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.

Panel Discussion:
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE: INDIAN-AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS FILMS

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.

Meenakshi Shedde is an independent Film Curator, based in Mumbai. Programming with the Toronto International Film Festival since 2011, she is Senior Programme Advisor, South Asia, TIFF; Berlin Film Festival (1998-2025, 27 years) and festivals worldwide. She is Curator, Indian Indigenous Film: Cinema from the Margins for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2026. She has been Jury Member of the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Festivals, including Jury of the Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique, Critics’ Week, 2023. She was also Golden Globes International Voter 2023, and is Member, Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA, Australia). She has been Script Mentor/Consultant on Script Labs/Film Funds--Sundance, Venice Biennale College Cinema, Hubert Bals, Asia Pacific Screen Lab, APSA. A journalist and critic, she has experience in Impact of Films.