My SDI

Screening of And, Towards Happy Alleys and a live performance with the filmmaker

18 June | French Institute Edinburgh | 4.30 - 7 pm | Sliding scale tickets £8/£6/£4/£2

Join us for the Scotland premiere of the acclaimed documentary And, Towards Happy Alleys by Sreemoyee Singh. 

The screening will be followed by a live talk and performance with Sreemoyee about her filmmaking process, and interweaving music and poetry to immerse herself in the lives of Iranian men and women whose uncompromising struggle has put them at the forefront of the protests that are currently rocking the country. 

And, Towards Happy Alleys by Sreemoyee Singh 

India, 2023 | Farsi, English with English subtitles | 75'

Inspired by Iranian cinema and the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad, a young Indian director journeys to Tehran to witness how resistance becomes a daily act of survival in Iranian society. Despite stringent censorship of the Islamic Regime the director collects a series of eloquent and candid interviews with filmmaker Jafar Panahi, activists and everyday women. Over six years, these conversations with the camera capture the simmering anxieties, fears, hopes and dreams of
a nation on the cusp of revolution.

Sreemoyee Singh is a filmmaker from Kolkata, India. She completed her PhD on “The Exiled Filmmaker in Post-Revolution Iran” from Jadavpur University in 2022. Her interest in Iranian cinema and poetry saw her travel to Iran between 2015-2019. This journey led to the filming of her first feature length documentary And, Towards Happy Alleys (Be Kucheye Khoshbakht) and learning Persian from Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute and Center for Persian Studies in Tehran. Her in-depth research about the cinema of Iran gave her unique access to Iranian filmmakers, artists, activists, and women who are otherwise wary of interaction with foreign media.

And, Towards Happy Alleys launched at the Berlinale International Film Festival (Panorama section) and has gone to screen at many prestigious film festivals, winning the ‘best feature’ in the International Competition at BAFICI in Argentina. Sreemoyee has also worked as Assistant Professor of Film Studies at St. Joseph’s University, Bangalore and a Guest Lecturer at New York University, Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).

This event is part of our Crossing the Line programme: a series of conversations with filmmakers who challenge the boundaries of documentary cinema.

To make our events more accessible, we are using a sliding scale ticket price. You can choose what you pay based on your circumstances – you won’t be asked for any proof / ID, we just ask that you are honest!

If you would like to book a free ticket in advance, or make a group booking of free tickets, please feel free to get in touch via [email protected].