Madhuja Mukherjee is a visual-artist, filmmaker and author.
• She studied literature (1992) and cinema (1996) and is trained in fine arts and
music. Madhuja teaches Film Studies at Jadavpur University, Kolkata (since
2007).
• She is artistic director of TENT Biennale Kolkata, a festival for experimental
films and new media art (since 2014).
• Madhuja researches film and media histories, technologies and cultures of
sound, subjects of women, work, city and cinema. She focuses on archives,
historiography and media archaeology.
• Madhuja extends her research into media installations, film work and
academic publications, and has extensively published research papers in
scholarly journals and has written books / edited readers and volumes.
• She created the best-selling Bengali graphic-novel Kangal Malsat (2013)
• And, contributed as creator / illustrator to graphic anthologies: First Hand
(vol. 1, 2016), Unknown Heroes (2023), among others.
Films:
• Costume Design, Ekti Nadir Naam (dir. Anup Singh, 2002, Bengali). <
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRjNDsoswLM >
• Direction, documentary: Jyatra: Journey into lives of people (2002), for National
TV / Doordarshan.
• Screenplay and Production Design, for the Bengali pulp-thriller Ekti Tarar
Khonje (dir. Avik Mukhopadhayay, 2010). <
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ECU3XNOk_k >
• Screenplay (with dir. Anup Singh) of the internationally-acclaimed film Qissa
(Punjabi, 2013). < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nesQPs2fnR4 >
• Her first experimental feature as director, Carnival (No dialogues, English
inter-titles, 2012), had its World Premiere at the 41st International Film Festival
Rotterdam 2012 (in ‘Bright Future’ category). <
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuNbdYcQyU
• Her second feature-film (drama-horror), Deep 6 (Bengali, 2021), had its World
Premiere at the 26th Busan International Film Festival 2021 (in ‘A Window on
Asian Cinema’ section). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aARh3-_R6Nw
Fellowships toward arts practice:
• Madhuja received ARThink South Asia Fellowship (2013-14).
• She was selected for German Federal Government’s ‘Visitors’ Programme’
(2017).
• She received the Goethe-Institut /Max Mueller Bhavan ‘Five Million Incidents’
Grant (2019-20) for her collaborative art /science interface project and media
installation “Moon Walk” (2019).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAP3P_6329E
• She received a grant from the Ministry of Human Resource Development,
India (2019-2020), for her documentary / documentation project on women
and film industry.
• She was mentor-collaborator of the video/film “The Covers are the Eyelids”,
and co-curator of the Fabulation for Future programme, Film University
Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Potsdam, Germany (2021-22).
https://eyes.fabulationforfuture.net/
• Recipient of the Foundation Project, implemented by India Foundation for the Arts
Bangalore, under their Archives and Museums programme, in collaboration
with Victoria Memorial Hall / Museum Kolkata, and part-supported by
Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi, 2021-2022.
Madhuja’s (solo) shows and site-specific media installations bring historical
residue into the context of new events. She re-uses archival material and objects,
alongside videos, light, sound, to explore matters of urban and media histories and
subjects of ecology and gendered subjectivity.
Solo-shows were exhibited at:
• Nandan Art Gallery, Kala Bhavan, Visva-Bharati University (2011)
• International Film Festival Rotterdam (2012)
• Studio 21, Kolkata (2013)
• Goethe-Institut /Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata (2019)
• 16th Dialogues, Calcutta Int’l LGBTQIA+ Film and Video Festival (2022)
• At the historic site of Victoria Memorial Museum, Kolkata (2022)
With group:
• She presented her work at ‘Kochi-Muziris Biennial-Collaterals’ (2016-17).
• ‘Kolkata Arts Festival’ (2017)
• ‘Response’, CIMA 25th Anniversary Show (2018)
https://studio.camp/events/Gem/
• ‘Beyond the Edge Kolkata’ Art Exhibition (2024)
Her ‘audio-documentary’, Ratan Bai vs. New Theatres, was selected for IAWRT 15th
Asian Film Festival 2019.
Books:
Author. New Theatres Ltd. on the formation of the studios and film cultures in India
(1931-55).
Ed. Aural Films, Oral Cultures (2012) on early discourses on sound film.
Ed. Voices of the Talking Stars (2017) on women cine-workers’ writings.
Ed. Popular Cinema in Bengal (2020)
Ed. Industrial Networks and Cinemas of India (