FOCUS: India
Cinedans 2026: FOCUS: India
Rooted in contemporary India, this program moves across the country’s many registers - mythic and mundane, sacred and industrial, intimate and collective. Ancient deities surface through traditional dance forms such as Odissi, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam, while palaces, kitchens, rickshaw yards, commercial centres, and rural villages become sites of movement and meaning, carrying histories forward while searching for new rhythms within them.
With the FOCUSseries, Cinedans brings the artistic and cultural legacy of a country into the spotlight. India recognises eight traditional classical dance forms, such as Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, and Odissi. In addition, there are hundreds of folk and tribal dances. In partnership with Ashavari Majumdar and Abhyuday Khaitan, artistic directors of Manifest Dance-Film Festival in Pondicherry, we highlight the richness of Indian dance and trace the recent development of dance film as an innovative art form in the country.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the invited curators on what constitutes Indian dance film, its representation in the western world and how traditional and contemporary Indian movement languages interact on screen.
FOCUS: India includes an additional program of Indian dance films available online during the Cinedans WEB Festival, March 26 – April 5. Ashavari Majumdar and Abhyuday Khaitan will also lead a Masterclass on Friday March 27 in Cinema 2, sharing their film making and producing practices with particular attention to how the specificity of Indian dance forms camera movement and visual emphasis.
The screening is accompanied by a performance of dancer/ choreographer Amisha Kumra and Tabla virtuoso Heiko Dijker. Together they will bring us on a journey through Indian diasporic and traditional sound and movement.
Programme
Bhairava (Dir: Marlene Millar, Philip Szporer | Chor: Shantala Shivalingappa | IN, CA | 2017 | 14’)
Bhairava evokes facets of Shiva, the Lord of Dance, as both the destructor of evil and the guardian of time.
Caryatid Rests (Dir: Michael Weston | Chor: Rekha Tandon | GB | 1995 | 6')
A young Indian princess awakens an abandoned palace through dance, stirred by the echoes, light, and memories held within its walls.
Until It Run Into Me (Dir: Melitta Dsouza | Chor: Abhishek Choksi, Melitta Dsouza | IN | 2026 | 9' | World Premiere)
In a world governed by repetition and routine, a disruptive new energy fractures the rhythm of everyday life, revealing alternative ways of being.
A State of Thirst (Dir/Chor: Ashavari Majumdar a.k.a Vajrasara | IN | 2023 | 8’)
The human body and its most basic need is the subject of this minimalist film envisioning a water-scarce future.
Nehru Place (Dir: Rajyashree Ramamurthi, Desmond Roberts | Chor: Rajyashree Ramamurthi | IN | 2011 | 5' | Dutch Premiere)
A visual and choreographic response to one of Delhi’s most famous commercial hubs. A thriving chaos by day, desolate and eerie by night, this is Nehru Place.
Dudro (Dir: Dhanya Pilo | Chor: Parimal Phadke | IN | 2023 | 5')
A dancer transforms a Delhi cycle rickshaw yard into an unconventional performance space, revealing the unseen social rhythms of an overlooked urban site.
The Kitchen (Dir/Chor: Vishwakiran Nambi | IN | 2023 | 10' | World Premiere)
A woman navigates the confines of domesticity in her kitchen, using traditional dance to playfully challenge the patriarchal constraints that define her existence and identity.
A Snake in the Grass (Dir/Chor: Fu Le | FR | 2025 | 19' | Dutch Premiere)
In a rural South Indian village, a forbidden romance ignites jealousy and challenges traditions of marriage.
This is part of
Details
Length
93 min.
Event language
English
Part of
Cinedans 2026
Cinedans FEST returns to Eye with a rich and international film programme that brings together the beauty of dance and the power of film!
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