“Path breaking directors” July 17, 2008
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LAW FILM SOCIETY
Christ College of Law
Invites all For a discussion on
”Path breaking directors”
MARTIN SCORSCESE
On 21/07/08
1.30 pm
At Room no. 006, 3rd block, Christ College
The society intends to hold discussions on film theory with the idea of introducing everyone to different genres of film making and introduce them to the works of noted film makers.
For more details contact:
Robin - 9845262967
Rahul – 9986265314
Anurag – 9916952750
Adhiraj - 9886352191
–
Robin Christopher J
Amudhan-Who? July 16, 2008
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Children of a lesser god
PRASHANTH G.N.
Courtesy: THe Hindu
| A section of the Dalit community continues to do jobs that are sub-human. Madurai filmmaker R.P. Amudhan captures its experiences with all the repugnant details |
INSPIRED Amudhan got into documentary making after watching films by Anand Patwardhan, K.P. Sasi, Challam Bennurkar, Deepa Dhanraj and others PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTHY
Films can bring about mobilisations on a range of social and political issues and the mobilisations can give effect to policy changes that could help create better living conditions. In certain other cases, films could help in getting civil society or the State to recognise that certain livelihoods are sub-human and need to be abolished in which case film would have made a contribution to a dignified public life. R.P. Amudhan’s films head in this direction. They are so graphic in the way they address issues that there is not much left to ask after viewing. Amudhan, a documentary filmmaker from Madurai, screened three films here at a programme organised by Pedestrian Pictures last week.
The films screened were Shit, Vande Mataram — a Shit Version and Notes From The Crematorium. The titles themselves are graphic and so are the films. The first two are about manual scavenging, most of us would not know is still an official job in 21st century India, and the third is about running a manual crematorium. Shit captures manual scavenging through the experience of Madurai Municipal Corporation worker Mariammal. The camera literally follows her on her work early morning. Mariammal has to clean a whole road of shit. She puts powder on it for it to dry, scrapes it using boards, fills it in a bucket and carries it on her head to deposit it in a van. Mariammal cleans shit barefoot because it is difficult to wash her slippers later. She gets Rs. 3,000 per month as salary for this work. “I do this work with a lot of frustration. It is only because I don’t get as much money with other work,” Mariammal states. Even a “job” like this is coveted and she, like many others will not easily budge until there’s another dignified job.
The film resulted in three things: the commissioner of Madurai Municipal Corporation did not get a promotion; the film has been taken up in political campaigns against manual scavenging by the political party Adi Tamila Pervai all over Tamil Nadu; municipal authorities helped Mariammal not by offering alternative employment but by employing two more people to clear the waste!
The second film Vande Mataram — A Shit Version is a five-minute rendering of A.R. Rahman’s well-known number Vande Mataram. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s song is a salutation to the motherland. Amudhan presents the very same song with visuals not of breathtaking landscape, but of a public urinal having to be cleaned by women in Madurai town. The contrast could not have been starker. How can we be cleaning public urinals in the land of “Vande Mataram”?
The third film Notes From the Crematorium captures the experience of people having to make a living out of the dead and how there is reconciliation, although in death, between the rich and poor, high and low caste, intellectual and idiot. The film shows people undertaking to cremate or bury the dead are abused by people bringing the body. And much like manual scavenging, the film shows how even crematoriums are not provided basic facilities. The three films in all capture the experience of a section of the Dalit community that continues to do jobs that are sub-human.
Amudhan’s earlier films too carry the veneer of seriousness. He has made films on a Dalit hamlet in Kodaikanal, students’ protest in Tamil Nadu against privatisation of education and drought deaths in Tanjore. Films, he believes, should be meaningful and honest and serve a purpose and is the motive behind his film-making.
Amudhan got into documentary film-making after watching films by Anand Patwardhan, K.P. Sasi, Challam Bennurkar, Deepa Dhanraj, Amar Kanwar and a few others. “I initially wanted to be in the mainstream media, but I was inspired by the documentaries I saw. I was hooked onto making them.” After completing his post-graduation in communication, Amudhan went to CENDIT in Delhi to learn video skills the voluntary organisation was imparting free of cost. He learnt sound editing, script writing and camera work in two years time. This was around 1995 when he commenced film-making.
In the early stages of his film-making, Amudhan had to record on VHS cameras and edit on VCR’s. “We would use two VCR’s. The cassette would play in one and we would edit on the other using the pause button. We did this for quite some time and learnt the art of making and editing a film with VCR equipment. It would all work out to around Rs. 3,000. Using such equipment is itself a special skill. But now film has gone digital. Filmmaking is now democratised and has become inexpensive. We can now make films with a budget of Rs. 5,000, Rs. 15,000 or Rs. 20,000.”
Amudhan and his friends have an informal group, Marupakkam, to promote videos and documentaries on social issues. And they do this for reasons of conviction as well livelihood. How comfortable is he making a living with films? “It is just about comfortable. We get projects and we work for other filmmakers too. But it also depends on the individual. How he or she would like to live.”
R.P. AMUDHAN’s documentaries in Bangalore July 16, 2008
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In the month of July VIKALP BENGALURU brings a repertoire of
.
July 18 and 19 at 6.30 pm
Nani Cinematheque, Centre for Film and Drama (CFD)
5th floor, Sona Towers, 71 Millers Road, Bangalore 560052
Entrance for members only. Please bring your membership cards. If
you are not a member, please come to the venue half an hour before the
screening and register.
THE FILMMAKER WILL BE PRESENT ON BOTH THE DAYS
SCHEDULE:
Friday, July 18, 6.30pm
VANDE MATARAM - A Shit Version (Annexure to the documentary “Shit”)
2005, 6 minutes
SHIT
2003, 26 minutes
NOTES FROM THE CREMATORIUM
2005, 25 minutes
Saturday, July 19, 6.30pm
SERUPPU
2007, 74 minutes
THE ROAD
2008, 10 minutes
NIGHT LIFE
2008, 5 minutes
For more about the filmmaker, you can go to http://amudhanrp. blogspot. com/
SYNOPSES
VANDE MATARAM - A Shit Version (Annexure to the documentary “Shit”)
The music video juxtaposes the ‘patriotic’ song with visuals of
various activities of manual scavenging that still takes place in
Tamilnadu.
SHIT
Original name: Pee (in Tamil)
Mariyammal, a dalit (untouchable or harijan or scheduled caste) is a
worker with Madurai Municipal Corporation in Madurai, South India. She
is involved in manual scavenging activity which still prevails in
India - and is in the payroll of the Government of Tamilnadu.
The film shot while she was at work, shows the extent of humiliation
she goes through everyday for 25 years. She sweeps, collects and
carries the night soil in a street adjacent to a Hindu temple, with
help of a broom, a vessel and some ash every morning without fail.
The film uses a lot of symbols to bring out the discrimination she
experiences while others lead a life with dignity around her.
The film has no voice over per se. It has no music. It also does not
have an activist or an expert but Mariyammal and her work.
NOTE FROM THE CREMATORIUM
Original name: Mayanakurippugal
Madurai city has a central crematorium, where dalits (the untouchables
or the harijans or people from the scheduled caste) are involved in a
traditional occupation that includes carrying dead bodies, burying or
burning them and finally accept whatever paid by the relatives of the
deceased ones.
The film is a journey into the crematorium to capture the various
rituals carried out by the dalits to their fellow citizens who
otherwise would not have touched them.
Ironically death comes alive to bring people together. An old Tamil
movie song is used in the film to provoke certain existential
questions about life and death. But it is mandatory to have knowledge
and skill to become a successful undertaker.
SERUPPU
Footwear in English
This is a socio-cultural documentary on the lives of Catholic
Arundhatiyars (Dalits/harijans/ untouchables) of Dharmanathapuram, an
old slum located at the heart of Tiruchirappalli in Tamilnadu, a
southern state in India.
The people of Dharmanathapuram are involved in making footwear, one of
the traditional caste based occupations of a dalit with in Indian
caste based society.
According to the Presidential Order 1950: Para 3, by the Union
Government of India, dalits or the people from the ‘lower castes’ in
the Indian caste system who do not follow Hindu religion (or those who
have converted to Christianity or Islam), are not considered as
Scheduled Caste (as any other Hindu dalits); And they do not get
access to reservation for jobs or in educational institutions and
other support mechanism that are otherwise available to a Scheduled
Caste according to the Indian Constitution.
Besides, the upper caste Hindus who have converted to Christianity
also follow their caste based practices such as discrimination,
exclusiveness, untouchability, and at times violence against their
fellow Christians who happened to be dalits.
This film brings out the discrimination and struggle faced by the
Catholic Arundhatiyars of Dharmanathapuram who also face stiff
competition in the economic grounds as mechanization in the footwear
manufacturing continues to grow in the era of globalization.
THE ROAD
Who owns the road? Especially the highways? Thousands of trees, houses
and buildings are bulldozed along with local deities to make way for
the roads. Fast moving vehicles occupying huge space rattle bullock
carts and children. As we learn that it was Hitler who popularized the
concept of highways, the discourse expands to new horizons.
NIGHT LIFE
I am alone, but amidst people; I am asleep, but constantly awake; I am
an outsider. I am the other. It is the night that connects us. I am
the best consumer of all my woes. I protest by my presence among the
“sane” people. I refuse to move, though it is dangerous to me.
CHE at Cannes 2008 July 15, 2008
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CHE the Golden Palm nominee at Cannes 2008
that won Del Toro the Best Actor Award
UTV Network’s World Movies, India’s only international movie channel, has announced the acquisition of ‘CHE’ - a Cannes nominee for Golden Palm 2008 directed by Steven Soderbergh. This four-hour-plus epic about Latin American revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara stars Benicio Del Toro in the title role, for which he won the Best Actor prize at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival in May this year.
‘CHE’ is the first full cinematic rendition of the life of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, physician, military theorist, and guerrilla leader who has been and continues to be an inspiration for millions of people around the world. His stylized image is an ubiquitous counter cultural symbol.
The movie is divided into two parts:
The Argentine - In 1956, Che (Benicio Del Toro) and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.The film tracks Che’s rise in the Cuban revolution, from doctor to commander to revolutionary hero.
Guerrilla - This is the story of Che’s Bolivian camp post the Cuban revolution and includes his journey to New York City in 1964 to address the United Nations.
CHE’s Oscar and Cannes winning director Steven Soderbergh boasts of 22 awards and 40 nominations for highly popular movies like Traffic; Erin Brockovich; Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13. Soderbergh also directed Del Toro to a best supporting actor Oscar for 2000’s “Traffic”. Del Toro has another 28 wins & 15 nominations for various performances.
Dilshad Master, COO, UTV Entertainment Television Limited, says, “It is the 80th anniversary of Che Guevara’s birth and also the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. It is the perfect movie to bring to our viewers and deliver on our promise of showcasing the latest blockbusters from around the world. CHE by Steven Soderbergh is a breakthrough movie which has made it big at Cannes this year and clearly belongs on the World Movies platform. We will soon bring CHE to our viewers in India both theatrically and on World Movies.”
Thanks Vasanth Kadekar for sending the link-MC
This is a fun, sweet, light hearted movie July 15, 2008
Posted by magiccaarpet in dailogue.add a comment
‘jaane tu ya jaane na’:
-Kinnari
this is a fun, sweet, light hearted and amusin movie. the charecters r all very different they have really taken a risk to introduce all new and fresh actors . each actor has a special role and definitely leaves a mark in the movie. in short the movie is where aditi[genilia] and jai [imran] are best friends and r always 2gether whatever the world may think about them they r not bothered. evrybody, including their parents, knw that they r made for each other execept themselves. they realize their love for each other through a series of adventures and express it bfore its too late. they marry and live happily.
ನಾದಮಯ ಈ ಲೋಕವೆಲ್ಲಾ… July 12, 2008
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ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತೆ ವಿದ್ಯಾರಶ್ಮಿ ಎ ಆರ್ ರೆಹಮಾನ್ ಅವರ ಅಪರೂಪದ ಫೋಟೋ ಒಂದನ್ನು ನಮಗೆ ಕಳಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಥ್ಯಾಂಕ್ಸ್ ವಿದ್ಯಾ.
The Survivors lines- watch on CNN-IBN July 12, 2008
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A Ten Minute Documentary on the THE GULBERG MUSEUM OF RESISTANCE
The CNN IBN Team has been extremely supportive of SABRANG’s Vision for a
Museum of Memorial at the Gulberg Society, Ahmedabad. The Survivors of the
Tragedy will be Members of the Advisory Board of this Historic,
Commemorative Space that will document the Narratives of Communal Violence,
Spotlight the heroic resistance of the Survivors and also provide a Unique
Space for Archiving and Documenting the Effort.
We are extremely grateful to director Aparna Sen and actor Shabana Azmi for
lending their resonant voices to the documentary in English and Hindustani.
Thank you also, from the bottom of our hearts to rajdeep sardesai, Zubin
Driver, Puja Dang, Rukmini Barkatlay and Farooqbhai from the CNN Team.
As further extension of their support, CNBC is telecasting the documentary,
THE SURVIVORS LINES on Saturday July 12, 2008 at 1.30 p.m. and Sunday July
13, 2008 at 4 p.m.
Do watch, Share, and Contribute Generously to make this Vision a
Reality
Teesta Setalvad Tanvir Jafri Rupa Mody Javed Anand
SABRANG TRUST
MUMBAI
Contact: sabrang <sabrang@vsnl. com
From Kasaravalli to Truffaut July 12, 2008
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Bangalore was once famous for its number of cinema halls and now for its multiplexes. A smaller revolution is also on, with film societies keeping the shows going to suit the many interests…
Satyajit Ray, Francois Truffaut, Girish Kasaravalli, Film Noir, Iranian documentaries and more - Bengaluru is the new haven for those wanting to explore cinema beyond the multiplexes. Whether one is looking for international film festivals or intimate rooftop screenings, the city’s many film societies have it all. Besides bringing us the best in the world of cinema, they offer film buffs both new and seasoned, the opportunity to interact with one another.
The city’s oldest existing film society is of course the Suchitra Film Society (SFS). Suchitra started in 1971 as a forum for screening films that were not available commercially. 37 years later, the arrival of the Bengalooru International Film Festival (BIFF) has placed it firmly in the running as one of the leading centers of film appreciation in the country. Says secretary N Shashidhar: “While the society is old, its strength lies in the fact that it constantly explores new ideas.”
The Bangalore Film Society (BFS) is another with origins that date back 30 years. BFS has overcome financial, time and space constraints to outlive the other seven or eight societies that started simultaneously in the ‘70s. While societies like Suchitra place greater emphasis on aesthetic value, there is a distinct activist-bent to the films BFS screens. Secretary George Kutty often described as the “heart and soul” of BFS agrees. “We like to screen cinema of artistic value but true art also transforms people and society,” he says, while also pointing out that “…we don’t make it sloganeering.”
Apart from regular monthly screenings for its members, BFS also collaborates with other NGOs to showcase films, usually open to the public. Its strength lies in the thematic presentation of films. The ‘Water’ Film Festival is an excellent example. With themes ranging from ‘Water Privatisation’ to ‘Displacement by big dams’, the festival “opened up a floodgate of issues” for the audience to engage in, without choosing a stand consciously.
In contrast, a conscious political stand is what Pedestrian Pictures strives for. Unlike typical film societies PedPics, started in 2001, is a media-activist organization, as long time member Sanjana puts it. She explains, “We use different forms of media to engage in various questions, whether it is women’s rights, Dalit issues or communalism. Cinema is just one of the channels.” Besides screenings on the last Saturday of every month, PedPics also makes films and publishes booklets on various issues.
Unlike typical film societies politics plays a central role in PedPics’ activities. So much so that they reject any kind of institutional funding, and instead depend on their film, book sales and individual donations. Another trait that distinguishes them from others like Suchitra and BFS is the fact that they don’t run on a membership basis. The monthly screenings are free of charge and open to all. While the group is open to volunteers and sometimes even takes on interns for in-house productions, they’re cautious about whom they work with. Sanjana cites examples of people who ask to work on films on women’s rights but feel that women are not equal to men. “We welcome volunteers and we’re open to discussions but it’s important that whoever works with us is also open minded about these issues.”
The above-mentioned groups are well known in the city and make for somewhat obvious choices. There also exist several smaller more intimate groups that offer serious and sometimes unusual cinema without the formality of film societies.
A local filmmaker showcases his work at a BRTFF screening. Pic: BRTFF.
The Bangalore Rooftop Film Festival (BRTFF) is one such group. At around eight months, BRTFF is young but has already held four screenings.The concept is simple - all screenings are completely volunteer-driven so those who attend must also participate in the organisation. “We get together and someone brings a projector, someone else might bring speakers or provide us the rooftop. Everyone pitches in” explains Thejesh, one of the ten people who initially organised the group. The idea came from the first RTFF that happened in Chennai, which in turn borrowed the idea from a similar event in the US. “The point was that a lot of people found film societies a bit too formal or the screenings a bit expensive.” Apart from interesting cinema, Thejesh also stresses on fun being an important part of the BRTFF screenings. (more…)
JANG AUR AMAN July 11, 2008
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WAR & PEACE / JANG AUR AMAN
(2002, Colour, 130 mins)
|
Filmed over three tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent War and Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. The film is framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, an act whose portent and poignancy remains undiminished half a century later. For the filmmaker, whose family was immersed in the non-violent Gandhian movement, the sub-continent’s trajectory towards unabashed militarism is explored with sorrow, though the film captures stories of resistance along the way. Amongst these is a visit to the “enemy country” of Pakistan, where contrary to expectations, Indian delegates are showered by affection not only by their counterparts in the peace movement but by uninitiated common folk. The film moves on to examine the costs being extracted from citizens in the name of national security. From the plight of residents living near the nuclear test site to the horrendous effects of uranium mining on local indigenous populations, it becomes abundantly clear that, contrary to a myth first created by the U.S.A, there is no such thing as the “peaceful Atom”.
AWARDS:
REVIEWS: “Fantastic, it’s accessible, it’s actually been released on the multiplex circuit. Irrepressible in his one-man crusade, Anand Patwardhan has assembled his finest work with War & Peace, sniping away courageously at the unchecked “Anand Patwardhan’s rousing, engrossing and unexpectedly funny broadside against India’s hot chase of the bomb opens with an old newsreel on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s assassination by Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse.” “We should listen to our voices of dissent for our own sake and for the sake of our children and their children. War and Peace is that voice’s most eloquent expression. Which is why it should be seen by everyone, everywhere. In schools, in colleges, in factories, on television.” “Riveting, fast-paced and laced with dark humour, War and Peace…compels you to stop, think and realign certain perspectives“ “The explosions and the resultant jingoistic euphoria are a function of the frustration and fevered anger of a failed elite, the film argues, backing its argument with vivid images of nationalistic and religious fervor that verge on the surreal.” “Perhaps the most important film in this year’s Berlin Film Festival” “Patwardhan is as unsparing in his criticism of the aggressiveness of the American military and nuclear machine as he is of the nuclear pretensions of India and Pakistan…and in his understanding of the sexual politics of resurgent Hindu communalism, Patwardhan remains India’s most astute and daring documentary filmmaker and one of the country’s most sensitive commentators.” “The atom bomb has come to India with another American tradition - the curbing of works that seek to expose its dangers. ”War and Peace” has won praise and prizes at film festivals around the world, including Bombay’s, but it is effectively banned in its home country. The censor board continues to demand cuts on a variety of trumped-up charges.” “Patwardhan has been making documentaries that challenge India’s establishment for 30 years, becoming one of the country’s most respected documentarians. For almost as long, he has been battling the state in one form or another for the right to show his films uncensored.” A Link to Gandhi Information Centre, Germany Credits courtesy: www.patwardhan.com/films/warpeace.htm |
Anand Patwardhan in Bangalore July 11, 2008
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The Law and Society Commmittee of National Law School of India University
is hosting renowned documentary film-maker and activist Anand Patwardhan
for a screening of his film ‘Jang Aur Aman’and discussion thereafter on
Saturday, 12 July, 2008. The screening will commence on the NLS campus at
2.30 pm.
All are cordially invited to attend the same.
For further details please contact, Aishwarya +91 98869 47147.
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