Abhinava Bhattacharya‘s documentary short film Jamnapaar (2017) is now streaming on Mubi India. The documentary short had an acclaimed run at The Leiden International Short Film Experience (2019) and Documenta Madrid (2019) and is now officially out on Mubi.
A festival favourite 24 minute long documentary short, Jamnapaar talks about the grievous costs of development on nature. The heavy costs being paid for the sake of those high-rise metropolitan cities we live in and relish today. Abhinava transports us to the banks of River Yamuna in Delhi, explores how the inhabitants of Yamuna react and relate to its degraded presence today. There’s a fragile nostalgia the inhabitants are holding on to, unbeknownst of a glorious past while also extrapolating the horror of it’s unthinkable future.
Jamnapaar is a beautiful and equal parts scary piece of art. Each frame is stunning and the visual grammar is minimalistic yet ambitious. Another stand-out aspect of this short is that it is aided by a terrific sound design. The theme of the short is not only thematically sound but all the more relevant considering how the world is burning due to climate change. Give this documentary short a watch, it’s worth it.