A curated slate of four feature-length documentaries exploring themes ranging from rural Indian healthcare to intergenerational family conflict has been unveiled by Bombay Berlin Film Productions (BBFP), the Indo-German banner simultaneously repositioning itself as a cross-border boutique studio.
The Mumbai- and Berlin-based company is coming on board the new films as a creative and strategic partner – covering completion, co-production pathways, festival circulation, and distribution – while also broadening its work across fiction, international co-productions, and service production.
“Documentary filmmaking is where I began, and it has always remained deeply personal to me. What drew us to these films was not simply the subjects themselves, but the honesty and specificity with which the filmmakers approached them. These are stories rooted in very local realities, yet they speak to questions that resonate universally,” said Katharina Suckale of BBFP at the Cannes Film Market.
The four projects span a range of subjects and geographies. Melbourne-based director Sana Panghal helms “Barefoot Champions,” a documentary examining how alternative education models in rural India are reshaping access to knowledge and agency for women long excluded from those systems. Cinematography is by Iain Soumitri; the film is produced by Evadere Studios alongside BBFP.
Delhi-based Neelabh Bafna directs “Sanju’s Kitchen,” an intimate portrait of a lower-middle-class family narrated through a son’s perspective as his mother contends with the financial and emotional fallout of her husband’s arrest. The film is co-produced by Abhinav Tyagi and Krina Prajapati of The Aam Company. Tyagi’s editing credits include the Peabody Award-winning “While We Watched” and the Toronto Film Festival selection “An Insignificant Man.”
“Valley of Health,” directed by Sankara Narayanan – who works out of Chennai and Kochi – chronicles how the arrival of two doctors helped catalyze the Sittilingi valley’s transformation from a region with almost no healthcare infrastructure in the 1990s into a functioning community-led health system. The film also documents the Lambadi language and culture, and may be among the first feature-length documentaries to do so.
Rounding out the slate is “Where Is My Home,” directed by Ashwini Dharmale and co-directed by Indian National Film Award-winning cinematographer Digvijay Thorat. The film follows a granddaughter’s attempt to care for her aging grandmother in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, which brings long-buried family resentments to the surface. The project, co-produced with Arigatu Pictures alongside BBFP, is currently in assembly, with National National Film Award-winning editor Anadi Athaley attached as a consultant.
BBFP said it intends to treat the slate as a collective body – building international visibility, opening co-production pathways, and developing funding structures that include grants, cultural funds, and impact-led financing models.
“We are also interested in cultivating a newer generation of patrons and investors who want to support work that creates cultural and social impact alongside financial sustainability,” said Arfi Laamba of BBFP.
The documentary expansion runs alongside a broader portfolio. The Turkish-Indian-German co-production “Thursday Night Is Too Dark” is in post-production, while “Portuguese Man of War” received its world premiere at CineMart during the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The company released its Marathi feature “Trijya (Radius)” in Indian theaters in February 2026, years after the film’s original festival run, and recent credits also include Busan premiere “Spying Stars” by director Vimukthi Jayasundara and the short “Abja and Her Pickled Eggs.” BBFP is simultaneously growing its service production arm, handling shoots that involve virtual production, animatronics, and large-scale set construction.
Over 15 years, the company’s titles have traveled to Venice, SXSW, Busan, Shanghai, and Cairo, with select films going on to stream on Netflix and Mubi.
English (US) ·