In other news, Imtiaz Ali has crafted something quietly special with his Partition film.
Omar Ahmed 🍉
@bressonian.bsky.social
Freelance Film Scholar l Writer & International Curator of South Asian Cinema I Currently writing BFI Film Classics monograph on Mani Kaul's Uski Roti (Bloomsbury) https://moviemahal.net/publications/ https://www.bfi.org.uk/profile/omar-ahmed
Spielberg & SF make natural bedfellows, but Disclosure Day is genuinely disappointing, to put it mildly.
Hi film folks. I'm delighted to have been able to curate a strand on the 'Indian Western' for this year's prestigious Widescreen Weekend in Bradford; 30 years! The films include SHOLAY (4K restoration), SONCHIRIYA and OMKARA (20th anniversary). www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/cinema/wides...
Pickpocket (1956), one of my favourite Bresson films, is screening in April at the BFI Southbank as part of 'Cinema and Sound' curated by filmmaker Mark Jenkins. I have recorded a video introduction to the screening on Wed 8 April. More info here: whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...
I don't think I was paying attention when this was published in @sightsoundmag.bsky.social last year. My entry for the Hidden Gems feature...
moviemahal.net/2025/11/20/s...
Swayamvaram / One’s Own Choice (Dir. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, 1972, Malayalam)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s debut feature Swayamvaram (1972) is a stark melodrama that marked the beginning of the Malayalam New Wave, an adjunct of India’s Parallel Cinema movement. The film …
moviemahal.net
The BFI monograph on Mani's USKI ROTI (1969) is nearing completion; had the aim of getting a first draft done by end of the year...
Just a reminder that my new book on Indian Parallel Cinema was published earlier this year. If anyone is interested in reviewing for any film publication outlets, etc. then please do get in touch; I can share/email a copy for review.
Very excited to heading to the @leedsfilmfest.bsky.social in November where I will be part of the film jury.
Never thought I would ever see a Shyam Benegal film make it to Blu-ray home video in a boutique release. So honoured to have been able to write the essay. Another much anticipated release from @secondrun.bsky.social & landmark restoration from Film Heritage Foundation in India. #ParallelCinema
The splendidly programmed final double bill from @ranjitsruprai.bsky.social in the new series of Bombay Mix. Unfortunately unable to attend in person now but have recorded an intro for Kundan Shah's JBDY, and which will be a very rare UK screening. Unmissable!
Ranjit S. Ruprai@ranjitsruprai.bsky.social · 11mo ago📷 Counterculture On Camera 📸 Join @ranjitsruprai.bsky.social, @bressonian.bsky.social (recorded intro) + film historian @britfilmmelanie.bsky.social for a double bill of JAANE BHI DO YAARO & BLOW-UP at Close-Up Cinema on SAT 27 SEP 2025 tinyurl.com/yc4m69ys Cool art by @bturnerinfo.bsky.social
📷 Counterculture On Camera 📸 Join @ranjitsruprai.bsky.social, @bressonian.bsky.social (recorded intro) + film historian @britfilmmelanie.bsky.social for a double bill of JAANE BHI DO YAARO & BLOW-UP at Close-Up Cinema on SAT 27 SEP 2025 tinyurl.com/yc4m69ys Cool art by @bturnerinfo.bsky.social
Bombay Mix is back! A new season of double bills at Close-Up Film Centre on 13, 20 & 27 Sep 2025 with Dr. Kulraj Phullar, @phuonghhle.com & @bressonian.bsky.social 🇮🇳 MOTHER INDIA + 🇨🇺 I AM CUBA 🏠 BABUL + 🏡 OUR MOTHER’S HOUSE 📷 JAANE BHI DO YAARO + 📸 BLOW-UP Info: supakino.com/events
The recent Film Heritage Foundation 4K restoration of Shyam Benegal's MANTHAN (India, 1976) is coming to Blu-ray via @secondrun.bsky.social in October 2025. A classic of Indian Parallel Cinema. More details here on the special features which includes a new essay on the film by me: t.co/5O6252yT2M
Happening today. 🎞️ 👇📽️
Omar Ahmed 🍉@bressonian.bsky.social · 12mo agoExcited to be back at HOME cinemas in Manchester on Thursday 28 August at 6.30pm. I will be introducing director Prem Kapoor's BADNAM BASTI (India, 1971), India's first queer film, and which is part of @cineredis.bsky.social on tour. More info & tickets: homemcr.org/whats-on/bad...
Excited to be back at HOME cinemas in Manchester on Thursday 28 August at 6.30pm. I will be introducing director Prem Kapoor's BADNAM BASTI (India, 1971), India's first queer film, and which is part of @cineredis.bsky.social on tour. More info & tickets: homemcr.org/whats-on/bad...
Badnam Basti (CTBA) + intro — Once lost and now rediscovered: India’s pioneering first queer film.
Once lost and now rediscovered: India’s pioneering first queer film.
homemcr.org
Deeply grateful for a truly thoughtful appreciation of my new book on Indian Parallel Cinema; a work that took years of research, immersion, and no small measure of obsession to bring to life. The paperback edition will be released early next year. ❤️ mubi.com/en/notebook/...
Never to Meet: Indian Parallel Cinema
A movement of filmmakers overturned the industrial hegemony of Bombay, rejecting the orthodoxies of patriarchy, religion, and caste.
mubi.com
Excited to be back at HOME cinemas in Manchester on Thursday 28 August at 6.30pm. I will be introducing director Prem Kapoor's BADNAM BASTI (India, 1971), India's first queer film, and which is part of @cineredis.bsky.social on tour. More info & tickets: homemcr.org/whats-on/bad...
Badnam Basti (CTBA) + intro — Once lost and now rediscovered: India’s pioneering first queer film.
Once lost and now rediscovered: India’s pioneering first queer film.
homemcr.org
In my intro to Badnam Basti at @cineredis.bsky.social I noted when I was researching the film, I stumbled upon an interview with Prem Kapoor in The Times of India in which he talks about a two part documentary he had finished making for the BBC on Indian cemeteries & Empire.
Excited to be in Bristol next week for @cineredis.bsky.social 2025 film festival where I will be introducing two screenings of Prem Kapoor's groundbreaking BADNAM BASTI. Thursday's screening (24 July) is sold out but still tickets available for Fri 25 July: 👇 🎞️ www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/1331...
Badnam Basti (Neighbourhood of Ill Repute)
This daring and progressive account of a complex love triangle broke all manner of taboos to emerge as India’s first queer film and an icon of Parallel Cinema.
watershed.co.uk
'What happens to radical cinema in reactionary times?' by Arjun Sengupta. 🎞️ A quite splendid review of my new book on Parallel Cinema from Frontline India.👇 frontline.thehindu.com/books/indian...
What Killed Indian Parallel Cinema?
Omar Ahmed locates the rise and fall of India’s parallel cinema within a shifting postcolonial state—caught between resistance and repression. His book suggests that parallel cinema declined after 199...
frontline.thehindu.com
'What happens to radical cinema in reactionary times?' by Arjun Sengupta. 🎞️ A quite splendid review of my new book on Parallel Cinema from Frontline India.👇 frontline.thehindu.com/books/indian...
What Killed Indian Parallel Cinema?
Omar Ahmed locates the rise and fall of India’s parallel cinema within a shifting postcolonial state—caught between resistance and repression. His book suggests that parallel cinema declined after 199...
frontline.thehindu.com
Thank you so much for believing in us! These are our next steps... Watch this space! @ranjitsruprai.bsky.social & @bressonian.bsky.social Founders of The Cloud Door
If you want to see classics of South Asian cinema issued in beautiful new editions - which you obviously do - then make sure you are backing this brilliant project!
The Cloud Door@the-cloud-door.bsky.social · last yr.We hit 20% of our kickstarter goal! Another milestone reached & all thanks to you! ❤️ Please keep spreading the word as we need all the support we can get to make this a reality. 🙏 You can pledge an amount or pre-order the Blu-ray: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcd...
Excited to be in Bristol next week for @cineredis.bsky.social 2025 film festival where I will be introducing two screenings of Prem Kapoor's groundbreaking BADNAM BASTI. Thursday's screening (24 July) is sold out but still tickets available for Fri 25 July: 👇 🎞️ www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/1331...
Badnam Basti (Neighbourhood of Ill Repute)
This daring and progressive account of a complex love triangle broke all manner of taboos to emerge as India’s first queer film and an icon of Parallel Cinema.
watershed.co.uk
Latest newsletter just landed in your inbox… please keep spreading the word about our new label and this first amazing film release… and keep making those pledges! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcd...
Lovely to see this plan! Again, check out their feed and their current Kickstarter to get things up and running for them. It's a striking looking first film to start with, and having this kind of open range for the future is a delight.
The Cloud Door@the-cloud-door.bsky.social · last yr.Thanks Ned for your support! Once we release this first title we will be up & running. We already have a plan to release more Indian film titles and we want to be all regions, all genres, all cinemas so in no way restricted to arthouse/indie films.
I have just learned about this excellent new boutique Bluray house with a focus on South Asian cinema -- their initial Kickstarter for their first release will run for another two weeks and a half, but they're only at 20%. Spread the word! This really looks like the start of a beautiful effort here.
The Cloud Door@the-cloud-door.bsky.social · last yr.☁️🚪The day has arrived! We are live with the Kickstarter and so are pre-orders for Om Dar-B-Dar. We are very excited to share with you details of the first release! ☁️🚪 www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcd...
Parallel Days/Bollywood Nights opens @newyork.asiasociety.org on Friday, @bressonian.bsky.social and @ranjitsruprai.bsky.social are launching @the-cloud-door.bsky.social, and Guru Dutt turned 100 this week! www.criterion.com/current/post...
