3rd i Returns To San Francisco With Beyond Bollywood – Its 24th Annual International South Asian Film Festival

The 3rd i’s 24th annual San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival ‘Beyond Bollywood’ is returning with a lineup of narrative, documentary, and short films from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, France, South Africa, the UK, and the USA. According to a press release, the festival offers dark comedies, dramas, social satires, and cinematic perspectives on South Asia and its global diaspora.

Opening Night Retrospective

For its festival opening night, 3rd i will honor British-Indian director and screenwriter Avie Luthra with a showcase of his comedic and socially insightful short films. Titled “A Celebration of the Extraordinary Work of Avie Luthra,” the retrospective highlights stories exploring immigration, relationships, identity, gender, sexuality, and social justice. The opening night screening will also feature a live Q&A session with Luthra.

Spotlighting Women Filmmakers

Continuing its mission to provide a platform for women filmmakers and stories featuring women onscreen, the festival lineup showcases several prominent titles directed by women.

Acclaimed filmmaker Anusha Rizvi, whose debut film Peepli Live was India’s entry to the Academy Awards and the first Indian film to screen at Sundance, brings her latest project, The Great Shamsuddin Family (India, 2025). Set inside a Delhi apartment and unfolding over a single day, the social satire turns domestic chaos into a reflection of modern India.

The festival also features Ghost School (Pakistan/Germany/Saudi Arabia, 2025), directed by British-Pakistani filmmaker Seemab Gul. The narrative follows ten-year-old Rabia as she travels across a sun-drenched landscape seeking answers about local ghost stories and trying to understand why the only school in her village remains closed.

Boundaries of Indie Storytelling

This year’s selection includes independent narratives that push conventional storytelling boundaries. Director Sarmad Khoosat presents Lali (Pakistan, 2026), a layered thriller set around a young Punjabi couple and their families. The plot follows Zeba, whose three previous fiancés died under mysterious circumstances, as she marries Sajawal. Starting as a social satire, the film moves into an exploration of gender roles, jealousy, and the supernatural. Khoosat previously produced Joyland, a Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winner and Pakistan’s first film shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

In the arthouse experimental selection Sand City (Bangladesh, 2025), director Mahde Hasan examines urban alienation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Filmed by French cinematographer Mathieu Giombini, the story follows two parallel lives, Emma and Hasan, connected through their relationship with sand, solitude, and survival in a metropolis.

Documentaries on Tech Institutions and Indigenous Roots

Documentaries in the lineup include Technocats (India, 2026), directed by Gautam Sonti. An alumnus of India’s elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)—which have produced CEOs for global technology corporations like Google, Microsoft, and IBM—Sonti explores the pressure, rankings, and mental resilience required at these academic institutions.

The documentary Eternal Trees, Eternal Mountains (India/USA, 2026), co-directed by American researcher Harsha Reddy and historian Chris Chekuri, examines the Indigenous Chenchu tribal community in the forests of South India. The film follows Reddy’s two-decade connection with the region, which began in 1998 during a tiger study. The screening will feature a Q&A with both directors.

Festival Finale

The festival will close with The Loyal Man (France, 2020), a French-Sri Lankan Tamil romantic gangster thriller directed by Lawrence Valin. Set in the Paris underworld, the story centers on Aathi, who faces a conflict between his mob boss allegiance and his feelings for Minale, a trafficked woman under the mob’s control. The closing program opens with the short film Homebody, directed by Shruti Parekh, and includes a specially recorded Q&A with Valin.

Oct 9-11 at The Roxie Theater, San Francisco

Individual film tickets are available for $13 and can be purchased online up to 30 minutes before showtime or at the Roxie Box Office. Additional details and full schedule information are available at thirdi.org.

This text was edited with the assistance of an AI tool and has been reviewed and edited for accuracy and clarity by an India Currents editor.