantic film that has won countless awards. Directed by Shuchi Talati, it masterfully explores the subtle complexities of a 16-year-old girl’s coming-of-age desires and sexual awakening.
Set in the 1990s, the film finds 16-year-old Mira at her strict private boarding school atop a Himalayan mountainscape in India. Mira is straitlaced and must navigate good grades, her budding romance with a handsome 17-year-old boy, and an unwelcome emotional love triangle involving her mother.
Talati’s command in directing such a nuanced narrative is elevated by her empathetic gaze, which flawlessly captures the fascinating triangular relationship between Mira, the mother, and Sri the boyfriend. The impeccable script, sensitive storytelling, and warm cinematography reinforce the strong focus on female empowerment at the film’s core.
Giving her characters shading and the story space to breathe, Talati has created a quietly captivating, sharply observed and insightful film. A loss of innocence may propel the story, but what ultimately emerges is a hopeful transformation of the main characters.
“Bursting with creative energy and distinctive aesthetic sensibilities.” – Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
“A Stylish Medley of Generations and Dreams” – Valerie Complex, Deadline
WINNER – Sundance Film Festival, World Cinema Dramatic: Audience Award and Special Jury Award for Acting
WINNER – SXSW Film Festival, Festival Favorites Award 2024
WINNER – Sofia International Film Festival, Best Director 2024
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3rd i Shorts: Women Behind the Lens
2025-03-15 13:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Filmmakers in person!
FREE – seating is limited. Tickets are available only at the Roxie box office, 30 minutes before the screening.
3rd i presents two films from local storytellers, filmmakers Kirthi Nath and Priyanka Suryaneni. Both of the films illuminate and explore the theme of “belonging” as they each chronicle the life of a visionary individual in their Buddhist spirituality, mindfulness and personal transformation.
Total running time: 85 min
PARAMITA, directed by Kirthi Nath (USA, 2024, 24 min)
Kirthi Nath’s short documentary blends poetry, memoir, and prayer to explore the transformative power of mindfulness, acceptance, and belonging. The film bears witness to Prajna Choudhury’s 25-year journey of coming out to her traditional Bangladeshi mother. Told with intimacy, tenderness, and quiet power, PARAMITA invites viewers into a meditative spiritual experience, as Prajna connects with Buddhist practices and nature as pathways to intergenerational healing and reconciliation.
SARANAM GACCHAMI (I Take Refuge), directed by Priyanka Suryaneni (USA, 2023, 19 min)
Priyanka Suryaneni’s short documentary is a story of cultural preservation that unfolds through the life of visionary Tibetan monk Thupten Dony—a refugee driven by a dream. Born in the foothills of Mt. Everest in Nepal, he traveled to California with only his ideas. He established the Bay Area’s largest Tibetan Monastery to safeguard their endangered heritage, an invaluable sanctuary for Tibetan culture and community in diaspora. He wears many hats at the monastery—prayer leader, spiritual guide, gardener, and party planner! Now, nearing retirement, he hopes to find a worthy successor to carry forward the Monastery’s legacy.
About the filmmakers
Kirthi Nath, a South Asian lesbian filmmaker, creates work spanning cultural poetics, social justice, and spirituality. Her films have been featured at CAAMfest, Frameline, Wicked Queer, Mill Valley Film Festival, 3rd i and more, with solo shows at YBCA and ATA. Awarded grants from CAAM, CCI and V-Day, she’s also participated in RePresent Media’s Fellowship, A-Doc Allies, BGDM Mastermind and Bitchitra Collective curated programs. https://www.paramitafilm.com/
Priyanka Suryaneni, a Bay Area-based media entrepreneur, documentarian, and visual storyteller from India, passionately brings attention to significant stories and amplifies underrepresented voices. Her recent inclusion in the BAVC Connect Mentee program, as well as the For Us By Us Film Incubator program (supported by Filmmakers Collaborative and Re-present Media), underscores her unwavering commitment to her craft and pursuit of powerful storytelling. https://prisuryaneni.com/

7 Days
2025-05-04 15:45 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Total running time: 90 min

Tickets: $10.38 online advance tickets; $10 at the Roxie box office, 30 minutes before the show.

Buy advance tickets

Witty, charming and delightful, 7 Days, directed by Roshan Sethi (A Nice Indian Boy, 2024), is a feel-good romantic comedy. Set up on a pre-arranged date by their parents, Indian-Americans Ravi (Karan Soni) and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan) seemingly have nothing in common. Pleasant as they are in person, they don’t exactly connect. It turns out that neither one is what their parents made them out to be. The situation turns both awkward and enlightening when they find themselves trapped inside together for a week after their first date.
The natural chemistry of the captivating leads and the culturally specific spin on romantic comedy’s familiar tropes provide a fresh and winning take on the rom-com genre.
“Optimistic and full of heart, director/co-writer Roshan Sethi’s debut…will leave you on a feel-good high.” — The Tribeca Film Festival

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Open Screening
2025-06-05 20:00 | Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110, United States
FREE!
No advance ticketing required.
Doors open at 7:30 pm.
Open Screening is a forum for independent filmmakers to show their work. ATA’s free community film/video show welcomes short format work (15 min or less) from all genres.
Entries must be received by 7:00 pm on show night, cued and labeled, to be considered. Space is limited!
Submissions: To submit a digital file, email openscreening@atasite.org with the title “Open screening”. For physical media, label all tapes with name, contact info, title, and length, and mail to: Open Screening, 992 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110. 1–2 weeks advance submissions recommended. If not, just walk in before the show.
Maximum length: 15 min.
Formats: Digital file (PC or Mac), DVD, miniDV/DV-cam, VHS, beta, 8 mm, and 16 mm.
For 8 mm and 16 mm films, please give ATA advance notice: openscreening@atasite.org.

Burqa Boxers
2025-06-28 14:00 | Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110, United States
Filmmaker in person!
FREE – seating is limited.
Register for free tickets
In this documentary in Kolkata, India, where marriage is considered the ultimate feminine career fulfillment, four young Muslim women challenge stereotypes by learning to box with one of India’s first female boxing coaches. As they train, the women negotiate poverty, battle tradition and learn to confront fear.
The screening is free, but please support New Light, a nonprofit in Kolkata, India, featured in the documentary, dedicated to providing a safe haven for the children of sex workers. Your donations will help them continue their comprehensive community services. https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2817738
Alka Raghuram, director of Burqa Boxers, 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. 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.
WINNER – Locarno Film Festival, co-production market top prize: Grant Open Doors
WINNER – Westlake International Documentary Festival, IDF Forum: Director of the Year

Little Jaffna
2025-10-10 19:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with director Lawrence Valin!
The gripping and exuberant crime thriller LITTLE JAFFNA, directed by Lawrence Valin (3rd i Fest Alumnus for THE LOYAL MAN short film, 2020), is layered with nuanced sociopolitical underpinnings. This stunning film is an impressive debut feature that explores identity and belonging within the Tamil Community in Paris, France.
Set in the lively La Chapelle district in Paris, fondly known as Little Jaffna, the film follows Michael, a young undercover French police officer of Sri Lankan descent, portrayed by Valin himself, who is assigned to infiltrate a local Tamil gang. As Michael delves deeper into the gang’s operations, he confronts the cultural complexities of his dual identity.
Stylistically, Valin skillfully blends elements of Western crime thrillers with the vibrant aesthetics of South Indian cinema. The film explores authoritarian gang loyalties and patriotic nationalistic ideologies, and captures the challenges faced by immigrants, who strive to preserve their roots and integrate into French society while also celebrating the joy and resilience of the vibrant Tamil diaspora. The film also features Tamil stars Radhika Sarathkumar and Vela Ramamoorthy.
This program is sponsored by Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, a division of the French Embassy in the United States.
NOMINEE – Zurich Film Festival, 2024: Best International Feature Film, Golden Eye Award
PREMIERED – Venice Film Festival, 2024
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Boong
2025-10-11 13:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
A vibrant, endearing and upbeat coming-of-age film, BOONG, written and directed by Lakshmipriya Devi, is about a young schoolboy who, along with the help of a friend, aims to reunite his divided family.
Adventurous and mischievous schoolboy Boong and his friend Raju don’t see long distances and state borders as significant obstacles. At least not when it comes to giving Boong’s mother the best surprise gift ever: bringing back Boong’s father.
In her debut feature, Devi expertly centers themes of enduring friendship within a narrative in which ethnoracial discord and political unrest are ever present in Manipur, India. To find answers, Devi designs moments within the fabric of this intimate tale that lay clear many prejudices and divisions, giving the viewer insight into Manipur’s complex sociopolitical structure.
With memorable performances and a heartfelt narrative, this film about a child’s sincere quest is filled with excitement and tempered by the complex realities of political and social divisions. Since the film’s production, the ethnic tensions referenced have erupted into violence, making Devi’s portrayal of childhood resilience a poignant and necessary reminder of our taken-for-granted ability to find hope even in the darkest times.
PREMIERED – Toronto International Film Festival, 2024
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Cactus Pears
2025-10-11 15:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
CACTUS PEARS (Sabar Bonda), written and directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, is gorgeously shot in picturesque vignettes in open landscapes and small villages, with a poetic and open-hearted narrative that skews predictable tropes.
Kanawade’s debut feature follows two men navigating societal pressures in a rural community in Western India (Maharashtra). The story centers on Anand, a 30-something gay city dweller forced to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in his ancestral home in India’s countryside, where he bonds with Balya, a local farmer struggling to remain unmarried. As the mourning period ends and Anand must return to the city, he faces a crucial decision about their relationship.
A sensitive study of bereavement, along with a powerful exploration of a mother-son bond, CACTUS PEARS is a tender, intimate, and sensual portrait of being queer in a rural, lower-class Indian community. The emotionally resonant drama has connected with audiences across borders. It premiered and triumphed at the Sundance Film Festival as the first Indian and Marathi language film to win in the world cinema competition.
“…exhilarating moments, sudden and inevitable.” – Siddhant Adlakha, Variety
“…shot decisively with unapologetic realism or transportive reverie.” – Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire
WINNER – Sundance Film Festival, 2025: World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic
WINNER – SXSW London, 2025: Best Feature Film Award
WINNER – Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival 2025: Best Narrative Feature
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Farming The Revolution
2025-10-11 17:15 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with director Nistha Jain and Priya Satia!
Nishtha Jain’s (3rd i Fest alumna GULABI GANG, THE GOLDEN THREAD) immersive and stirring documentary captures the unwavering resolve of ordinary people with extraordinary courage, chronicling the revolutionary standoff between Indian Sikh and Punjabi farmers and the Modi government.
In November 2020, Gurbaz Sangha, a young farmer from Punjab, embarked on a remarkable journey. Riding his tractor 400 kilometers to Delhi, he joined forces with thousands, and later more than half a million, men and women from many parts of the country. Their united mission: to stand against the newly enacted farm laws. These farmers believed that if implemented, these laws would negatively impact the government-protected farmers’ markets, leaving the farmers to the vagaries of the free market.
Amid a COVID lockdown, the farmers—representing over half of India’s workforce—vowed to remain at the borders until the laws were repealed. The protest cities that mushroomed outside Delhi created a parallel world where they redefined coexistence, with women emerging as equal political partners. Day after day, the protesters showcased India’s pluralistic, defiant, and resilient spirit. As the movement gained momentum, farmers from across the country, along with trade unions of industrial workers, rallied in solidarity. The scale of these protests echoed the spirit of India’s independence movement, culminating in an unexpected, triumphant outcome.
WINNER – Hot Docs Festival, 2024: Best International Feature Documentary
WINNER – International Documentary Short Film Festival of Kerala, 2024: Special Jury Award
WINNER – Toulouse Indian Film Festival, 2025: Mention Spéciale
PREMIERED – Hot Docs Festival, 2024
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Pinch
2025-10-11 19:45 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with director Uttera Singh!
A vibrant dark comedy with nuanced and deeply engaging social commentary, PINCH, directed and written by Uttera Singh, is a confident debut feature that shouldn’t be missed.
With saturated color, swinging rhythm, and sharp emotional edges, the film dives into the generational fault lines of truth, trauma, and tradition—all through the eyes of a young travel vlogger named Maitri, played by Uttera Singh.
Thinking it will make good content for her travel-centric YouTube channel, Maitri tags along with her mother, neighbors, trusted landlord Rajesh, and his wife to a temple during the Navratri festival. When Matri is groped by Rajesh on the way to the festival, she feels shocked and furious, and impulsively decides to take retributive steps, setting off a chain of events that rocks her tight-knit community.
The film’s lens alternates between wry observation and emotional intensity, all carried by Singh’s clear narrative trajectory and her performance. PINCH is a beautifully plotted exploration of voice, guilt, trauma, collective action and the strength it takes to stand up to power.
PREMIERED – Tribeca Film Festival, 2025: International Narrative Competition
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Humans in the Loop
2025-10-12 12:15 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Aranya Sahay’s engaging and poignant debut feature, HUMANS IN THE LOOP, offers a nuanced exploration of Artificial Intelligence technology in India through the perspective of a tribal woman’s experience and her beliefs in the natural order.
The film portrays Nehma, an Adivasi woman who returns to her Jharkhand village with her children, post-divorce. To sustain her family, she becomes a data annotator, a role reflecting the real-life involvement of many indigenous tribal women in India’s burgeoning AI industry.
This uniquely whimsical film weaves a story about the significant yet often unrecognized contributions of women from rural backgrounds in India who undertake meticulous data-labeling tasks foundational to the development of AI.
Sahay explores identity, technology, and empowerment through Nehma and her children’s journey by empathetically exploring how the lived experiences of data annotators can influence AI biases.
The film is a tale that is both cautionary and endearing, prompting viewers to reconsider AI’s ethical dimensions and its impact on social conditioning and on formalizing societal biases, as well as its effects on marginalized communities.
PREMIERED – Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), 2024
WINNER – 16th Bengaluru International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Award and “Best Film”
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3rd i Shorts 2025
2025-10-12 13:45 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with filmmakers!
From comic relief to social insights, the 2025 edition of 3rd i’s signature short films spans vast differences—both literally and metaphorically—with films and filmmakers from South Asia to California and throughout the Diaspora. This year’s selection of narratives and docs lifts up stories of immigration, relationships, identity, gender and sexuality, and social justice.
HARIJ WEDS SAJILI, Prataya Saha (USA, 2025, 19 min)
A whimsical tale about a young bride in India who fakes her suicide to reclaim her freedom, with the help of a sex worker.
ZARI, Shruti Parekh (USA, 2025, 19 min)
American teen Neelu feels like a fish out of water amidst preparations for her sister’s wedding in Delhi—until she forges a brief and unexpected connection with Zeyb, a quiet sari-store clerk who moonlights as an internet drag queen.
THE TEST, Benjamin Sutton (UK 2025, 4 min)
A hilarious short film about a man who gets more than he bargained for from a routine eye test.
ESPERANZA, Shruti Parekh (USA, 2023, 18 min)
When an immigrant taxi driver in upstate New York takes a hopeful young couple to an unmarked Canadian border crossing, he must confront how far he will go for his American Dream.
THE PATEL MOTEL STORY, Amar Shah and Rahul Rohatgi (USA, 2025, 13 min)
The Patel Motel Story reveals how South Asian immigrants, led by one undocumented man’s journey from Gujarat, built a hotel empire—transforming American hospitality through resilience, identity, and belonging.
PORELESS, Harris Doran (Co-produced by Fawzia Mirza), (USA 2025, 13 min)
Fun and farcical—a fabulous queer Muslim beauty entrepreneur must figure out how to compete in a Shark Tank-like product pitch contest after suffering an untimely allergic reaction.
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Your Touch Makes Others Invisible
2025-10-12 15:45 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with director Rajee Samarasinghe!
YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE, directed by Rajee Samarasinghe, is a surreal and lyrical exploration of disappearances in a small post-war community in northern Sri Lanka, where memories of interactions between the Tamils and the Sinhalese linger.
Fusing allegorical magic realism and investigative documentary, and made collaboratively with impacted locals, the film is an examination of thousands of missing persons through 26 years of civil war in Sri Lanka. The nonfiction elements in this film are structured by a fictional narrative thread, which tells the tale of a mother who loses her son to a supernatural entity plaguing her community—a nod to the actual disappearances in the region.
Sinhalese filmmaker Samarasinghe’s feature debut is both a documentary about forced disappearances during the government’s war against the Tamil Tiger separatists, and a hushed, often nonverbal tone poem on the themes of mourning, trauma, and absence. The hybrid near-impressionistic film creates a shifting monument to memories, and is a stirring, staunch defiance of the inevitability of disavowed justice.
“25 New Faces of Independent Film, 2020” – Filmmaker Magazine
PREMIERE – International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2025
WINNER – Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, 2025: collective New Cinema Award
SPECIAL JURY MENTION – Austin Asian American Film Festival, 2025: “Creative Vision”
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INTRO TO NONFICTION STORYTELLING WITH ALKA RAGHURAM
2026-03-29 14:00 | Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110, United States
FREE – seating is limited.
Register here
Have a Story You Can’t Wait to Tell?
The “Intro to Nonfiction Storytelling” class is a free, 2-hour introduction to shaping real life into a cinematic narrative. This workshop will help storytellers develop tools to transform personal experience or a topic they are passionate about into a story with structure. Participants will gain a sharpened story concept.
Ready for the next steps beyond “Intro To Nonfiction Storytelling”?
Check out Alka’s 4-Week Documentary Writing Intensive, an in-person development lab designed to help you transform raw material into narrative clarity. Over four focused weeks, you will move from idea to articulation — shaping a documentary concept with structure, voice, stakes, and ethical intention.
Sundays, April 12 – May 3, 2026
2-4pm
Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco
More info and class registration: https://www.junoon.pictures/junoonlabs
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. 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.
WINNER – Locarno Film Festival, co-production market top prize: Grant Open Doors
WINNER – Westlake International Documentary Festival, IDF Forum: Director of the Year
