FILMS
Sometimes Up Close
Sometimes From Afar
A cinematic exploration on Indian cinema halls as architectures of migration and community building.
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Concept development & research:
Mary N. Woods, Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Pooja Sharma, Rangoli Agarwal
Editing: Niharika Popli
Producer: Mary N. Woods
63 mins | English, Hindi, Tamil
English Subtitles | 2024
The Death of Us
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Desmond Roberts
Edit: Kuldeep Gaur, Vani Subramanian
Sound: Pratik Biswas
Production: PSBT
78 mins | English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu
English Subtitles
2018
SYNOPSIS
18th Open Frame Film Festival – PSBT, New Delhi
20th Madurai International Film Festival
15th South Asia International Film Festival, New York
6th Kolkata Peoples’ Film Festival
7th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival
Social Justice Film Festival, Chennai
18th ImagineIndia International Film Festival, Barcelona
Habitat Film Festival, IHC, Delhi
International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Trivandrum
Signs Film Festival, Trissur
Social Justice Film Festival, Chennai
Human Rights Film Festival, Bangalore
Gandhi Film Festival, Madurai
Vikalp@Prithvi Online
Marupakkam Online Film Festival
The debate on death penalty is loud and impassioned. Instead of echoing that cacophony, The Death of Us, quietly reflects on a range of cases in which the death penalty was pronounced. Sometimes, ending in the execution of the convicted; sometimes in commutation to a life sentence; and sometimes to acquittal and release. Speaking to some who have been on death row, and others closely involved with the cases, we engage in complex conversations on crime and punishment, revenge and justice, popular rhetoric and personal experiences. Only to find ourselves confronted by larger ethical and moral questions across time and space.
FESTIVALS
Stir. Fry. Simmer.
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Basit Jamaal
Editing: Vani Subramanian, Deshraj
Sound: Pratik Biswas
Production: PSBT
58 mins | English, Hindi, Malayalam
English Subtitles
2012
SYNOPSIS
AWARD
Conversations about food, memory, nostalgia, identity, family, community, nation, desire, disgust, politics, prejudice and power... just some of the things that food signifies to all of us.
Jury Award: SIGNS Film Festival, 2012
New (Improved) Delhi.
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Desmond Roberts, Surajit Sarkar
Editing: Vani Subramanian
Independent production
English | 6mins | 2001
SYNOPSIS
A short film about who pays the price when a capital city like New Delhi transforms into a glistening metropolis, with no space for the embarrassment of the poor and their slums, or the ugly shadow they cast over Delhi’s glistening self-image.
SCREENINGS
Fragments of Cities, MORPHOS Festival, Venice
Yamagata Documentary International Film Festival
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Ayodhya Gatha
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Yasir Khan, Yousuf Saeed
Edit: Atul Gupta, Vani Subramanian
Sound Asheesh Pandya
Production: PSBT
62 mins | English, Hindi
English Subtitles | 2007
SYNOPSIS
What does it mean to belong to a city that has become a symbol of religious intolerance, majoritarian aggression and communal tumult in India - Ayodhya. The film revisits the small town at the centre of the political storm, almost two decades after the contrversial demolition of the historic 16 Century mosque, the Babri masjid.
AWARD
Jury Special Mention, Film South Asia 2007
Play on, Tiger!
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Ankur Ahuja
Editing: Vani S, Kuldeep Gaur
Sound: Asheesh Pandya
11mins | 2010
A playful biopic that celebrates the life and times of legendary cricketer, Mansur Ali Khan, Nawab of Pataudi.
Meals Ready
Direction: Vani Subramanian, Surajit Sarkar
Cinematography: Hemant Chaturvedi
Editing: Madan S Rajan
Queens College, Oxford
English | Tamil
English Subtitles
46 mins | 1996
SYNOPSIS
Set in the early days of the 'liberalising' economy in India, the film that explores the political economy of rice growing to illustrate how deeply social hierarchies of caste, class, gender and economic power are embedded in the so-called ‘freemarket’.
AWARD
Second Prize, Film South Asia 2007
It's a boy! (It's going to be a boy)
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Pooja Sharma, Tarun Bhartiya
Editing: Manoj Jain
Production: PSBT
English | Hindi
English Subtitles
27 mins | 2008
SYNOPSIS
A film that looks at the challenge of falling numbers of girl-children by the locating current rhetoric and statistics in their social, political and cultural context.
AWARD
Best Documentary: Bollywood & Beyond, Germany,
Eighty years is not enough.
Direction, Cinematography:
Vani Subramanian
Edit: Deshraj, Vani Subramanian
Production: ISST
12 mins | 2013
A short film that pays tribute to the extraordinary life and work of the eminent feminist economist, Devaki Jain.
Holy Duels of Hola Mohalla
Direction: Vani Subramanian
Cinematography: Shanker Raman, Desmond Roberts
Edit: Vani Subramanian
Production: PSBT
28 mins | 2001
SYNOPSIS
On the festival that celebrates the establishment of the Khalsa Panth.
AWARDS
Golden Statuette, Best Film on Religion, International Fest of Short Films on Culture, Jaipur,2007
First Prize, One Billion Eyes Film Festival Chennai, 2010
A profile in dance.
Choereography and dance: Aditi Mangaldas
Direction: Vani Subramanian, Gopika Chowfla
Cinematography: Aseem Trivedi
Editing: Vani Subramanian
Drishtikon Foundation
English | Hindi
English Subtitles
25 mins | 2003