Nishtha Jain

City of Photos explores the little known ethos of neighborhood photo studios in Indian cities. Tiny, shabby studios that appear to be stuck in a time warp turn out to be places throbbing with energy. The cities in which these stories unfold themselves become backdrops, their gritty urban reality a counterpoint to the photo palaces. Desires, memories and stories, all so deeply linked to the photographic experience, come together as part of a personal journey into the city of photos. (raintreefilms.net)

In Bundelkhand, India, a revolution is in the making among the poorest of the poor, as Sampat Pal Devi and the fiery women of her Gulabi Gang empower themselves and take up the fight against gender violence, caste oppression and widespread corruption. (en.wikipedia.org)

"What sin did I commit to be born a woman?" Lakshmi wonders aloud. A 21-year-old housemaid in Mumbai, she works ten hours a day, seven days a week. One of her employers is Nishtha Jain, who begins to make a documentary that explores their relationship. Nishtha films Lakshmi at home, and at work in various houses. Lakshmi's is a precarious existence to begin with; illness and romance compound her problems in unexpected ways. (lakshmiandme.com)

A closer look at those who come to the filmmaker's door becomes a way of entering a parallel world of garbage collectors, domestic workers, delivery boys, watchmen-all those who labour long hours in difficult conditions to make middle and upper class lives in the city of Bombay more comfortable. These providers of services and goods often remain faceless and nameless. (raintreefilms.net)

Set in Kolkata, Family Album attempts to gain some insights into our notions of family as mediated through personal photographs in private collections ... the ways in which we construct meanings in photos: through direct and indirect memory; through different ways of looking; through the conventions of portraiture itself. And we see how family photos may be read as cultural and historical narratives. (raintreefilms.net)