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Nocturnes grew from a chance conversation about a blue-lit screen that could draw hundreds or sometimes thousands of insects into the night. Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan began work on the documentary in 2019, following ecologist Mansi Mungee and her local colleague Gendan Marphew as they study moths in Arunachal Pradesh. Their eventual film trades conventional interviews for patient observation, long takes and an immersive soundscape.
What is Nocturnes about?
The documentary follows Mungee and Marphew as they set up illuminated screens at night to attract insects, then photograph them to learn about their behaviour. Hawk moths are a particular interest for Mungee, though they can be difficult to find. The film attends to the waiting and looking that field research requires, rather than turning the work into a conventional character-arc story.
The idea began with an encounter between the directors and Mungee at a dhaba in Uttarkashi, where they had stopped during another assignment. She described putting up a screen and switching on a blue light, drawing hundreds or sometimes thousands of insects. Dutta and Srinivasan saw the cinematic potential in that image and began work on Nocturnes in 2019. The insect numbers are Mungee’s account as relayed in the directors’ interview, not a formal research statistic.
Why did the film take a more observational approach?
Dutta and Srinivasan initially filmed interviews with the people in the film. As they reviewed the footage, they found themselves drawn instead to longer takes and the slower passage of time. They moved away from an interview-led structure to observe events as they unfolded.
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Mungee also wrote portions of the voiceover in her own words, after conversations with the filmmakers. That reflective narration sits alongside the images and natural sound rather than explaining every moment. The result asks viewers to spend time with the rhythms of the research: setting up, waiting, noticing and photographing.
How did Dutta and Srinivasan build a creative partnership?
Srinivasan says she and Dutta began working together on their earlier film Flickering Lights in 2015. Their interests differ in useful ways: as she put it in the Scroll interview, “Anirban is more interested in sound. I’m more interested in the edit.” Dutta also takes on producing, while Srinivasan is drawn to editing. Their complementary strengths help sustain the many tasks involved in long-form documentary filmmaking.
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Their earlier film illustrates the patience such work can demand, but its timeline should not be confused with Nocturnes’ production period. Scroll reported that Flickering Lights took seven and a half years to make, from work beginning in 2015 to completion in 2023. The film is entirely in a dialect of Tangkhul, and the team spent two years finding a translator and completing its translation.
How did the filmmakers support a long project?
Dutta describes a process that began with the filmmakers’ own resources: they started shooting, then assembled a trailer and visual material to pitch the project. He says partners on both Flickering Lights and Nocturnes respected their creative process. Srinivasan says pitching became easier once they could clearly communicate their vision and find partners who respected them as artists. As she told Scroll, “It isn’t about your fluency in English, but more about communicating your vision for the film.”
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The directors were introduced to Sandbox Films through Sundance. In the interview, they describe Sandbox as a co-producing partner and mention a Sundance tie-up that provided grants for projects bringing art and science together. That account describes the project’s support as discussed in the interview; it should not be taken as a statement of current grant-program terms.
What makes the film’s sound and images immersive?
Dutta says the team made Nocturnes for the big screen, with attention to both visual and aural experience. “Nocturnes was made with the idea of an immersive experience, with importance given both to the visual and aural language,” he told Scroll.
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He describes months of work on an Atmos mix, specialized technical collaborators and microphones, and a sound mix by a sound designer in New York. These are details from Dutta’s interview, rather than independently audited production credits. The stated aim is clear: sound is not merely background to the images, but part of how the film places an audience inside the nocturnal setting.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What award did Nocturnes win?
According to Scroll’s February 1, 2024 report, Nocturnes won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The award recognizes the film’s making, including the formal choices that shape its visual and aural experience.
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Where can you watch Nocturnes now?
Current viewing availability is not established by the cited February 2024 report. At that time, Scroll said the film would begin its festival run and that Dutta and Srinivasan hoped eventually to release it in India. That historical plan does not confirm a present-day streaming service, screening, home-video edition or soundtrack release.
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