Grandmother India and Markus Weisbeck/Surface release ‘A Formal Film in Nine Episodes’ by artist Mario Pfeifer. It’s part of Pfeifer’s film project of the same name. A critical reader publication,…

Grandmother India and Markus Weisbeck/Surface release ‘A Formal Film in Nine Episodes’ by artist Mario Pfeifer. It’s part of Pfeifer’s film project of the same name. A critical reader publication, the ensemble of the book describes the contemporary Asian Metropolis from anthropological perspectives on the Greater Mumbai. In beautiful aesthetics it revisits the film’s intercultural, political, urban and film-historic themes, unveiling issues of class, dramatic urban changes and attitudes toward the ritual and the symbolic. More than words on paper, the pages and overall production design of this book simulate the film itself, using English and Hindi, three different printing techniques, and original colouring realised with the help of local printers and manufacturers.