Come for the films, stay for everything else at the Monsoon Film Festival

The Monsoon Film Festival presented by Nilaya Anthology, explores the intersection of cinema with design, visual culture and collective memory. The exhibition is curated by The Hollywood Reporter India and its editor, Anupama Chopra, one of India’s most respected film critics and cultural commentators. The festival unfolds an immaculate study of important Indian films, ranging from classics like Aparajito directed by the legendary Satyajit Ray and Padma Bhushan Shyam Benegal’s Manthan, to independent documentary films like All That Breathes directed by noted Indian filmmaker and video artist Shaunak Sen and global films like The Shameless by Bulgarian artist and filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov. Beyond the screenings, the programme features conversations and workshops with acclaimed film makers and industry experts. These sessions around cinema will touch upon a wide array of topics right from dissecting the visual elements of a film poster to understanding the nuances of film criticism and more. 

Old Gods and New

The highlight of the endeavour, though, is Old Gods and New, an exhibition of artworks by the Ahmedabad-based artists Sumit Chitara and his brother Vivek Chitara who have won National awards for their excellence in the traditional textile artform, Mata ni Pachedi. Mata ni Pachedi is a 300 year-old textile art that originated within the Vaghri community in Gujarat; the name directly translates to ‘behind the Goddess’ and uses techniques of block printing and hand painting to illustrate intricate religious figures and symbolic motifs. Sumit and Vivek often use symbols and figures from pop-culture in their contemporary interpretations of this traditional textile art, juxtaposed with intricate micro-drawings—whilst keeping the visual vocabulary of the craft intact.

Curated by Pavitra Rajaram, Creative Director at Nilaya Anthology, the exhibition contains Sumit and Vivek’s reinterpretions of more than 40 iconic films through the same format of a traditional Mata ni Pachedi work. “At Nilaya Anthology, we are constantly seeking artistic practices that offer new ways of seeing exceptional craftsmanship,” she says. “Old Gods and New celebrates Mata ni Pachedi as a living tradition, demonstrating how heritage can remain deeply authentic while engaging meaningfully with contemporary culture.” For the artist brothers–the 5th generation in a line of inherited practitioners–this exhibition is an opportunity to explore the traditional craft through a compelling lens of cinema and translate films and characters that shaped their generation. “These works are our way of continuing that story, connecting inherited craftsmanship with contemporary imagination,” says Sumit.