Musamoni never received schooling, and her early marriage brought her an early widowhood. Her anguish overflows as she sits down to narrate folklore and departure songs of the brides of patriarchy in the east of India.
Musamoni Panigrahi (1920s–2017), fondly called “Nani Ma” by her neighbours, appears in the centre of this first film in the Baleswari dialect of India's Odia language. The story revolves around folklore and folk songs narrated by Nani Ma. Born in the 1920s in pre-independent rural India in a coastal village in the Balasore district of Odisha, she never got to go beyond the first few days of school. The film is an alternate history of a society broken through colonization, Brahminical patriarchy and a post-famine (Orissa famine of 1866, killing nearly 5 million people, one-third of the population), and the dominance of formal writing over spoken tongues. Three academics -- Damayanti Beshra, PhD (recipient of India’s fourth civilian award, “Padma Shri”), Panchanan Mohanty, PhD (noted linguist), and Laxmikanta Tripathy, PhD, DLitt (anthropologist and author) -- also appear in the film to provide contextual commentary on patriarchy, oral history and the sociolinguistic diversity.
Self
(Self - Voice)
(Self - Voice)
(Self - Voice)
26 May 2022
The Volunteer Archivists tells the story of Srujanika, a volunteer-led collective in the Indian state of Odisha that archived some of the rarest printer publications published in the last 200 years. The archive — Odia Bibhaba — now houses over 10,000 books and hundreds of magazines, newspapers, and dictionaries that otherwise would have been lost forever due to collective negligence and the poor state of digitization by the state archives.
12 Jun 2025
"Randi Pua Ananta" follows the journey of Ananta, a notorious troublemaker who undergoes a remarkable transformation into a selfless hero. When a devastating flood threatens his village, Ananta makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his people, proving that redemption can come in the most unexpected ways.
06 Jun 1985
A man from lower social background qualifies and gets an administration job and to match his higher social occupation, he leaves his family, friends, and fiance. But gradually he understands his mistake and returns for his people. Finally he finds his wrong decision for the mining in his village has lead to the destruction and down fall of his people and everyone lives the village and him behind alone.
25 Sep 2022
A Carefree Artist confronts The Pioneer of Odia literature Byaasakabi Fakir Mohan, to lament about the current state of the Odia Language and how it has been looked down upon by the elites of the state. Will his voice be heard?
A rural village never wanted to be a city’s landfill or a distant blur in Reels but rather home to new imaginations. Bringing Down a Mountain dissects the intersecting themes of access, abolition and caste through the experiences of residents of a rural village and that of a hyper-urban city. The film follows the village residents’ dreams—of mobile data, digital payment and relief from menial work. What happens when the landfill is full, and dreams want to break free?
24 Oct 2013
History shows that, when citizens are unarmed, government suppression and tyranny are inevitable. MOLON LABE - inspired by The Sword and Sovereignty by Edwin Vieira, Jr., A.B., A.M., Ph.D., J.D. Harvard - explores how the "power of the sword" guarantees America's freedom.
19 Nov 2021
A documentary 33 years in the making. A director and friend of Kurt Vonnegut seeks through his archives to create the first film featuring the revolutionary late writer.
01 Jul 2005
A sheltered aristocratic woman in feudal Japan, bored and unfamiliar with the world outside her estate, passes the time copying a special Buddhist sutra sent by her father who has been absent on official business for years. While gazing out her window one late afternoon, the setting sun creates a vision of a holy figure in the distant mountains.
14 Feb 2003
Oliver Stone spends three days filming with Fidel Castro in Cuba, discussing an array of subjects with the president such as his rise to power, fellow revolutionary Che Guevara, the Cuban Missile crisis, and the present state of the country.
07 Jan 2005
Amu is the story of Kaju, a twenty-one-year-old Indian American woman who returns to India to visit her family and discover the place where she was born. The film takes a dark turn as Kaju stumbles against secrets and lies from her past. A horrifying genocide that took place twenty years ago turns out to hold the key to her mysterious origins.
15 Feb 2018
Upon suddenly learning of her imminent death, Jacqueline von Kaenel begins to search for the key to her life. Unsparingly, she looks back and discovers how everything is connected; her youth in Franco’s Spain with her mother’s feudal past in eastern Prussia, her desire for music with the one for a dominant and powerful husband. In her ambition to be a perfect mother, she recognizes her fight for identity. But all of a sudden experiences from her childhood in a seemingly happy family crop up turning everything upside down.
15 Apr 2023
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Bronx, 6-time Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Arturo O'Farrill brings to life a 9-piece hip-hop-jazz ensemble converting stories of South Bronx life to music resounding in the streets.
29 Sep 2019
In this documentary we see Khyentse Norbu (director of The Cup, 1999) in Nepal during the filming for his latest film Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache, where he effortlessly switches between working with the hip film crew and performing ancient Buddhist rituals.
07 Jun 2024
DRIVER is a soulful exploration of resolute female long-haul truck drivers pursuing validation for their hard-earned work as they navigate the oppressive forces in their industry. Employing an intimate lens, Nesa Azimi’s first feature brings the audience into a community of solidarity and self-determination.
06 Jun 2024
When a massive Chinese factory complex attempts a high-stakes expansion in rural Ethiopia, three women in search of prosperity have their faith in industrialization tested to the limit. Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film was awarded the Jury Special Mention at Tribeca Festival.
03 Apr 2025
Nicolás Molina’s visually astounding Pirópolis drops the viewer in the fiery port city of Valparaíso, Chile and observes a pack of determined volunteer firefighters as they band together to combat turbulent wildfires ravaging the city.
28 Oct 2023
Legendary British guitarist Chris Spedding and enigmatic frontman Snips (aka Stephen Parsons) trace the fall and rise of their cult seventies band, the Sharks from the Marquee Club to... wherever. With former sex Pistol Paul Cook and Punk Empress 'Jordan' Mooney.
05 Jun 2024
The story of the iconic trailblazer known by her initials DVF worldwide. Child of a Holocaust survivor, Princess by marriage, and founder of a fashion brand. Featuring interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Marc Jacobs, Hillary Rodham Clinton and more.
12 Apr 1990
In 1988 it was exactly one hundred years ago that the Nicaraguan writer Ruben Dario published his first work. Azul was the first publication of modern poetry in the Spanish language. Legiarda-Laura has given the same title to his film, because he wanted to show the Nicaraguan poetic inheritance. 24 poems are read, interspersed with interviews and discussions. Thus, the cultural soul of Nicaragua is mapped out.