
Romantic, atmospheric travelogue capturing some of northern India’s most iconic places – not least the Taj Mahal.

7.2Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.
7.4A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.
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.
8.2"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.
7.8In the heyday of the jute industry, millions of people in Bengal made their living doing this laborious work, which has hardly changed since the industrial revolution. The 100-year-old machinery has been endlessly repaired. State aid kept this sustainable alternative to plastic going, but its future looks bleak.
0.0Sixteen year olds Palani and Karthik want to become "ladyboys." They're bullied in school and beaten by their families. Their parents would like to see them grow up as normal boys, but they're falling deeper and deeper into the world of the "Aravanis." Loved as dance performers but hated as homosexuals, their stories emblazon the inner conflicts of India's gender culture today.
6.1A documentary exploring the "respectable" and "immoral" stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of 2 strip-tease dancers in a cabaret house in Bombay.
10.0By 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.
0.0The film interweaves the personal narratives of four Kashmiri artists, three of whom - Syed Mujtaba Rizvi, Hina Arif and Zeeshan Jaipuri - are children of the conflict, their impressionable adolescent years years landing right in the middle of the region's most violent period in the 90s. The fourth character, renowned painter and art teacher Masood Hussain, grew up in a time of relative peace before becoming witness to Kashmir's tragic transformation. While their individual traumas are unique, they are connected by their pursuit to process this splintered world through unfiltered artistic expression.
0.0Sports enthusiast Ernest is to cover 6,000 kilometers on his motorcycle in 15 days, crossing Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Balkans and Czechoslovakia.
8.0Sunderbans (Forest of Beauty) is in West Bengal, India, and is the only place on Earth that is the natural habitat of Royal Bengal Tigers that have never known to be fearful of humans. One tiger has been known to kill three fully grown men, leaving behind orphans and widows who belong to poor tribes, dependent on harvesting wild honey and fishing, in a swampy mangrove region. About 80 people are killed annually by these ferocious beasts with razor-sharp jaws, whose forepaws can shatter bones, and sharp teeth can pierce a skull in one bite. Amidst religious superstitions, the narrator attempts to explain the cause behind their taste for human meat in a region devoid of electricity, roadways, firearms and safe drinking water, and why the villagers continue to live there despite of being stalked and mauled on land and water alike.
The work of a district officer in the province of Bengal.
0.0Attractive travelogue filmed in and around Delhi's Qutb complex.
0.0Pure tranquillity in rural Somerset, a world away from the war raging on the continent.
10.0After the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, widowed women struggled to receive aid due to their social status. Following the story of Mrs. Manjula along with many other women from Tamil Nadu, the challenges faced by millions of widows across the country are illuminated. From being ostracized to denied basic rights and economic opportunities, widows in India endure a cycle of discrimination and marginalization. “Kalangarai” meaning "lighthouse" in Tamil, is an organization dedicated to empowering women through initiatives such as self-help groups and educational programs. Throughout the film, "Lighthouse" illustrates the emotional journeys and resilience of these women, as well as the active change that Kalangarai strives to achieve. This documentary urges global awareness and support for widowed women’s rights, as the women’s struggles depict the intersectionality of gender, poverty, and social injustice.
0.0Award-winning filmmaker Sandhya Suri (I for India) skilfully weaves together archive footage to create an emotionally resonant story about life across India from 1899 to 1947. Drawn exclusively from the BFI National Archive, Around India features some of the earliest surviving film from India as well as gorgeous travelogues, intimate home movies and newsreels from British, French and Indian filmmakers. Taking in Maharajas and Viceroys, fakirs and farmhands and personalities such as Sabu and Gandhi, the film explores not only the people and places of over 70 years ago, but asks us to engage with broader themes of a shared history, shifting perspectives in the lead up to Indian independence and the ghosts of the past. Around India boasts a superb new score that fuses western and Indian music from composer and sarod player Soumik Datta.
7.8Since the rise to power of Hindu nationalists in 2014, India has been gradually moving away from democracy towards a regime where ethnic identity prevails. This transition is driven by Hindutva, a Hindu supremacist ideology embodied by Narendra Modi. For the past 10 years, Prime Minister Modi has relentlessly pursued his fascist policy based on Hindu supremacy. This ideology of hatred towards other religions in the country, particularly Islam, has also spread globally. Those who follow this belief want India to be only for Hindus, treating people of other religions, like Muslims or Sikhs as second-class citizens. Attacks against Christians have surged by 400% since Modi's election, accompanied by discriminatory laws targeting Muslims and widespread lynching incidents. Hindutva's influence permeates all levels of Indian society. This documentary thus unveils a darker side of India, far from its portrayal as the world's largest democracy and Gandhi's dream of peace among communities.
6.9Spalding Gray sits behind a desk throughout the entire film and recounts his exploits and chance encounters while playing a minor role in the film 'The Killing Fields'. At the same time, he gives a background to the events occurring in Cambodia at the time the film was set.
Documentary on the Great Stupa at Sanchi, built by the Emperor Ashoka, and adorned with some of the finest examples of Buddhist art in the world.
