The eighth edition of Experimenta, celebrating experimental film, will be held in Bangalore. The festival, that put Indian experimental filmmakers on the international scene, is being brought to you by the Experimental Film Society.
This biennial five-day film festival, which will begin on Wednesday, showcases over 50 films and videos from across the world, host live experimental music performances, installations, and talks at Max Mueller Bhavan and Badami House.
According to the festival organisers, Experimenta continues to play an integral role in showcasing uncompromising, fresh and compelling moving image art from across the globe.
The festival will showcase films from Indonesia, Singapore Japan, Canada, Germany, Brazil, U.K. and India, and will be attended by a wide audience, including international curators, independent filmmakers, artists, graphic designers, animation artists, musicians, scientists, engineers, music video makers, film & art students and cinephiles.
Samskara
This year’s festival will open with award-winning Kannada film ‘Samskara’, directed by Pattabhi Rama Reddy and based on a story by Jnanpith recipient writer U.R. Ananthamurthy of the same name.
‘Samskara’ heralded the Kannada avant garde / new wave film movement. There will be three screenings of a rare 35 mm print of this film at Badami House on Wednesday.
Some of the screenings will be followed with interactions with Mr. Ananthamurthy, Konark Reddy (son of Pattabhi Rama Reddy), Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, director of the Living Archive Programme at Arsenal Institut of Film & Video Art.
Contemporary competition
In the contemporary International Competition section ,19 films selected from over 400 submissions received from across the world will be screened. The Indian films selected for this section include Black Pot Movement by Chaoba Thiyam, Nayi Kheti by Pallavi Paul, Blood Earth by Kush Badhwar, Pulse by Anuradha Chandra, Weapons of Mass Destruction by Payal Kapadia, Mount Song by Shambhavi Kaul, Way Home by Anirudh Menon and Chidiya Udh by Pranjal Dua.
In the Special Focus on Japanese experimental Animation section, 10 Japanese films (both 16mm & digital) will be presented by curator and filmmaker Chris Gehman, and Japanese filmmaker, Tsuji Naoyuki will also be present at the festival.
