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Still from Stray Girls

Shorts & Mid-length · Filmmaker Q&A · Asia Premiere

Stray Girls Awara Ladkiyan

Directed by Ambarien Alqadar

Screens as part of Programme 4: Between Realities.

Screening at DIFF 2026

Thu29 to Thursday 29 Oct · PictureTime 3
Plan it in the app

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Runtime
16 min
Year
2026
Countries
India, United Kingdom, United States
Language
Hindi, Urdu
Subtitles
English
Premiere
Asia

Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old Layla lives in a working-class New Delhi neighborhood bounded by restrictions. When she meets Nasrine, a rebellious young woman at her mother’s beauty salon, Layla encounters desire and possibility, and steps out to her first-ever dance party. But when she is shamed for being “stray,” Layla’s rebellion takes on a magical turn.

Director

Ambarien Alqadar Ambarien AlqadarAmbarien Alqadar is a Chicago-based writer-director from New Delhi exploring girlhood, memory, and home. A Fulbright-Nehru Fellow with an MFA from Temple University, she teaches at DePaul University. Her feature project Nisa was selected for Torino Features Lab Next 2026 and won the Emerging Voice in Indian Cinema…

Cast and crew

Producer
Ranjan Singh, Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Churi, Ambarien Alqadar
Writer
Ambarien Alqadar
Cinematographer
Prateek Pamecha
Editor
Joydip Das
Sound
Vidhaat Raman
Music
Michel Mezher
Cast
Nimisha Nair, Sarah Hashmi

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More shorts & mid-length at DIFF 2026