When their mothers buy them new clothes, they know what to do: take pictures at the studio! So says director Nishtha Jain, opening her story in City of Photos (2004). For some, the photo studio is a fun pastime. It is a space to freeze the best times of life. However, for some, heading to the studio is a boring compulsion. A dreary façade.
The whirring sound of the photo printer crowded the tiny studio space. Fussy children cry over the endless hours their parents spend on those sheets of picture frame filler. Edit, edit, edit. The cameraman helps them to capture their dreams that have yet to–and may never–come true.
Jain captures the life of a photo studio in Kolkata, India, as a small space creating mind-indulging images. The immortalization of figures, objects, and faces is an attempt to remember today for tomorrow. Not only people, the cameraman captures more than just a snippet of an event or two: destroyed buildings, abandoned belongings, and burnt houses. The colors of history also fill the available space in a real painting. Jain brings us to the belief that photo-taking is an immortalized evidence of human life’s trajectory: it is not always the flash of a live camera that gives birth to smiles and beautiful blooms.
Capture what is captured in City of Photos (2004) on Retrospektif Festival Film Dokumenter 2023. (Athallah, Tuffahati) (Vanis)
Film Details
City of Photos
Nishta Jain | 59 Min | 2004 | India | Color | 17+
Screening Schedule
12.07 | Bioskop Sonobudoyo | 15.00 WIB
