The 16th edition of the Habitat Film Festival organised by the India Habitat Centre will screen 38 feature films, 10 documentaries and three short film packages from May 3 to 12 in New Delhi.
A rich lineup of retrospectives, workshops, masterclasses, and panel discussions will also be organised as part of the festival.
In this edition of the festival, the spotlight will be on filmmaker Kumar Shahani whose recent demise has left a void in the world of cinema. A student of Ritwik Ghatak and a contemporary of luminaries like Mani Kaul and KK Mahajan at the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Shahani infused the Indian New Wave cinema with his unique artistic sensibilities.
The festival will open with Jayant Somalkar’s Stahl, a Marathi production that garnered the NETPAC Award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Shot in the Vidarbha region with non-professional actors, it depicts the inner workings of Indian matchmaking, showcasing a young woman's struggle for autonomy in the face of arranged marriage.
Adding to the lineup is Atul Sabharwal's Berlin featuring Ishwak Singh and Aparshakti Khurana, promising an engaging espionage drama. The festival will span various languages including Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and more, with notable entries like Kaathal - The Core, Ardhangini, All India Rank, Mithya and Samanantar.
The documentary segment shines a light on impactful stories, including Sarvnik Kaur's Sundance-winning Against the Tide, portraying the livelihood struggles of Mumbai’s Koli community. Director Sreemoyee Singh’s And, Towards Happy Alleys and documentaries like The House of Baruas and The Lotus and The Swan are also set to captivate audiences.
Moreover, an exhibition in collaboration with the National Film Archive of India will showcase Hindi film posters and memorabilia from the 1970s.
