Delhi, Great Capital of India

Marching in the Dark

March 2024 •Marathi

In a drought-struck region in India, suffering from climate change and a high suicide rate amongst farmers, a group of resilient women farmers, who recently lost their husbands, is coming together with a local psychologist to learn counselling and help others in grief.

Memories of journey

December 2022 •Chinese

An essay film that interweaves meditations on travels with stories of journeys in China across a century: A student expedition into the heart of China in the 1930s, a young traveler's visions of the melancholic landscapes of his homeland, the narratives of movements in early Chinese silent films. Through these fragments of travelogues, the film explores the nature of consciousness in motion and what it means to use archives, images, and cinema as documentations as well as vehicles for travel.

An immersion into the Divine Feminine

August 2017 •English

By drawing a parallel between the Indian Durga Puja festival and other forms of celebrating the divine feminine, Santa Shakti reveals the Sacred Power beyond languages and religions.

An Uncountable Number of Threads

February 2023 •English

Travel films have an established format with their own conventions, history and baggage. It is a medium that has all too often sought to control, define and dictate perceptions of ”other” places. Comprised of footage shot while travelling on group excursions across Russia in 2019, An Uncountable Number of Threads is an attempt to draw out the ethical restrictions of a travelogue, while questioning how (and why) to make one. At times there is an awkward tourist-gaze, aware of its outsider position. But as a self-reflexive work that considers its own creation, it ultimately unravels, as the artist rationalises themselves out of a particular way of working, inviting the viewer into their uncertainty.

The Perfumed Garden

April 2000 •Arabic

THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

Seekers of Oblivion

April 2004 •Arabic

Seekers of Oblivion explores the exciting life and adventures of Isabelle Eberhardt. Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1877, Isabelle left Europe for North Africa at a young age. While there, she consorted with tramps, prostitutes, soldiers, murderers and thieves, at times masquerading as a man in orde.

The Ramayana

January 1965 •English

The Little Ballet Troupe of Bombay performs a "puppet ballet" of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.

Auroville: L'esquisse d'un monde

January 2009 •French

A Suitable Girl

April 2017 •English

A Suitable Girl follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. The film examines the women's complex relationship with marriage, family, and society.

A Native Street in India

June 1906 •English

Early film of a crowded street scene in an unidentified Indian city.

Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo

January 2009 •English

When Tomoko finds some messages for a 'Mr Smith' on a lost mobile phone, she finds herself on an 'Alice in Wonderland' journey through Tokyo's boulevards and back alleys. From the tyranny of symmetry in soaring office blocks - to buildings that look like space-ships, this creative documentary shows us the city's soul.

This Exists - A Film about Sri Prem Baba

November 2015 •Portuguese

The story of Sri Prem Baba, spiritual master and humanitarian leader with followers around the world, begins when a 14-year-old from Sao Paulo, Brazil, had a vision that said: 'go to Rishikeshi, India'. This story is delightfully told by himself leading us through the odyssey that would turn an ordinary boy into Prem Baba. Memories of friends, admirers and followers take us along the paths of the prosperous therapist who sank into a deep existential crisis and finally found India, where he would devote himself, after much debate, to his master and his destiny. A rich journey of enlightenment that brings us precious reflections on the meaning of life and the role of each one on this planet.

Fascinating India

May 2014 •German

"Fascinating India" spreads an impressive panorama of India’s historical and contemporary world. The film presents the most important cities, royal residences and temple precincts. It follows the trail of different religious denominations, which have influenced India up to the present day. Simon Busch and Alexander Sass travelled for months through the north of the Indian subcontinent to discover what is hidden under India’s exotic and enigmatic surface, and to show what is rarely revealed to foreigners. The film deals with daily life in India. In Varanasi, people burn their dead to ashes. At the Kumbh Mela, the biggest religious gathering of the world, 35 million pilgrims bathe in holy River Ganges. This is the first time India is presented in such an alluring and engaging fashion on screen.

Ganges

August 2007 •English

A journey that follows the Ganges from its source deep within the Himalayas through to the fertile Bengal delta, exploring the natural and spiritual worlds of this sacred river.

Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

October 2005 •English

Obsession is a film about the threat of Radical Islam to Western civilization. Using unique footage from Arab television, it reveals an 'insider's view' of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination.

The Ornament of the World

November 2019 •English

Filmed in Cordoba, Granada, Seville, and Toledo, this documentary retraces the 800-year period in medieval Spain when Muslims, Christians, and Jews forged a common cultural identity that frequently transcended their religious differences, revealing what made this rare and fruitful collaboration possible, and what ultimately tore it apart.

Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs

June 2011 •English

Documentary short about the disastrous dangers of aging, ailing dams.

In Rural Maharashtra

January 1945 •English

Happy farmers, a wedding and some giant cauliflowers...

A Visit to Los Angeles

January 1916 •English

To popularize the idea of automobile travel, Ford Motor Company produced Ford Educational Weekly, a film magazine distributed free to theaters. One 1916 series featured "Visits to American Cities." In this episode, Los Angeles is featured at the very beginning of the boom created by oil, movies and aircraft. On the occasion of its centennial in 1953, Ford donated its film to the National Archives and Records Service; this copy derives from a fine grain master printed from the Archive's preservation negative. Music by Frederick Hodges.

The Sufi and the Scientist

April 2006 •English

The Sufi and the Scientist is the collective story of Sufi healer Sayyid Arif Hussain, the medieval Sufi Sheikh Haji Ali, and Dr. Thornton Streeter, a scientist working in the realm of human consciousness.