Amit Dutta

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

When a gallery of paintings becomes emptied of its spectators, the curtains raise within the paintings.

Jangarh Singh Shyam, a famous Indian artist born in an isolated tribal village, committed suicide in a Japanese museum in 2001. I found on an old MiniDV tape the images of a trip I had undertaken in 2008, when I had gone looking for him in his native region.

In Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra Valley, an ancient network of kuhls – hand-built water channels – carries water. The kohlis, “water masters,” struggle to protect this heritage, custodians of a way of life where water flows alongside folk tales, myths, and local arts.

The Ashokan rock-edict in a remote Himalayan village has the last fragment of a script only decipherable by few experts. Some miles away in Shimla, the art-historian V.C.Ohri, who uncovered the origins and techniques of Pahari paintings, warmly welcomes visitors. He is meeting them for the very first and last time.

The 18th century Pahari miniatures illustrating the verses of 'Gita Govinda' by the poet Jayadeva, are also loving and intimate portraits of the verdant landscape of the Kangra Valley. Nature becomes a primary actor and the director focuses on the alchemy of the 'transformation of nature in art.'

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

When a gallery of paintings becomes emptied of its spectators, the curtains raise within the paintings.

When a gallery of paintings becomes emptied of its spectators, the curtains raise within the paintings.

When a gallery of paintings becomes emptied of its spectators, the curtains raise within the paintings.

Jangarh Singh Shyam, a famous Indian artist born in an isolated tribal village, committed suicide in a Japanese museum in 2001. I found on an old MiniDV tape the images of a trip I had undertaken in 2008, when I had gone looking for him in his native region.

In Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra Valley, an ancient network of kuhls – hand-built water channels – carries water. The kohlis, “water masters,” struggle to protect this heritage, custodians of a way of life where water flows alongside folk tales, myths, and local arts.

The Ashokan rock-edict in a remote Himalayan village has the last fragment of a script only decipherable by few experts. Some miles away in Shimla, the art-historian V.C.Ohri, who uncovered the origins and techniques of Pahari paintings, warmly welcomes visitors. He is meeting them for the very first and last time.

The 18th century Pahari miniatures illustrating the verses of 'Gita Govinda' by the poet Jayadeva, are also loving and intimate portraits of the verdant landscape of the Kangra Valley. Nature becomes a primary actor and the director focuses on the alchemy of the 'transformation of nature in art.'

An ascetic walks through the narrow streets of a village every morning while his family is still asleep. In his semi-somnolent state he dreams about the history of the village mixing up myths, folklore and facts.

A boy loses faith in the book. The angry book starts calling the stories back.

Professor B.N. Goswamy travels back along the path of some forty years’ research on the 18th century Indian master-painter Nainsukh. Field-Trip follows the scholar in the lower western Himalayas as he tracks down contemporary vestiges of Nainsukh’s lineage.

This short-film was made by Amit Dutta to encapsulate some essential teachings of Kashmir Shaivism as taught by Bettina Sharada Baeumer. The film was shot at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (Shimla) in 2016.

A rare and intimate glimpse into the everyday life of the famously reclusive and creative Warli tribe. Ramkhind is a village in Thane district, a little over 100km from Mumbai. Yet in the year 2000, this village had managed to stay centuries away from the mainstream, preserving it's ancient way of life and rich ecosystem. Gods, ghosts and tigers still inhabited their world.

Suggestions of ancient and modern myths and folklore coalesce in dreams to bring alive a colourful animated world.

Two philosophers discuss their ideas. The next day one of them is getting married and invites the others.

The 18th-century Indian painter Nainsukh of Guler receives a poetic, visually stunning tribute from a young Indian filmmaker employing an arresting pictorial language. Shot in the region where Nainsukh produced his most celebrated work, this is a meditative and meticulous recreation of the world of an artistic genius.

The 18th-century Indian painter Nainsukh of Guler receives a poetic, visually stunning tribute from a young Indian filmmaker employing an arresting pictorial language. Shot in the region where Nainsukh produced his most celebrated work, this is a meditative and meticulous recreation of the world of an artistic genius.

The 8th-century craftsmen left Shiva’s rock-cut temple in Masrur unfinished. An earthquake left it half unmade. From the forest to the heart of the temple, the film follows the ancient plans, step by step. The rock breathes. What remains becomes a sign of the non-apparent.

The project attempts to push the boundaries of cinema by juxtaposing it with ideas from philosophy, visual art, chess, mathematics, geometry, linguistics and psychology

The project attempts to push the boundaries of cinema by juxtaposing it with ideas from philosophy, visual art, chess, mathematics, geometry, linguistics and psychology

A grandmother tells the story of partition (almost like a mythic tale) while her young granddaughter witnesses contemporary political reality. Someday this young girl will go on to tell these tales.

Led by mysterious sounds and footprints, a painter wanders within a surreal space of the forest, his own paintings and oneiric spaces.

Led by mysterious sounds and footprints, a painter wanders within a surreal space of the forest, his own paintings and oneiric spaces.

Led by mysterious sounds and footprints, a painter wanders within a surreal space of the forest, his own paintings and oneiric spaces.

This film explores various aspects of litterateur and painter Ram Kumar's personality by structuring the film around his stories and paintings, traveling between fragments of his past, present, fiction and imagery. It strives of etch out the synthesis of word and image in Ram Kumar's creations, presenting it as a portrait of the artist himself. The text used in the film is from various short stories by Ram Kumar.

The Many Interrupted Dreams of Mr. Hemmady explores the unintentional and fantastical narratives contained within matchbox art, delving into the interplay of dreams, desires, and histories, presenting them as a chaotic yet meaningful mosaic of knowledge and wisdom, all while embracing the paradoxical nature of collecting and creation.

The village artist Jangarh Singh Shyam left home and became a well-known contemporary painter. He committed suicide in 2001. Through his art, places and stories, the filmmaker explores the traces he left on his path.

Towards the end of the eighth century, an architect journeys across the lower Himalayas in search of the perfect site for constructing a temple, not merely as a place of worship but as a monumental record crystallizing the collective accomplishment of a civilization.

Towards the end of the eighth century, an architect journeys across the lower Himalayas in search of the perfect site for constructing a temple, not merely as a place of worship but as a monumental record crystallizing the collective accomplishment of a civilization.

A nostalgic tale about childhood bazaars, scents and smells.

The portrait of Eberhard Fischer, a Swiss ethnographer and art historian whose life has been devoted to documenting artistic practices across cultures, from mask carvers in Africa to painters in India. His work led to enduring collaborations, including one with filmmaker Amit Dutta. Drawing on archival footage and memory, the film reflects on a long creative friendship.

The film is based on and inspired from the tinted brush drawings, sketches and some finished yet minimalistic works of the 18th century master miniature painter Nainsukh. Even in some of his finished paintings, the artist did not hide his corrections and afore-thoughts, which he allowed to show through a mostly untouched stark page. This film attempts the same.

The film is based on and inspired from the tinted brush drawings, sketches and some finished yet minimalistic works of the 18th century master miniature painter Nainsukh. Even in some of his finished paintings, the artist did not hide his corrections and afore-thoughts, which he allowed to show through a mostly untouched stark page. This film attempts the same.

A boy plays with his balloon. Something unexpected happens.

Two travelers are in search of a flying-craft, which they believe could possibly take them to the ultimate escape from the cycle of births. On their way they record their memories, dreams and fears on a sound-recorder and in a notebook.

Two travelers are in search of a flying-craft, which they believe could possibly take them to the ultimate escape from the cycle of births. On their way they record their memories, dreams and fears on a sound-recorder and in a notebook.

Two travelers are in search of a flying-craft, which they believe could possibly take them to the ultimate escape from the cycle of births. On their way they record their memories, dreams and fears on a sound-recorder and in a notebook.

Mother, Who Will Weave Now? attempts to sample and mirror the grand tapestry of Indian textile tradition and history by interweaving snippets of Indian cloth on an editing table, using the poetic meters of classical Indian literature sewn together with the words and motifs of the weaver-saint Kabir.

A film on the art of the revered Indian painter Jamini Roy (1887-1972). Could we reach out to nature through his seemingly flat colours and establish the diversity in this uniformity? A Thousand Colours of Jamini Roy explores the intricate world of modern artist Jamini Roy’s natural pigments and colours that are each rendered unique unlike the shades of the digital world today.

Kumar Gandharav, a child prodigy who subsequently became one of the finest and most original geniuses of Indian classical music, was struck by tuberculosis at the height of his abilities. For years, he lay in bed, barred from using his lungs, unsure if he would ever be able to rise or sing again. Meanwhile, his senses were gathering sounds from nature, from distant folk melodies, and from every vibration of life. Sometimes he practiced, singing so softly that it was hardly audible beyond his bed. This film takes this single moment of him lying on his sick bed and expands it, where his life of music and contemplation moves like a dream. When he rises after six years in bed, with only one lung spared, he writes, sings, and teaches again, giving voice to the six long years of silence and bridging the old and new with visionary insights.