These 9 films being screened at MIFF 2022 talk about Covid, capture pandemic emotions

As an art form which captures the emotions, thoughts and anxiety of society, how can films turn a blind eye towards all these happenings?

New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact in all of our lives. Worries about catching the virus and its complications, the death of near and dear ones and the social isolation caused by long lockdowns literally turned our world upside down.

Studies are still going on about the psychological impacts of the pandemic. As an art form which captures the emotions, thoughts and anxiety of society, how can films turn a blind eye towards all these happenings? It is hence quite normal that filmmakers choose Covid pandemic as the theme for their story telling. The ongoing 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival has also got a bunch of excellent films with Covid-19 pandemic as its central theme.

These films touch upon a mixed bag of issues like human interactions during Covid, its tensions, boredom and isolation. The films are spanned across various sections like International Competition, National Competition, North East Films Package, Student Films, Mexican Animation package and Poland package.  Let’s have a quick look at the #MIFF2022 films that reminiscent about Covid times.

Here are the films that revolve around Covid and are being screened at MIFF 2022.

OCD

It is the time of the Cavid-19 global quarantine and this has complicated the marital life of a young couple. The husband is obsessive and his wife doesn’t understand his sensibilities. Today, like all previous years, was supposed to be a debate, but things turns out differently.

Director: Ali Azadikhah

Together

Together is set during the second wave of the coronavirus, a time of extreme collective anxiety. Munmun, a migrant domestic worker, and her employer, Rekha, who are at loggerheads with each other find themselves under the same roof during the pandemic lockdown. Munmun has to take care of Rekha’s husband, Rajendra, who is severely infected with COVID-19 and Rekha herself, a chronic arthritis patient. As her own sixteen year old daughter also gets infected, Munmun has to leave for home urgently while Rajendra’s condition worsens. The film explores the changing dynamics of emotions and class differences when crises are shared.

Director: Azad Alam

The Uncertain Years (Hun Kirh)

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, a lockdown was imposed around the country. In Mizoram too, life came to a grinding halt. With his camera, the filmmaker observes the events unfolding around him from the first day of the lockdown. It gives us an inside glimpse of life during the pandemic and the handling of it by society, both commoners and frontline workers such as medical volunteers.

Director: Napoleon R Z Thanga

Haalaat

The film presents impressions of the lockdown-stillness and thoughts like a void in an empty box. No sense of the passing time. Emptiness. Anxieties, ecstasy and mixed hopes for an uncertain tomorrow.

Director: Swanand Kottewar

Daydreaming

An artist stuck at home daydreams during the lockdown.

Director: Katha

Attention at Tension

The film depicts the anxieties the filmmaker goes through during the pandemic. As many questions emerge in her mind, she reflects on what she has been going through by creating journal entries in the hope of finding answers.

Director: Azalia Primadita Muchransyah

If…if…if

The film illustrates the realities of the lockdown period. It looks at the pain of monotony that human beings around t world were suffering from after being quarantined from nature for so long.

Director: Masadur Rahaman

Searching for the Narrative

This film, made during eight months of a nationwide lockdown In India in 2020, explores the life of a family that is uncomfortable living together.

Director: Shreshtha Kovvall

My Dear Quarantine

The film is a simple story about the pandemic-a poetic portrayal of a time of isolation, loneliness and boredom.

Director: Ewa Maria Wolska