Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition PART 1
Director: Various
Run time: 106 mins | Recommended Certificate: 18
Language: Multiple languages with English subtitles | Year: 2025-26 | Country: India, Pakistan, UK, USA
The festival’s internationally-renowned competition selects emerging filmmakers’ works from South Asia and around the world. All the selected films are, in different ways, felt to enshrine the legendary director Satyajit Ray’s humanist vision and subtlety of story and eye.
Short Film Programme Part 1
Moti
Dir: Yash Saraf | 16 mins | Bengali with English subtitles
At the start of the pandemic, a family in Kolkata discovers that their pet dog Moti has turned into a boy – leading to a journey of ridiculous science and absurd evolution, all in search of a new normal.
Abracadabra
Dir: Amay Mehrishi | 20 mins | Hindi, English with English subtitles
On a school bus ride that feels both endless and fleeting, 12-year old Agastya wrestles with identity, guilt, and unspoken emotions when his best friend chooses to sit elsewhere.
11:11
Dir: Mahnoor Eupoch | 15 mins | English
When 16-year-old Pakistani-American Noori’s wish at 11:11 to be her crush’s type goes awry, she’s magically transformed into a white, blonde, blue-eyed girl — and she must undo the wish before losing herself completely.
Permanent Guest
Dir: Sana Jafari | 15 mins | Urdu with English subtitles
A young woman’s world is rattled by the arrival of a relative who forces her to weigh family obligations against growing discomfort.
Barber of the Gods
Dir: Sushant Nagpal | 20 mins | Hindi with English subtitles
In an unnamed town in 2000s India, a barber and his son possess a strange gift – they can regrow people’s hair in exchange for years from their lives. In a parallel realm rooted in Hindu cosmology, a divine barber and his curious apprentice tend to the gods themselves.
Kuchar (The Itch)
Dir: Vaidaangi Sharma | 20 mins | Hindi with English subtitles
After the whirl of a washing machine unexpectedly introduces her to new sensations, teenage Chanda struggles to conceal her new discovery within the household. Meanwhile, her strict and composed mother is keeping secrets of her own.