Screen Time
If you’ve ever wondered what you, as a viewer, can do to support women film-makers, why not attend the 15th Asian Women’s Film Festival? Over 50 films by Asian women directors from 20 countries will be shown, spanning documentary, short fiction, animation, experimental film, and the feature-length drama Debt, by Turkey’s Vuslat Saraçoğlu.
Apart from the wide-ranging general selection and specially curated segments on the female gaze, childhood, and films from the North-East, there’s a roundtable on MeToo in the media and film industry, and a workshop with schoolgirls. —UB
4-7 March, India International Centre, Delhi. Visit the IAWRT Facebook page for details.
On Display
Recycled wood, found objects and a nature-inspired aesthetic create functional art; soft brush strokes lend new dimensions to terrazzo tiles and state of the art speakers offer a diverse range of soundscapes to suit the personality of different homes. The second edition of the D/code exhibition brings together artists, architects, galleries and products on a common platform. The idea is to create new interactions between luxury, technology and design by curating a selection of leading Indian and international brands as well as niche players. This edition of D/Code will be curated by Mumbai-based architect duo, Krupa Zubin and Zubin Zainuddin of ZZ Architects. Special sections decoding concepts of luxury, technology and art will have guest curators, including architects Sanjay Puri and Ayaz Basrai. “Our idea is to make D/Code an event of discovery and exploration and showcase a variety of talent," says Zainuddin. Ultimately, the aim is for homeowners, designers and architects to find a space where they can connect with each other and share their expertise and vision. —DK
D/code will be held on 2-3 March at NSCI Dome, Worli, Mumbai.
Just Arrived
Just in time for spring, the Mumbai-based boutique Clove offers a floral ode with PIXEL, a new range in collaboration with fashion designers Saaksha and Kinni and architect Rooshad Shroff. While Saaksha and Kinni depict pixelated florals on textiles, Shroff has created a set of plates featuring geometric prints inspired by floral motifs. “PIXEL is a collaboration that marries my love for fashion and design while focusing on an Indian aesthetic with a modern appeal," says Samyukta Nair, founder of Clove. “The showcase juxtaposes Rooshad’s plates that have a masculine appeal with monochrome geometry, interspaced with bursts of colour, with Saaksha & Kinni’s softness seen in their contemporary silhouettes in bright and luxe fabrics." —SD
Page Turner
The Heist Artist (Harper Black, ₹ 299)
It’s not every day that a con man is commissioned by a corrupt politician from Uttar Pradesh to steal a rare painting by Vincent van Gogh called Poppy Flowers that is smuggled into India after being stolen from a museum in Egypt. But all is fair in fiction, especially if a racy plot is embellished with heady doses of fantasy. The Heist Artist is the latest thriller by British-Indian writer Vish Dhamija, once called “India’s John Grisham" for his “legal fiction". Told largely in the voice of Vagh Pratap Singh, or the Captain, who is the eponymous heist artist, this novel is a roller-coaster ride through a murky past and a dangerous present. —SG
