A Blend of Cultures and Countries
December 2020
The Urban lens film festival, is an international film festival organized recently by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) for filmmakers, academics, and urban practitioners, presented 174 films from different genres from 35 countries in 30 languages. The seventh edition of the festival was held online in association with Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan and the Danish Cultural Institute. All the films were available for 48 hours from 12:00 noon IST (6:30 am GMT) on the day it was released as per the schedule. Some films had a limited number of views and were only available on a first-come, first-served basis. The panel discussions and the masterclasses and On-Practice sessions were held on Zoom, YouTube & Facebook.
The festival featured a package of films on ‘Works of Art are Landscapes of the Mind’, organised by Bina Paul, filmmaker, renowned editor, and vice-chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. The festival screened films from India, Brazil, Cambodia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, and the United Kingdom. The festival included multiple films by Indian creators such as ‘Hun Hunshi Hunshilal’ by Sanjiv Shah, ‘Eeb Allay Ooo!’ by Prateek Vats, and ‘Somewhere Nowhere’ by Reema Kaur and Shashank Walia. An Indo-Poland film, ‘Two Autumns in Wyszogrod’, directed by Amit Mahanti and Ruchika Negi, had its world premiere at the festival. There were two master classes held during the five days of the festival by well-known directors Anjali Menon and Dibakar Banerjee. There were panel discussions, titled ‘Reflections on Cinematography’ and ‘The Many Cinemas of north-east India’. The first featured cinematographers Fowzia Fathima, Maheen Mirza, Priya Seth, and Savita Singh who spoke about their craft and of being women who work in a largely male-dominated field in conversation with Professor Sabeen Gadhoke, academic and former cinematographer. The second discussion on films from north-east India included directors Bhaskar Hazarika, Haobam Paban Kumar, Rajni Basumatary, Wanphrang K Diengdoh and Yapangnari Longkumer in conversation with film critic Namrata Joshi.
The opening film was “Félicité” by French Director Alain Gomis. It is about the journey of a single mother and her struggles as she tries to navigate life. The festival ended with a panel discussion on practice and reflection of cinematography.
