Ecologist Mansi teams up with Bicki, a young man from the indigenous Bugun community, as she sets out to decode the secret universe of hawk moths in the dense forests of the Eastern Himalayas. Together, they traverse the landscape and work night after night to hang illuminated screens that draw the elusive insects out, transforming into a dynamic canvas swarming with moths of varying sizes, designs, and textures. The lush forest, throbbing with a vast diversity of life, emerges as a breathtaking character as Nocturnes responds to the inherent rhythms of the trees, wind, and rain.

Co-directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan subvert the assumptions of the standard nature documentary by transforming Nocturnes into a work about filmmaking. Satya Rai’s spectacular nighttime cinematography proves to be an able companion for Tom Paul and Shreyank Nanjappa’s atmospheric sound design. More crucially, watching a film that follows two researchers who spend most of their time waiting for things to transpire feels like a metaphor for the laborious craft of documentary itself. The result is a sensory delight, a portrait of passion so vivid that it succeeds in instilling a sense of wonder for nocturnal creatures both inside the frame and behind it.

- Poulomi Das