31st Social Justice Film Festival, Bengaluru
17,18 July 2026; St Joseph’s University
Curated by Amudhan RP
Schedule (yet to get the approval from the filmmakers)
17 July
9.30 am to 12.30 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.
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 Delivery Guy
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.
Eid ka Kurta
Dir : Farha Khatun; 5 min; Documentary; India; 2025
An untouched, white kurta becomes witness to the maze of hatred engulfing human conscience.
Chhaupadi
Dir : Hemant Bhattarai; 30 min; Documentary; Nepal; 2024
"Chhaupadi" is a poignant short documentary that explores the practice of Chhaupadi prevalent in rural Nepal, where menstruating women and young girls are forced to live in isolated huts or cow sheds due to cultural taboos. This practice stems from deep-rooted cultural beliefs surrounding menstruation and is believed to protect the family from misfortune.
Caste, Constitution, Justice
Dir: Amal Raj;. 34.49 min; Documentary; Tamil; 2025
This documentary attempts to trace the constitutional struggle undertaken and spearheaded by (late) Mr P S Krishnan, IAS (of 1956 batch). He along with like-minded IAS officials, dreamt an impossible dream, i.e., to dismantle the caste system and reclaim the dignity, rights and justice on behalf of the SC, ST and OBCs and other marginalised communities of India.
1.30 pm to 4.30 pm
A Letter To Lanka
Dir: Ilakkiya Mariya Simon; 28:00; Norway; Documentry; Non Competition
A Letter To Lanka moves between memories of the civil war to the present political turmoil. Told through a poetic and personal journey of the filmmaker`s reconnection to land, soil and people, it invites the audiences into existential questions of belonging in a chaotic world. What does it mean to be at home in the world? What binds people together, and what can break them apart?
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.
Gail & Bharat
Dir : Somnath Waghmare; 80 min; Marathi, Hindi; Documentary; India; 2025
Gail & Bharat traces the extraordinary life and partnership of sociologist Gail Omvedt and activist Bharat Patankar, weaving together love, scholarship, and decades of grassroots struggle within India’s anti-caste movements. Blending personal memory with political history, the film preserves a vital legacy of resistance, thought, and transformative social action.
Punishing the Professor
Dir : Aayna; 28 min; Documentary; India
P. Senrayaperumal was forced to drop out of school to play his part in the caste-bound genre of Raja Rani Attam theatre. He and his brothers spent their childhood playing female roles — enduring slurs, sexual harassment, and bearing the burden of tradition. At age 23, he made a desperate gamble to reclaim education all by himself, even while dancing through nights to survive. He did earn the education that he was systemically denied. He got a PhD on the folk tradition he had been practising, all the while holding on to the promise of higher education in the country. A promise that, in his case, was tragically short-lived.
Day 2, 18 July
9.30 am to 12.30 pm
Amad's Dream
Dir: Aashish Kiphayet; 9:30 min; Documentary; United States
Amad Mahbub is a Bangladeshi woman who left Bangladesh to escape social oppression and pursue education in neuroscience in the United States. The documentary tells the story of her resilience and transformation, as well as her connection to Henna and Kathak dance, spirituality, and activism. Through henna art, she navigates her Bangladeshi identity and resists women's oppression. Most importantly, we will see how her journey transforms her into an artist and uses henna art to stand with her homeland while she is in exile, especially in the time of the 2024 uprising in Bangladesh that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The film illustrates how the US diaspora contributed to the July uprising in Bangladesh last year.
Baghdad Graphic
Dir: D.K. Odessa; 15:00 min; Documentary; Iraq
Based on fragments from a never finished graphic novel, Baghdad Graphic presents an unflinching account of an Iraqi journalist and his desperate effort to survive the invasion of his country. An intensely personal portrait of the costs of war.
Topsy-Turvy
Dir: Mashrukur Rahman Khan; 26:50 min; Documentary; Bangladesh
Synopsis: Cyclone Remal rages on the coast of Patuakhali, the villagers are pushed through the edge to survive the storm.
Bali
Dir: Amoli Birewar; 25:45 min; Documentary; India
In a small village in Maharashtra, Sujata, a young girl from the Banjara tribe, is at that fleeting age when anything feels possible. She dreams of becoming a kabaddi player, inspired by the movies she loves. But as her school years come to an end, she is pushed toward a forced marriage, like generations of women before her. A district-level tournament becomes her last chance to change her future. As she steps onto the Kabaddi court, Sujata slips into a Bollywood-tinted dream, momentarily becoming the hero of her own story.
See Me, When You Leave
Dir: Dipin Chenayil; 17:37 min; Documentary; India
Kerala, the southernmost state in India, with its lush landscapes, has seen many migrate abroad for work, creating local labor shortages filled by distant migrants. These workers endure isolation, discrimination and uncertainty, often overlooked beyond their labour. Yet, amid struggle, they forge bonds, share stories, and discover solace in fleeting joys.
Seed Stories
Dir: Chitrangada Choudhury; 42:00 min; Documentary; India
In a village in the Niyamgiri mountains of the Eastern Ghats in Odisha, eastern India, a heroic effort is underway: barefoot ecologist Dr. Debal Deb and his 3 member-team are conserving over one thousand endangered heirloom varieties of rice, the world’s largest project of its kind. Odisha’s Eastern Ghats region is one of the world’s surviving biodiversity hotspots, with farmers and shifting cultivators, particularly from Adivasi (Indigenous) communities like the Kondhs possessing the knowledge of growing multiple crops with their own heirloom seeds, evolved over centuries. At the same time, the village and the wider region is irreversibly changing with the coming of genetically modified Bt and herbicide-tolerant cotton seeds and associated agrochemicals.
Unwritten Verses
Dir: Fathima Shanaz; 11:58 min; Short Fiction; Sri Lanka
Fathima, a 25 year old woman, seeks a divorce through the Quazi court. Her journey to obtain justice becomes challenging as she faces procedural delays, lack of support, and emotional hardship. The film follows her experiences within the system, highlighting the struggles many women encounter while trying to secure their rights. Fathima portrays one woman’s effort to find fairness and independence within the existing legal and social framework.
Killing the Travellers
Dir: Baazir Kaleelur Rahman; 24:00 min; Documentary; United Kingdom
Synopsis: "Killing the Travellers" is a documentary revealing the abductions of travellers on roads to and from Kattankudy during the midst of the civil war in Sri Lanka.
Note: We have received permission from the filmmakers for the films highlighted in blue.
