

Ben Rivers
Masterclass
Ben Rivers is a renowned artist and experimental filmmaker based in London, England. His work encompasses a wide range of themes, from exploring unknown wilderness territories to creating candid and intimate observational portraits of real-life subjects.
His filmmaking practice navigates the line between documentary and fiction. Often focusing on individuals who have distanced themselves from society, the raw footage serves as a foundation for Rivers to craft oblique narratives that imagine alternative existences in marginal worlds.
Rivers's first feature-length film, Two Years at Sea, premiered in September 2011 in the Orizzonti section at the 68th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize. His second feature, A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness, created in collaboration with American filmmaker Ben Russell, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2013.
His filmography includes nearly 40 films and numerous exhibitions presented in galleries and art spaces. His recent film ´Bogancloch´ premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2024.
Rivers's illustrious career has been honored with several awards, including the Tiger Award for Short Film at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize at the 68th Venice Film Festival, the Robert Gardner Film Award, and many others.
Explore: Benrivers.com
Photograph Courtesy: Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Deepa Dhanraj
Masterclass
Deepa Dhanraj is one of the most renowned and highly regarded Indian documentary filmmakers, who has been directing and producing films since the eighties. Her legendary works include “Something Like a War,” “We Haven’t Come Here to Die,” “The Legacy of Malthus,”“Sudesha,” “Nari Adalat,” and “What Has Happened
to This City?” These films have been screened on ARTE, CBC, and SBS. A lifetime achievement awardee at IDSFFK 2023, her films have been invited to festivals such as IDFA, Berlinale, Leipzig, Oberhausen, Films de Femmes, Creteil France, Tampere, Vancouver, and Chicago.
Deepa has been actively engaged in the women’s movement for over four decades, with a particular focus on political participation, health, and education. She was a founding member of Yugantar, a feminist film collective that produced notable documentaries highlighting women’s labor and their resistance against domestic violence. Her extensive filmography delves into various critical issues, including the violence and manipulation associated with population control programs, the establishment of Muslim women’s courts providing an alternative to patriarchal judgments issued by Sharia courts, and the emergence of Hindu majoritarianism.
Guided by a strong passion for education, She has dedicated substantial effort to collaborating with government schools in developing tailored pedagogical approaches suitable for first-generation learners hailing from Dalit and Adivasi communities. She also shares her expertise by teaching video production to women activists and regularly delivers lectures on media theory, engaging with audiences in both academic and public forums.

Rajula Shah
Masterclass
Rajula is a Poet who draws, photographs, collage-s, tells stories, directs films, and coaches young filmmakers. She is a painting drop out of the Fine Arts Faculty Baroda. After that, she studied Sanskrit Language, English Literature, and History for her Bachelors, took a Masters in English Literature, and studied cinema at FTII, Pune,
majoring in Film Direction. She taught at the alma mater from 2011-2014 and continues to coach film students as guest faculty across Film & Media schools.
Her work is located in the interstice of Poetry, Story, Cinema, Philosophy, Music, Art. Oral-Aural cultures are at the heart of her study/ praxis. With a keen interest in the indigenous knowledge systems, its practitioners, and the changing practices thereof, her practice winds through a close collaboration with people, their histories and changing environments.
Her films screen widely in festivals, museums, and across Academic/ Art contexts. Among significant awards are the Horizonte Preis at Dokfest Munich Germany for Word within the Word 2008, Signs jury award for Beyond the Wheel 2005, the John Abraham National Award twice for the Best Experimental Film for Katha Loknath/ ReTold by Loknath 2013, & for short fiction Aisa Nahin Hua tha Tahera/ Jumbled Cans in 2014.
Her recent film At Home Walking has been awarded the Best Long Documentary prize at IDSFFK, Trivandrum 2021. It was an entry in the Academy Awards the same year.
Her poetry collection in Hindi Parchhain ki Khirki se has been awarded by Bharatiya Gyanpeeth NAVLEKHAN PURASKAR/ for Best New Writing in 2004; Among her translations, Ela Bhatt’s We Are Poor but so many, selected letters of Vincent Van Gogh Mujh par Bharosa Rakhna and Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad’s Hindi renderings are prominent. A short story collection Adhkhuli Ankh ka Sapna has come out in 2021. At present working on the book Being Director alongside translating into Hindi Khalil Gibran & Mary Haskell’s love letters.
She created New courses for FTII's Outreach Programme like Film Appreciation, Film Appreciation for Drama students, Alocana/ Film Criticism & Being Director. And has been on various juries including the PIFF, and IDSFFK National Film Awards.
She is based in Bhopal and is glad to be working as the Founder and Director of NOMADS –Center for Un/Learning in Cinema & Aligned Art Practices. It's a Not for not-for-profit trust with a colorful board of trustees, committed to creating a climate of Creative Thinking & Practice by building bridges between the past and the future.