The fifth edition of the Emami Art Experimental Film Festival (EAEFF) opened on Monday at Emami Art, presenting more than 30 experimental films, videos and moving‑image works from 20 countries. The festival’s “most expansive programme to date” features screenings, exhibitions, workshops, masterclasses and conversations with filmmakers, artists, curators and scholars.
The open call attracted 1,657 submissions from 102 countries. A selection committee chose the Indian and international selections, and a jury awarded prizes in the Indian section. The Indian official selection includes “A Circle as the Center of the Whole” by Utkarsh, “Saccharine Wonderland & Forces That Make Me Shiver” by Tushar Gidwani, “Koneya Bidiru (The Last Bamboo)” by Meera Krishnamurthy, “The Debris Remembers” by Prashant Chavan and Sara Athe, “Boudinet’s Curtain” by Maya.nk and “Margherita” by Devadeep Gupta.
The international slate features “Every Epoch Dreams the Next” by Johannes Gierlinger (Austria, Albania), “L’uomo Piu Bello Del Mondo” by Paolo Baiguera (Italy), “Possessed” by Sebastian Wiedemann and Daniel Cortés (Colombia), “The Othered Scene” by Wang‑Yun Yen (Taiwan, The Netherlands), “Fissures” by Mike Rollo (Canada) and “Branches from Concrete” by Zhenyu Zhou (China, France). The 2026 jury—Srikanth Srinivasan, Kamila Kuc, Mark Williams and Emmanuel Lefrant—will award two Rs 50,000 prizes from the Indian selection.
Lead curator Sayanth R S announced three new programmes: Moving Image Exhibition, Students’ Experimental Cinema and Festival‑to‑Festival, emphasizing pedagogical links and cross‑institutional dialogue. Four invited programmes are also included, featuring works from Light Cone (Paris), Kyoto Art Center, a Toronto‑based community selection, and Circuit (New Zealand). The festival concludes on September 27. (PTI)
