Umbro

The sole owner of a small field in tribal Gujarat, Inaas is the target of envious neighbours who brand her a “witch”, and lurk in the shadows of both her land, and her nightmares. Enveloped in fear, she looks for strength in other women – a new mother, a young married woman. As they negotiate different roles and realities that test their resilience, we glimpse the bone-deep weariness that often lies behind daily courage. The Mahua forest bears silent witness to their secret conversations, sometimes reaching out through ancient folk songs.

Here Lies Makhfi is a portrait of the 17th century Indian princess Zeb-un-nissa who wrote Persian poetry under the nom de plume Makhfi (the hidden one). Daughter of the reviled Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Zeb-un-nissa is an enigmatic figure in Indian history and her poetry is our only window into her life. The film positions Zeb-un-nissa's poetic expression within the contemporary zeitgeist of islamophobia, neglect and selective amnesia in India, tracing her work through three people.