A still from We Are What We Eat by Natalia Ehret which will be showcased as part of the EAEFF.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
No matter what diplomatic relations with it are at the moment, Canada will be in special focus at a five-day festival of experimental films to be held in Kolkata starting Wednesday (November 6, 2024).
The Emami Art Experimental Film Festival (EAEFF), into its third edition, will screen more than 50 films and is supported this year by organisations such as the Canada Council for the Arts, Coventry Biennial, Embassy of Switzerland and Goethe Institut.
“Canada has become a vital part of EAEFF through multiple editions. In our last festival, Canadian filmmaker Solomon Nagler curated a session on Canadian experimental films and served as a juror. This year, he returns for a masterclass with collaborator Alexandre Larose, enhancing our spotlight on Canada’s unique contributions to experimental cinema,” Ushmita Sahu, director and head curator of Emami Art, said.
“Our focus on Canada this year celebrates the country’s legacy in alternative moving-image practices. Influential figures like Nagler have made Canada a leader in non-narrative film, inspiring EAEFF to showcase this rich tradition and introduce audiences to new perspectives in cinema,” Ms. Sahu said.
She said that EAEFF, held at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity, began as a modest screening project but has since grown into a prominent festival within South Asia, especially for those invested in avant-garde cinema, video art, and alternative film forms.
“What sets it apart from traditional film festivals is its unique presentation approach: rather than focusing on usual kind of screenings, it embraces the white-cube gallery format. It seeks to introduce Indian audiences to the reflective and craft-oriented dimensions of experimental cinema — a genre that has been an integral part of Western cultural discourse for decades,” Ms. Sahu said.
This year, she said, the festival had taken a significant turn by expanding its scope to include a wider range of critical productions, from video art to artists’ moving images, along with experimental films. “Our curated screening programme will feature some of the most critical experimental films from South Asia. Additionally, we are partnering with renowned experimental filmmakers and contemporary artists, including Alexandre Larose, Solomon Nagler, Riar Rizaldi, Nicole Bachmann, Thomas Kern, Elodie Pong, and Reetu Sattar,” she said.
Mr. Nagler and Mr. Larose will present experimental film programmes exploring themes of memory, displacement, and the cinematic medium. Mr. Nagler’s films are marked by fragmented forms, evoking history and loss; while Mr. Larose’s films focus on the materiality of the medium and personal memory through multi-layered exposures.
Published – November 05, 2024 10:43 pm IST
