Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

A Film Poem Festival

Matwaala, a South Asian Diaspora Poets’ Collective, launched its inaugural South Asian Poetry Film Fest, MATWAALA MEHFILM 2025, on October 4th at the South Asia Institute in Chicago (SAI). The collective aims to amplify the visibility of South Asian poetry and promote it in the American literary landscape. The event, playfully branded MEHFILM, was a significant addition to the 18 events that marked Matwaala’s tenth anniversary in 2025.

This was the first time that poetry films (or film poems) by South Asian diaspora poets were synthesized in one event. Poetry films are short clips made in response to a poem in a range of visual languages and treatments such as photo-journalistic, expressionist, illustrative, and animative. Four of the films were created with AI software.

“The collaboration between Matwaala, the South Asian Diaspora Poetry Collective, and SAI highlighted their shared mission to promote cross-cultural dialogue, artistic exchange, and representation of underrepresented voices in the arts,” said Kashiana Singh, Managing Editor for Poets Reading the News. “The Mehfilm event brought together poets, filmmakers, and audiences for an afternoon of 29 poetry films, poetry readings, and reflection, underscoring the transformative power of creative collaboration.” 

Visual poetry

Mehfilm was inspired by the Reel Poetry Fest in Houston, said festival director Usha Akella. “Poetry film is an osmosis between two genres, propelling the written word into a holistic sensory experience. This kind of reverse ekphrasis, i.e., poems inspiring the visual medium, is a magical alchemy pushing poetry far out to be rediscovered in a new way.”

Three women smile at the camera
The Matwaala team- Pramila Venkateswaran, Kashiana Singh & Usha Akella (image source: Usha Akella)

The Matwaala team- Pramila Venkateswaran, Kashiana Singh & Usha Akella curated the films over the span of a year. It featured their own poetry films and films by South Asians as well as poets from Matwaala’s poets-of-color series, including African American poet Keisha-Gaye Anderson, and Palestinian poet Yahya Ashour. SAI’s Haoshu Sascha Deng shared her poetry film featuring Kirun Kapur’s poem ‘From the afterlife’.  Young creatives such as Sharanya Banerjee, Anannya Akella, and Anjali Pulim showcased their talent in filmmaking. 

Founders Shireen and Afzal Ahmad of SAI – the only independent South Asian arts institute in Chicago – said the collaboration with Matwaala exemplified their mission to support innovative platforms and foster cross-disciplinary artistic exchange that advances the visibility of South Asian creativity. They commented that Mehfilm merged poetry and visual storytelling to “inspire dialogue, deepen cultural understanding, and celebrate the richness of contemporary South Asian expression.”

A couple receive an award on stage
South Asian Art Institute founders Shireen and Afzal Ahmad receive an award from Matvala (image source: Usha Akella)

Mehfilm Poems

Pramila Venkateswaran’s poetry film ‘Satyagraha’ explores the resilience of the late John Lewis and the African-American civil rights struggle inspired by Gandhi’s satyagraha and non-violence, and incorporates footage of her own participation in political rallies. “The moving image of film capturing a poetic line is not simply mimesis, or using the camera to capture an image equating it to a line in the poem; the filmmaker’s interpretation of the poem in order to create a set of images is a creative activity that complements the poem,” she said.

“Matwaala film poetry festival is unique in bringing together this collaboration of filmmakers and poets and establishing filmpoems as a recognized genre,” she added. “This festival has also captured the diversity of South Asian culture with its various themes.”

Poetry readings & awards

The festival included a panel discussion with poets and filmmakers, and a poetry reading (featuring Zilka Joseph, Kirun Kapur, Ignatius Aloysius, Kashiana Singh, Lopamudra Banerjee, Nina Sudhakar, Pramila Venkateswaran, Vivek Sharma, Meena Chopra, Meenakshi Mohan, and Preeti Parikh).

A mug with the words Matwaala printed on it
A mug comemorating Matwaala Mehfilm (image source: Usha Akella)
with a verse printed on it
A mug with a verse printed on it (image source: Usha Akella)
A woman reads at a podium
Poet Kirun Kapur reads at Mehfilm (image source: Usha Akella)
A woman reads at a podium
Poet Nina Sudhakar reads at Mehfilm (image source Ushka Akella)
A girl holds out pastries
Baker Anagha Pashilkar presents her creations at Mehfilm (image source: Usha Akella)

The reception that followed highlighted a talented young baker called Anagha Pashilkar. Matwaala also recognized SAI founders, Shireen and Afzal Ahmad, with the Monsoon Maker Award as vital supporters of the South Asian literary community, while Usha Akella was honored with the Matwaala founder award.

A selection of poetry films is slated to be screened at IAAC in NYC and at the Indie Meme film fest in Austin next year.

Poetry Films Roster

  1. Mandalas. Portals of Earth and Ether. 2.14 mts. Usha Akella.  (Film maker: Nirmal Raja) 
  2. Seed or Tree. 1.27 mts. Usha Akella (Film maker: Ravi Akella)
  3. Conversations with Destiny I. 2.24 mts. Ignatius V. Aloysius (Film maker: Poet) 
  4. Conversations with Destiny II. 6.12 mts. Ignatius V. Aloysius 
  5. Fly. 1.36 mts. Keisha Gaye Anderson. (Film maker: Poet) 
  6. Black is not enough. 1.19 mts. Keisha Gaye Anderson.
  7. So the war would know I am here. 2.42 mts.  Yahya Ashour (Film maker: Andrew Burgess) 
  8. Love poem for America. 4.02 mts.  Lopamudra Banerjee. (Film maker: Sharanya Banerjee) 
  9. Citizenship of mixed emotion. 7.18 mts. Ravi Chandra. (Film maker: Ravi Chandra)
  10. Shining Canada. 4.12 mts. Meena Chopra. (Film maker: Meena Chopra) 
  11. Gunpowder Tea. 2.43 mts. Shadab Zeest Hashmi (Film maker: Mike Kelly & team)
  12. Chaining the ecstatic. 1.13 mts. Kavita Jindal. (Film maker: Caroline AreskogJone)
  13. From the afterlife. 2.54 mts. Kirun Kapur. (Film maker: Haoshu Sascha Deng)
  14. Still, remember me. 5.50 mts. Meenakshi Mohan. (Film maker: Shantanu Mondal) 
  15. Ghazal for the diaspora. 2.40 mts. Faisal Mohyuddin. (Film maker: Eric Felipe-Barkin)
  16. Clubs, my sinful Dance Muse. 3.30 mts. Anita Nahal. (Film maker: Anita Nahal & Deepti Pradhan) 
  17. Hands. 2.31 mts. Sophia Naz. (Film maker: Ger Killeen) 
  18. Hands. 4.08 mts. Sophia Naz (Film maker: Amelia Mylvaganam)
  19. An exclamation. 3.29 mts. Yogesh Patel (Film maker: Poet)
  20. Sapphire Sea. 2.26 mts. Pranaya Raparla (Film maker- Anannya Akella & Cedric Tsai)
  21. Partition. 4.0 mts. Sehba Sarwar (Film maker: Faroukh Virani)
  22. Limbed. 1.34 mts. Ravi Shankar.  (Film maker: Anjali Pulim)
  23. Niagara Falls. 1.18 mts. Sangeeta Sharma (Film maker: Srishti Sharma) 
  24. Fog. 1.19 mts. Sunil Sharma (Film maker: Srishti Sharma) 
  25. I see my world shaking. 4.21 mts. Yuyutsu Sharma (Film maker: Stephen Bookas) 
  26. His own magnificent sons. 5.0 mts. Kashiana Singh (Film maker: Sanah Singh)
  27. Magritte’s Le Viol. 1.16 mts. Pramila Venkateswaran (Film maker: Neeraja Rao) 
  28. Satyagraha. 2:07 mts. Pramila V (Film maker: Chip Williford) 
  29. Pachyderm Refugee. 2.23 mts. Pramila v. (Film maker: Jayashree George)