Experiencing Interruptions?

Niishii | Night Worlds

What happens to a town after sunset? What happens to life and light?

Set in Dubrajpur (WB, India) during the summer monsoons of June and July 2017, this ethnographic film attempts to capture the essence of the semi-urban night in a small town from its pre-electrification years as a village before 1958 to its radically altered present state.

Traversing the realms of experience, imagination and memory, it presents the night as a distinctly active and affective space and time distinguished by the lightscapes and soundscapes uniquely crafted, altered and negotiated by its people as they move from one night to the next.

(This film was submitted as part of the dissertation for the MA in Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester, 2017.)

  • Saranya Nayak
    Director
  • Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, The University of Manchester, Saranya Nayak
    Producer
  • Jiban De, Parbati Datta, Bapi Datta, Kartik Sutradhar
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 9 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 13, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Chronicles of a Summer (MA Visual Anthropology Final Show)
    Manchester
    United Kingdom
    November 22, 2017
  • IntimaLente Festival Di Film Etnografici
    San Giorgio Del Sannio
    Italy
    December 21, 2017
    European Premiere
    Mention
  • Virgin Spring Cinefest
    Kolkata
    India
    March 10, 2018
    Indian Premiere
    Best Student Film (Gold Award)
  • German International Ethnographic Film Festival
    Koblenz
    Germany
    May 9, 2018
    Official Selection
  • Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
    Kolkata
    India
    Official Selection
  • Cult Critic Movie Awards
    Kolkata
    India
    Finalist
Director Biography - Saranya Nayak

Saranya Nayak is a visual anthropologist and filmmaker hailing from Kolkata, India. Her recent film, photography and mixed media projects have been inspired by all manner of things perceived and imagined while travelling from and living in New Delhi, Manchester, Kolkata and London. She feels very strongly about the responsibility of cinema as a medium of tremendous influence. Her aims are to create socially significant research-backed fiction that can generate a closer understanding of the often invisible dynamics that shape modern society, including deep-rooted notions of caste, class, family and gender roles. Saranya has a BA (Honours) in History from Lady Shri Ram College (University of Delhi), and an MA in Visual Anthropology from The University of Manchester. For the past five months, she has worked as an Assistant Director to award-winning filmmakers Kaushik Ganguly and Churni Ganguly for their upcoming Bengali language feature film projects. She also loves theatre, sketching, playing the guitar and watching animation.

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