How does the portrayal of media and communication in film reflect the evolving realities of modern India? This panel brings together filmmakers whose work navigates the intersections of media technologies, surveillance and social justice. The discussion will delve into how media – whether official or grassroots, broadcast or social – shape and complicate narratives of identity, class, and power in today’s world. Panellists will reflect on how, as filmmakers, they navigate these layered media environments to tell stories that are both informed by and critical of the systems they portray. Through stories of mob violence, biometric tracking, and the coexistence of spirituality with science, these filmmakers offer a critical look at India’s techno-social landscape, raising questions about how the cinematic form shapes and is, in turn, informed by social and political currents.
