The six-day Urban Lens Film Festival 2020 kicked off in its online avatar on December 1 in an effort to host it despite the prevailing pandemic situation.
The festival, which has the city in its various aspects as its focal point, has been organised by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements’ (IIHS) Media Lab in association with the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan and the Danish Cultural Institute.
There will be screenings of 18 city-centric films from across the globe, 14 international and four Indian. Apart from those there will be two Masterclasses. One of them will be with director Dibakar Banerjee and the other with director and screenwriter Anjali Menon, who works primarily in Malyalam cinema. Two panel discussions will be on the topics of Reflections On Cinematography and, the rather uncommon The Many Cinemas of North-East India, where directors Bhaskar Hazarika, Haobam Paban Kumar, Rajni Basumatary, Wanphrang K Diengdoh and Yapangnaro Longkumer will speak about their work based in the region.
Subasri Krishnan, one of the people who have created the festival programme, told The Telegraph: “You cannot look at the city just via one lens of either architecture or planning or economy. To understand the city, whether it’s through research or practice or academics, you need to look at it through multiple lenses. And we felt that art, and in that, cinema, is an important sight. Which is why the festival began in 2013.”
She adds that IIHS’ Media Lab engages with the idea of the city through multiple media forms and practices. While that remains its focal point, it also looks at areas with linkages to the city in that they could even be shaped by a city that they are in proximity to.
All about the film fest
What: Urban Lens Film Festival 2020
On till: December 6
Where: Free online at iihsurbanlens.in after registration. Each film will be available for 48 hours.
What’s showing: Non-fiction/ documentary as well as fiction films about cities and their cultures, as well as their relationships. Plus, two panel discussionsvand two masterclasses.
