29th Social Justice Film Festival 2026
15-19 April, Periyar Thidal, Chennai
11 am to 6 pm
Jointly organised by MARUPAKKAM 30
& Periyar Self Respect Media
Schedule (subject to changes)
Day 1, 15 April
11 am to 1 pm
The First Film
Dir : Piyush Thakur; 20 min; Short film ; India; 2025
In a small town in 1960s India, where cinema is forbidden for women, a 14-year-old girl embarks on a quest to watch her first film.
Maraiya Nizhal
Dir : Paro Salil; 19 min; Short Film; India; 2025
Recurring dreams turn out to be repressed memories for a group of friends who reconnect after a decade to confront and unravel troubling events that took place while they were in school.
Theendaatha Vasantham
Dir : Saravana Bharadhi; 27 min; Short Film; India; 2025
Theendadha Vasantham is a gripping docu-drama inspired by a real honour killing case from Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. It sheds light on the brutal realities of caste atrocities and the struggle for justice.
Through a blend of documentary truth and cinematic storytelling, the film voices the pain of victims, the courage of those who fought back, and the questions society refuses to answer.
Encountering Hate
Dir : Lalit Vachani; 48 min; Documentary; India; 2025
Revolving around three case studies of hate crime in North India, the film follows human rights lawyer Akram Akhtar Choudhary as he provides legal help to his clients - victims of mob lynchings, vigilante violence and police encounter killings.
The film is a frightening reminder of the precarity of Muslim lives in Hindu nationalist India.
Zindagi Ki Chaal
Dir : Anjali Raghwani; 11 min; Documentary; India; 2025
A meditative portrait of urban labour, Zindagi Ki Chaal observes florists, potters, street vendors and construction workers, revealing the quiet choreography of everyday labour that keeps the city alive. The film approaches work as rhythm and routine, sustaining city life through repetition, texture and sound.
2 pm to 4 pm
Zubaan
Dir : Aayush Singh; 9 min; Short film; India; 2025
Ayaan, a boy from UP living in Mumbai, enters a Marathi speech competition for a scholarship. When he fails to speak the language and is bullied, he boldly shares his views on language and respect.
Dir : Debarun Dutta; 30 min; Documentary; Germany; 2025
The Delivery Guy follows the stories of two South Asian immigrants who came to Berlin as students and now work in the food delivery sector. The film sheds light on their hopes, disappointments, and daily struggle for dignity within a system that barely acknowledges their presence.
Dir : Christine Ithurbide; 82 min; Documentary; France; 2025
In Mumbai, production of contemporary art is often a collective process that relies on a diversity of art workers. They are fabricators, artisans, artists' assistants and represent an invisible workforce behind the art scene. Through a series of portraits, this documentary film explores their stories, their relationship to the art world, and their struggles in one of Asia's largest metropolises undergoing major economic and urban transformations
The Othering
Dir : Harshit Patil, Veechika Durga Pingali; 16.35; Documentary; India; 2025
The documentary talks about the societal phenomenon of "othering" of the LGBTQ community. The film explores the different ways in which individuals identifying as LGBTQ are marginalized, ostracized, and excluded from mainstream society. It sheds light on the systemic discrimination, cultural stigmatization, and legal barriers that continue their marginalization. By amplifying the voices of those directly affected, the documentary aims to bring empathy and awareness, challenging prevailing prejudices and advocating for greater inclusivity, equality, and dignity for all members of society, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Jyothi
Dir : Shaurya Gupta; 1.16 min; Animation; India; 2025
This short film uses a symbolic, charcoal-animated narrative to explore the impact of child marriage in India. It opens with two candles burning side-by-side—one tall, one already melting away—as a mother prepares her daughter for the wedding rituals.
Dir : Aravindan; 18.52 min; Short film; India; 2025
By day, Ganesh Rajasekharan navigates his workplace with patronizing authority, dismissing female colleagues and clients while championing traditional masculinity. At home, he maintains a detached dynamic with his wife, whose quiet resilience hints at an unspoken strength. By night, as "monkbharat," G posts misogynistic vitriol on social media, targeting progressive women with hate. Set against the modest routines of life in Kerala, the film tries to contrast G’s obsessive grooming and adherence to manosphere-driven idealism with his digital malice.
Dir : Farha Khatun; 5 min; Documentary; India; 2025
An untouched, white kurta becomes witness to the maze of hatred engulfing human conscience.
The Daily Bread
Dir : Anil Kumar Anand; 21.46 min; Short film; India; 2025
Maimuna (30) faces a predicament when her ex-husband, Wazeer (40) comes back alive after 3 years of his disappearance who was supposedly dead, now, demanding from her and her current husband, Ziya (25) either a considerable amount of money or his breadwinner wife back.
Day 2, 16 April
11 am to 1 pm
Toy Gun
Dir : Parshuram Thingnam; 15 min; Short film; India; 2025
In a conflict-affected region, a mother’s fear of violence begins to blur the line between play and reality. Toy Gun is a 14-minute short film about a widowed mother raising her young son in the shadow of personal loss. When the boy becomes fixated on owning a toy gun like the other children, his innocent play begins to awaken the mother’s buried trauma of real violence.
Analogue Natives
Dir : Bernd Lützeler; 25.33 min; Documentary; Germany; 2025
In 2010, a 106-year-old dilapidated residential building is on the verge of collapsing in Mumbai, the financial capital of India and the heart of the Hindi film industry. All tenants have been evacuated, and many of them now gather on the opposite train station platform, waiting to watch their building collapse. Some are filming the loss of their own homes with their mobile phones. Later, after the fire brigade clears the road of rubble, residents start climbing into the ruins of the building to retrieve their belongings.
Sangama
Dir : Sunanda Bhat; 76 min; Documentary; India; 2025
A behind-the-scenes look at how a people’s movement against divisive politics takes on an authoritarian party in power in the Indian Election-2024. Wake-up Karnataka unites with citizens’ groups across India, dramatically shifting conversation from ‘mandir’ (temple) to ‘mudda’ (people’s problems), making this a closely fought election.
2 pm to 5 pm
About My Father
Dir Sumit Sisodiya; 85 min; Documentary; India; 2025
Despite everything breaking down around him – my father started nurturing a dream. A dream to reconcile, repair his relationship with my mother and to unite his two families. But the scars of the past are so deep for the families…that it seems impossible. And yet, for some reason, I believe in him and his dream.
Sinners
Dir : V J Sriram; 45 min; Fiction; Tamil; India; 2025
Sinners happens in one night. Two young named Sathya and Sanjana’s lives take an unexpected turn through Sanjana’s brother, Sanjay. What begins as a normal night slowly shifts into something dark, as the two women fall into the hands of a notorious gang called the Sinners.
A 5th-standard schoolgirl from a strict vegetarian family and a 10th-standard boy who loves non-vegetarian food accidentally exchange identical lunch boxes at school. What begins as a simple mix-up quietly stirs curiosity, guilt, and unexpected choices. As the day unfolds, the lunch box becomes a catalyst for subtle drama—leading to a surprising climax that challenges innocence, habit, and belief.
Maithaanam
Dir : Madu; 18 mil; Fiction; Tamil; India; 2025
An adult who awaits for a year to use the opportunity of playing local county cricket, has a chat with an old guy who graze the goats in the cricket ground and realizes the true face of betraying fellow players.
Rights
Dir : Varathan Chenbagavalli; 5.59; Short film; Tamil; India; 2025
Stopped by the police while returning from a late night movie, a young woman is judged not for her actions, but for her tomboy appearance. Living only with her ailing grandmother, She refuses to justify herself. At the police station, criticism turns into moral policing until she speaks up, questioning society's bias and asserting her right to exist without fear. Her words trigger an awakening, leading the inspector to confront his prejudice and apologise.
Padiyaan
Dir : M.Subramaniyan; 30 min; Short Film; India; 2024
Day 3, 17 April 2026
Do Over
Dir : Sharvi; 90 min; Fiction. Tamil; India; 2022
The main themes of the Motivational film is survival, determination, and never giving up on your dreams. The film also tells a universal story about Alcohol use disorder .One of the fundamental themes in the film is determination. Determination is that you can accomplish anything you need if you invest sufficient effort and do not surrender even when times are hard.
Caste, Constitution, Justice (Dir: Amal Raj;. 34.49 min)
2 pm to 5 pm
Arali
Dir : Akshara Sanal, Poongodi Mathiarasu; 15 min; Documentary; Tamil; India; 2025
Arali follows the journey of Iswaraya, a Dalit trans woman and folk artist from Bagayam, Vellore. Once known as Ashok, she now leads Ashok Nataka Mandram, a drama company of 10 trans women artists. Dancing since the age of 14, Iswaraya has dedicated over two decades to folk performance. In 2023, she was honored with the Tamil Nadu government's Best Transgender Award for her contributions to art and community welfare. Through her story, Arali captures resilience, identity, and the power of performance.
Biriyani Master
Dir : Akshara Sanal, Poongodi Mathiarasu; 9 min; Documentary; Tamil; India; 2025
This short documentary profiles Karumbukadai M.P. Selvi(Transwoman), fondly known as "Selvi Amma," a masterful biryani chef from Coimbatore. Born into a family of agricultural workers, she now leads a thriving food business, cooking up to 3,500 kilos of biryani and employing 65 people, including 15 transgender individuals. Renowned for her signature mutton, chicken and beef biryanis, Selvi Amma’s story is one of culinary excellence, resilience, and community empowerment.
Kaala Vazhu
Dir : Prithivi R; 9 min; Short film; Tamil; India; 2025
A 28-year-old event cameraman shares a rickshaw ride with an outdated elderly driver. What begins as a simple commute unfolds into a quiet confrontation between modern progress and an unchanging social reality. As the cameraman learns the truth behind the driver’s 28-year imprisonment for a murder revenging for his wife’s death against honour killing, he realizes that while technology and time have advanced, some injustices in India remain disturbingly untouched.
Counter Life
Dir : Githin Raj; 20 min; Documentary; Malayalam; India; 2025
Counter Life (Ethirjeevanam) is a poetic and powerful portrait of V. Janamma—Ammachi, the unsung torchbearer of Kerala’s anti-slavery spiritual revolution. After the passing of her husband, Poykayil Appachan, founder of the Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (PRDS), Ammachi assumed leadership at just 29, steering the movement through decades of resistance, reform, and rebirth.
Time Propellor
Dir : Arun Bhagath; 31 min; Short film; Tamil; India; 2025
A mysterious rock holds the power to propel anything between two distant time periods. When Selvam plots to kill Karthick — an 'oppressed caste # race' youth who married his sister Aghalya — the plan backfires. Karthick is caught in the rock’s force and is hurled back into the Stone Age, where he encounters the ancestors of Selvam and Aghalya. At the same time, Karthick’s own ancestor is propelled into the modern world. Did Karthick escape Selvam’s wrath? What happened to his love story?
Irai
Dir : Jayachandra Hasmi; 10.19 min; Mobile Phone Short Film; Tamil; India; 2025
In the rubble of a war-torn land, a staunchly narrow-minded man is trapped with nothing but silence and the shadows of his past. Stripped of privilege and ideology, he confronts the fragility of life and the pettiness of his beliefs. As danger closes in, he records a final message to his family—an unflinching confession of the crime he committed, the love he withheld, and the truths he learned too late. Shot in a single take on a mobile front camera, this haunting farewell lays bare his regrets, seeking redemption through the only thing left to him: honesty.
KRUDDHAR (THE ENRAGED)
Dir : Alan Alex AGI; 11.28 min; Short Film; Malayalam; India; 2025
Stalin is a university student who has come home from a tumultuous student’s strike going on in his campus, only to find his village steeped in the fear of a mysterious interstate gang of robbers prowling around. As Stalin faces the hostility of his relatives, the anger of his girlfriend, the ideological difference of his brother and the frenzy of the village all at once, he undergoes an impending transformation.
KOOPUKKADU
Dir : Gita Hudson; 63 min; Documentary; Tamil; India; 2024
Set against the mist-covered hills of Valparai in Tamil Nadu, Koopukkadu is a poignant documentary that gives voice to the invisible lives of tea estate workers who sustain one of India’s most profitable industries while living in its deepest margins.Through intimate interviews with the estate workers, many of them women and descendants of indentured labour, Koopukkadu explores generations of silence, displacement, and systemic neglect.
Otha Adi
Dir : Uma Sekhar; 5.15 min; Short film; Tamil; India; 2025
The story follows an elderly man who works as a scavenger in a village, surviving on a job that places him at the lowest rung of society. While working during a funeral ceremony, he gets into an argument with a relative of the deceased, triggered by humiliation and mistreatment. Unable to bear the insult, the old man quietly walks out of the cemetery.
Day 4, 18 April
11 am to 1 pm
ISAK
Dir : Isak; 4.45 min; Short film; Tamil; India; 2025
In a time when the values of justice, equality, and humanity are tested every day by rising crimes, corruption, and moral decay, Voice of Justice imagines a powerful encounter between the past and the present. The story follows Rakshit, a passionate and idealistic young man who has just passed his Bar Council exam to become an advocate. On the eve of starting his legal career, he visits a statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to seek blessings from the one who shaped his beliefs and inspired his journey toward justice.
Crime and Punishment
Dir : Sivaranjani Kanagaraj; 22.51 min; Short film; Tamil; India; 2024
A courageous female Deputy Superintendent of Police uncovers a powerful political conspiracy while investigating a college student’s suicide. Refusing to compromise the truth, she faces relentless pressure from her superiors and is ultimately driven to take her own life. Her grieving father’s fight for justice fails against the system, forcing him to confront a haunting question—can true justice ever prevail when power silences truth?
Bhooda Kaathai
Dir : Anbu Saakiyan; 22 min; Short Film; Tamil; India; 2026
A Man who is fighting for the people is illegally arrested and tortured by CRPF personnel. Should he be killed or not? It depends on the election results that will be announced in Tamil Nadu in a few days. Meanwhile, a young policeman working in CRPF and the Man develops a good understanding. Have the election results been announced? What did they do to the Man? What has changed in the mentality of the young policeman? The film 'Bhoodha Kaadhai - Iyal Ondru' tells the story of the Man being deified.
Wages of Blood
Dir : Paluvan; 13.34 min; Tamil; Short film; India; 2025
Durai, a teenager whose life derails after he accidentally kills a fellow student during a college fight, is forced to hide within his uncle Manickam’s gang to escape caste-based retaliation. Haunted by guilt and the imagined bloodstains on his hands, he tries to survive quietly. Three years later, Durai is unknowingly taken to witness a brutal honor killing, where a dying girl mistakes him for one of her murderers. Shattered and threatened by the real killers, Durai finally breaks and triggers a gas explosion, killing them. As he walks away, rain washes the blood from his hands, leaving him questioning redemption and escape from his past.
Padukalam
Dir : Nahunaa Meenacshi; 25 min; Tamil; Short film; India; 2025
Years after her brother is killed in an ‘honour killing’ (also called a customary
killing), a skilled surgeon must choose between justice and compassion when fate places the wounded killer’s life in her hands.
Parvathy Puraanam
Dir : Sachin Manjurekar; 11.38 min; Tamil; Short film; India; 2025
In a village ruled by superstition, an elderly woman's brutal death is masked as divinity, erasing the truth. While the village worships her, a young woman dares to challenge the myths. Through quiet defiance, she inspires change, proving that justice cannot be silenced by blind faith. Parvathy Puraanam is a powerful tale of love, loss, and the unyielding fight against systemic oppression.
2 pm to 5 pm
Woh Subah Humi Se Aaegi (That Dawn That We Will Bring)
Dir : Uma Chakravarthy; 78 min; Bengali, Hindi, Kannada; Documentary; India; 2026
The film tells the “story” of the women’s movements that places violence against women in India and the resistance against it, over more than four decades across India spanning different regions and multiple sites. These vibrant movements have challenged culture, tradition, caste and oppressive cultural practices which have been legitimized under the rubric of “tradition” and/or patriarchy denying women, agency. The movements have drawn from a wide arc of support and have led to many changes in the legal system and social relations. The movements have also led to a vigorous critique from unrepresented segments and the marginalization of regions and social groups, so there is a long way to go before violence against women is ended and women can be freed from the oppressive structures that have dominated them over centuries. The struggles continue...
Sudar Katru
Dir: Anirudh Unnikrishnan; 40 min; Tamil; Short film; India; 2025
Chiyashi, a Tamil manual scavenger, dies suddenly at work, his son Kichandi must take his body to the village’s public burial ground, as there is no space at home. On the way, the family faces many struggles and objections from people around them. The film follows Kichandi’s emotional journey as he tries to give his father a respectful burial, showing the difficulties a marginalized family goes through during this final ritual.
Dare to Dream
Dir: Ranu Ghosh; 83 min; Hindi, Rebari; Documentary; India; 2025
The film explores the life and tribulations of Ganeshi, a frail looking girl of 16 years belonging to the Rabari community in Southern Rajasthan, India. Ganeshi’s destiny was decided by her parents and community elders when married off at the age of 4 years. The film follows Ganeshi for 5 critical years of her life, when she must negotiate and fight within her community to pursue her dreams.
Vadakku Pattarai
Dir :Vaali RajaGanesan; 19 min; Short Film; Tamil; India; 2025
Caste-based oppression is spreading like a disease in India. The story of an
oppressed girl who aspires to find a cure for it!
Day 5, 19 April 2026
11 am to 1 pm
Dir: P Abhijith; 115 min; Documentary; Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada; India; 2025
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Njaan Revathi is a brief journey into the life of transwoman A. Revathi, a writer,activist, and actor. It depicts the lifelong ordeals and struggles of a trans person. Revathi left her home in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu in the mid-1980s and lived in the hijra communities of Delhi and Mumbai. Over the years, she became a trans rights activist, a well-known writer and speaker,and more recently, a theatre actor. As Revathi and her contemporaries narrate her eventful life,the documentary explores the lives of trans people in India.
2 pm to 5 pm
Working Girls
Dir: Paromita Vohra; 133 min; Documentary; Multiple Indian languages; India; 2025
Working Girls is a vivid, genre-defying documentary that traverses India to uncover theinvisible yet essential work performed by women — from care work and domestic work to surrogacy and sex work. Filmed in Kolkata, Mumbai, Shillong, Latur, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Madurai, the film meets domestic workers, farmers, mothers, ASHA workers, dancers, and organisers whose labour sustains society but is rarely acknowledged.
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