Vivek Jain


Artist - Filmmaker
Researcher

Junior Research Fellow
Baltic Film, Media and Arts School
 
innominatevivek@gmail.com


 


 
























Artist Statement

From social history to behavioural science, from biological evolution to cultural trends, every bit of knowledge out there shapes my critical thinking and, hence, my creation. As an audio-visual artist, I explore the entangling narratives of the social, political and ethical. Building upon the learnings I garner as a lifelong student of Storytelling and Cinema, my practice is an attempt to realise art that exists in a symbiotic relationship with epistemology. While grappling with the paradox of human existence, I strive to extend my creative and critical perspectives to explore the realm of unspeakable, non-human beauty, not confined to the normative anthropocentric parameters. In a world brimming with fiction, I wish to extend my enquiries to imagine and create realities that go beyond the obsolete logic of progress while bringing forth marginalised perspectives.






Currently


Junior Research Fellow - Baltic Film, Media and Arts School (2024 - now)
I am currently pursuing doctoral studies at BFM, Tallinn, with the practice-led artistic research project “A Seeker’s Guide to Belonging”. The research reconceptualises cinema as an expansive medium, exploring precarity at the intersection of filmmaking and contemporary art practices. One of the key nodes of the project engages with the practice of Collective Cinema.

Curator and Programmer - Lago Film Fest (2025 - now)
I work as a main selector and curator within a passionate cohort of cinephiles for the annual independent film festival of Revine Lago – Venice Region (Italy). In 2025, I curated a retrospective of artist-filmmaker Scott Barley alongside programming the main competition and co-curating a special programme centred on rest as a feminist and anticapitalist tool.

Education

Master of Arts in Cinematography (2019 - 2021)
Erasmus-Mundus Scholarship Winner

National Film School - Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland (IADT)
University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest, Hungary (SzFE)
Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School - Tallinn University, Estonia (BFM)

Bachelor of Science in Electronic Media (2015 - 2018)
Educational Multimedia Research Centre, Indore, India (EMRC)



Residencies | Participations | Facilitations


Kombinatas Festival (2025)

At the annual Baltic Left Gathering, I conducted a participatory, creative visioning workshop “Carrier Bags for a Degrowth Future” rooted in the principles of climate justice, sufficiency, and collective wellbeing. Using the method of backcasting, with text drafted by researcher Halliki Kreinin, the workshop facilitated participatory future-making for life beyond growth.

Trojan Horse Summer School - The Day After Amnesia (2025)
I was selected for summer school organised by the autonomous educational platform Trojan Horse, which took place as a camp on Bengtsår Island in southern Finland. As a group of thirteen individuals from diverse artistic and cultural backgrounds, we explored relational social systems, the practice of self-organising, commons, and peer-to-peer learning. I contributed to the learning through a collective cinema workshop foregrounding the work of India’s first feminist film collective, Yugantar.

Oberhausen Seminar (2025)
I was selected for the eleventh Oberhausen Seminar, initiated by the world’s oldest international short film festival, alongside nine practitioners who work with moving images. The seminar was led by researcher and curator, Galit Eilat.

FABRICA - Artist Residency (2023 - 2024)I was selected as an artist-in-residence at Fabrica, a communications research centre based in Italy, for a year-long residency for creative talents under the age of twenty-five. It is a space for people from around the globe to live in a continuous exchange of experiences, where the worlds of art, culture, and research meet to develop new ideas.
Baltic Analog Lab Workshop - Analogica 13, Blozano (2023)
A two-day creative 16mm film workshop together with Latvian filmmaker and head of Riga’s film lab Baltic Analog Lab - Ieva Balode. The workshop explored the art of 16mm black and white filmmaking in an experimental way using shooting as well as cameraless animation techniques. The aim was to diversify shooting techniques when working with 16mm film, as well as understanding the material properties of film and its manipulation possibilities by developing and processing the film manually in the laboratory.


Young Critics Program Fellow (2022)
I was selected for the annual workshop for aspiring critical thinkers organised by Sphere Festival. The program analyzed the critique culture and emphasized the importance of diversity in the world of visual arts criticism by supporting and nurturing perspectives of alternative minds. Under the program, I received Mentorship from prominent Filmmaker and Artist R. Bruce Elder.



Exhibitions | Expositions


AR@K26: Reclaiming art! Creative expression as a building block in our social foundations (Upcoming - April, 2026)
I will present the art installation, developed from an ongoing performative assembly, at Kristiania University of Applied Sciences’ artistic research symposium at Atelier Nord, Oslo. Titled “Countering Silence (with silence),” the work features hand-drawn posters from weekly gatherings that resist the suppressed freedom of expression on campus regarding Israel’s genocidal warfare in Gaza.  

Forgotten Kins (2024)
Group exhbition on the curatorial theme of “Kinship” - during the Fabrica30 Festival on 05-06th of July, 2024

Longing for Being (2024)
Group exhibition “Blooming in Embers” - Fabrica, IT

नींबू-मिर्ची | lemon-chilli | limone-peperoncino (2024)
Group exhibition - Fabrica, IT

रेखाएँ
(Threads)  (2024)
Solo exhibition - Fabrica, IT

Screenings


Confluence
Screened at Madness Festival as a part of the artistic manifesto of Hercole Cultural Association - 2024
Screened at Spazio X, Italy - A creative hub acting as a multiplier of artistic and cultural experiences - 2024
Showcased at FABRICA Research Centre 2024, Italy

Anonüümne
Showcased at Estonian Health Museum under the exhibition “Heaps of Happiness!?” - 2022

Janak Didi
Silver Beaver Award Winner – National Science Film Festival 2019, India
Official Selection – Strano Film Festival 2019, Italy

A note to myself
2nd Prize in Experimental Film Category – Josiah Media Festival 2018, US
Official Selection – Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2018, Münster | Berlin
Official Selection – Hyperfest International Student Film Festival 2018, Romania
Official Selection – Global Youth Film Festival 2018, Bangladesh
Official Selection – Lobo Fest 2018, Brazil

I Don’t Know
Official Selection – Intimalente/Intimatelens Film Festival, Italy
Official Selection – Strano Film Festival 2018, Italy
Official Selection – Early Bird International Student Film Festival 2018, Bulgaria
Official Selection – Yoni Fest 2018, US
Official Selection – Wexford Documentary Film Festival 2018, Ireland

STONED
Official Selection – Living Skies Student Film Festival, Canada
2nd Prize Winner – Scampia Short Film Competition 2018, Italy
Official Selection – Duemila 30 Short Film Competition, Italy
Showcased at The Exchange Art Gallery, Bloomsburg for 1 month

True here and now
Finalist – Frames Film Festival 2019, India
Official Selection – Josiah Media Festival 2018, US

Being Smart
3rd Prize in Documentary Film Category – Josiah Media Festival 2016, US
Official Selection - Amnesty International Film Festival 2018, India