In Person: Asmita Pal on A Very Clear Sunrise

Screened as part of the official India selection at the 4th edition of the Emami Art Experimental Film Festival (EAEFF), held from 11–14 September 2025 in Kolkata, Asmita Pal’s short film A Very Clear Sunrise (2025) unfolds across the early hours of the morning of Mahalaya, which is celebrated before the start of the Durga Puja festival. In this conversation, she speaks about her process, documenting the protests held on the streets of Kolkata in the aftermath of the RG Kar rape and murder case and the archival nature of the film.

Asmita Pal is a filmmaker from Kolkata whose work explores the intersections of personal and collective memory. She is drawn to experimenting with form to craft compelling narratives. Drawing inspiration from unscripted moments and intimate family histories, her filmmaking navigates the realities she comes from and the broader landscapes of loss and remembrance.

(Featured image: Still from A Very Clear Sunrise [2025] by Asmita Pal. Image courtesy of the artist and EAEFF.)

Recorded on 12 September 2025.

To learn more about EAEFF 2025, read Ritam Sengupta’s essay on Pinak Banik’s film Obsolete Skygazer - Enlightened Observer - Ignorant Truthseeker - Emaciated Entourage (2025), Santasil Mallik’s engagement with Maha Haj’s Upshot (2024), Vishal George’s reflections on Mohammed Jassim’s Bar Saar (2023) and Ishtayaq Rasool’s observations on Fileona Dkhar’s Ancestral Echoes (2022).

In case you missed the previous episodes of In Person, watch Nimaya Harris discuss her work with the Minnette de Silva archive, Neelika Jayawardane speak about her critical writing practice and Varun Kodamana speak about his film I Am Lawrence Wilson (2022), programmed at the Serendipity Arts Festival 2024.