CHANGING THE NARRATIVE
‘INDIAN INDIGENOUS FILMS: CINEMA FROM THE MARGINS’
Curated by Meenakshi Shedde
Presenting ‘Indian Indigenous Films: Cinema from the Margins,’ an exciting package of seven Indian Indigenous Films from all over India, that will astonish you with their original, universal storytelling and solid, modern craftsmanship, move you, and smash every stereotype you had about Indian indigenous people/adivasis/tribals being people in loincloths with bows and arrows.
Take Theja Rio, brilliant Naga filmmaker and rising star from the Angami tribe, North East India, who studied film at the National Film and Television School, London. He will personally present his two films ‘Remains’ (a post-colonial push-back) and ‘Ade’ and participate in a panel discussion Changing The Narrative on August 22-- while finishing his highly anticipated debut feature Angh.
There is Nihaarika Negi’s Tenfa (Kinnauri, Himachal, Western Himalayas, honouring oral storytelling), KS Unnikrishnan’s Thanthapperu, Life of a Phallus (political film set amid Cholanaikka cave dwellers, Kerala, South India); and three films by Assamese filmmakers set in various indigenous communities, North East India—Khanjan Kishore Nath’s Kangbo Aloti, The Lost Path (in Karbi), Pankaj Borah’s Noi Katha, River Tales, and Maharshi Tuhin Kashyap’s Flowers in a Hailstorm, an experimental short documentary.
These features, documentary and shorts that change the narrative, address diverse contemporary issues of identity, tradition, post-colonialism, violent separatism and climate change.
Kangbo Aloti, The Lost Path by Khanjan Kishore Nath, in Karbi, Assam, North East India, Feature [Opening Feature of the Indian Indigenous section]
Thanthapperu, Life of a Phallus by KS Unnikrishnan Avala, Malayalam, Cholanaikka, Kerala, South India, Feature
Noi Katha, River Tales by Pankaj Borah, Assamese, North East India, Feature
Remains by Theja Rio, Naga, Nagaland, North East India, short
Ade (On a Sunday) by Theja Rio, Naga, Nagaland, North East India, short
Tenfa by Nihaarika Negi, Kinnauri, Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalayas, short
Flowers in a Hailstorm by Maharshi Tuhin Kashyap, Assamese, North East India, short documentary
Cinema From The Margins
An insightful, entertaining discussion between two indigenous filmmakers-- Theja Rio, Naga filmmaker from the Angami tribe, Nagaland, North East India, who studied at the National Film and Television School, London, and Tiriki Onus, the Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung filmmaker, performer, and Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, Australia.
Moderated by Meenakshi Shedde, senior film curator [Toronto, Berlin Film Festivals] from Mumbai, Curator of the first ‘Indian Indigenous Films: Cinema from the Margins’ section, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2026. The Indian Indigenous Film section, brainchild of Mitu Lange, IFFM Festival Director, is a landmark, and probably the first time an Indian indigenous film section has ever been curated at an international film festival outside India.
The panel will discuss the original storytelling of indigenous filmmakers in India and Australia, their commonalities; how stories can reshape identity, self-respect, and help resist colonisation by non-indigenous people; and above all, as Tiriki Onus puts it, “it’s about what we’re holding for those who come after.”
*Theja Rio will personally present his shorts Remains and Ade (On A Sunday) at IFFM.
Tiriki Onus is a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung artist, academic and filmmaker and is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous), as well as being the Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts in Cultural Development, and Co-Director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures, in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne. In his role as PVC, Tiriki Onus supports the delivery of Murmuk Djerring with a particular focus on students. The role champions cultural safety, reducing historical fear and improving engagement and dissemination of Indigenous knowledges among students, both First Nations and non-indigenous, within the university community and beyond. As an artist and educator, Tiriki’s work fosters innovation in research, development, advocacy, representation and inclusion of Indigenous arts and cultural practices and practitioners in the academy. Tiriki completed his PhD Biganga: Mapping Paths Back to Knowing in 2025.
Meenakshi Shedde is an independent Film Curator of South Asian cinema globally, based in Mumbai. She is Senior Programme Advisor, South Asia, Toronto International Film Festival; Berlin Film Festival (1998-2025, 27 years). She is Curator, Indian Indigenous Films, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne IFFM 2026, and will moderate a panel of Indian and Australian indigenous filmmakers. She has been researching the films and culture of Indian indigenous and Dalit communities since 10 years.
She was Jury Member, Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique, Critics’ Week, 2023 and Golden Globes International Voter 2023. A journalist and critic, she has been Script Mentor/Consultant, Script Labs/Film Funds: Sundance, Venice, Hubert Bals.
In Australia: Member, Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA); APSA Nominations Council (2013-2022); Script Mentor, Asia Pacific Screen Lab; Curator, IFFM; Melbourne International Film Festival’s Critics’ Mentor; Lectures: Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and Griffith University, Brisbane.
Theja Rio is an Indigenous Naga filmmaker from the Angami tribe, Nagaland, North East India. His work is rooted in the oral histories, landscapes, and cultural memory of the North East, exploring themes of identity, faith, belonging, and social change. His short film Angh (2021) won a Special Mention at Clermont-Ferrand, while his subsequent short, Ade (On a Sunday), 2024—both shot on 16mm--premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and won Best Film at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. A graduate of the National Film and Television School (UK), his Remains, made at the NFTS, which is also screening here at IFFM, was at the Cambridge Film Festival, EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival Poland. He is finishing Angh, his debut feature.
