Kochi filmmaker is only Indian to be selected to Artists Academy, New York Film Festival
In the list of roles Raymond George Dias has played in his young life – filmmaker, photographer, and multidisciplinary artist, with a background in law – you might look for the word ‘poet’, if you have come across one or many of his works. His words and visuals tend to carry the hangover of a poem, lyrical and musical pieces hopping through time and space. All that art has paved the way for his selection in the Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) Artists Academy 2026, held as part of the New York Film Festival. He is one of the 12 filmmakers from around the world to participate in the programme, to be held between September 25 and October 12. The FLC Academies support the next generation of film artists and critics by conducting a workshop, during which participants can meet with established filmmakers and others, and find new opportunities. The FLC page describes Raymond’s approach to art as a “spiritual rite, a pilgrimage of unmaking and becoming”. “I am the only filmmaker selected from India. For me, it feels particularly meaningful because the programme brings together emerging filmmakers with established artists and people working across the international film community at a moment when I'm beginning to develop my first feature,” says Raymond, who hails from Kochi.From Raymond's documentary 'Lonely Miracle in the River of Time'The young filmmaker’s journey is as interesting as the randomness of his art. He studied law at National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) in Kochi, completed a Master’s degree in Law at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and somewhere along the way, slipped into the world of cinema. "I practised law for a while, but alongside it I had always been drawn towards creating through different means of expression I picked up along the way, from photography to writing, music, collage, and eventually film," he explains.Reimagining 'The Sound of Music' in the postmodern world - digital collage by Raymond While he practised as a junior lawyer, Raymond began to make his own independent films. He had to teach himself filmmaking, cinematography, and editing. He says his not coming to cinema through the traditional film-school route helped shape the way he approaches the medium. "I'm interested in filmmaking not simply as storytelling, but as a way of exploring myself, other people, myself through other people, and understanding inner experience. Much of my work moves between fiction, documentary, and experimental forms and often returns to questions of memory, identity, belonging, faith, dreams, and the traces people leave upon one another's lives," he says.From Raymond's film 'House of Memory' In his independent short film House of Memory (2023), that goes through faded film photographs, is the picture of a man in various stages, Robin Dias, his grandfather, to whom a voice says, “You told me I am just a memory, I told you we are all someone else’s memory. In a photograph, memory is preserved, it is the only place where forever exists.” In Funeral Tape (2023), an experimental short, you hear the deep voice of a man ask, "Would you believe me if I told you that the safest place in the world is not in the world but in the worlds that I create." In his short documentary Lonely Miracle in the River of Time (2025), his lens moves through the movements of a watch repairman who says his happiness is his prayer. His films are mostly in English, rarely in Malayalam. Raymond is currently pursuing a Master's in Film Direction at ESCAC in Barcelona, and will soon begin work on his first feature length film. Some of his work has been exhibited or screened in the Kochi Art Fair, Ras Al Khaimah Art Fair and Jaipur Centre for Art.
ON the list of roles Raymond George Dias has played in his young life – filmmaker, photographer, and multidisciplinary artiste, with a background in law – you might look for the word ‘poet’, if you have come across one or many of his works. His words and visuals tend to carry the hangover of a poem, lyrical and musical pieces hopping through time and space.
All that art has paved the way for his selection in the Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) Artists Academy 2026, held as part of the New York Film Festival. He is one of the 12 filmmakers from around the world to participate in the programme, to be held between September 25 and October 12. The FLC Academies support the next generation of film artists and critics by conducting a workshop, during which participants can meet with established filmmakers and others, and find new opportunities.
The FLC page describes Raymond’s approach to art as a “spiritual rite, a pilgrimage of unmaking and becoming”.
“I am the only filmmaker selected from India. For me, it feels particularly meaningful because the programme brings together emerging filmmakers with established artists and people working across the international film community at a moment when I'm beginning to develop my first feature,” says Raymond, who hails from Kochi.
The young filmmaker’s journey is as interesting as the randomness of his art. He studied law at National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) in Kochi, completed a Master’s degree in Law at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and somewhere along the way, slipped into the world of cinema.
"I practised law for a while, but alongside it I had always been drawn towards creating through different means of expression I picked up along the way, from photography to writing, music, collage, and eventually film," he explains.
While he practised as a junior lawyer, Raymond began to make his own independent films. He had to teach himself filmmaking, cinematography, and editing. He says his not coming to cinema through the traditional film-school route helped shape the way he approaches the medium.
"I'm interested in filmmaking not simply as storytelling, but as a way of exploring myself, other people, myself through other people, and understanding inner experience. Much of my work moves between fiction, documentary, and experimental forms and often returns to questions of memory, identity, belonging, faith, dreams, and the traces people leave upon one another's lives," he says.
In his independent short film House of Memory (2023), which goes through faded film photographs, the picture is of a man in various stages, Robin Dias, his grandfather, to whom a voice says, “You told me I am just a memory; I told you we are all someone else’s memory. In a photograph, memory is preserved; it is the only place where forever exists.”
In Funeral Tape (2023), an experimental short, you hear the deep voice of a man ask, "Would you believe me if I told you that the safest place in the world is not in the world but in the worlds that I create." In his short documentary Lonely Miracle in the River of Time (2025), his lens moves through the movements of a watch repairman who says his happiness is his prayer. His films are mostly in English, rarely in Malayalam.
Raymond is currently pursuing a Master's in Film Direction at ESCAC in Barcelona, and will soon begin work on his first feature-length film. Some of his work has been exhibited or screened at the Kochi Art Fair, Ras Al Khaimah Art Fair and Jaipur Centre for Art.
