Screens
Introduction
In our film series we show and discuss a range of moving image works, from fiction to documentary and archival films, all under the banner of CHITrA Screens. We aim to explore the moving image in all its facets and consider the role of film within and as South Asian scholarship.
If you’d like to propose a screening, please write to lotte.hoek@ed.ac.uk
Content
Events
2025
I’m Not The River Jhelum - 11th February, 5pm-7pm, G.04 50 George Square
- I’m Not The River Jhelum, 2022, 95 mins, dir. Prabhash Chandra

I’m Not The River Jhelum is a film that delves deep into the complexities and hardships faced by individuals in Kashmir, primarily through the eyes of its young protagonist Afeefa. The film seeks to shed light on the various perspectives and realities that exist within Kashmir and across India, touching on sensitive subjects that are both timely and significant.
The film will be followed by a discussion with the film’s directed Prabhash Chandra, who will be with us in person.
2024
Survey City - 26th November, 12:30pm-2pm, G.22 19 George Square
- Survey City, 2024, 31 minutes; dirs. Sanjay Srivastava, Matt Birkinshaw, Tarini Manchanda

Ayesha and her family who live in a Delhi basti (informal settlement). She wants nothing more than to have security of tenure of her tiny house at the precarious edges of Delhi. This ethnographic film focuses on crucial survey-related documents that were intended to provided security of tenure were declared ‘lost’. Between the lost documents and their eventual discovery in a government office, lies the story of a locality, its people and mysterious relationships between government records and citizens. This is the story of Delhi’s Border Basti.
Followed up a discussion with the film’s director Prof. Sanjay Srivastava (SOAS).
Dear Mother - 21st October, 3-5pm, Screening Room (G.04), 50 George Square
- Dear Mother, 2023, dir. Sk. Shuvo Shadique

Damra, a young mountain girl, grew up believing that her mother lived atop an inaccessible mountain. She decided to write a letter to her mother after learning to write letters at school, but the unexpected death of her father left her wondering how she would send the letter. Made with guerilla filmmaking tactics, the film is made with the Mro community, the oldest and most marginalized tribe in the highly contested Chittagong Hill Tracts area of Bangladesh. The film is conveyed in their native language.
Followed by a discussion with filmmaker Sk Shuvo Shadique, Dr. Upali Sraman (Divinity) and. Prof. Lotte Hoek (SPS).
When the Tide Goes Out - 8th October, 3:30pm-6pm, G.02, 21 George Square
- When the Tide Goes Out, 2022, 118 mins, dir. Ajay Bhardwaj

This research based documentary film maps a history of radical political cultures of the South Asian diaspora in British Columbia in the long sixties. Combining a rich archive of cultural production with oral history interviews, memories of activism uncover the presence of gender inequality and sexism in struggles as well as in society at large.
Followed up a discussion with the film’s director Dr. Ajay Bhardwaj.