3rd i Shorts: From Mumbai to the Mission
2024-10-20 16:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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
