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Still from The New Realism and Braided Truth: The Era of Hybrid Cinema

DIFF Conversations

The New Realism and Braided Truth: The Era of Hybrid Cinema

Ankur Hooda, Ayan Mrinal, Irene Bartolomé, Madhusree Dutta, Shailesh Singh with Ashok Vish

Screening at DIFF 2026

Sat31 to Saturday 31 Oct · House of Peace and Dialogue
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Runtime
90 min

Synopsis

First there was the binary – fiction versus nonfiction. But increasingly, the “hybrid” film and the polished documentary is muddying the binary. This raises a few pertinent questions. If a filmmaker is intervening in the scene, to make it look better, slicker, more amenable to cinema, at what point does it become fictive? When does the relationship between the subject and filmmaker change into that of a protagonist and director? Now, we have films which are uninterested in being slotted as either fiction or non-fiction. Categories can be reductive, but they can also act as guardrails – what is truth? What is performed truth? Do they braid each other until the distinction disappears?

Speakers

Ankur Hooda Ankur HoodaPanelistAnkur Hooda is a 25-year-old, self-taught filmmaker and writer. After spending formative years in a small village in Haryana, he went on to study Advertising in Bombay. The Calf Doll is his debut feature.Ayan Mrinal Ayan MrinalPanelistAyan Mrinal graduated in History from the University of Delhi and completed FTII Pune’s PG Diploma in Direction and Screenplay Writing in 2025. He works across fiction and non-fiction and is based in Bombay.Irene Bartolomé Irene BartoloméPanelistIrene Bartolomé is a Spanish filmmaker living in Lebanon. She has directed Dream of Another Summer and the shorts Lunch Time and The Williamsburg Houses.Madhusree Dutta Madhusree DuttaPanelistMadhusree Dutta is a filmmaker, author and cultural producer. Her areas of interest are hybridity within public and urban culture as well as documentary and archival practices.Shailesh Singh Shailesh SinghPanelistShailesh Singh studied at the National Film School in Łódź. His shorts Man in a Box, Fool’s Gold and Melody Day premiered at Camerimage, Gdynia and MAMI, respectively.Ashok Vish Ashok VishModeratorAshok Vish is a filmmaker, programmer, and visual arts curator who currently works with the Quiet Art Movement in Delhi. His films have screened at Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and DIFF.

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