ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Asian Network of Documentary(AND) Fund

2013

2013 Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

LIST Our Metropolis
Category Busan Bank Fund
Project Our Metropolis
Director Gautam SONTI, Usha RAO
Country India
Director's Profile After years of being a slave to commissioned work, Gautam Sonti decided he′d had enough and went independent. His earlier series of short films, Coding Culture, screened at several international film festivals, is a critical examination of the experience of globalisation within the microcosm of a hi-tech workplace in Bangalore. Our Metropolis, his first feature-length documentary film, extends this theme to the entire city. Usha Rao is an anthropologist at large. For over a decade she has wandered through Bangalore′s maze of neighborhood, streets and by-lanes, trying to make sense of the changes that have transformed the city. In particular, she is trying to understand the ways in which Bangalore′s status as a ′global city′ has impacted the lives of its people and their relationship with the city.
Synopsis
Bangalore is being refashioned as a ′world class metropolis′. Livelihoods and homes make way for flyovers, glitzy malls and a shiny Metro. Threatened with violent transformation of their city, residents confront the authorities. Beneath the State′s ideal of a ′global city′ lurks the intent to clear a pasture for big business.
Director's Note
The global city erases everything in its path. As we move from metro to mall, there is nothing to remind us of those who lived and worked where we now stand. This film is our attempts to let some of these stories live on.
Festivals
2014 Busan International Film Festival - Wide Angle
2014 Dubai International Film Festival - Cinema of the World
2015 Tromso International Film Festival
2015 Seoul International Architecture Film Festival
2015 Cinema Verite, Teheran
2016 Mumbai Film Festival - Competition
2016 Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival
2016 IIHS Urban Lens Film Festival, Bangalore and Delhi
2016 Tartu World Film Festival
2016 NAFA Film Festival, Bergen
2017 Social Justice Film Festival, Bangalore
Still Cut
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