About Kos Minar 2026
Jindal School of Journalism and Communication is excited to announce the 2026 edition of the Kos Minar International Documentary Film Festival, between March 20-22. This year marks the second edition of the festival, curated around the theme Borders. It will feature 14 documentaries of varying lengths from across South Asia, exploring borders in their many iterations, representing a variety of languages and cultures.
This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Paromita Vohra, whose new film Working Girls will also be screened at the festival. Arun Bhattarai will be joining us from Bhutan, bringing his co-directed film Agent of Happiness and offering a masterclass. Thanks to our three festival collaborators — People’s Film Collective, Film South Asia, and Docedge—we are screening twelve more documentaries of varying lengths, from different South Asian countries. Film screenings will be interspersed with panel discussions, conversations with filmmakers, and masterclasses. Filmmakers Borun Thokchom, Samarth Mahajan, Khurram Muraad, Nirmal Chander, Bani Singh, and Sourav Sarangi will be at the festival to discuss their films post screening.
We are also looking forward to screening the shortlisted films for our new competitive section of student films, and announcing the winners.
Join us for three days of powerful storytelling and conversations that cross borders, and follow our blog and Instagram handle for updates.
We are now open for registration.
About Kos Minar
The name Kos Minar comes from the medieval distance marker that offered rest and comfort to travellers and couriers along the Grand Trunk Road that once connected several empires; our university overlooks one such Kos Minar, situating it at the confluence of multitemporal global communication.
The idea behind the festival is to bring together some of the finest contemporary documentary films from near and afar, and also facilitate stimulating interactions between filmmakers, film lovers, and students.
About Kos Minar 2025
At Kos Minar, 2025, Ashish Rajadhyaksha delivered the keynote address on Kumar Shahani’s work, and we screened films by Payal Kapadia, Sreemoyee Singh, Prachi Bajania, Haobam Paban Kumar, Raja Shabir Khan, Anupama Srinivasan & Anirban Dutta, Sarvnik Kaur, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing, and Basma Al Sharif. We partnered with Docedge, Alt Eff, and Mubi for the screenings and organised fireside chats, film quizzes, and a masterclass. The festival was very well received by the audience, and widely covered by the press.
Festival Schedule
Our Collaborators
Reflections from Kos minar 2026
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Resistance and Comfort Within Melody
A Review of Muktir Gaan (The Song of Freedom) by Tareque Masud & Catherine Masud
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A Tournament to Win Memory
A Review of Taangh (Longing) by Bani Singh
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The Address of Timelessness
A Review of 6-A Akash Ganga by Nirmal Chander Dhandriyal
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The Soul of Music, A Quest
A Review of The Journey Within – The Coke Studio Origin Story by Mian Adnan Ahmad
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Lines Drawn and Erased
A Review of Borderlands by Samarth Mahajan
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The Persistence of Memory
A Review of Battlefield by Borun Thokchom
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The Weight of Survival
A Review of Char: The No Man’s Island by Saurav Sarangi
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Happiness: The Grand Bhutanese Experiment
A Review of Agent of Happiness by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó.
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The Question of Work
By Chenab GuhaA Review of Working Girls by Paromita Vohra
















