Urban Lens Film Festival 2019 concludes today
While the films may be diverse in their genres, form and story-telling, the search to explore what the urban experience is what unites these films.
Bengaluru: The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) is hosting the 6th edition of the Urban Lens Film Festival that began on September 19 in the city.
The film festival is held in association with the Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan in Bengaluru and with the India International Centre in New Delhi. The festival is also supported by Institut Français.
While the films may be diverse in their genres, form and story-telling, the search to explore what the urban experience is what unites these films. The opening film was the world premiere of Lalit Vachani’s “Recasting Selves”. The closing film will be Anamika Haksar’s “Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon”.
The festival line-up this year includes a tribute to Agnès Varda with a special screening of her film “Jacquot de Nantes”. She was one of the most influential filmmakers, who was part of the new wave cinema in France. The ‘Looking Back’ section will screen older non-fiction films that framed the city before the proliferation of digital media. These films challenged notions of the ‘documentary image’. Conversations with film-makers too have been lined up at the festival. Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar’s “Saacha”, Paromita Vohra’s “Unlimited Girls”, Rahul Roy’s “Sunder Nagri”, Reena Mohan’s “Kamlabai” and Surabhi Sharma’s “Jari Mari: of cloth and other stories” will be showcased in this section. Apart from the screenings, the festival also organised a workshop, a round table and an exhibition.
A four-day workshop for young adults titled “In Pursuit of Happiness”, mentored by film-maker and educator Samina Mishra, focused on creating visual narratives and understanding film language based on their experiences and the city.
The round table, titled, “The Future of Documentary Practice in the Digital Age: A Funder’s View” was curated and moderated by film-maker Shabani Hassanwalia.
The exhibition will showcase a collection of animations, audio, illustrations and photographs based on a research about food vending in Bengaluru, which was carried out at IIHS under the Hungry Cities Project. The film festival is on at IIHS, Sadashivanagar, and will conclude on Sunday.