3rd i

MUTINY: Asians Storm British Music
2022-09-24 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
See only at the Castro Theatre, not available online.
Filmmaker Vivek Bald in person for Q&A!
In a thrilling mix of live music performances, candid interviews and rare archival footage, director Vivek Bald charts the meteoric rise of South Asian music in 1990’s Britain and the decades of cultural cross-pollination and political struggle that led up to that historic moment. The documentary features some of the greatest innovators and legendary artists in the South Asian British music scene of the 90s: Asian Dub Foundation, Talvin Singh, State of Bengal, Fun-Da-Mental, Anjali, DJ Ritu, Joi, Black Star Liner and many others.
Mutiny presents the story of a generation that grew up defining itself in an environment of racial violence, while drawing strength from both British street culture and South Asian roots. Nearly every musician interviewed talks about experiencing anti-Asian racism while growing up. Bald shows how identification with England’s black population led them to embrace reggae and hip-hop in addition to Indian sounds like Bollywood soundtrack music, bhangra, and Indian classical music. This led to the Asian Underground movement of English rock in the 90s, with artists mixing the influences of their parents’ cultures with electronica, hip-hop, reggae, and punk that produced unique and powerful new sounds that have become some of the greatest contributions to British music.

AFTER PARTY
9:30pm – 11:30pm
Come to a special “After Party” of Asian Underground beats reminiscent of Mutiny & Dhamaal (Azaad) club events, Global Hip Hop, plus the latest flavors of the diaspora.
Performances by:
Navdeep Music (Mutiny, Anamika)
SETI X
Maneesh the Twister (Surya Dub, Dhamaal) soundcloud.com/surya-dub
Bissap Baobab Village
243 Mission St, SF (btwn 18th & 19th)
9:30pm-11:30pm
Call (415) 826-9287 for more details

DIL BOLE HADIPPA
2022-09-24 19:30 | Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114, United States
See only at the Castro Theatre, not available online.
Get your Bollywood groove on with 3rd i’s Bollywood at the Castro! Enjoy a blockbuster classic with exuberance and camp on the BIG SCREEN – one of the most fun and popular events at the festival!
Fans know Rani Mukherjee as one of the most beautiful, dynamic women ever to grace a movie screen, and a celebrated actor in Indian cinema. Featuring sparkling comic performances from both Mukherjee and her co-star Shahid Kapoor, as well as dazzling song sequences, this is a rousing, fun-filled musical romance – with cricket, too.
Mukherjee plays a feisty Punjabi woman who just happens to be a brilliant batsman. When the cocky Rohan (Kapoor) returns from overseas to take up coaching a national men’s cricket team, she seeks a position in the lineup. There’s no place on his team for a girl. So, in a conceit right out of Shakespeare, she dons a beard and a turban to fulfill her dream of playing.
Filled with the booty-shaking, percussive joy of Punjabi music, this is a full-on Bollywood masala movie, never shy about deploying Mukherjee’s smoky hotness and the hunky cuteness of Kapoor. Right up to its fantastic closing number, this movie bursts with vibrant, firecracker charm.

IN SEARCH OF BENGALI HARLEM
2022-09-25 13:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
See only at the Roxie Theater, not available online.
Filmmakers Vivek Bald and Alaudin Ullah in person for Q&A!
In Search of Bengali Harlem is a transformative journey for Alaudin Ullah, and for our understanding of the complex histories of South Asian Americans.
As a teenager in 1980s Harlem, Alaudin Ullah was swept up in the revolutionary energy of early hip-hop. He rejected his working-class Bangladeshi parents and turned his back on everything South Asian and Muslim until he became an adult. In Search of Bengali Harlem follows Ullah, from the streets of New York City to the villages of Bangladesh to uncover the pasts of his father, Habib, and mother, Mohima. He discovers that Habib was part of an extraordinary history of mid-20th century Harlem, in which Bengali men, dodging racist Asian Exclusion laws, married into New York’s African American and Puerto Rican communities – and in which the likes of Malcolm X and Miles Davis shared space and broke bread with immigrants from the subcontinent.

ANIMAL
2022-09-25 15:15 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
See only at the Roxie Theater; not available online.
Cyril Dion’s insightful and transformative documentary takes a fresh look at the world’s ecological crises of climate change and the sixth mass extinction of wildlife, through the eyes of two 16-year-old environmental activists, Vipulan Puvaneswaran and Bella Lack.
Through the extraordinary investigative journey of teenagers Vipulan, of Sri Lankan descent from France, and of Bella, from England, we learn from scientists and activists what is being done around the world to attempt to reverse mass extinction, revealing a quest for another way of living alongside other species, as co-habitants rather than predators.
The young activists take us to the source of the problem, which is hopefully the solution, too: our relationship to the living world. Through their confrontation of this reality, we become more deeply aware of how we are linked to all other species, and that by saving them, we also save ourselves, providing the possibility of a brighter future. As Dion explains, “The human being believed that he could separate himself from nature, but he is nature. He too is an Animal.”
Golden Eye nominee, Cannes Film Festival 2021
Youth Jury Prize winner, International French Film Festival of Namur 2021

COAST TO COAST: MUMBAI TO THE MISSION
2022-09-25 17:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
See only at the Roxie Theater, not available online.
Filmmakers Hena Ashraf, Naman Gupta and Faroukh Virani in person!
3rd i’s signature shorts program brings filmmakers into conversation together from South Asia to California and throughout the Diaspora. With short-form documentaries to dramatic narratives and genres ranging from comedy to animation, this year’s edition tackles stories of relationships, identity, LGBTQ+ and social justice. Be warned, there’s a fair amount of humor!

Tomorrow My Love, Gitanjali Rao (India, 2021, 4 min)
With artful simplicity, exquisite hand drawn animation and her signature warmth, 3rd i Festival alum Gitanjali Rao (Bombay Rose), pays homage to love in this exquisite ballad about touching the heart without being able to touch.
Dimanche Matin, Vinnie Bose (India, 2019, 4 min)
Every Sunday morning, Ann, a 7- year-old Indian girl, is forced to wake up early to go to church with her family. But this Sunday, mass ends up being a lot more eventful than expected.
The Return, Hena Ashraf (USA, 2021, 18 min)
A writer-director struggles with her profound sense of loss after the sudden death of her father, who dies while visiting his homeland of India. Hena wrestles with coming to terms with their strained relationship, by the only way she knows how: making a film.
Brown Elephant, Fawzia Mirza (Pakistan/ Canada, 2022, 3 min)
Hilarity ensues when a young Muslim woman and her family discuss a peacekeeping solution for their overly aggressive “White Elephant” gift exchange.
Subscribe/Follow, Faroukh Virani (USA, 2022, 15 min)
A social media influencer code-switches his platform, but gets challenged by his peers when they find faults in his messaging.
Coffee Shop Names, Deepak Sethi (USA, 2020, 8 min)
In this smart and funny short feature about identity and cultural awareness, three Indian friends on their regular coffee break discuss what their “coffee shop names” are and their made-up personas behind them.
Auntie, Fawzia Mirza (Pakistan/Canada, 2022, 7 min)
A day after meeting a crew of 20-somethings at a South Asian happy hour, 39-year-old Hena is thrown into their group text.
Coming Out With The Help Of A Time Machine, Naman Gupta (USA, 2021, 15 min)
When coming out to his traditional Indian parents, Sid uses his time machine to reset the day in an attempt to make sure everything goes perfectly.

Online Program: "Retro Short Films"
2022-10-06 | Online, CA, United States
3rd i’s Festival online program this year is “Retro Short Films.”
Oct 6, 12am – 11:59pm.
3rd i’s Retro Short Films 2002-2019
An inspiring array from the UK, Canada, India, Pakistan and the USA.
Cross My Heart, Avie Luthra (UK, 2002, 22 min)
A young man leads a double life when he tries to convince his family that he is “Indian”’ enough to inherit his uncle’s video store. A hilarious critique of racism within the South Asian British community.
Waxed Poetic, Keshni Kashyap (USA, 2004, 2 min)
A little ode to the ancient Indian beauty practice of hair waxing.
6FT IN 7MIN, Rafael Del Toro (USA, 2005, 15 min)
A wonderfully dark and entertaining comedy about Rafeev Reddi, a South Asian British adolescent who has been surrounded by death all his life. On his 18th birthday he finally comes to understand why.
Post Nup, Sandeep Kumar Sood (2011, 2 min & 4 min)
A comedic animated series about a young couple. The two episodes here are: Episode 11: “Traveling Man” and Episode 12: “Being Salman Rushdie”
Shameless, Geeta Malik (USA, 2013, 4 min)
A woman on trial for prostitution whimsically turns the tables on her accusers
The First Session, Ryan Logan & Fawzia Mirza (USA, 2015, 6 min)
In this therapy-couch comedy, two women attempt to repair their relationship with the help of an unconventional therapist.
What’s Your Brown Number? Vinnie Ann Bose (India, 2016, 5 min)
WIYBN is an animated short exploring the absurdity of colorism.
I Know Her, Fawzia Mirza, (Canada/Pakistan, 2019, 3 min)
A playful reflection on intimate relationships.

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.

Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art
2023-03-31 - 2023-07-10 | Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall, 200 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA, United States
Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art
MAR 31, 2023 – JUL 10, 2023
Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion
Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
A journey for the mind, body, and senses through two millennia of art inspired by dance from South and Southeast Asia and the Himalayas.
Dance is everywhere in the arts of the Indian cultural sphere: from the sacred dance of a god bringing the world into being to the elaborate choreography of modern Bollywood, every move has meaning. Through July 10, 2023, the Asian Art Museum presents Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art, inviting all to discover the power of dance in the visual arts of India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas, where dancing plays a significant role in religion, mythology, and ceremony.
Featuring more than 120 artworks borrowed from 20 of the finest museums and private collections, Beyond Bollywood immerses museumgoers in a multimedia showcase of dance, bringing a wide array of historic and contemporary sculpture, painting, textiles, jewelry, photographs, and more to vivid, passionate life. Through encounters with artworks from countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia, Beyond Bollywood reveals the enduring capacity of dance to inspire a diverse range of artists and audiences alike. “We hope visitors will come away with a transformed notion of the importance and power of dance,” says co-curator Forrest McGill, “what it has meant in the past, and what it can mean in their own lives today.”
The exhibition’s design takes full advantage of the theatrical and technical capabilities of the museum’s new Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion, incorporating experiential elements from subtle musical backdrops to gallery-spanning video installations. Through live dance performances (taking place within the main pavilion itself) and other associated dance events and programs, viewers can experience the magic of dance in person.
Beyond Bollywood is organized by the Asian Art Museum and the Cincinatti Art Museum and co-curated by Wattis Senior Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art Forrest McGill and Ainsley M. Cameron, curator of South Asian Art, Islamic Art and Antiquities at the Cincinnati Art Museum. An exhibition catalog published by the Asian Art Museum includes essays by McGill, Cameron, Laura Weinstein, Padma Kaimal, and Esha Niyogi De.

Bhangra and Beats Night Market
2023-05-12 17:00 - 22:00 | Downtown SF, Battery St @ Clay, San Francisco, CA, 94126, United States
3rd i Co-Presents with Non Stop Bhangra & Into the Streets:
Bhangra and Beats Night Market
Kicking Off Friday, May 12th
Time: 5-10pm | Free | All Ages
Free RSVP/Registration:
https://bhangraandbeats-may12th.eventbrite.com
Move to the beats of the Bay, taste delicious street food cuisines, sip cocktails, shop from unique local artisans, and celebrate San Francisco’s cultural renaissance — all while gazing at the moon rising above the stunning Downtown San Francisco skyline at Bhangra & Beats Night Market.
Taking place over three Fridays in 2023 from 5pm-10pm, this FREE event will transform 3 City blocks into a vibrant cultural destination for the delight of locals and visitors alike.

3rd i Co-presents Lagaan in SF
2023-05-19 18:30 - 22:30 | 4 Star Theater, 2200 Clement St, San Francisco, CA, 94121, United States
3rd i Co-Presents
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time In India
A 2001 Bollywood blockbuster classic directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, Lagaan stars Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh as his leading lady. A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) composed the highly acclaimed musical score, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar.
Farmers facing a delayed start to the Monsoons in a Champaner village in the 1890s are worried they will not be able to pay the land tax imposed by its colonizer, Great Britain. Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) accepts the challenge by the antagonist, British officer Captain Andrew Russell (Paul Blackthorne), to beat his team in a game of cricket and repeal the tax.
The Bollywood epic drew a “crossover” audience as India’s entry to the 2002 Oscars, earning a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and 8 National Film awards in India.
TICKETS
Discounted tickets for Seniors 60+ are available on the ticket site.
DATE
Friday, May 19, 2023
6:30 PM – 10:29 PM
VENUE
4 Star Theater
2200 Clement Street San Francisco, CA, 94121 United States
event website: https://www.4-star-movies.com/calendar-of-events/lagaan-once-upon-a-time-in-india-630pm

Bhangra and Beats Night Market
2023-07-14 17:00 - 22:00, 2023-09-08 17:00 - 22:00 | Downtown SF, Battery St @ Clay, San Francisco, CA, 94126, United States
3rd i Co-Presents with Non Stop Bhangra & Into the Streets:
Bhangra and Beats Night Market
Time: 5-10pm | Free | All Ages
Free RSVP/Registration:
https://bhangraandbeats-may12th.eventbrite.com
Move to the beats of the Bay, taste delicious street food cuisines, sip cocktails, shop from unique local artisans, and celebrate San Francisco’s cultural renaissance — all while gazing at the moon rising above the stunning Downtown San Francisco skyline at Bhangra & Beats Night Market.
Taking place over three Fridays in 2023 from 5pm-10pm, this FREE event will transform 3 City blocks into a vibrant cultural destination for the delight of locals and visitors alike.

WHILE WE WATCHED
2023-10-20 19:15, 2023-10-20 21:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Filmmaker Vinay Shukla in person!
San Francisco Premiere
A riveting and essential film, WHILE WE WATCHED, directed by 3rd i alum Vinay Shukla (AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN), is an award-winning gem of a doc and not to be missed. It is an urgent reminder that we have much to lose if we can no longer tell fact from fiction. The film smartly captures the state of contemporary news media with a powerful character study of Ravish Kumar, prime-time Indian TV news anchor and journalist, and his unshakable quest to speak the truth and to hold power to account.
Shukla’s documentary poignantly chronicles the challenges Kumar faces as he strives to uphold standards of independence and accountability in the press. The emphasis of the film is on Kumar, and his perseverance against the normalization of authoritarianism, which forms the heartbeat of the story.
WHILE WE WATCHED is fast-paced, with sharp and unflinching commentary, and is essential viewing for anyone interested in how journalism and democracy are under threat. Although the film is rooted in India, its depiction of how misinformation is eroding fact-based news could apply to many countries.
WINNER – Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Amplify Voices Award 2022
WINNER – Busan International Film Festival, Busan Cinephile Award 2022

San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival 2023
2023-10-20 19:15 - 2023-10-22 20:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Join us for 3rd i’s 21st Annual San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival, October 20-22 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, with special guests celebrating 21 years of community and diversity!
View the schedule of films here.

A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING
2023-10-21 13:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Payal Kapadia’s documentary film, A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING, is a brilliant, dreamlike, poetic exploration of the political and social changes occurring in India.
Through a series of letters read aloud to an absent lover, we learn about the fears, desires, and philosophical identity of a young woman named L, a student at the Film and Television Institute of India. Through these reflective words, along with a variety of documentary images and an evocative music score, writer-director Payal Kapadia has constructed an astonishing fragmentary work that witnesses India’s resurgent extreme nationalism.
A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING is a poetic testament to the inseparability of life, film, politics, and dreams, while functioning as an essential portrait of the ongoing struggle of resistance.
The film quotes Milan Kundera’s observation, “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Kapadia added, “We wanted the film to have a feeling of timelessness. Almost like the viewer is in the future, and looking back at this time. Maybe it is easier to gain perspective when one looks back at the past.
Winner – Cannes Film Festival, Golden Eye, Best Documentary Award
Winner – Toronto International Film Festival Amplify Voices Award
Winner – Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Best Documentary Award

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BANGLA SURF GIRLS
2023-10-21 15:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
BANGLA SURF GIRLS, directed by Elizabeth D. Costa, is an inspiring and immersive documentary that takes us into the heart of Cox’s Bazar, a beach town in Bangladesh, where we witness the transformation of young girls who join a local surf club and dream of freedom from traditional expectations.
The memorable, educational and heartfelt storyline of the film intimately captures the raw emotions of the family, and the complex pressures on poor, working-class girls. Balancing the freedom of the waves with the restrictive realities of their circumstances, the film allows us to experience the thrill and struggle of coming of age. SURF GIRLS will have you rooting for the young women each time they overcome a wave or hurdle.
Director Elizabeth D. Costa is a first-time Bangladeshi filmmaker who honed her career as a script supervisor for Tareque and Catherine Masud (THE CLAY BIRD, 2002 Cannes Film Festival). The film is written and produced by Lalita Krishna.
WINNER – Portuguese Film Festival, Women in Surf Award
WINNER – Paris Surf & Skateboard Film Festival, Best Surf Documentary Award

WINNER – Bushwick Film Festival New York, Best Feature Documentary Award

THE GOLDEN THREAD
2023-10-21 17:15 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Filmmaker Nishtha Jain in person!
Bay Area Premiere
A visually spectacular and symphonic ode to manual labor and the jute factories of West Bengal, India. THE GOLDEN THREAD documentary, directed by 3rd i alum and multi-award-winning filmmaker Nishtha Jain (GULABI GANG, LAKSHMI AND ME), with its magical long takes and beautifully composed shots, fully immerses the audience into the world of the golden fiber or jute.
The film shifts from the jute fields of West Bengal to weaving in gigantic mills where the fiber is processed, and where not much has changed since the industrial revolution. As Jain mentions, “powered by steam and sweat, work is a dance to the rhythms of the century-old machines”. And in between scenes, we meet the workers on their lunch breaks, smoking ganja to keep going, and singing at night while dreaming of becoming movie stars.
“My stories are complex,” Jain says of her films, “They lie in the gray. (THE GOLDEN THREAD) is not just a one-line story. It’s about jute. It’s about this factory. It’s about the ecosystem. It’s about factories being made obsolete. It’s about how these factories work, and the people (who work in them).”
Special Mention – DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Feature Documentary Award
Nominated – Munich International Documentary Film Festival, Viktor Award

AGRA
2023-10-21 20:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Fasten your seatbelts and proceed with caution, the new arthouse film AGRA, from 3rd i alum Kanu Behl (TITLI), which opened to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, is an audacious and riveting film that looks into Indian family dynamics, patriarchy, and sexual frustration within limited physical space in metropolitan homes in India.
Guru, a young man in his twenties, works in a call center in Agra and falls in love with Mala, a work colleague. However, he still lives with his parents. And when Guru announces that he wants to marry Mala and have her move into the house, nothing goes as planned.
Kanu Behl skillfully uses AGRA to explore sexual repression through vivid sexual imagery and to examine dysfunction and physical space. And how the lack of space, in a country of over a billion, affects the way people live their lives. The film is captivating and intense, but not for the faint of heart.
PREMIERED – Director’s Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival to a standing ovation
WINNER – Indian Film Festival Of Melbourne, Best Indie Film Award & Best Actor, Mohit Agarwal

TIKTOK, BOOM
2023-10-22 12:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
What does it mean to be a digital native? TIKTOK, BOOM dissects one of the most influential platforms of the contemporary social media landscape. Directed by CODED BIAS filmmaker Shalini Kantayya, the film keenly examines the algorithmic, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural influences and impact of the history-making app. This rigorous exploration balances a genuine interest in the TikTok community and its innovative mechanics with a healthy skepticism around the security issues, global political challenges, and racial biases behind the platform. A cast of Gen Z subjects, including influencer Feroza Aziz and beatboxer Spencer X – the son of an Ecuadorian immigrant father and a first-generation Asian-American mother – remains at its center, making this one of the most needed and empathetic films exploring what it means to be a digital native.
With this new director’s cut, Kantayya, an Emmy-nominated Sundance Fellow, continues her engagement in the space where technology meets, amplifies, and opposes our humanity. Her incisive, current look at the power and complexity of tech continues to advance a conversation that is bettered by her careful stewardship.
Nominated – Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize
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KATHAL (JACKFRUIT)
2023-10-22 14:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Click above for FREE tickets! Preceded by short film DOS BROS FORCE.
KATHAL (Jackfruit), directed by Amit Ashraf, is a fun, quirky, and enjoyable comedy for the whole family. At its core, KATHAL is a creative and exuberant story about the adventures of two mischievous kids, but on its edges, the film is an enlightening satire around class and gender discrimination.
Two kids from the wrong side of the tracks sneak into a posh gated community to try and steal the world’s largest jackfruit. The kids’ getaway is blocked when they learn the fruit is too big to be pulled through the escape hole, and they are forced instead to try and sell the jackfruit to the eccentric residents. What started as a simple playful heist turns into an adventure that tests their friendship.
Director Amit Ashraf gave the recipe for making KATHAL: Mix “some childish mischief from THE LITTLE RASCALS, add gems of truths revealed by each strange encounter from THE LITTLE PRINCE, and spin it all together in RICK AND MORTY creator Dan Harmon’s famous story circle, and voila! KATHAL takes shape.” Ashraf is a 3rd i Fest alum (UDHAO), and also runs a film company dedicated to making children’s content.
WINNER – Ahmedabad International Children’s Film Festival, Best Story
WINNER – Cannes World Film Festival, Best Comedy

DOS BROS FORCE, Jyothi Kalyan Sura (USA, 2022, 15 min)
An adorable and loving tale set in Los Angeles, 1996, about the Sura family, a financially struggling Indian immigrant household. For her 9th birthday, peppy little Isha has only one wish – to get $12 dollars to play video games. Unable to convince her parents, she devises an ingenious plan with her 11-year-old brother to raise money. The innocent act will change their lives forever.
WINNER – FilmGood, Best Short Film
WINNER – Canadian Cinematography Awards, Best Short Film

3rd i’s SHORTS: FROM MUMBAI TO THE MISSION
2023-10-22 16:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Filmmakers Rucha Chitnis and Alka Raghuram in person!
3rd i’s signature shorts program brings filmmakers into conversation together from South Asia to California and throughout the Diaspora. From short-form documentaries to dramatic narratives, and genres ranging from Sci-Fi to comedy to horror, this year’s edition tackles stories of relationships, identity, and social justice.
GANGA, Alka Raghuram, (3rd i Fest alum) (USA, 2023, 2:23 min)
An experimental first-person account of the sacred significance of rivers in Indian mythology, and their environmental degradation.
VAN VERSUS VIKAS (Forest Versus Progress), Rucha Chitnis, (3rd i Fest alum) (USA, 2023, 15 min)
A film chronicling the resistance of an Adivasi (tribal/indigenous) family, along with other activists, to the destruction of forests and surrounding ecosystems from development projects in Mumbai.
FLY, Aditya Verma, (India, 2023, 3 min) (Animation)
Meet Sange, Anicat, and Fakeer, intergalactic animated characters who adventurously travel through space and time on their surfboards and jet packs.
THE LIE GAME, Kalyan Sura (USA, 2018,15 min)
A delicate, profound, and seductive short film about a computer scientist and her lost love, and about the fundamental choices defining us.
I DON’T FEEL LIKE KNOWING YOU (Ancora Non so), Maaria Sayed, (Italy, 2023, 15 min)
Sensual, sun-drenched, and breezy scenes pull us into Fatema’s experience of adolescence as an exploratory and sensual time. Fatema is an Indian Muslim teenager living in an Italian small town. She spends her summer blending in with her friends, but when a burqa-clad teenager moves into her neighborhood, their cultural similarities are brought to the surface.
CRAZY FOR BOLLYWOOD, Imran J. Khan (USA, 2022, 6 min)
Raj introduces his family to his unique girlfriend, Priyanka: a woman who believes life is a Bollywood movie and she is the heroine.
MOSHARI, Nuhash Humayun (Bangladesh, 2022, 21 min)
Rich with allegory and pathos, MOSHARI serves up a terrifying dystopian world where death comes at night. Set in Dhaka, Bangladesh, among the last surviving members of mankind, two sisters must learn to protect themselves from mysterious blood-sucking nocturnal demons. Winner of the 2022 SXSW Midnight Shorts Grand Jury Prize.

JOYLAND
2023-10-22 18:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
JOYLAND is a visually gorgeous and subversive family drama set in the bustling megacity of Lahore, Pakistan. Pressured to earn his own salary, soft-spoken house husband Haider is hired to perform in an erotic dance show. He’s attracted to the lead performer, an irrepressible trans woman named Alina Khan, and their relationship takes unpredictable turns.
This striking feature upends traditional gender roles and identities through a story of complex and imperfect expressions of love. JOYLAND is funny and deeply poignant, and written with such sensitivity by director Saim Sadiq that it leaves you thinking about the invisibility of desire long after you’ve left the theater. Celebrate this startling and groundbreaking film at the Festival!
“Funny, forward, and bracingly political…Pakistani director Saim Sadiq’s sensuous film mounts an indictment of misogyny and transphobia without ever lecturing us.”– Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
“Extraordinary… a revolutionary film.”– Hannah Bae, The San Francisco Chronicle
WINNER – Cannes Film Festival, Jury Prize and the Queer Palm Prize
WINNER – Independent Spirit Awards, Best International Film
SHORTLIST – 95th Academy Awards, Best International Feature

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3rd i Co-presents "To Kill a Tiger"
2023-11-04 15:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Q&A with director Nisha Pahuja, moderated by Sara Dosa (Academy-Award Nominee, FIRE OF LOVE).
Join us Saturday, November 4, at 3:30 PM for a special screening of the powerful award-winning documentary TO KILL A TIGER at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco!
In To Kill a Tiger, Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the survivor of sexual assault. In India, where a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, Ranjit’s decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Note: Content contains sexual violence that may be a trigger for sensitive viewers.

3rd i co-presents "Love, Simeon"
2024-03-10 15:30 | Root Division, 1131 Mission St, San Francisco, 94103, United States
LOVE, SIMEON
A new motion-picture performance
Written and directed by Anuj Larvaidya
March 10, 3:30pm
Closing weekend of CRIP’D ECOLOGIES exhibition
ROOT DIVISION
1131 Mission St
San Francisco
Love, Simeon is a motion-picture performance that conjures a portal to Simeon – a rhesus macaque in a primate testing facility. As an ecosexual living with HIV, my entry point into this dense knot centers the story of those simians who have been laboring to find a prevention/cure for this deadly virus. In cinematic dreams and séances, Simeon tells the story of SHIV – a chimeric construct created in a laboratory, so that a panacea might be found.
Event information and registration
More about Love, Simeon

3rd i Presents "The Seeds of Vandana Shiva"
2024-03-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
FREE FILM SCREENING – tickets for admission become available at The Roxie one hour before the 7pm screening.
Doors open at 6:30pm.
How did the willful daughter of a Himalayan forest conservator become Monsanto’s worst nightmare? The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the seed saving and organic food movements, and is inspiring an international crusade for change.
Among those engaged with organic food and farming, climate change, biodiversity, seed sovereignty, globalization, and social justice, Vandana Shiva is an icon of a global movement. But even among those who pride themselves on being well-informed, she’s relatively unknown. Few are aware of how this daughter of a Himalayan forest conservator rose from obscurity to become a world leader of Gandhian stature. Hers is the remarkable and unlikely story of a girl who trekked from highland cabin to cabin alongside her father, tended a garden alongside her mother, and passionately pursued an education that freed her from the caste and gender constraints of traditional Indian society that culminated in a degree in Nuclear Physics, and then a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Quantum Theory. But those achievements were merely a prelude to her awakening as a fully-committed activist. Vandana Shiva brought her scientific expertise and Gandhian principles of nonviolent resistance to the struggles of Indian villagers whose livelihoods were being crushed by corporate capitalism. She has become a formidable opponent to those corporations whose drive for privatization and profit are destroying the environment and changing the climate. Their predations in the name of a ‘green revolution’ with its promises of wealth and freedom and ‘feeding the world’ through patented and chemically-dependent GMO seeds are reducing traditional farmers and entire communities to inescapable servitude. In India, the fruits of the Green Revolution have been an epidemic of rural suicides. The Seeds of Vandana Shiva focuses on the people, circumstances and seminal events in Vandana’s life—what shaped her thinking and defined her purpose. It also shows how the battle against multinational agribusiness has become an international struggle between two visions for feeding the world: The first, a multinational corporate model of chemically dependent monoculture that rewards a capitalist imperative of extraction for profit. And the other, Earth Democracy, that honors ecology, biodiversity, sustainability and community—what Dr. Shiva demonstrates is the only way forward for the future of food.

3rd i presents: I for India
2024-04-28 18:00 - 19:30 | 4 Star Theater, 2200 Clement St, San Francisco, CA, 94121, United States
Special introduction in person by Falu Bakrania!
Bakrania is a Professor of Race and Resistance Studies (RRS) in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and author of Bhangra and Asian Underground: South Asian Music and the Politics of Belonging in Britain.

I for India is a chronicle of immigration in Britain, from the Sixties to the present day, as seen through the eyes of one Asian family and their movie camera.
In 1965 Yash Pal Suri, a young doctor, left India for the U.K. with hopes of improving his family’s life. The first thing he did upon arriving in England was to buy two Super 8mm cameras, two projectors and two reel-to-reel tape recorders. He sent one of each to his family in India, and kept the others for himself.
Over the next forty years, through regular mailings of his filmed and taped thoughts and observations, he shared his new life abroad with family members back home, providing a unique record of the eccentricities-and occasional racism-of his new English hosts. Back in India, his relatives, in turn, responded with their own “cine-letters,” sending tales of weddings, festivals and village life, along with impassioned pleas for his return.
In addition to home movies, I for India, directed by one of Suri’s three daughters, uses archival and contemporary footage and excerpts from BBC TV programs (including The Dark Million, The Immigrant Doctors, and The End of the Line), which chart the changing national mood about immigration over the decades, from bemusement at the strange customs of the South Asian newcomers, to fears of British culture being “swamped,” to right-wing protests demanding the expulsion of “colored” immigrants.
By the end of the film, as Suri and his wife communicate today via webcam with a daughter who has relocated to Australia, I for India becomes not only a bittersweet time capsule of cultural alienation, discovery, racism and belonging, but also a contemporary exploration of universal, emotionally compelling themes of family separation and the quest for personal happiness, wherever it may take you.
“Sandhya Suri strikes humanist gold in her feature-filmmaking debut. The film manages to lyrically explore the meaning of filial responsibility with a lasting but unsentimental tenderness… one of the richest documentaries of the year.” —Aaron Hillis, The Village Voice
“Both deeply personal and surprisingly universal.” —Jeanette Catsoulis, The New York Times
“Intimate and rewarding…almost unbearably moving.” —Justin Chang, Variety
“A profound and profoundly moving film that any director could be proud of; as a debut, it’s formidably accomplished.” —Sight & Sound
“A miraculous mini-epic… terrifically warm, watchable filmmaking.” —The Guardian

3rd i Presents "Creature"
2024-06-05 18:30 - 20:00 | Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
FREE if you register in Eventbrite by June 4.

$10 at The Roxie box office on June 5.
Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creature-tickets-891231235617

Co-presented by Chitresh Das Institute and San Francisco Dance Film Festival

In a dilapidated former Arctic research station, “Creature” is unknowingly enlisted by a fascistic military brigade into a program that subjects him to experimentation, harsh conditions, and isolation. He finds himself enamored with Marie, a cleaner, the only person to show him kindness and compassion; together they dream of escape from their dystopian environment.
Academy Award-winner Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy, The Warrior) directs Creature, a genre-busting collaboration that fuses film and contemporary dance by acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan, produced by Uzma Hasan, and performed by the English National Ballet with music by Vincenzo Lamagna.
Asif Kapadia: “The creature (Jeffrey Cirio) and Marie (Erina Takahashi) want to be part of something, a society, but they’ll never be a part of it. They’ll be used, abused, screwed up and left by the people with power…Environment, global warming, religion, colonialism, xenophobia, Brexit, Trump. Outsiders searching for belonging. The enduring hope of human connection. It’s all those things, everything.”

“Intense…makes dance feel accessible and intimate” – Anna Smith, Deadline
Kapadia’s documentary sensibilities work astutely in this beautifully performed ensemble piece. A soulful and engaging feat in collaborative filmmaking. – Beth Web, Empire Online
The film feels so prescient, as though addressing the state of the world today: the abuse of power, the rise of the dictator and dictatorship, corruption, chaos, otherness. – Hynam Kendall, AnOther Magazine

Content consideration for sensitive viewers: Contemporary dance depiction of sexual harassment and assault. Flashing lights/images.

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2024-09-12 08:00 - 17:00 | 155 Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, near Bancroft Ave and Bowditch St, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States

The Queen of My Dreams
2024-10-18 19:15 | 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
