Indian Documentary Film Festival Returns to Bhubaneswar for Sixth Edition

Bhubaneswar: The sixth edition of the Indian Documentary Film Festival of Bhubaneswar (IDFFB), organised by the Film Society of Bhubaneswar (FSB), begins Thursday at the GKCM Odissi Research Centre auditorium.

The four-day festival will screen 40 documentaries, including selections from renowned international festivals such as Berlin, Sundance, Rotterdam, Busan, and IDSFFK.

The festival opens with A Tale to Begin With by Bishweshwar Das, a poignant portrait of celebrated poet Jayanta Mahapatra at 94. Other featured films include Cycle Mahesh by Suhel Banerjee, Our Land Our Lives by Telanga Hasa, and Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai by Achal Mishra. Roya Sadat’s The Sharp Edge of Peace, a political thriller from Afghanistan, highlights the resilience of women peace negotiators.

Renowned filmmaker and Padma Shri awardee Girish Kasaravalli will be in attendance, with screenings of his acclaimed works including Naadada Navaneeta, Ananthamurthy: Not a Biography but a Hypothesis, and Images and Reflections.
The festival has a special focus on South Asian cinema, with entries from Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Nepal — notably Dhorpatan by Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey.

Discussions and interactive sessions with filmmakers like Prachi Bajania, Ranajit Roy, Lalit Vachani, and scholar Moinak Biswas will complement the screenings.

Also in the spotlight are Mic Drop by Kallol Mukherjee, profiling a rapper from Bundelkhand, and Deja Vu by Bedabrata Pain, focusing on the plight of small US farmers.