To mark South Asian Heritage Month, we’ve teamed up with London Indian Film Festival to share a collection of documentaries that highlight the rich cultures, histories, and stories of South Asia.
London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) is Europe’s largest South Asian Film Festival showcasing the best of new Indian and South Asian cinema, web series, emerging filmmakers’ shorts and exciting forays into XR and computer games. This year marked their 15th edition, which included premieres of the Indo-American drama Paper Flowers, based on an inspirational true story and starring Karan Soni (Deadpool) and Kill, the latest from producer Karan Johar.
This year’s South Asian Heritage Month’s theme is “Free To Be Me” - “a space for sharing similarities, honouring differences, and providing a platform to highlight diverse voices." (southasianheritage.org.uk). Here’s Dogwoof’s and London Indian Film Festival’s list of documentaries to add to your watchlist this South Asian Heritage Month.
TO KILL A TIGER (2022)
Nisha Pahuja’s Oscar nominated film deals with the aftermath of a brutal crime. In Jharkhand, India, a 13-year-old girl was abducted and assaulted by three men. Her father, a poor rice farmer, goes to the police, but refuses the solution they offer. Instead, against the wishes of his community, he seeks legal redress to the crime. Winning multiple awards at film festivals across the world including Toronto and Palm Springs, To Kill a Tiger shows how one family’s strength can overcome the most heinous injustice and force a social reckoning that will reverberate throughout society.
To Kill A Tiger had its UK premiere at the London Indian Festival. You can now watch it on Netflix here.
ALL THAT BREATHES (2022)
In one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for the creatures in their makeshift avian basement hospital. Director Shaunak Sen (Cities of Sleep) explores the connection between the kites and the Muslim brothers who help them return to the skies, offering a mesmerising chronicle of inter-species coexistence.
Watch on Dogwoof On Demand here.
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. (2018)
Drawn from a cache of personal video recordings from the past 22 years, director Steve Loveridge’s Sundance award-winning MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is a startlingly personal profile of the critically acclaimed artist, chronicling her remarkable journey from refugee immigrant to one of the most recognisable, outspoken and provocative voices in music today.
Watch on Dogwoof On Demand here.
WRITING WITH FIRE (2021)
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India's only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India's biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
Watch on BBC iPlayer here.
Sachin: A Billion Dreams (2017)
James Erskine (One Night in Turin, Building Jerusalem) co-writes and directs this documentary about the life and career of legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. The film charts Tendulkar’s career from his first-class debut for Bombay at the tender age of 15, to becoming the highest runs scorer in the history of Test and ODI cricket. The documentary also gives insight into Tendulkar’s private life and includes interviews with his family as well as extensive contributions from Tendulkar himself.
Watch on Dogwoof On Demand here.
AGAINST THE TIDE (2023)
Mumbai fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system—a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has moved away from them, embracing technology. Against the Tide is a tale of deep friendship and rising resentment between the two men, against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is increasingly turning hostile because of climate change.
Watch on BBC iPlayer here.
Sing Me a Song (2019)
Young Peyangki lives and studies in a picturesque monastery deep in the mountains of Bhutan. A few years have passed since the king allowed TV and internet into the country, and now the structured daily rituals of candle lighting and recitation of prayers compete with the powerful lure of smart phones. Privately, Peyangki is passionate about love songs and falls in love on WeChat with a young singer from the city of Thimphu. Disinterested in study and often reprimanded by his masters, he sells medicinal mushrooms to make enough money to leave the monastery in search of “the one he dreams of night and day”. Peyangki trades in his robes for street clothes, but will he succumb to romance and the temptations of the city or return to his pious life in the monastery?
Watch on Dogwoof On Demand here.