Events

Film screening: Not Just Roads

When? 1 July 2022, 15.00-16.30
Where? IRI THESys

NOT JUST ROADS is an ethnographic documentary film that narrates the story of a massive urban transformation underway in India.

Highways are being constructed at an unprecedented rate of 23 kilometers per day under the Indian government's Bharatmala (‘Garland of Limitless Roads’) program. The program aims to open new territories for the emerging Indian middle class. Currently, the territory is inhabited by villages, working class neighbourhoods, and nomadic herders. It is criss-crossed by native trails and vital ecological commons. This film captures the story of one such highway outside Delhi, from the perspective of human and non-human actors.

The screening takes place together with the two filmmakers Nitin Bathla and Klearjos Papanicolaou.

Nitin Bathla is an architect, artist, and educator currently pursuing Doctoral Studies at ETH Zurich. His work focuses on labour migration, land ecology, and housing in the extended urban region of Delhi. Aside from academic writing, he works on films, community art projects, and social design projects.

Klearjos Papanicolaou is a Greek/Mexican filmmaker interested in ethnography as a filmmaking methodology. His films and collaborations include 'The Seven Sisters Indoor Market' (2016), 'The Disappearance of Robin Hood' (2018), and 'Not Just Roads' (2020). He is currently based in Zürich, where he teaches ethnographic filmmaking at the urban scale at the ETHZ.

More information on the film’s website (https://www.nitinbathla.com/films)