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A Night of Knowing Nothing
Institute of Contemporary Arts
A Night of Knowing Nothing, dir. Payal Kapadia, France / India 2021, 97min., Hindi and Bengali with English subtitles


Payal Kapadia’s bold and distinctive debut feature is an immersive and spiritual work addressing issues of artist production as well as the political complexities of contemporary India. A Night of Knowing Nothing is framed by fictional letters from a female student to her estranged lover. 

The film initially lends itself to investigative fictional storytelling before exploring the political contradictions of contemporary India. Combining a mixture of found footage, sketches and her own material, Kapadia – an alumna of the Film & Television Institute of India – repositions the work of fellow students at other educational establishments, charting the fractious relationship between a nation’s youth, its rigid caste structures, its families and its far-right government. Among many other ideas and leads, A Night of Knowing Nothing also aims to reimagine the role of a film school in this turbulent and often violent political epoch. 

A Night of Knowing Nothing premiered in the UK as the Opening film of FRAMES of REPRESENTATION 2021
 
06:00 pm
Sun, 01 Dec 2024
Cinema 1
07:00 pm
Wed, 04 Dec 2024
Cinema 1
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Cinema 1
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