Project 88 is pleased to announce the screening of this year’s Artists’ Film International (AFI’25) — a touring film programme which is curated by sixteen international arts organisations and presented by Forma. AFI’25 introduces the work of talented moving image artists to worldwide audiences, with screenings hosted around the world.
This year the AFI partners have commissioned or selected recent artists’ films which respond to the theme Dream States. Exploring dreaming as both a transformative state and a radical act, the films in Dream States challenge perceptions of reality and open pathways to alternative futures. The programme foregrounds artists who disrupt linear time, blur fact and fiction, and navigate the boundaries between memory, myth, and fantasy to reimagine the world anew.
Project 88 has nominated Babu Eshwar Prasad’s Dear Chalam as our selection for Artists’ Film International 2025. Dear Chalam can be read as a eulogy for a dear friend, a journey through the landscape of cinema, and of making and sharing films. A poetic assemblage, the film dips into Chalam Bennurkar’s powerful documentary practice, his involvement with the Odessa Collective and commitment to cinema as a people’s movement—all of which come alive as potent strands in a letter that forms the central thread of the film. The film moves beyond a personal remembering of a singular life to think more widely about cinema, and its potentialities in a process of constant recalibration and re-imagination.
Featured Artists:
Dalia Al Kury, Sanja Anđelković, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Babu Eshwar Prasad, Anette Gellein, Abdul Hamid Mandgar, Heesoo Kwon, Cocoy Lumbao, Raffaela Naldi Rossano, Isabelle Nouzha, Elinor O'Donovan, Ahmet Rüstem Ekici & Hakan Sorar, Sin Wai Kin, Kialy Tihngang, Mykolas Valantinas, and Melisa Zulberti.
We will be screening a selection of films at our gallery space for two weeks, from 19 to 30 August 2025.
Screening Schedule:
2:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM
Week 1: 19 – 23 August 2025
Screen 1:
Dear Chalam (15:00 minutes, 2024)
Film by Babu Eshwar Prasad. Selected by Project 88, Mumbai, India.
Fortress (22:01 minutes, 2024)
Film by Sin Wai Kin. Selected by Forma, London, UK.
Sobre si mismo (About itself) (06:07 minutes, 2023)
Film by Melisa Zulberti. Selected by Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires.
Screen 2:
Wild Geese 2: Wilder Geese (04:01 minutes, 2023)
Film by Elinor O’Donovan. Selected by Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland.
Colorless (06:55 minutes, 2020)
Film by Abdul Hamid Mandgar. Selected by (CCAA in eXile) Afghanistan.
Lullaby’s Fault (16:15 minutes, 2025)
Film by Mykolas Valantinas. Selected by Sapieha Palace (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania
Week 2: 26 – 30 August 2025
Screen 1:
Dear Chalam (15:00 minutes, 2024)
Film by Babu Eshwar Prasad. Selected by Project 88, Mumbai, India.
Dyke Dreams (07:20 minutes, 2024)
Film by Anette Gellein. Selected by Tromø Kunstforening, Norway
Levitations (18:45 minutes, 2024)
Film by Dalia Al Kury. Selected by mmag foundation, Amman, Jordan.
Screen 2:
The Pond (03.25 minutes, 2023)
Film by Ahmet Rüstem Ekici & Hakan Sorar. Selected by Istanbul Modern, Türkey
Neyinka and the Silver Gong (24.30 minutes, 2024)
Film by Kialy Tihngang. Selected by Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
Rehearsal for Peace (16:26 minutes, 2023)
Film by Anca Benera & Arnolad Estefan. Selected by Video-Forum of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k), Berlin, Germany.
These films will subsequently be presented around the world at AFI’25 partner venues:
argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium; Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan in eXiLe e.V., (CCAA in EXiLe), Frankfurt Germany; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland; Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; Forma, London, UK; Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC), Bergamo, Italy; Istanbul Modern, Türkiye; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) Manila, Philippines; mmag foundation, Amman, Jordan; Sapieha Palace, branch of the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania; Southwark Park Galleries, London, UK; Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland; Tromsø Kunstforening,Tromsø, Norway; Video-Forum of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k), Berlin, Germany.