Triveni Rai’s “The Shape of Momo” will open the 11th annual Indie Meme Film Festival in Austin on April 24th, while Vaishali Sinha’s documentary “Give It a Shot” will close the South Asian film festival on April 26th.
Ali Asghari’s The Divine Comedy will be the featured presentation on April 25th, and screenwriter Alireza Hatami will participate in a Q&A after the screening. The festival will kick off on April 22 with Jitank Singh Gurjar’s ‘Vimukt’ (In Search of the Sky). The 2026 edition will consist of 27 films: 6 narrative features, 4 documentaries and 17 short films representing 14 countries, with all screenings taking place at AFS Cinemas.
Rai’s directorial debut, The Shape of Momo, is loosely based on her own life and centers on Vishnu, a woman torn between family obligations and personal freedom after giving up her job and returning to her Himalayan village. Screenwriter Kisley will also be in attendance and will participate in a Q&A after the screening.
The festival will open on April 22nd with a mixer by the members prior to the kick-off screening of director Gurjal’s “Vimukt”. This Indian film follows a poor elderly couple whose developmentally disabled son is a source of shame for their village. In search of a path forward, they take part in the Maha Kumbh pilgrimage, which is held once every 144 years. We hope that this journey will change our destiny. The film won two Netpac Awards at the Toronto Film Festival.
Asghari’s “The Divine Comedy” was made in Iran, Italy, Germany, France and Turkey and follows 40-year-old filmmaker Bahram, whose films in Turkey and Azerbaijan were never allowed to be screened in his home country. Denied again, he takes matters into his own hands and, with the help of Vespa-driving producer Sadaf, begins a secret effort to get his film before Iranian audiences, defeating censorship and absurd bureaucracy.
Sinha’s closing selection, Give It a Shot, is a Canada-India-U.S. co-production that follows the decades-long scientific effort to bring reversible male contraceptives to market, led by 83-year-old Indian researcher Dr. Sujoy Guha and his US-based development team. Sinha will participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Among additional narrative features, Ishan Shukla’s science fiction anime Silcor: The Lies We Trust (India/France/Germany) imagines a near-future society where residents cover their faces with paper bags to neutralize social hierarchies, until a new councilor inadvertently causes a rebellion. Directed by Shivaranjini J., Victoria is about a small-town Indian hairdresser who is drawn into an increasingly complex web of religious and cultural tensions when she elopes with her Hindu boyfriend. Annapurna Sriram’s Fucktoys takes a surrealist approach to the story of a sex worker on a chaotic quest to break a curse.
The documentary includes Orlando von Einsidel’s Cycle of Love, the story of PK Mahanandia, a Delhi street artist who made an unusual overland bicycle journey from India to Sweden in 1977 in pursuit of the woman he loved. Arjun Talwar’s Letter from Wolf Street uses a straight road in central Warsaw as a lens through which an Indian immigrant filmmaker attempts to understand his adopted homeland. Rachel Immarat’s “An Unquiet Mind” turns the camera on the rarely explored reality of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The festival’s Texas Show, to be held on April 23, spotlights locally based South Asian filmmakers and highlights the international premiere of Aliza Khan’s Texas Jaanu. In the film, a newlywed film buff from India meets a group of experimental filmmakers in Austin, and in the process finds their marriage uneasy. Also featured will be Santosh Dahal’s “New Moon Rain,” about an American father who receives harsh criticism from those around him for relying on traditional methods of discipline.
The short program includes several premier presentations. Mukti Krishan’s ‘Waagh (The Leopard)’ will make its US premiere, while Rishi Chandna’s ‘Kanippu (The Prediction)’ and Amol Jalandhar Jadhav’s ‘Deva Aaj Pan Vhay’ will both make their North American premieres. Sayani Gupta, who directed the short film ‘Asmani’, will also be present and take part in a Q&A session. Other short stories include ‘A Door To My Memory’ by Shehryal Ali, ‘Ali’ by Adnan Al Rajeev, ‘Blessings (Maaybaapache Aashiriwaad)’ by Apurva Vardapurkar and ‘Little Fishies’ by Mallika Juneja.
Ananya Ravi, board chairwoman, said the festival has grown far beyond its origins as an annual event. “As 2010 begins, we are beginning to see the fruits of the meaningful connections this festival has fostered between filmmakers and audiences,” she said. “Our desire to showcase South Asian storytelling has grown into a year-long effort that includes screenings and events, drawing attention from filmmakers and film enthusiasts around the world to what we are doing in Austin.”
Programming Chair Animon Jose said this year’s selection reflects the vitality of South Asian diaspora filmmaking. “This year’s ambitious lineup focuses on the fearless voices of the South Asian diaspora, pushing the boundaries of storytelling while exploring universal themes of identity, resilience and the human spirit, and social change,” he said.
