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The walled city of Jaipur — founded by Maharaja Jai Singh II in 1727 — has long been a crucible of artistic production, shaped by centuries of royal patronage. From intricately carved marble and blue pottery to textiles, jewellery, and miniature painting, the city has nurtured a thriving ecosystem of craft and design for centuries. As the Mughal empire declined, many court artists — particularly miniature painters — migrated to Jaipur, where they found renewed support in the ateliers of the Rajput court.
The Jaipur Centre for Art, co-founded by Padmanabh Singh, the scion of the erstwhile royal family, and contemporary art curator Noelle Kadar, builds on this historical foundation. Imagined as a space where tradition and innovation intersect, the Centre continues Jaipur's legacy of artistic patronage with a focus on contemporary practices, cross-disciplinary dialogue, and global cultural exchange.
This summer, Jaipur Centre for Art is hosting 'Artists' Cinema / Artist's Cinema' — a six-week programme featuring over 150 bold, poetic, and boundary-blurring films from South Asia and the rest of the world. Held from June 20 to July 31, 2025, within the historic City Palace complex, the initiative is an invitation to step out of Jaipur's sweltering summer heat and into a space of collective reflection. With a focus on the poetic, the experimental, and the politically resonant, the programme positions cinema not just as entertainment, but as a form of artistic inquiry and shared experience.
"Jaipur has long been a city where tradition and creativity have coexisted in harmony. With this summer film programme at the Jaipur Centre for Art, we continue that legacy by opening our doors to diverse cinematic voices from around the world."
HH Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur, Co-Founder, Jaipur Centre for Art
This inaugural edition — curated by writer and art theorist Dr. Shwetal Ashvin Patel — features a compelling line-up of films by Indian artists and filmmakers that traverse personal, political, and poetic terrain. Highlights include photographer-filmmaker Soumya Sankar Bose's 'Marichjhapi: Where The Birds Never Sing', a haunting documentary on historical violence and displacement in Communist Bengal; Ronny Sen's stylised, monochrome portrait of addiction in the semi-autobigraphical 'Cat Sticks'; and Amshu Chukki's contemplative, genre-defying work 'Different Danny'. The programme also foregrounds regional and transnational narratives such as Suruchi Sharma's 'Ek Taar', a Rajasthani documentary that preserves endangered oral traditions; Saurav Rai's 'Crossing Borders', which reflects on migration and marginality; and Achal Mishra's deeply atmospheric 'Gamak Ghar' and 'Dhuin', which meditate on memory, identity, and the unceasing passage of time.
"This inaugural programme seeks to nurture the poetic potential of cinema — envisioning film as a space of refuge and resistance in an era marked by acceleration, exploitation, and erasure. These films transcend borders, styles, and formats, creating a space that welcomes diverse ideas, perspectives, and modes of remembrance."
Dr. Shwetal Ashvin Patel
The international segment of the programme expands this conversation with a curated selection of works by influential global filmmakers like Fatih Akin's politically charged dramas 'In the Fade' and 'Soul Kitchen', Jean-Luc Godard's revolutionary 'La Chinoise', and Lisandro Alonso's metaphysical odyssey 'Eureka'. These films push formal boundaries of the cinematic medium and invite audiences to rethink the possibilities of cinematic storytelling.
'Bombay Talkies: Photographs from the Josef Wirsching Collection', a special showing of select photographs from the archive of German cinematographer Josef Wirsching presented by Art Heritage — offering a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the golden age of Indian cinema — will add another layer to the programme.
“At Jaipur Centre for Art, we are deeply committed to creating space for diverse artistic practices and new modes of storytelling. This summer film programme is both a celebration and an invitation to relax, to gather, and to engage with film as a medium of reflection, community, and joy.”
Noelle Kadar, Co-Founder, Jaipur Centre for Art
Artists' Cinema / Artist's Cinema will also feature daily afternoon screenings dedicated to experimental films and artist-driven works by established South Asian voices such as Sunil Gupta, Pallavi Paul, Amol K. Patil, Bani Abidi, and Sudarshan Shetty, alongside fresh voices like Rajaram Naik. The evening screenings will focus on auteur cinema — spotlighting South Asian classics like Shyam Benegal's 'Manthan' and celebrated international films by Jacques Demy, François Truffaut, and Mati Diop — creating a dialogue between past and present, regional and global, mainstream and experimental.
Artists' Cinema / Artist's Cinema will be open to the public at the Jaipur Centre for Art, in Jaipur's historic City Palace complex, from June 20 to July 31, 2025.
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