Floating with films

A still from Bismaar Ghar

Harkat Studios is ready to host an online film festival called the Kati Patang Film Festival Volume 1 that they describe as a "dreamy" festival that is an experiential take on cinema. The organisers inform us that the films have been curated with a midnight screening in mind; at a time and pace when the world slows down and the noises dissipate.

"The idea is to disrupt content to an extent. Cinema can go beyond the confines of a square screen. The films that will be showcased have experimented with aspects such as VR, other kinds of technology, film projectors that are visible to the audience, and even a live orchestra playing while the film is being viewed," shares Karan Talwar, filmmaker and curator, Harkat Studios.

A still from A Fan Account

The festival is a two-part series of films under the titles, Homecoming (9 pm to 10.45 pm) and Midnight Cloud (11pm to 12 am). Homecoming will showcase films such as Passaggi by Gianluca Colitta and Daityo (The Demon) by Amalnath and is a sort of a ‘homecoming' in terms of history, tradition, memory and new discoveries. The second part is a series of moving experiments, video poems and dreamy cinema - films that lead to a sense of meditation or intrigue, and fascinate. Some movies in this series include Happiness by Jan Adamove and Dance of Life by Kareena Solanki.

"The movies centre on vague imaginations. The idea is to showcase a series that hasn't reached enough people. We couldn't postpone the festival so we decided to take the online route, else it would be postponed even further," reasons Talwar.

The Guide's top three picks

>> Bismaar Ghar by Shreyas Dasharathe: Bismaar Ghar, which means "withering house" in Urdu, is a film about a family living in Ahmedabad. Having lived in a 100-year-old house for the past two decades in the city centre, they have decided to now move to a new house via the PM's Housing Scheme. "Bismaar Ghar is an honest account of the complexities of change. It makes you question what ‘a better life' in the name of urbanism actually means, and what comfort is," share Talwar and Simran Ankolkar.

Simran Ankolkar and Karan Talwar

>> Daityo (The demon) by Amalnath: Daityo is about the curious case of a 10-year-old boy who goes into a forest in search of a demon. "One should not miss Daityo for its exploration of the sweetness of a child's curiosity, and the sweetness of a simple story," believe Ankolkar and Talwar.

>> A Fan Account by Sapna Singh: This film is from a 30-year-old who, while in her father's house in Lucknow, records in a poetic way, things she is a fan of, including simple, mundane objects. "It reminds you of the beauty and delight in the mundane. Watch it for its diary-style poetics, and a personal, accessible approach to filmmaking," Ankolkar suggests.

On: September 11, 9 pm to 12 am
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 100