Cinetrace

Curated Collective. Community Platform. Future Consultancy.

Founded by Prateek Rawat, Cinetrace is a slow-form curatorial initiative tracing contemporary cinemas from South Asia — with an evolving lens toward East and Southeast Asia, MENA, and broader Global South film ecologies.

The Intent

Cinetrace is not an institution. It is a non-hierarchical space for exchange, research, and programming — shaped collectively but rooted in clear intent: to support, contextualize, and reimagine how films are curated, experienced, and sustained beyond the mainstream.

It responds to the persistent gaps — in access, visibility, and imaginative infrastructure — that many curators, programmers, and independent filmmakers face across the region. Through screenings, zines, informal dialogues, filmmaker support, and cross-border collaborations, Cinetrace seeks to grow sideways: across forms, intentions, and languages.

The Mission

We trace quiet shifts in cinema across South Asia and beyond — a collective of curators and programmers shaping new ways of seeing across forms, contexts, and intentions.

Cinetrace emerges from the need to archive and amplify marginal, resistant, or unclassifiable cinematic voices. It sees programming as a long-term act — of memory, meaning-making, and solidarity with artists navigating aesthetic, political, and infrastructural challenges.

The Difference

Non-institutional by design — No headquarters. No hierarchy. Programs emerge from members.

Geographic fluidity — Based in South Asia, open to broader transregional flows.

Filmmaker–programmer symbiosis — Not just presenting work, but nurturing its paths.

Slow-building structure — Built intentionally, collaboratively, and without urgency to scale.

The Structure

Living, Flexible

🏷️ Tier
🛠️ Role
⏳ Commitment

Core (5–7) 🏷️
Lead vision, coordinate initiatives, anchor 1 program per year 🛠️
High ⏳
Advisors (≤7) 🏷️
Provide mentorship, strategic guidance, and act as sounding boards 🛠️
Low ⏳
General (≤25) 🏷️
Participatory members across regions and practices 🛠️
Medium ⏳
Followers 🏷️
Extended network of supporters and allies 🛠️
Passive ⏳

In the Works

Founding member circle (2025-2026)

First collaborative screening program (early 2026)

Zine and resource archive (mid-2026)

Slow-building regional filmmaker support network

Join / Follow / Collaborate

Cinetrace will open to new members and collaborators soon.

In the meantime, feel free to express interest via this form.