A still from ‘Homebound’.
Indian and South Asian Diaspora cinema won a historic five awards at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). This tops an already historic record of 18 South Asian and Diaspora films in official selection at the festival.
Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound finished second runner up in the International People’s Choice Award. The film, on the friendship between two young job-seekers of different marginalised communities in contemporary India, earned a standing ovation, clapping at the dialogues, laughter and tears at the Roy Thomson Hall, that was nearly packed to its 2,630-seat capacity.
The film, starring Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Jahnvi Kapoor, is due to release in theatres worldwide on September 26, 2025. The film is also a social revolution as Ghaywan, who openly embraces his Dalit identity, has been able to make another feature (after Masaan), with stars and produced by top Bollywood studio Karan Johar-Adar Poonawalla’s Dharma Productions, that is at top festivals worldwide and also gets a theatrical release worldwide.
Jitank Singh Gurjar’s Vimukt, In Search of The Sky, won the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award for Best Asian Film, first or second feature. The film is about a poor, ageing couple in Madhya Pradesh, raising a mentally challenged adult son Naran (Nikhil Yadav), who go to the Maha Kumbh Mela in hopes of a miracle. What transpires is not the miracle they were expecting, yet it makes for a deeply philosophical climax.
Canadian-Tibetan Kunsang Kyirong’s 100 Sunset (Canada) won Best Canadian Discovery Award Honourable Mention. The film, Kyirong’s directorial debut, that is set amid the Tibetan community in Toronto, explores the relationship between two young women, using voyeuristic elements.
Canadian-Afghan Salar Pashtoonyar’s I Fear Blue Skies (Canada) won the Vimeo Staff Pick Ward. This 12-minute short in Dari and Pashto, explores the unsettling impact on an aid worker’s life, of the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pashtoonyar’s previous short, Bad Omen, won the 2021 Student Academy Award Narrative (International Film Schools) Bronze for York University, Canada.
Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero’s Agapito (Beloved), Philippines, won a Short Cuts Award for Best International Short Film Honourable Mention. One of its production companies, Katalog Films, is a Bangladesh-Philippine collaboration. The film was already in the Cannes Film Festival’s Shorts competition.
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Interestingly, Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero also wrote the screenplay for Ali, Adnan al Rajeev’s Bangladeshi short film that earned a Special Mention at Cannes, and was screened at TIFF’s Short Cuts as well. Both films are backed by Katalog Films, a Bangladesh-Philippine collaboration between Bangladeshi producer Tanveer Hossain and Filipino producer Kristine De Leon, and founded by Hossain, De Leon, and directors Adnan Al Rajeev and Arvin Belarmino.
The landmark selection of 18 Indian, South Asian and Diaspora films and their winning of five awards at TIFF, is a testament to the calibre and fierce commitment of our mainstream and indie filmmakers to succeed despite every challenge, including lack of a supportive ecosystem for independent cinema, censorship, and more.
Published – September 18, 2025 08:52 am IST
