This presentation is based on our work with the oral narratives and music of the erstwhile nomadic pastoralists of Kachchh, Gujarat, between 2008 and 2017, which has resulted in the production of three documentary features. It explores the tenuousness of an engagement that seeks to document the ever-fluid, profound, yet marginal traditions of compassion, in a space that is increasingly under threat, from social and cultural processes of exclusion. It critically positions the filmmaker as one who has to negotiate the ethics and politics of representation in a changing and complex context. Dr. Anjali Monteiro and Dr. K. P. Jayasankar are former Professors and Deans, School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, from where they superannuated after a stint of nearly four decades. They were instrumental in setting up the School and its programmes of study. In recognition of their contribution to education, the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad conferred on them the Prof. Satish Bahadur Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film Education, in November 2022. Their documentary films, which have been screened across the world, have won 33 national and international awards. They research and write in the broad areas of documentary film and media and cultural studies and have contributed to scholarly journals and edited volumes. Their publications include A Fly in the Curry — Independent Documentary Film in India, Sage, 2016, which has won a Special Mention for the best book on cinema in the National Film Awards, 2016. More about their work at www.monteiro-jayasankar.com

This presentation is based on our work with the oral narratives and music of the erstwhile nomadic pastoralists of Kachchh, Gujarat, between 2008 and 2017, which has resulted in the production of three documentary features. It explores the tenuousness of an engagement that seeks to document the ever-fluid, profound, yet marginal traditions of compassion, in a space that is increasingly under threat, from social and cultural processes of exclusion. It critically positions the filmmaker as one who has to negotiate the ethics and politics of representation in a changing and complex context. Dr. Anjali Monteiro and Dr. K. P. Jayasankar are former Professors and Deans, School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, from where they superannuated after a stint of nearly four decades. They were instrumental in setting up the School and its programmes of study. In recognition of their contribution to education, the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad conferred on them the Prof. Satish Bahadur Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film Education, in November 2022. Their documentary films, which have been screened across the world, have won 33 national and international awards. They research and write in the broad areas of documentary film and media and cultural studies and have contributed to scholarly journals and edited volumes. Their publications include A Fly in the Curry — Independent Documentary Film in India, Sage, 2016, which has won a Special Mention for the best book on cinema in the National Film Awards, 2016. More about their work at www.monteiro-jayasankar.com

This presentation focuses on the importance of dynamic patterns in visual storytelling in cinema, drawing on principles from Gestalt psychology and embodied cognitive science. Visual art has long demonstrated that form and content are inseparable, with structural patterns conveying deep meaning. While static mediums like painting offer fixed compositions for analysis, film presents a unique challenge due to its temporal nature and ever-changing visual elements. In this presentation, keyframe animation techniques are used to reveal abstract dynamic patterns in a cinematic scene. By overlaying animations on the imagery, it highlights how basic conceptual primitives—container, object, and path—shape the emotional and motivational dynamics between characters. These animated elements create intricate patterns of containment (e.g., inclusion, exclusion, entry, exit), reflecting the underlying narrative principles of tension and release. This method unveils how fleeting perceptual patterns contribute to the viewer’s emotional and cognitive interpretation of moving images. The presentation offers a new, video-graphic approach for analyzing the hidden structures that drive narrative meanings in cinematic storytelling. The presentation will build on a video essay titled Embodied Visual Meaning [in] Motion, published last year in the journal [in]Transition and featured in the BFI’s annual poll of the Best Video Essays of the Year. Maarten Coëgnarts is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at the University of Antwerp and fellow of the Society of the Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI). His research on embodied cognition, metaphor and cinema has been widely published in various international peer-reviewed journals including, among others, Art & Perception, Metaphor and Symbol, New Review of Film and Television Studies and Projections. He is co-editor of the book Embodied Cognition and Cinema (Leuven University Press, 2015) and author of the book Film as Embodied Art: Bodily Meaning in the Cinema of Stanley Kubrick (Academic Studies Press, 2019).

The sheer variety and diversity of the people in India amazes me. The languages we speak, the food we eat, the clothes we wear – they are so different for every few hundred kilometers we travel in India – and yet there is something that binds all of us together. Each of us is a unique story, a unique tale. All these stories need to be told, and they need to be heard. We must celebrate the people and the crowds of India! This is my humble attempt at documenting current day India seen through the eyes of a cartoonist

Experiences and learnings as a picture book maker and as an art director at Pratham Books; The need for diverse stories and the power of collaboration. Canato Jimo, illustrator and art director at Pratham Books has illustrated picture books like 'The Very Wiggly Tooth', 'Bobo and the Worms', and has also both written and illustrated 'Asamo, is that you?' (with Ogin Nayam) and 'Snip', a wordless picture book for emergent readers. His stories, inspired by everyday life, are accompanied by detailed and vivid illustrations.

In my talk, I will explore the evolution of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) art from the 1960s through the present day. I will discuss how we adapted to significant technological changes over the decades, comparing how art was created then versus now, and highlighting key differences in style. I will also delve into the conceptual shifts in our work—how the types of stories and themes we focused on in the past differ from what we publish today. The variety of titles we now produce reflects a broader range of cultural perspectives and audience interests, and I will discuss how ACK has stood the test of time by continuously evolving to meet the needs of each generation. From print comics for traditional book readers to digital formats for modern audiences, ACK has successfully adapted to changing reading habits and formats.

Join Lachlan Pendragon as he discusses his Oscar-nominated short film, An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It. Created as part of his Doctor of Visual Arts degree at Griffith Film School in Brisbane, Australia, Lachlan's research delves into self-reflexive narratives within stop-motion animation. In this talk, he will share his filmmaking experience and explain how he harnessed the unique handmade aesthetics of stop motion to enhance his narrative. Peter Lord of Aardman Animations praised the film for its "immense flair and inventiveness," highlighting its clever and humorous tone. The film has been featured in numerous festivals worldwide, including Annecy, Stuttgart, Zagreb, New York, and Ottawa, among others.

Nitin Baid, a renowned film editor was the first Indian editor to be selected for the prestigious Berlinale Talent Campus. His short film script made it into the top 15 worldwide to be pitched for the Berlin Today Award. He honed his skills at the Asian Film Academy under mentors like Abbas Kiarostami and South Korean film industry luminaries. Nitin’s global presence was further established as the sole Indian editor at Edimotion 2023 and as a member of the international collaborative editing panel. Nitin has received numerous accolades, including Filmfare Awards, International Indian Film Academy recognition, and more for his editing work on films such as Gully Boy, Raazi, and 83. Nitin continues to inspire and elevate the world of cinema as he turns his focus to his directorial debut through the short film Chashma.

Animation has always been an encompassing art with a capacity to accommodate and take inspiration from other forms to then become a unique narrative and visual voice. This applied art can be informed by traditional and contemporary art practices, popular visual culture and local sensibilities. It can be entrenched in our ethos, have an essence reflective of our traditional legacy of movement and mudra in dance, drama, puppetry and other performing arts. It can borrow colour palettes connected to our sense of celebration, ritual, symbolism. Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya finds its voice in a confluence of Literature, Book illustration and Puppetry. The film celebrates the possibility of taking the written word and giving it voice and image in the form of illustration, then giving it puppet-like movement to infuse it with life. The endeavour has been to evolve a unique Indian animation language that takes cues from our sense of time, rhythm, expression, environment, chaos, music, noise and atmosphere.