2021: Welcome to Wherever You Are

Video Essay

In this episode of our 2021 video series, a filmmaker in lockdown connects with his creator friends living in worlds separated by oceans, time, and tides. A loopback at the year that was and the times to look forward to through a contemplative exploration of sound, visual, and spaces.

Featured Artists

Suprateek Chatterjee

Originally from Mumbai, and now based in Japan, Suprateek Chatterjee is a former culture journalist and current music producer. Follow him on Instagram.

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Manmeet Kaur

Berlin artist residency-based rapper Manmeet Kaur seeks refuge in hip-hop’s emancipatory expression. MC Manmeet Kaur began rapping in her bedroom as a 13-year-old after she discovered her brother’s tape collection. Along with the refuge it provided to what she now calls her, «then conservative life», she fell in love with its abundance of lyrics and hypnotic grooves and has naturally been yielding lyrics on hip-hop beats, ever since. Follow her on Bandcamp or Instagram.

The Groundwaters are Connected by Manmeet Kaur

Credits

Direction, Montage, Screenplay, Cover Art: Roy Dipankar
Edited by: Charan Balakrishnan
Sound Design: Raghav Wagh
Color Correction & Grade: Charan Balakrishnan
Score: Demonos

Soundtrack

«The Groundwaters are Connected»
Album tracks performed by Manmeet Kaur
Generously funded by Martin Roth Initiative.
Music, lyrics and vocals by Manmeet Kaur
Mix by Toma Sound Factory, Aria Cluster
Master by Toma Sound Factory

Recorded at Lamalous Les Bains, France
Album made during the artistic residency at SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin. December 2019 – February 2021

«Zoot Suite»
Performed by Hologram 28
Heather Andrews (lead vocals, keyboards, synths)
Suprateek Chatterjee (guitars, synths, backing vocals)
Written, composed, and arranged by Hologram 28

«Painkiller»
Performed by Supura Sensei featuring JedLi
Music: Suprateek Chaterjee
Rap and lyrics: JedLi
Mixing and mastering: Varun Taneja

Video Courtesy

For Manmeet Kaur
Mister Colfer, Montpellier
Bonabell Films, Berlin

For Suprateek Chatterjee’s Hologram28 video
David Tidd

For Roy Dipankar
Extreme Nation – the film
Sound System Sanskriti – the film
Gurmehar Bedi «Baby» – music video
Demon They Call Troy – music video

Photo Courtesy

For Manmeet Kaur
Bonabell Films, Berlin

For Suprateek Chatterjee’s Hologram28 photos
Parizad D

For Roy Dipankar
Oinam Doren
Pavan Kakarla

For the 2021 edition of the Norient Film Festival NFF, Norient commissioned ten artists around the world to work on short artistic media pieces. They were asked to reflect on their personal thoughts of «2021». How do they see and describe the world they live in? How do they see the present and the future? What sounds, clips, media pieces, and thoughts give hope for «2021» and for the future? What makes them angry, hopeful, depressed, suicidal, or happy?

Biography

Roy Dipankar is a subculture and ethnographic filmmaker, now based out of Chennai. Through more than a decade and half, Roy has worked in advertising, a magazine, a vineyard, a cafe and record labels like Universal Music and EarthSync India. For a better part he has dealt with filmmaking & video art, as an oft nonconforming artistically debauch A&R (artist & repertoire professional). Follow him on LinkedIn.

Published on February 16, 2021

Last updated on April 11, 2024

Topics

Creativity

Performance

All Topics

Special

Norient Film Festival NFF 10 (2021)

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Iche ’21

Video Essay

by Emma Mbeke Nzioka

This episode of our 2021 video series is an introspective account of non-binary artist Janice Iche’s state of mind as they reflect on how the journey through 2020 was and their dreams of what 2021 holds for life.

This video will be screened at Rewire Festival 2021. The video has thus been taken down temporarily and will be accessible on this page after the festival again.

As a non-binary, Kenyan-Tanzanian queer artist from Mombasa, Kenya, Janice sought community, growth and belonging after their move to Nairobi which was hundreds of miles away from home. This move, made in earnest, love, and expectation, brought with it a great deal of despair. The journey back home and the time they took to heal is where truest form of Iche has begun to bloom. Without any illusions of what life holds, and building from the ground up, we ask what 2021 means to Iche.

Janice Iche

Janice Iche is a non-binary Kenyan-Tanzanian queer artist from Mombasa, Kenya. 1995. They/she. Janice began their professional journey in 2015, performing their music on multiple stages such as Blankets & Wine with various local and international artists as well as writing, recording, and releasing music as a singer and songwriter, including their singles «Be Nice» (2018) and «So Tired» (2019). They picked up a camera in 2017 and began taking photographs professionally, initially focusing on documentary photography then settling on portraiture.

In 2018, Janice began their art (painting) career, having exhibitions at One Off Contemporary Gallery, The Attic Art Space (Kevenaar Art Consultants) and Kioko Art Gallery. In 2019, they held a live performance piece at MUZE Club and became a selected artist for Ostrale Residency and Biennale in Dresden, Germany. They are currently indulged in music production and DJing, with their latest self-produced and self-released projects being «Siku Mpya» (Single) and Maajabu Ya Musa (EP) and her latest mixes being The Maajabu Ya Musa MIX, Diamond Beach New Year 2021 MIX and DJ ICHE’S NAIROBI VOL.1 MIX.

Follow Janice Iche online via Instagram, Twitter, Bandcamp, or Linktree.

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Maajabu Ya Musa - EP by Janice Iche

Credits

A film by Emma NZioka
Written and narrated by Janice Iche
Camera assistant: Jacqueline Wanjau
Transport: DJ Miss Ray
Gear: Joe Mathai
Additional Footage Pexeler
Special Thanks The Terrace, Distant Relatives Kilifi

Jacqueline Wanjau is freelance creative and a community organizer. She is also a professional photographer and talent manager working with artists such as Coco Em, DJ IV, and more, and is a part time actress. Jackie volunteers as an outreach coordinator for the Shukrani Project – a community impact platform working within the informal settlement west of the Nairobi Central Business District. An example of the community work she does can be depicted in the short film The Empty Cup where Jackie acts as a community first responder dealing with the effects of her day-to-day work. Follow her on Instagram.

For the 2021 edition of the Norient Film Festival NFF, Norient commissioned ten artists around the world to work on short artistic media pieces. They were asked to reflect on their personal thoughts of «2021». How do they see and describe the world they live in? How do they see the present and the future? What sounds, clips, media pieces, and thoughts give hope for «2021» and for the future? What makes them angry, hopeful, depressed, suicidal, or happy?