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Two films, photography, and Films Division

Head to Films Division this evening, January 11, for a screening of two landmark documentary films about photography in India.

As a lead-up to the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), which will be held from February 3 to 9 at NCPA, Films Division is bringing audiences a series of films that have won awards at earlier editions of the festival. Today, Saturday, January 11, they’ve planned a special programme on photography that includes Sabeena Gadihoke’s landmark film Three Women and a Camera, which won the Golden Conch at MIFF 1998. The programme is curated and will be presented by cinematographer and film maker Ajay Noronha.

When the Kodak Brownie camera debuted in the early 20th century, few could have imagined how it would revolutionise photography. The photograph became a popular form to chronicle significant and historical events as well as everyday snapshots. Today, over a hundred years later, it is estimated that over 380 million photographs are uploaded just on Facebook every day!

How has this changed the way we look at ourselves and the world around us? This week Films Division celebrates the act of ‘seeing’ with two passionately-made films about image making and the image-maker. Set 25 years apart, these two filmmakers present two very different narratives on photography in India.

YES, IT’S ON

12mins/1972 /Films Division

Director: SNS Sastry | Photography: B Khosla | Editing: MN Chaubal, NS Patole | Sound: SD Patil

SNS Sastry in his inimitably playful manner captures the nation and its people, especially its women, post independence. He invites us into a dialogue between the one looking and the one being looked at. The untiring camera gaze is underscored by ingenious juxtaposition of advertising jingles and popular film dialogues and songs. The film reassures us that along with the nation, the camera is still rolling.

THREE WOMEN AND A CAMERA
56mins / 1998 / Doordarshan

Director: Sabeena Gadihoke | Writer: Shohini Ghosh | Editor: Vinod Kaul | Sound: Harikumar Pillai

Sabeena Gaihoke’s award-winning film is a quiet meditation on photography seen through the eyes of three celebrated women photographers. The film debates the major shifts in the concerns of photographer Homai Vyarawalla, whose work celebrates the euphoria and optimism of the birth of the India nation, while Sheba Chhachhi and Dayanita Singh attempt to grapple with the various complexities and undelivered promises of the post independence era. This film debates the major shifts in their concerns regarding representation, subject-camera relationships and the limits and possibilities of still photography in India today.

Head to RR Theatre, 10th floor, Films Division, 24, Peddar Road. Entry is free and open to all.

 (Picture courtesy Films Division, Mumbai)

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‘Maazii’ gets a second chance

Small film gets a re-release in the absence of a biggie doing well at the BO; releases today in multiplexes.
by Rachel Tseng

With several small and big films releasing at the box office every week, a second chance is not something that is granted to many. The fear of failure dogs many a filmmaker, actor, producer and distributor every Friday. And though it is possible to recover one’s investment in a film by way of satellite rights and sale of music, DVDs and other media, it is the public’s and critics’ response that actually sets the tone for things to come.

maazii film stillWhile some films achieve success through their content and star power, there are others that don’t boast of a popular star cast, but have a good story to tell. The film Maazii falls into this second category – made on a minimalistic budget with lots of hard work and hope.

Maazii was released on September 27, 2013 after negotiating show timings and numbers of screens. Starring Sumit Nijhawan and Mona Wasu, the film opens in a setting that has no respect for the law and even less for those who uphold it. But released with minimum publicity, booked with less shows and screens, it was quickly replaced by a big banner film boasting a power star cast.

But the last few Fridays have not been kind to big budget films, with the likes of Phata Poster Nikhla Hero and Besharam faring very poorly at the BO. With Besharam doing badly, and as per the contract between multiplexes and film distributors, if a film does not cross a particular box office collection, they have the right to reduce the number of shows and screens in the second week. Hence, small budget movies like WAR – Chhod Na Yaar and Baat Bann Gayi are getting more shows and screens. Even Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is being shown in theatres again.

In the past, Rang De Basanti was re-released due to the phenomenal audience clamour for it; so was Fukrey, in Delhi. But this is probably the first time that a small film with an unknown star cast has got a re-release.

 

Maazii, which had been noticed by critics and liked by those who saw it, re-releases today, October 11, in multiplexes across India. It will have 60 shows across India, with six in Mumbai.

Lead actor and writer Sumit Nijhawan is ecstatic at the news. “From a state of disillusionment, I see hope that at least the hard work put in by the entire team will reach some quarters Maaziiof the audience. Cinema is a beautiful medium and it should stay democratic,” he says.

Producer and director Jaideep Chopra says, “I am happy to have the support of the people who believed in the film and liked it. With the re-release, the film will be seen by the people it has been made for.”

The makers agree that with no famous cast in tow and minimum publicity – this movie does face the challenge of drawing in the crowd. But the fact that it got a second chance to be seen at all certainly needs to be celebrated.

I’m not saying this is a great film and that everybody should see it – though every film critic has given this film a thumbs-up. I just feel that often, we – the audience – are lured to the silver screens by jazzy songs and promos, we land up paying big bucks to watch really bad films featuring stars, and what do we get? Besides, the power play that big films indulge in – block booking screens across the country so that no other film is seen, wrangling the maximum profits out of distributors, etc. – ensures that many films either do not get released or are not seen by most people. Maazii does have its work cut out, but it would be great if other small films also get a similar second chance – and not just when the big films crash.

(Pictures courtesy www.indiatvnews.com, skjbollywoodnews.com, indiatoday.intoday.in)

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The best documentary in the world…

…is coming to your city, every weekend, starting tomorrow, as part of the Dharamshala International Film Festival’s ‘best documentaries package’.
by Medha Kulkarni

The Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), in association with The Root Reel and Blue Frog, is presenting ‘The Best Documentaries Package’, in which some of the best documentaries will be screened for Mumbai audiences, every weekend. The initiative starts tomorrow.

5_Broken_Cameras_ posterThe first film to be showcased tomorrow, August 4, is the highly acclaimed film 5 Broken Cameras. It is a deeply personal, first-hand account of life and non-violent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village surrounded by Israeli settlements. Shot by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, Gibreel, the film was co-directed by Burnat and Guy Davidi, an Israeli filmmaker. Structured in chapters around the destruction of each one of Burnat’s cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over five years of village upheaval.

As the years pass in front of the camera, we witness Gibreel grow from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him with the astute powers of perception that only children possess. Burnat watches from behind the lens as olive trees are bulldozed, protests intensify and lives are lost in this cinematic diary and unparalleled record of life in the West Bank. In the current climate, with constant upheavals in the Middle East, this film is a telling reminder of how life changes in a seeming instant.

5 Broken Cameras is the first-ever Palestinian film to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. Watch the trailer here:

 

About the initiative:

As filmmakers based in Dharamshala, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam of White Crane Films, have long believed that the town’s unusual profile would make it a perfect destination for an international film festival. The inaugural edition of DIFF was held in November 2012, showcasing 26 contemporary features, documentaries and shorts, curated from the best of international independent cinema.

The second DIFF will take place over four days in 2013, from October 24 to 27, 2013. The aim is to build and expand on the blueprint of the first edition and establish DIFF as a world-class film festival, where filmmakers and film lovers can interact in an intimate, creative and informal way.

The Root Reel is a Mumbai based organisation whose main objective is to be a mirror, reflecting upon stories around us and try bringing them closer to the urban audience.

Entry is free and on a first-come-first-seated basis. Head to Blue Frog, Zeba Centre, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel, tomorrow at 7.30 pm. Call 098200 95432 for details. 

(Pictures courtesy rabble.ca, www.newwavefilms.co.uk)

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Watch this film to read better

Film to be screened at Max Mueller Bhavan this evening discusses the challenges that the reading habit faces in Mumbai.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Early last year, Sayalee Karkare, alumna of the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies programme (EMGS) received a fellowship from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai to make a documentary film on books and reading culture in in the city. She collaborated with Matthew Sharp from the Mundus Urbano programme, who did the camera and sound work for the film.

The film, titled Books In The Big City, addresses the challenges that the culture of reading faces in a fast-changing city like Mumbai. As the city modernises and Mumbaikars shift their reading online, many small libraries and bookstores are closing down. What’s more, there are fears that mainstream magazines and news publications might also take their wares to the Internet.

But is this really about to happen? Street booksellers, famous in Mumbai for selling everything from pirated to first edition books, are also feeling the pressure. While technology has opened up new avenues for reading, not everybody can afford access to the Internet and e-readers. This raises important questions about access to knowledge in general, and the need for reader-friendly spaces in overcrowded urban areas in particular.

Books In The Big City explores these issues through the testimonies of prominent locally-based writers, readers and booksellers, taking the viewer on a journey around the city, from the cramped living quarters of a bohemian bibliophile to exclusive members-only ‘public’ libraries.

 

The documentary is part of the ‘Urban aspirations in global cities’ research laboratory, an international collaborative project in which researchers from TISS (Mumbai), the Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research (Mumbai) are working together. The project aims to compare post-colonial mega-cities in Asia, including Mumbai, Singapore and Shanghai, and to understand how the urban community of rapidly growing mega-cities impacts the development of urban aspirations.

Head to the Library, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kala Ghoda today, July 19. The film begins at 7 pm, seating starts at 6.30 pm. A Q&A follows the screening.

(Picture courtesy Sayalee Karkare, video courtesy EMGS) 

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Let the world in, today

Volume II of the two-part film project ‘To Let The World In’ will be screened at the Films Division today.
by Medha Kulkarni

‘To Let The World In’ is a project that revolves around a significant period in the history of contemporary Indian art over the last three decades. The film feature three generations of some of India’s most iconic artists who share ideas, memories and concerns about their work.

M F HussainVolume I was screened last week and Volume II showcases MF Hussain’s 1967 film Through The Eyes of a Painter. The conversations are intimate and the interviews are conducted by renowned art historian and curator Chaitanya Sambrani, and have been filmed by Avijit Mukul Kishore. The works are a visual documentation of some of the most important moments in Indian art history from the 1980s to the present day. Volume II explores the changing contexts in art production and the connections between art and political history and the evergreen questions of patronage and recognition.

The film starts with the volatile context of art practice when India was on the brink of economic liberalisation juxtaposed against the re-assertion of religious fundamentalism in Indian politics. The artists featured in this volume are Anju Dodiya, Archana Hande, Benitha Perciyal, Sharmila Samant, Parvathi Nayar, Riyas Komu, Tushar Joag, Shilpa Gupta, Josh PS, Gargi Raina, Sumakshi Singh, TV Santhosh, Nataraj Sharma, Anandajit Ray, Gigi Scaria, Reena Saini Kallat and Jitish Kallat.

The screening will be followed by a Q & A session panelled by Abhay Sardesai, art critic and the editor of Art India Magazine.

The film was produced by Art Chennai, to accompany the show ‘To Let The World In: Narrative and Beyond in Contemporary Indian Art’, curated by Chaitanya Sambrani, held in Chennai in 2012.

Head to RR Theatre, 10th floor, Films Division, Pedder Road, at 4 pm.

(Pictures courtesy www.thenational.ae, gulfnews.com)

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Rape of the flock

Film to be screened today discusses how American soldiers are raped by fellow personnel, and how the establishment plays cover-up.
by Medha Kulkarni

invisible-war-These news items come to the fore on and off and are discussed widely for a while before being buried under other, more urgent news. It is a worrying statistic that a female soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan is more likely to be brutally raped than killed or injured by enemy fire.

A documentary, The Invisible War, will be screened by Vikalp tonight at Prithvi House, Juhu, today (see below for details). Directed by Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick, the film is “a searing expose of the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the US military, the institutions that perpetuate and cover up its existence, and its profound personal and social consequences.”

The Invisible War was the recipient of the 2012 US Documentary Audience Award at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

American defence personnel, both men and women, who have dedicated their lives to the service of their nation are being raped and sexually assaulted by their own fellow soldiers, commander and officers – the very people whose job is to protect and guide them, rather than by the enemy force.

The film centers on the stories and experiences of Military Sexual Trauma survivors with the courage to come forward, tell their stories, and let us into their lives. Kirby Dick’s strong belief and main motivation behind making this film was that it would “shed light on these heinous acts and the larger systemic issue. The film intends not only to bring much-needed attention to this disturbing issue but also to stimulate the public to demand for legislation to protect the next generation from the horrors of sexual assault and the lifelong trauma that follows.”

The film screening will be followed by a talk by Sana Contractor (Research Officer at Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT). CEHAT, an NGO, is involved in research, training, service and advocacy on the issue of rape and allied themes. Joining her will be Robin Chaurasiya (of Kranti, an NGO that empowers girls from Mumbai’s red-light areas to become agents of social change.)

Get more details on the film here. The film will be screened today, June 24, at 7 pm at Prithvi House, opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu, Mumbai. Entry is free but on a first-come-first-seated basis.

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