Director’s CV

Varun Trikha
varhunvtrikha@gmail.com

EDUCATION

Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Delhi — Creative Documentary (First Division and class topper throughout the program)

King’s College London — MA Ethical leadership (Merit) [Innovation Scholarship]

FILM PROJECTS

The Wall — 33 minutes, 2017. Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust for Doordarshan, India.

The film is a portrait of post colonial Goa told through a unique relationship of a woman with her living room wall.

The TV broadcast scheduled for the end of 2017 on Doordarshan Channel, India.

Closed screening held on 22.02.2017 at The Estonian National Museum, Tartu. Estonia. World Premiere TBA.

Saatvin Khwahish (The Seventh Wish) — 27 minutes, 2014.
The film looks at the denounced Rekhti poetry through its survivors- Jinns/Genies and desires.

Selected Screenings:
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2015, Japan (only film by an Indian
filmmaker to be presented at YIDFF 2015)
Pärnu International Film Festival 2015, Estonia (nominated for ‘Best scientific recording’)
Dhaka International Film Festival 2015, Bangladesh
Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2017, India
Delhi International Film Festival 2014, India
Delhi Shorts International Film Festival 2014, India
NSFA 2015, India
International Film Festival of Prayag 2015, India
Nashik International Film Festival 2015, India
Alpaviram International Film Festival 2015, India
Laadli Film Festival 2015, India

Awards:
Best Director at NSFA 2015 by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. The award was presented by the Indian actor Shatrughan Sinha.
Best documentary (Jury) at Delhi Shorts International Film Festival 2014

Others:
Excerpts shown on Lok Sabha TV with the director’s interview.
Shown at Elektriteater (The Electric Theatre Cinema), Estonia
Screened for MA students at Baltic Film and Media School, Tallinn, Estonia
Participated in Doc Outlook- International market, Media library, Visions du Réel 2015,
Switzerland

Khaala ke yahaan (At Khaala’s) — 12 minutes, 2014
A story about space and counter space, place and displacement, time and timelessness, domesticity and seclusion, but most importantly about words and wordlessness.

Screenings:
ISFF Pisek 2014, Czech Republic (the only South Asian film presented in the festival)
Traveling Film South Asia 2014 – A festival of South Asian documentaries, New Delhi
Delhi Shorts International Film Festival 2014
Delhi International Film Festival 2014

Others:
Broadcast on Lok Sabha TV

CURRENT PROJECTS

A feature length Documentary ‘Läinud on Jäänud’ (Peripherals) produced by Karin
Reinberg-Shestakov (Revolver Film, Estonia) in development.
“Läinud on jäänud” is a creative documentary about how a finno-ugric culture is transitioning amidst some historical, political and cultural upheavals; told through three
characters trying to make sense of what it means to have a folk identity in today’s surrealistic border-landscapes of Estonia.

A Photographic exhibition at the Estonian embassy, New Delhi. Scheduled for 2018
to celebrate 100 years of Estonia’s independence.
The photo exhibition will offer a visual exploration of a finno-ugric community called Setos to understand and articulate a struggle between the forces of ethno-futurism and revivalism within the Seto culture.

FELLOWSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

100 Friends Fellowship 2015, Estonia
Represented India amongst 24 media practitioners representing 24 different countries in
a fellowship by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to gain a political, social and
cultural understanding of Estonia. The fellowship included a special meeting with the
Estonian Prime minister and the Estonian minister of Foreign Affairs.

Tartu Artist in Residence, Estonia. December 2016- March 2017
The first documentary filmmaker to be an artist in residence at TAiR.
Made several field trips to border villages of Estonia and Russia to further develop an
ongoing film project. Worked closely with folklorists and researchers. Actively engaged with the local artist community through three public events- two artist talks with screening of previous work and hosting an Indian-themed dinner.

OTHERS

A lecture at the Baltic Film & Media School, Tallinn on 8.03.2017
The talk focused on the idea of connectedness within the filmmaking practice to help the MA students in their ongoing projects.

A talk during a two day symposium ‘Beyond the present’ at Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Delhi on 23.04.2017
The presentation will address the conceptual, ethical and aesthetic concerns about
representation of reality in films.

Program at Elektriteater (The Electric Theatre), Tartu, Estonia in February 2017.
Presented ‘The Seventh Wish’ and research footage from an ongoing project to talk about the aesthetic ways of reconnecting to a cultural past in a program entitled ‘Kino ja vestlus india filmitegija Varun Trikhaga’ (A conversation with the Indian filmmaker Varun Trikha).

Program at Eesti Rahva Muuseum (The Estonian National Museum), Tartu, Estonia in January 2017.
The program entitled ‘Mida otsib üks India filmitegija Setomaalt’ (An Indian filmmaker
in the land of Setos), curated by the folklorist Indrek Jääts, presented‘The Wall’ and some research footage from the current film project followed by a lively tea ceremony.

Facilitator for 8-day workshop on ethics and filmmaking at IIT Delhi
The workshop interpreted film aesthetics in relation to some ethical debates. Delivered a talk on ‘Understanding different ethical concepts’.

Interviewed by Lok Sabha TV
Interviewed by Sohaila Kapur about past projects and life as an independent documentary filmmaker in India. Link to the interview: https://vimeo.com/138655950

Mumbai T2 Film Project
Assisted Avijit Mukul Kishor in documenting the making of various art installations
designed for Mumbai Airport. Independently looked after some part of production including interviewing the British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and Indian artists like Rajiv Sethi and Baraan Ijlal.

Photographic project – Just another day – Abadi Art Space, 2013. Curator: Jose Abad
An exhibition about that time when everything seems quite regular and then something
happens which changes everything forever.