Program: 18th January 2026 – 25th January 2026
Shakti Arts warmly welcomes the community to live music performances and a selection of films curated by AVFF ’26.
Sunday 18 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Screenings
- 19:30 | Farming The Revolution (India, 2024, Dir. Nishtha Jain, 105min, NR R) In 2020 Gurbaz Sangha, a young Punjabi farmer led thousands to Delhi protesting new Farm Laws. Joined by over half a million from diverse backgrounds they remained at borders despite COVID lockdown, vowing to stay until laws were repealed.
- 21:15 | Purna Maha Kumbh Mela (India 2025, Dir. Lalit Verma, 22min, NR G) Experience the Purna Maha Kumbh Mela. A journey within.
- 21:37 | The Waves Will Never Stop (India, 2025, Dir. Karthik Sreenivasan w/ Sai Krishna L V, Sanjana Reddy, 10min, NR G) Fisherman Narayanan carries memories of the 2004 Tsunami that shattered his village. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
- 21:47 | The Poetics Of Change (India, 2025, Dir. Logeswaran M, 10min, NR G) Experimental narrative, exploring Ladakh as a time capsule through juxtaposed shots. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
Monday 19 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: A Line Meant To Be
Screenings
- 19:30 | Moon Juice/Chander Rosh (India, 2025, Dir. Nefertiti Chakrabarti, 3min, NR G) Shot on a single reel of super 8 film with no editing. Premiered at Straight 8 2025 at the British Film Institute.
- 19:33 | Moribund: An Art Project (India, 2025, Dir. Birgitta Volz, 6min, NR G) Dedicated to Auroville, currently under pressure. Presents the destruction of Auroville as symbolic of environmental vandalism. Birgitta’s art reflects the crisis.
- 19:39 | Moments Of Joy (India, 2025, Dir. Santosh Manik, 11min, NR G) A poetic journey into the mind of Ladakhi poet Padma Angmo. Her verses blend with the rhythms of nature and daily life, asking us to slow down and rediscover joy in simplicity. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
- 19:50 | Afrotōpia (Gabon, 2025, Dir. David Mboussou, 128min, NR G) Set in Equatorial Africa, in the heart of the Congo Basin, the film follows Ezekiel, a 25-year-old aspiring filmmaker who lives under the authority of his father, Maurice, a powerful businessman who opposes his artistic ambitions.
Tuesday 20 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Suryan
Screenings
- 19:30 | The Cosmic Atomic/Brahmandam Pindandam (India, 2025, Dir. Kanchan Avchare, 20min, NR G) Traces the journey of civilization from the harnessing of fire through technology. An absurdist take on the purposelessness of the universe.
- 19:49 | Bride Of Aravan (India, 2023, Dir. Lesley Branagan, 49min, NR G) Captures the register of life as a transgender woman in south India through the protagonist Bawadharini.
- 20:39 | I Stole Your Ashes/He Robado Tus Cenizas (Spain, 2024, Dir. Felipe Olaya, 23min, NR R) Isabel has become a widow at 65. After stealing the urn of ashes, Isabel takes refuge in a park to say goodbye to the love of her life.
- 21:02 | Ballad Of The Mountain (India, 2024, Dir. Tarun Jain, 17min, NR G) An outcast girl must fight the bullies and overcome her fears to pursue her ambition to fly to the other side of the mountain.
- 21:19 | The Nightingale’s Song (UK-USA, 2024, Dir. Adam Loften w/ Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee, 40min, NR G) The voices of nightingales have lit up the forests of England for over a million years. As climate change impacts their grounds, they may disappear within 50 years.
Wednesday 21 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Auroville Trio
Screenings
- 19:30 | Why/Чому (Ukraine-Spain, 2023, Dir. Natxo Leuza Fernandez, 22min, NR R) Why do they humiliate us? Why do they take everything from us? Why do I have to run away?
- 19:52 | The First Film (India, 2024, Dir. Piyush Thakur, 24min, NR G) In a small town of 1960’s India, where cinema is forbidden for women, a 14-year-old embarks on a quest to watch her first film.
- 20:16 | Dear Beautiful Beloved (Austria, 2024, Dir. Juri Rechinsky, 93min, NR R) There is a war going on in Europe. Our neighbors are fleeing from death and destruction. This film will give a face to some of their stories.
- 21:48 | Amudha (India, 2025, Dir, Rosann Robinson, 11min, NR G) Amudha is a young girl, who sells balloons near the beach. She and her sister are orphans.
Thursday 22 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Jayala
- 18:30 | Live Music: Fakirah
Screenings
- 19:30 | Aloha ‘Āina (USA, 2024, Dir. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee w/ Adam Loften, 47min, NR G) Today, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio’s poetry is focused on protecting sacred sites and creating a future for Native Hawaiians rooted in ‘love for and of the land’.
- 20:17 | A Game of Destiny (India-UK, 2024, Dir. Zorba, 9min, NR G) At 6 years of age, Tibetan Kunsang found himself living in an orphanage as a refugee. 30 years later, Kunsang shares his story of life living in exile.
- 20:26 | Trashy Film/Kuppai Padam (India, 2025, Dir. Stanzin, 86min, NR G) A writer loses his laptop just before an important meeting and must race to find it with no memory of the last 12 hours.
Friday 23 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Vera’s Jazz Band
Screenings
- 19:30 | Village Rockstars 2 (India, 2024, Dir. Rima Das, 108min, NR G) In a village in Assam, a teenage girl passionately chases her dream of becoming a musician. Faced with harsh realities, she seeks a new harmony.
- 21:18 | How Would One Know If One Forgets Something? (India, 2025, Dir. Karthik Sreenivasan w/ Sai Krishna L W, Stanzin Angdu, 9min, NR G) Traces memory, change, and the passage of time in the fragile landscape of Ladakh. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
- 21:27 | Kooli Koduthu Sooniyam (India, 2023, Dir. Yatra Srinivassan, 9min, NR PG-13) A family torn apart by the protagonist’s alcohol addiction.
- 21:36 | You Lift On A Stroke, There’s A Dog Shelter (India, 2025, Dir. Donny Lee Duke, 17min, NR G) A video-photo-poem documentary about the Auroville Dog Shelter and the relationship between a human and the Supreme.
Saturday 24 January, 2026
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Edo & crew
Screenings
- 19:30 | Purga (Lithuania, 2024, Dir. Gintarė Valevičiūtė Brazauskienė w/ Antanas Skučas, 13min, NR R) Winter, 1942. Beyond the Arctic Circle, on an uninhabited island, deported people struggle to survive.
- 19:43 | Agent Of Happiness (Bhutan, 2024, Dir. Arun Bhattarai w/ Dorottya Zurbó, 94min, NR R) Amber is one of the many agents working for the Bhutanese government to measure people’s happiness levels among the remote Himalayan mountains.
- 21:17 | In The Light Of Time (India, 2025, Dir. Jahnavi Pradeep w/ Amogh Chauhan, 13min, NR G) Centered on prehistoric rock art sites along the Indus and Zanskar rivers, the film is a ‘love story’ between past, present, and future. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
- 21:29 | The Voice Of Others/La Voix Des Autres (France, 2023, Dir. Fatima Kaci, 30min, NR R) Rim is a Tunisian interpreter working in France on asylum procedures. Every day, she translates the stories of exiled men and women.
Sunday 25 January, 2026
- 17:00 | Awards
Performance
- 18:00 | Live Music: Blackcurrant
Screenings
- 19:30 | Reflekt (India, 2025, Dir. Santosh Manik, 11min, NR G) Chronicles a filmmaking residency at the Auroville Film Institute. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
- 19:41 | Where’s Masi? (India, 2025, Dir. Uttara Jadeja, 10min, NR PG-13) A homemade horror film about a young woman racing to save her friend from a sinister entity.
- 19:50 | The Strange Case Of The Human Cannonball (Ecuador, 2024, Dir. Roberto Valencia, 10min, NR R) A mysterious man is found lying in the square of a village inhabited by only six residents.
- 20:01 | Films Created In The Kino Kabaret (Auroville, 2026, Multiple Directors, 120min, NR G) All films were created within 48 hours on the 23rd and 24th of January 2026. The short films have in common one prop, one sound effect and one line of dialogue.
