IFA Film Festival | October 09-11, 2014 | Mumbai

Thursday, October 9, 2014 | 07:00 PM
CITY OF PHOTOS | 60 minutes
By Nishtha Jain
City of Photos explores the little known ethos of neighborhood photo studios in Indian cities, discovering entire imaginary worlds in the smallest of spaces. Desires, memories and stories all so deeply linked to photographs come together as a part of the personal journey into the city of photos.

Friday, October 10, 2014 | 07:00 PM
OUT OF THIN AIR | 50 minutes
By Shabani Hassanwalia & Sameeran Farooqui
Out of Thin Air is the story of one of the most surreal and hostile landscapes in the world. This is the story of Ladakh, not through the postcards that tourists often see, but through the subterranean, local film movement that has taken such strong root here in the last six years, that it has become a voice of the people. Today, taxi drivers, grocery store owners, cops and monks are producers, directors, camerapersons and actors of one of the youngest and most dynamic, local film industries in the world.

Saturday, October 11, 2014 | 04:00 PM
THE NINE MONTHS | 70 minutes
By Merajur Rahman Baruah
The Nine Months is an evocative film that explores the history, form, style and aesthetics of Assam’s mobile theatre. It records the transformation in themes and repertoires in the genre of performance, captures the experience and perspectives of its promoters, directors, actors, technicians, and stagehands, and documents the impact of globalisation on its practice. It explores the various kinds of plays staged by the mobile theatre, the issues they deal with and how the genre has transformed from presenting mythological and folk stories to contemporary themes with social and political implications.

Saturday, October 11, 2014 | 05:30 PM
THE OTHER SONG | 120 minutes
By Saba Dewan
In 1935, Rasoolan bai, the well known singer from Varanasi, recorded for the Gramaphone a thumri that she would never sing again - Lagat jobanwa ma chot, phool gendwa na maar (My breasts are wounded, don’t throw flowers at me). A variation of her more famous song - Lagat karejwa ma chot, phool gendwa na maar (My heart is wounded, don’t throw flowers at me), the 1935 recording, never to be repeated, faded from public memory and eventually got lost. More than seventy years later, The Other Song travels through Varanasi, Lucknow and Muzzafarpur in search of the forgotten thumri.