Cut.in

We started off our Artist in Residence week with editor, director Tanushree Das’ award winning film Baksho Bondi (Shadow Box). The conference hall named after our former Director Armaity Desai was transformed into the screening venue for a powerful film about women and their silent rebellion. The house was full and so were our hearts. Thank you @tanushree_skreenfilms for sharing your process and your thoughts with such intimacy and honesty. Here is a glimpse of the evening captured by @kireeekhaaan ’s camerawork, edited by @the_flowish_guy .

The School of Media and Cultural Studies warmly invites you to a special screening of Bakshobondi (Shadowbox) by award-winning filmmaker and editor Tanushree Das. The film starring Tillotama Shome as Maya is set against the backdrop of a dusty Kolkata suburb, and is a powerful narrative of love and the quiet strength of a working woman. The film was premiered in the Perspectives Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival 2025 and has since travelled widely, earning critical acclaim and multiple awards. 🗓 Date: April 20, 2026 🕠 Time: 5:30 PM 📍 Venue: Armaity Desai Hall The screening will be followed by a conversation with @tanushree_skreenfilms Open to all members of the TISS community.

Grateful to share that our film, "Songs Only the Wind Remembers," won the Runner-Up for Best Film at the 13th cut.in Students Film Festival organized by TISS, Mumbai. ​It was a privilege to engage in such thoughtful panel discussions and to see the film resonate with the jury and audience alike. Thank you to the festival organizers for the platform and for the deeply humbling citation. ​Huge congratulations to my entire crew and the cast for their brilliance and hard work. ​#Filmmaking #SRFTI #CutIn2026 #StudentFilm #TISSMumbai IndieFilm @cutdotin @tiss_smcs

Meet our Jury! Koval Bhatia- Koval is a filmmaker and producer based in India. Her first feature documentary as producer (Against the Tide) received the special jury award at Sundance film festival 23, the best feature documentary at Asia Pacific Screen Awards and The Golden Gateway Prize at Mami, 2023. She also works as a reviewer at organisations including IDA, Catapult Film Fund, Doc Society, and the British Film Institute. Jyoti Nisha- Jyoti Nisha is a writer- filmmaker, producer, academician and writer, recognized for pioneering the theory of Bahujan Spectatorship and her critical work on caste, gender and representation in Indian cinema. Trained at IIMC, Delhi, FTII, Pune & TISS, Mumbai, she has worked with filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan’s film on Geeli Pucchi and is the director of award-winning critically acclaimed documentary Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Now & Then (2023) currently streaming on Mubi. Samarth Mahajan- Samarth Mahajan is a Mumbai based filmmaker, passionate about telling human stories that remain invisible to the mainstream. His work includes two National Award winning documentaries - The 2022 feature “Borderlands” explores the lives defined by India’s borders, and the 2018 film “The Unreserved” captures stories from the general compartments of Indian Railways.

In 2024, ten women from a working-class neighborhood in Mumbai came together to learn filmmaking for the first time. Using smartphones and low-cost tools, the women began documenting their surroundings, conversations, and everyday moments. As they filmed, learned, and grew closer in the process, they explored what joy looked like in their lives: at home, at work, and in their shared time with one another. Differences of caste, religion, and personal histories shape their realities, yet humor, friendship, and curiosity binds them together. The film becomes an intimate portrait of both the personal and the collective, offering insight into their everyday negotiations, solidarities, and small acts of self-making. Moving between play, reflection, and experimentation, the film traverses genres—being shaped as much by those behind the camera as by those in front of it. Catch a special screening of “Mast Mahila Mandila” at the 13th Cut.in Students Film Festival on 21st February! Head to link in bio for more information.

Official Schedule of 13th Cut.in Students Film Festival, 2026. See you all from 19-21st February! Head to link in bio for more information.

This film revolves around one question—What does freedom mean for a dog? By decentering the human figure, the film examines the privilege humans impose on the animals they claim to love. A quiet hierarchy emerges: the “privileged” pet, held close but tethered to an unchanging human routine, and the stray, moving through open streets with a freedom that is uncertain and fragile. Neither is entirely free, nor entirely bound. Between safety and wandering, affection and restraint, loyalty and longing, the film listens for the soft edges of freedom. In their movement, we are asked to rethink what freedom, anyone’s freedom, really is. SMCS Student Films will be screened as part of the non-competition section.

In the shadow of Prabhadevi’s new high-rises, D’silva Wadi lingers in quiet suspension— once a warm, tightly knit enclave, now half-empty and awaiting redevelopment. The film traces the intimate memories that endure within this vanishing space through conversations with residents, fragments of family archives, and everyday rhythms that persist against uncertainty. For student filmmaker Abigail Fernandes, the film is deeply personal: the Wadi was home to her maternal great-grandparents, grandparents, mother, and to her own childhood. After losing her grandfather, her last living connection to the place, Abigail returned with her classmates from TISS to revisit its stories, its people and silences. SMCS Student Films will be screened as a part of the non-competition section.

Sant Ravidas ideated “Begumpura” as a land without sorrows, where everyone was equal no matter their caste or class. Five student filmmakers in Mumbai decided to explore this idea in 2025. Searching for a “begumpura” in Mumbai, this film goes from Damu Nagar, to Ambedkar Bhavan to Chaityabhoomi, following people who are trying to resist the increasing social divides and create this “Begumpura” of their own. SMCS Student films will be screened as part of the non-competition section.

A documentary set in the lively chaos of Mumbai. In Tilak Nagar, a small karaoke studio becomes a quiet refuge for a group of strangers turned friends. Over the course of four years, music weaves together lives, creating deep bonds among regulars. Through music, they’ve found connection, routine, and a sense of belonging in a city that can often feel distant, overwhelming and alienating. What began as casual visits slowly turned into a small community built on singing and shared experiences. The film follows “Jyoti More and Groups” as they come together to prepare for a grand celebration marking a journey of their community. SMCS Student Films will be screened as part of the non-competition section.

Six friends and film students go to Grant Road, in search of the place that was once a haven of cinema theatres. They stumble upon the shifting landscape of Grant Road—caught in the politics of redevelopment. This film is their attempt at retracing and imagining what the place used to be, what it is, and what it might become. SMCS Student films are being screened as part of the non-competition section.

A coming-of-age film exploring the complex relationship of a melancholic 17 year-old Varun and his mother Sujatha. Upon getting into a fight with his classmates, Varun spirals into an abyss of confusion, questioning his masculinity and maturity. With all the noises around him, he must navigate through his insecurities to find answers to questions that have troubled him deeply.