BIOSCOPE ON URBAN INDIA

The Nagari Film Competition is an annual initiative that supports and nurtures films engaging with urban issues unique to Indian cities. Conceived as a bioscope for the city, Nagari uses the cinematic lens to explore diverse urban conditions and provoke dialogue on the evolving life of our cities.

What sets Nagari apart is its guided format — participants are mentored by an expert panel that provides feedback and direction throughout the filmmaking process, helping shape ideas into impactful films.

The competition encourages live-action documentary films with compelling, well-developed narratives. We recommend that entries are  submitted by teams led by one or two principal members, which may include collaborators from multiple disciplines. At least one team member should have prior filmmaking experience. While collaboration is strongly encouraged, individual or smaller-team projects are equally welcome.

NAGARI 2026

Sustainable Futures for a
Changing Climate

Indian cities stand at a critical threshold. Shaped by decades of uneven and haphazard planning, many urban centres are already grappling with strained infrastructure, housing shortages, and growing pressure on natural resources. Layered on to this is the climate crisis, amplifying and compounding these stresses, with its impacts most acutely felt in urban life.

NAGARI 2025

Public Realm in Urban India

Public space is defined as places that are open and accessible to everyone – this usually includes maidans, gardens, waterfronts, etc. The Indian city broadens this definition of public space by including streets, footpaths, markets, alleyways, transport infrastructure among others. Our public spaces are layered by use, scale and activity, varying across days, seasons, groups, and movement.

This is the public realm. It is “where a city’s culture is expressed most freely and openly, and it is where the city is at its most democratic, honest, and energetic” (Martin, 2017).

NAGARI 2024

Mobility in Urban India

Mobility is the capability to move from one location to another influenced by the push (i.e., outflux of people) and the pull (i.e., influx of people) factor. This movement is governed by three key interrelated choices that citizens make, namely, housing, transport and livelihoods.

Past editions of Nagari have looked at the themes of housing adequacy and livelihoods in urban India. Keeping transport as the central performative nerve in an urban environment, this year’s Nagari bioscope aims to create an anthology documenting the elements governing mobility and its dynamics in shaping Indian cities.

NAGARI 2023

Reclaiming the Urban Commons

India’s rapid expansion has created, and been supported by, a complex series of infrastructural systems. The country’s burgeoning population, record of urbanisation and changing consumption patterns have created growing amounts of waste that demand our attention. There is a need to understand the complex processes involved in the waste we generate and how it has now infringed on the urban commons. 

As the film competition continues to expand its exploration into the daily lives in urban India, Nagari 2023 will focus on Reclaiming the Urban Commons through the lens of waste management – its generation, management, disposal, treatment and the individual stories of people that are affected by it. The Nagari films aim to explore strategies and solutions to the various issues that are linked to the theme.

NAGARI 2022

Water in Urban India

Over the last few decades, we have seen how rapid population growth, high densities, poverty and high differentials in access to housing, public services and infrastructure have led to an increase in vulnerability, especially in India’s urban centres.

Previous editions of Nagari have looked at the state of housing and the challenges of livelihood that exist within this rapid urbanisation. This year, Nagari will focus on a single idea of how stories in urban India are tied to water.

NAGARI 2021

People and Livelihoods in Urban India

The second edition of the Nagari Short Film Competition addresses the subject of People and Livelihoods in Urban India. It attempted to not only use film as a medium to narrate the issues, but really to expand an understanding of the subject and extend its representation and relevance in India.

NAGARI 2020

Housing Adequacy in Urban India

The first edition of the Nagari Short Film Competition addresses the subject of Housing Adequacy in Urban India. It attempted to not only use film as a medium to narrate the issues, but really to expand an understanding of the subject and extend its representation and relevance in India.