Winds From The East

Global Festival of Documentary Films

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:59:00 +0000

Global Festival of Documentary Films emerges as the most prestigious South Asian Documentary Film Festival as it bags the most awarded and talked about films for participation in the Festival organized by International Film & Television Club of Marwah Studios, a Creative Enterprise.

Eminent film makers like Megan Mylan, Teri McLuhan, A.S. Bedi, Kim Longinotto amongst a long list of internal names enter their films in the festival. Global Festival of Documentary Films is taking place from 20th to 22nd November, ’09 at Marwah Studios Complex, Film City, Noida, U.P.The awards in the Young Film Maker Category would be – 1st prize of Rs. 25,000/-, 2nd prize of Rs. 15,000/- and IIIrd prize of Rs.10, 000/-

The highlights of the Festival are Smile Pinky by Mylan Megan, an Oscar winner this year, and Frontier Gandhi by Terry McLuhan, renowned film maker. These directors will be present to interact with the young film makers to share their experiences and observations. This would be a golden opportunity for the students to learn from the masters in almost one-on-one sessions.

MOVIES TO BE SCREENED :-

Superman of Malegaon
Harishchandra Factory
Smile Pinky
Frontier Gandhi

MORE FILMS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Film Funding Opportunities for Filmmakers: Cinedarbaar is actively taking part in this initiative, so watch out for more updates on this space.

Interaction with Jury Members
Interactions With International Renowned Directors
Market Session for Marketing Films
Interactions with Producers

VENUE: Marwah STUDIO, Sector 16-A, Noida Film City, NCR.

An Interview with Atsushi Funahashi

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:09:00 +0000

Please could you elaborate, for us, on your history and growth as a cinephile.

I was a pure cinephile when I was in my teens and was watching as many movies I could. Usually in Japan it’s very hard to get into college so you have to study a lot. That’s why the high school forces you to quit sport- I was playing tennis since I was a kid- but the school forced me to quit and two years were spent in preparation of an entry into college. And I absolutely hated it, because it’s forbidden. A friend of mine encouraged me to come and watch films, and so I did. That one movie turned into a life long passion. But the movie that had a great impact on me was Samuel Fuller’s White Dog. I just had to spend time watching many Fuller films and it was cheap at around 600 Yen (around 6$). It is a reasonable cost for high school students.READ MORE

IA Dialy: Osian Film Festival 2009

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:04:00 +0000

THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Friday, 24^th October 2009 saw the commencement of the 11^th Osian Cinefan, the prestigious film festival that centers itself in New Delhi. The festival will be noted for the first significant instance of a major festival’s embracement and acknowledgment of changes in our mainstream cinema that they can see and we cannot. Thus, the fortress of Delhi, after much resistance from its enclosed and exclusive art culture, has finally fallen to the all pervasive market phenomena of Mumbai. It is an invasion, thus, of the old sacred space whose preservation is as essential as the protection of a national monument – for like the latter, the former is a document of the existence of a minority like us – a document we are not willing to let go of just as yet.Read More

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The ongoing work of Cinedarbaar was briefly mentioned in the leading daily Times of India.

NEW AGE FILM CRITICS:
Ruhi Basin

Popular flicks screened at multiplexes and on television no longer satisfy these `cinephiles' for their interest in cinema goes much beyond just watching a `good' film. For these new critics, movie viewing is serious business and discussing the nuances of each film transcending language barriers important.

Cine Darbaar, a film appreciation club in the city, calls itself one such group of cinephiles. Started by Nitesh Rohit and Supriya Suri, who come from a mass communication background, the club screens movies twice a week on Saturdays and Sundays. Twenty-three-year-old Suri said, "As an alumnus of a film school in Paris, I noticed the inability of some film schools to mould students such that they appreciate the history of cinema. I and my friend decided to start Cine Darbaar to fill this void. The club is simply a platform to watch and discuss movies.''

From the story line, narrative, camera work to music, sound and editing, various aspects of a movie are discussed here. "There are several film screenings, festivals and TV channels that show world movies, but our city lacked a forum where one could debate over movies,'' added Suri. Cine Darbaar also maintains a video library of its own and is now planning to hold a film festival in the city colleges in October to promote cinema from Taiwan. The club doesn't charge any membership fee.

Indian Auteur: Forum

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:41:00 +0000

OUR E-zine

Our Forum

Our Website

The primary goal of Indian Auteur is to initiate a discussion among people who love cinema and everything else that is part of the medium. Discussion is an important reason for us taking different initiative across India. From our journal, Cinephile Meeting, Film Experiences and the Online Forum.

The Forum is a place where one should engage in a discussion to understand and discover cinema. The Forum is a place to learn and interact. So please abide by the rules and guidelines to keep a healthy, passionate and engaging discussion among cinephile brewing across the world.

pic- Yo La Tengo, cover album.

Indian Auteur E-Mag and Website Online.

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Online E-Mag.

Download E-Mag

Those who view the storm from afar.

…see no difference between

Here and there

To join in and to become a part of it.

This is the call of the times,

Here and there

- Kafi Azmi.

Despair is the breeding ground for any form of revolution; it makes one do the unthinkable, film the unimaginable and write knowing that this may be one’s last sentence. Nicolas De Stael leaped into the void; MS Sathyu filmed Garam Hawa and Jack Kerouac fired with On the Road…and Indian Auteur is a child of one such despair.

In a country that is in a state of transition; where the struggle to live each day is a task; that history or critical thinking cease to exist for most; hence, our relation with our very own roots is slowly and steadily disappearing. Film Archives are selling films as scraps, auteurs works are facing extinction and cinema in the nation begins with the birth of Bollywood in 80sRead More

The Delhi Manifesto

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:17:00 +0000

.................
The seeds of Indian Auteur were sown with the initiation of "The Delhi Manifesto" and nine months down the line we are working towards the same goals. So before we come online again. Our Manifesto. Relaunched
...................

* Our cinema screen has become an ill-constructed, and conventional portal to a world we aspire of, rather than a mirror, which reflects us.

* Our emotions are guided by leitmotifs placed deftly, and religious beliefs exploited.

* Our spirit of inquiry has become dead and we have been reduced to mere receivers in the process.

* Cinema and television has replaced interaction with imposition of thought. Its thought. An artificial, fake and ill-created thought, a manifestation of our needs to escape ourselves.

* The medium has become a symbol of cheap entertainment, devoid of any examination of the form, and a victim of our collective need to create personalities, perfect alternate universes, and images of our aspiration.

* Our criticism has become trivial. Stories take precedent over the intrinsic qualities of the cinematic medium.

* Our film lovers are snobs, indulging in their wholehearted pseudo-intellectual diatribe, condemning the ignorant, and the ignorant have become so used to a cinema that’s meager that they are satiated with films from the West.

* Our parallel offerings remain strictly entrenched in the tradition of the mainstream, and hence, are versions of the same, rather than its replacements

We reject a system that encourages the above, despite its realization, and seek:-

* To incite discussion on the possibilities, limitations and viability of the application of the auteur theory as a critical prism.

* To use criticism and our theories to both champion and strive for innovation and cutting edge in form, form and content

* To attempt a formulation of a pure love for cinema, a middle ground between the pseudo intellect of the snobs, and the ignorance of the unknowing, and attempt to mobilize their film loves to this new ground.

* To attempt a critical theory that moves beyond the supply of the story and the statistical rating points.

* To observe, notice, and champion upcoming films, filmmakers, and technicians, who remain obscured in the looming shadows of commerce and a faux parallel cinema.

* To champion cinema that creates dissonance, repulsion, interpretation, confusion and discussion rather than loud claps, whistles and scrupulous satisfaction

* To work towards a film love which adopts a middle ground, to reinstate the cinema director to his deserved position, to celebrate Indian cinema of the past and the present, to examine its potential, we propose "The Delhi manifesto.”

- A Delhi Suburb, 1st Jan 2009

SIGN IN:-

( All the early signatories will be soon be online on the new website)

The Granma

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Six months or half an year ago, we launched Indian Auteur with a certain set of objectives in mind – the primary among them being the need to protect our notion of cinema – one of a personal, uncompromising, unflinching artist who wields the camera – instead of one whose film is a result of populism, rather than it being the other way around. The notion of an auteurist cinema. In these six months, we have been called confrontational, controversial, direct, and romantic. We have also been called cinephiles. The former is what we would call the collateral damage of the exercise we have undertaken. The latter is our reward.

But the idea is in the penultimate stage of its life cycle. As we come out with the sixth, the half-yearly issue, we seek a restitution and a renewal of ourselves as an organization. Hence, in September, we will reveal ourselves in a completely new format. Therefore, with the promise of rewarding our loyalists, and provoking those who are not, we will take this extended break between two issues to come out with an issue that not only puts into more serious perspective, our own position as a body, but also, that of the exercise of film writing in this country itself. All we can promise, however, is that, the first six months was the preparation. The next, would be the war.

- Indian Auteur Tm.

Bright Future

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Massive wave of jellyfish to attack Japan
Japanese marine experts have given warning that the country's
northern coastline...
...is under threat from a plague of jellyfish.

---------------------------------------------

Images- Bright Future- Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Headline- The Telegraph Report on Jelly Fish attack on Japan shores

COMING SOON- THE ALL NEW INDIAN AUTEUR

Siddheshwari

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:22:00 +0000

---------------------------------------------------
Born on 8'th August 1908, in Banaras, Siddheshwari Devi had her initial training in Indian Classical music from Pandit Siyaji Maharaj. Later, she also trained under Pandit Bade Ram Dasji of Banaras. Siddheshwari shifted from Banaras to Delhi in 1965 and taught music in Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra for more than a decade till she passed away in 1977.

Siddheshwari Devi's music represented Banaras Gharana style, which lays more emphasis on the intensity of feelings and expression of emotions through musical notes and voice modulations. A stalwart of thumri, Siddheshwari's music also included khayals, dhrupads, dadras, tappas, kajris, chaitis, horis and bhajans. In thumris she specialized in "Poorabang" thumri, which is also known as the "Bol-Banav-ki thumri". Reliance on ragas was a distinctive feature of Siddheshwaris thumris. She helped in raising thumri to a classical form. She earned the title of "Thumri-Queen" and was presented the much coveted Padma Shree award in 1967.

Siddheshwari Devi strongly believed in "Guru Shishya Parampara" which has been kept alive by her daughter Vidushi Savita Devi. Savita established "Smt Siddheshwari Devi Academy of Indian Music" in the loving memory of her mother in 1977, the year in which Siddheshwari passed away.

Images- SIDDHESHWARI Directed by Mani Kaul.

NEW INDIAN AUTEUR WEBSITE/ISSUE COMING SOON.

Bollywood and Indian Cinema

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:23:00 +0000

On Bollywood-

Indian film reviewers and trade analysts( who act as critics ) are head over heels with a new " Bollywood" film called Kaminey. So, inspite of the tight scheduled of our cinephile team, who are working on the special issue of Indian Auteur and the new version of the website- that is launching next month. Our team mate Debojit Ghatak managed to jot down few words on the film part of the so called " Indian New Wave" :-

Among other headlines from the world of modern fashion, the hand-held is now in vogue. The shaky, apprehensive, hesitant hand-held, that lends a sense of unrelenting urgency to a scene. That replaces the compulsion of aesthetic with the luxury of post-production. That eliminates the need for a dolly track, or a cut, to manage disconcerting proximity with the actor’s skin. That replaces meticulous blocking with a single continuous action (shot in infinite takes). That subjugates the possibility of space, and restricts the actors in mid-shots and close-ups. That announces the confirmation of coverage as the method of cinema, and when shot on real location, announces the death of mise-en-scene. Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey is the latest issue of the fashion magazine Read More.

On Indian Cinema-

PART-1

Part-2

Part-3

pic- Kaminey, UTV motion pictures.

A Time to Live and a Time to Die

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:32:00 +0000

Originally Dad planned to stay in Taiwan for only three or four years before going back, so he bought bamboo furniture because it was cheap and he could throw it away when he left. Later mom wanted to buy a sewing machine. It took so long to persuade him. Dad had tuberculosis... so he kept his bowl and chopsticks away from us. He kept a distance from us avoiding us when he coughed because he was afraid that we might be infected.

A Time to Live and a Time to Die- Hou Hsiao Hsien

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COMING SOON- The All New Indian Auteur.

Rat-Trap(Elippathayam)

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:34:00 +0000

The Door

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."

The Talisman

I’m not like the others.
You may enter my house,
but only if you have the money...

The Journey

For the Heavenly, when
Someone has failed to collect his soul, to spare it,
Are angry, for still he must; like him
Here mourning is at fault.

old pond . . .

a frog leaps in

water’s sound

O the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep!
When thy little heart doth wake,
Then the dreadful night shall break.

Rat- Trap Directed- Adoor Gopalakrishnan
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Watch Out- Indian Auteur in all new avatar from 1st September

Sensei and I- Kiarostami meets Kurosawa

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:28:00 +0000

Kurosawa had written a favorable commentary in the publicity leaflet that accompanies the public screening in Tokyo of Where is the friend’s Home? And Life Goes On..., “I believe the films of Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami are extraordinary. Words cannot relate my feelings. I suggest you his films; and then you will see what I mean. Satyajit Ray passed away and I got very upset. But having watched Kiarostami’s films, I thank god because now we have a good substitute for him. Recently, in the face of the decline of cinema in developed countries, nations with little experience in the area of filmmaking have produced valuable works; and I have to think about this more seriously after seeing Kiarostami’s films. “An unprecedented comment by Kurosawa who seldom talks about other director’s films. In fact, during the past 43 years he has only about the works of Andrei Tarkvosky, John Cassavetes, Satyajit Ray and now Abbas Kiarostami.

Late in September 1993, Abbas Kiarostami and I held a two and a half hour long meeting with the renowned Japanese maestro Akira Kurosawa in Tokyo. Kurosawa’s daughter opens the door and we see a tall and strong Kurosawa approaching in pink and beige. Later on we find out that on the occasion of his meeting with Kiarostami the Japanese master has forget about his beloved colorful T-shirts and consented to put on a more formal pink blouse. All of us seem to be overwhelmed by Kurosawa’s grandeur when he shows us to the second floor study with its black leather furniture, mild lighting and an Oscar statue. Other decorations in the room are some Iranian copper-ware, a photo of Kurosawa’s wife and Japanese painting on the wall.

“I was in Cannes when you too, were there” it is Kurosawa who opens the discussion, “of course, I had not seen your films then. “And Kiarostami continues, “I had the chance to see your Madadayo in Cannes and you were sitting two rows ahead of me. It was a great opportunity to see you and your film at once. You may not know how popular you are in my country. Both the intellectuals and ordinary people like your works. In fact, you and the late Alfred Hitchcock are the most popular foreign filmmakers in Iran. Once one of the officials at the Iranian film industry said that you and Tarkvosky were the only foreign filmmakers whose film compiled with the value system of Iranian arts. I wish I could share the joy of meeting you with others in Iran”.

Kurosawa said, “I was a friend of Tarkvosky. Our friendship started during a visit to Moscow. I was twice invited to Iran more than a decade ago to join the jury of the Tehran International film festival. But I don’t like to judge the films. It’s too difficult a job for me. I understand you were a member of the jury in Yamagata, wasn’t it difficult?”

“Yes, it is always difficult particularly when there are no certain criteria. Every time I act as a juror, I tell myself that I would never do that again. But any new invitation creates a new temptation…and it’s always impossible to resist when you are tempted to set out for a trip. It is always nice to do something contrary to what you used to; and I won’t miss any opportunity,” says Kiarostami

Kurosawa says, “I agree with you, but it is really difficult for me to embark on any trip. My legs are aching and official trips impose limitation on you. You have to accept anything that has been planned for you. In fact you do not travel. They take you from one place to another”, says Kurosawa, but Kiarostami promises to plan his visit to Iran the way he likes it, if he ever sets out for the trip; which is quite unlikely. Yet he is curious about Iran. “I’m sure there are other good filmmakers in Iran. However, what I like about your films is their simplicity and fluency, although it is really hard to describe them. One has to see them. It is strange how you work with non-professional actors. How do you work particularly with children?” asks Kurosawa. “The best answer to your question would be that I simply don’t know”, says Kiarostami, I learned this from you and I use it more easily since I first listened to you saying this at last year’s Tokyo film festival. Sometimes, non-professional actors’ performance surprises me. Of course there are certain rules for everything, but what you gain is not always necessarily the outcome of rules.

Kurosawa believes it is very interesting and at the same time difficult. “Although working with professionals, too, is not so easy. You have to crush them with every film and build them anew. That is why working with professional actors is difficult”. - he says. Kiarostami says that he has heard how Kurosawa has treated the veteran actor who played in his latest film. “Everyone was obviously worried about the old man’s health,” he says.

Kurosawa laughs, “I had no other way but to do that, you have to trim an actor’s personality if you expect an excellent performance. To do that, I have to be a little bit violent and exert pressure on them. Have you ever worked with professionals? ”

“I’ve had a fresh experience with a professional actor in my latest film. As you said, they stick to their previous roles. A peril that threatens us, too. Sometimes, we tend use an idea that we have had for our previous films but failed to actualize. As someone has said, one wouldn’t get old if s/he could forget her or his experiences. If we could forget our experience our film may not be flawless, but they will certainly be fresh. Veteran actors are powerfully experienced, but alas, they are no longer fresh; and it is difficult to make them return to their credo human feelings,” reasons Abbas Kiarostami.

Akira Kurosawa confirms that he too, has to face the same problem. “In order to grasp this feeling of integrity I use long takes using a theatrical style even when what I really want is a brief piece of action. What makes it difficult in the movies is cutting. Sometimes the problem comes from the fact that two actors cannot act in collaboration with each other. When one of them acts really well, this adversely affects the others performance. And when the latter improves, the former is too tired. The most serious problem with an actor is that he does not really listen to the person acting in front of him. He is in fact preparing himself for the next line. You usually see no reaction in an actor’s face of what he is seeing or hearing. So I take long takes with several cameras. Actors usually do not know which camera is filming them, so they lose their sensitivity to the camera that is taking a close up. This makes their acting more natural, “says Kurosawa.

Kiarostami on the other than exclaims that many of his films have been harshly criticized for being natural. “Critics believe that the stage and the screen are sacred, so no one should commit anything ordinary there. In their eyes naturalism is commonplace. They say everything must be exaggerated, as they believe your films are.”

Kurosawa laughs in surprise, “Maybe my actors’ behavior look exaggerated in your country, but they are definitely natural here. Cultural differences must not be taken for exaggeration. I have to say that I honestly enjoyed watching your films. They include appreciation for your working style. How do you work with children, in particular? They do not feel at home in my films and keep watching me in a discreet way”.

Kiarostami explains “Maybe that’s because you are Kurosawa. The children that work for me hardly know me. During the actual filming I try to pretend that I’m not the governor. Usually I ask the crew to judge about their acting. Of course, every needs a special trick, sometimes it is another story.”

“This is the cinema that must be supported and taken seriously. My children and grandchildren never see American films. They have their own boycotting system which rules out violent films. I wish this humanistic cinema could stand against all vulgarity,” says Kurosawa. He adds, “I’m sure good films are being made everywhere. But filmmaking in Europe and the States is going backwards while good films are being made in Asia and finding their way to International film festivals. The global screen is not for the films of only one country. Films make their viewers familiar with the cultural settings of their country of origins. If they are made according to a national culture then they will be welcomed abroad. My grandchildren and I made ourselves familiar with Iran and her people with your films.”

“You have said that films must be made with hearts and seen with hearts,” says Kiarostami. And Kurosawa admits that “ Yes, I did; unfortunately most Japanese people see films with brains and try to find flaws in it . Sometimes, critics ask questions for which I have no answer, because I have not thought about the matter when I was making the film. Films must be rather felt, but there are little feelings in recent films. “ Kiarostami says that maybe filmmakers have built up a kind of bad taste among viewers.” They have misled their tastes, “he says, and Kurosawa believes that maybe the offering of old films on laser disks could make viewers familiar with more healthy cinema.

Kurosawa then talks about the similarity between the opening scene of Madadyo and Kiarostami’s Where is the friend’s Home? “Apparently we have many things in common, “he observes; and Kiarostami once again stressed that Kurosawa is far more famous. And Kurosawa modestly tells Kiarostami that how he painted the shadows of things in Dodeskaden because he was not financially capable of waiting for a brighter day. “Both of us tend to be attached to our locations even after the end of filming our movies,” says Kurosawa. “Every time it is so sad to say goodbye to the protagonists of a film that’s finished.”

Both of the filmmakers agree that those who look for flaws in films deprives themselves the joy watching a film, “ My painting teacher used to tell me to look at the world with a half closed eye. We have to see everything altogether, it is only then that we will be able to see the truth” Kurosawa’s daughter serves tea twice and we have to bid farewell. Kiarostami is concerned about the Japanese master’s health. “I don’t want to make you more tired” Kurosawa says he would have taken us to a restaurant if we had time. We hope of meeting him again as soon as possible.

- Shoreh Golparian
- Originally published in Film International mag, Autum Issue 1993, Theran Iran.

pic- Akira Kurosawa.

Indian Auteur Issue no-5

Satyajit Ray

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Satyajit Ray
Produced- Film Divison
Directed- Shyam Benegal
Language- English
Documentary

More on Ray:-

Satyajit Ray, Ray film's and Ray Movie.

Satyajit Ray

Issue no-5

Pic- Ray and Kurosawa.

Cinematography and Time-II

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:37:00 +0000

A recent comment from Haridas B at the Indian Auteur website pointed us towards these set of lectures given by Mani Kaul at the International Film Festival of Kerala, 2006 and also a subsequent debate on the same with cinematographers and filmmakers at the Osian film festival 2007. This debate was further revived by the same group of cinematographers and they had this to say:

"We found Mani Kaul's argument very interesting and relevant. But unfortunately this subject has not been picked up and debated enough. So we have compiled the video recordings of both the events here. Please view the videos and contribute to the debate"

I would like to know the views of people here, so we to can contribute to the overall discussion.

Mani Kaul also wrote an essay exploring similar themes and topics in Beneath the Surface: Cinematography and Time which is available online at the Indian Autuer website.

The New Issue of Indian Auteur

Video source:- http://www.cinemadebate.org/Site-1/VIDEO-1.html

Indian Auteur- Issue no 5

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:48:00 +0000

Editorial

How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare

One of the sole motivations for working towards establishing a scope for co-operative film criticism, production and distribution here in India was when an acquaintance in Mumbai told me it would take 20 years to change things. That’s when I believe we had a target date in hindsight. What we seek is an age where there would be freedom for the director to film the places he loves, the restaurant he visits and the college he studied. In a manner that is personal and close-and a camera style that is distinctively his very own. And a time where one is not deprived of reading criticism against great men of cinema who are thought to be infallible- A time of questioning.

A time when people will not hide behind the veil of mediocrity- in the name of serving the interest of the masses- Or protecting the rights of the proletariat. Above all; a time of choice, for every film from Mumbai we should get to hear a story from Chhattisgarh, Manipur, and Kashmir on the big screen. India stretches from Kashmir to Kanyakumari but our lives are directed and dictated from Mumbai and Chennai. Read More

Pictures- From the just concluded Shakti Samanta retrospective

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Forum to be online soon. The technical errors in sections(feature, archive, Manifesto etc) will be fixed asap.

Cine Darbaar

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:12:00 +0000

I haven't been writing much lately, but a number of activities are taking place on the ground to take cinema and discussion to a whole new level. In the span of two weeks we've managed to hold two big cine experiences and each one of them had people from all walks of life turning up for the screenings. The just concluded Shakti Samanta retrospective ran to packed houses and people where more than eager to participate in the discussions. A full report with pictures would be published soon. Cine Darbaar has been instrumental in the last six months to push towards several initiatives such as film festivals, film appreciation and workshops. The just concluded Shakti Samanta retrospective was the fifth cine experience by the group.

Here are two recent reports on Cine Darbaar:-

Time Out- New Delhi.

Court is in session

A six-month-old group of Delhi cinephiles is hoping to popularise World Cinema in India, reports Ajitha GS.

On January 1 this year, a group of young cinephiles came together and formulated what they called the “Delhi Manifesto” (www.indianauteur.com/manifesto.php). Among other things, it condemns snobs and pseudo-intellectuals, while also damning the ignorant who “have become so used to a cinema that’s meagre that they are satiated with films from the West” (read, Hollywood). The manifesto itself is typical of a group of youngsters – the average age is 24 – who are angry about the state of the world and want it to change immediately. But this bunch also has a definite plan of action.

In the past six months, Cine Darbaar (as the group is called) has organised an Iranian film festival (February), a Russian film festival (May) and, this fortnight, a Taiwanese festival. Cine Darbaar came together under the initiative of Supriya Suri and her partner Nitesh Rohit, and has grown to include 11 other members. “We hope to promote an understanding of cinema not just in Delhi and other big cities, but also in small cities and rural towns,” Suri said.

“Cine Darbaar organises cinephile meetings in various places. We’ve been working through friends and acquaintances until now, and have regular meetings in Patna, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Chidambaram, Dharwad, Digboi and Gwalior,” said Suri. These meetings are quite a formal affair. The Delhi gang chooses a theme for the month, and relays this to all the centres, which then meet and talk and send a report back to Cine Darbaar. If all this is sounding just a little Stalinist, you’ll be happy to know that these notes then go up on www.indianauteur.com, the group’s e-zine. The website does not restrict itself to world cinema. There are features, articles and reviews on a range of topics, from German expressionist cinema to Delhi-6 to Ritwik Ghatak. (There is also a long and involved interview with Ghatak that’s translated from Bengali.) The group’s passion for taking the action offline is commendable, as is its strategy. In all the events it has organised so far, Cine Darbaar has tied up with the foreign cultural centres in Delhi. This helps to organise both the required permissions and the screening venue. Suri also said that she and her colleagues refer to these festivals as “cine experiences”. “We distribute film reviews and information about the director, and discuss the director, the director’s style and even the culture of the country the film is from,” she said. “Then we see the film.”

This fortnight’s Taipei Cine Experience – organised in collaboration with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre – showcases films by directors who represent the Taiwan New Wave, Suri told us. “All these directors were shooting films with a static camera, long shots, very minimal movement – everything was very minimal, even the stories,” she said. The films by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Yang Ya-che and Wu Nianzhen are, by and large, not the filmmakers’ newest films. “The movement started off in the ’90s in Taiwan,” Suri said, when asked whether this was a deliberate decision. “Also, we don’t feel that only contemporary films should be shown.” She did admit that it was easier to get screening rights for the older films, though.

Cine Darbaar is now working to set up a “settled film club” that will organise regular screenings in the city. Suri said that it should be in place by the end of the year. We’ll be tracking them, so watch this space.

Indian Express- newspaper.

Dipanita Nath

Ang Lee might be the most famous Taiwanese filmmaker, but there are several crouching tigers and hidden dragons out there. A festival of Taiwanese films, being held over the weekend, celebrates them.

“On offer are five films from Taiwan New Wave Cinema that dates to the 1980s. The country’s chequered political history, having been ruled by the Japanese and the Chinese, had affected its cinema. It was only with the 1980s New Wave movement that Taiwan began to find its own cinematic vocabulary,” says Supriya Suri, co-founder of Cine Darbaar, an organisation that is holding the “Taiwan Cine Experience 2009” in association with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre.

Any festival of Taiwan New Wave must include Hou Hsiao-Hsien, so the “Cine Experience” kicks off with his Zui Hao De Shi Guang (Three Times). It’s a series of three stories that shows a transition — in the first two, letters play a pivotal role, while in the third cell phones, text messages and the Internet take over. “The tales span from 1966 to 2005 when words become more free and communication recedes,” says Suri. The film also has an unlikely Bollywood angle — Imtiaz Ali’s forthcoming film Love Aaj Kal is said to be its rip-off

Apart from the urban portraits in Tsai Ming Liang’s Dong (The Hole) and He Lious (The River), in which water becomes a symbol of social dysfunction, there will be Yang Ya Chen’s Orz Boys, a tale of two mischievous boys called Liar Number 1 and Liar Number 2 who are faced with the twin problems of staying out of trouble and growing up. But it is with a special film that the festival closes. We Nien Jen’s Duo Sang (A Borrowed Life) is about Sega, born in Taiwan under the Japanese rule and out of sync with the Mainland Chinese authorities who took over in 1945. “We are screening a rare sample piece because most prints are lost,” says Suri.

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New Issue of Indian Auteur and the new forum to be up soon. The Indian Auteur Forum has been down due to the database getting deleted by accident.

pic- Three Times.

Retrospective of Shakti Samanta films

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Directorate of Film Festival of India
&
Cinedarbaar

The Minister of Information & Broadcasting Smt. Ambika Soni will inaugurate the retrospective of Shakti Samanta Films on 10th July 2009 at 1830 hrs at Siri Fort Auditorium II, New Delhi. Director and son of late Sh. Samanta, Sh. Ashim Samanata will be the Keynote Speaker. Shakti Samant’s award winning film Amar Prem (Hindi Colour, 1972, 153 minutes) would be screened at the inaugural function. Sh.Samanta, the noted film director/producer passed away on April 9, 2009.

Shakti Samanta directed first feature film in 1954 and started his own production company, Shakti Films, in 1957. In all, Samanta has directed 43 feature films: including 37 Hindi, and 6 Bengali films. His best known films are: Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Anuraag, Amanush, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat and Mehbooba. Seven of his films won the Filmfare Awards. Shakti Samanta is credited for starting the trend of making double version films in Hindi and Bengali with Amanush in 1974. Shakti Samanta also made the first co-produced film between India and Bangladesh in 1984.

Five of Shakti Samanta’s best know films Howrah Bridge, Kati Patang, Amanush, Kashmir Ki Kali and Anurag will be screened on Saturday and Sunday 11-12th July 2009.

- PIB Press Release

Venue- Sri Fort Auditorium-2
Time- 6:30 pm, Friday 10th of July

pic- Sharmila Tagore in an Evening in Paris.

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New Issue Indian Auteur coming shortly.

The Journey to Odessa, And the Return from the Zone

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:28:00 +0000

- Debojit Ghatak

A report on the recently concluded Russian Cine Experience.

The programming for the week of Russian cinema was planned in way that one moved back in time from the contemporary Russian cinema to a retrospective on Tarkovsky and then back to 1925 through Battleship Potemkin.

After the inauguration which involved the lighting of the lamp by young cinephiles, the series of screenings commenced with Oksana Bychkova’s Piter Fm, a film disliked by all are team members but liked by the audience. And since the first day is always difficult to break the ice among the audience, this conflict was the perfect provocation for the audience and the team to get involved in an active discussion on the film.

The next day, Ostrov/The Island by Pavel Lungin was screened. The film is about a spiritual transition of a guilt stricken man, and how he overcomes the fear of death by the end of the film. Anatoly, the father of the island, had once killed an innocent man during the war, and starts living as a priest who can heal the people suffering from any pain. The film was shot on cinemascope and this was the trigger point of our discussions. Such a move was thought of by many as being too academic, and too biased towards the ‘technical’ side of things. Cinema without technical aspects is not possible; rather cinema began with technology and later became an aesthetic principle. Our emphasis remains on the appreciation of the film form. The construct behind an idea, the cinematic foundation of a thematic skyscraper – which also remains the focal point of our discussion. But to reach that level we did realize it is important to first understand the audience and then try to reach such points in a better way, without making it sound too educational.

The retrospective began, predictably, with Ivan’s Childhood, the first feature by Tarkovsky. A lot of people did not favor the idea of showing his films as he is already very popular and has been shown worldwide but our reasons were simple - not many of us understand him. Hence we felt even though the film might have been screened a number of times, it demanded a more thorough collective understanding.

The discussion that followed was eventful, in that it featured walk-outs, vehement oppositions, and solemn acceptances. People assumed, because of our love for Tarkovsky, a disdain for the mainstream in our tastes – and therefore, even a slight hint of Spielberg bashing was jumped on, and squashed on by paranoid and hysterical audiences. Of course, they could not appreciate an obvious, and yet conversely, barely obvious distinction between good and bad cinema; instead perceiving our effort as being a celebration of the off-beat and a derogation of the mainstream. The discussion also piqued interest in the topic of cinema’s isolation of itself from theatre – and even though it invited uninformed opinions, it is a cause one would like to inquire deeper into. The 18th saw the screening of Stalker, which resulted in completely anticipated audience walk-outs.

On the other hand, there were first time viewers who were pretty intrigued by The Zone presented in the film. And it was today that we had one of the best discussions of the entire seven days. Starting from our own interpretation of the film, going towards what the director wanted to say and how he wanted to say, everything was discussed which went on for around forty five minutes. Today was a day when one realized while there are viewers who are obviously not interested in exploring different cinema but there are many in our city who when showed something else are willing to stay throughout the film and the discussion. It’s probably the first time that discussions are taking place here in Delhi, and we love that people love to be a part of it.

Nostalghia, the first film that Tarkovsky made outside Russia, held an immense interest in a lot of people today. By now we were already familiar with the crowd that was coming every day. And although today there were not many people for the discussion but those who did stay back, it was very evident that it was for the need to understand the characters and the film much more, so did our time. The most wonderful thing that happened today was that we realized how through discussions and questioning yourself you finally find a path toward understanding the director and the piece of work much more. And those who came every day as just a viewer, not from a film background, much to our glad notice - could observe through three films till now by the same director, his use of water, air, grass and how he uses the tracking shot to pervade the water etc. There were instances when we had organized a film festival with some organization who had been working in such field for years and refused to organize discussions claiming the audience does not stay back and they don’t want it. Someone would want to eat their words now.

The last day was a sort of our cinematic return home – to our roots – to the films made by one of the fathers of modern cinema – Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, a film so vividly a depiction of a political stance through the medium of cinema that it could not help but involve people. That it did so after 84 years of its release makes the achievement more staggering. The tragedy of the sailor was still afresh as ever, the wound still uncomfortably moist, and the soup still boiling. The discussion on the montage and its invention was accompanied by reminiscences of audience members of the good ol’ Calcutta days when film clubs would screen the film – as both a mark of protest and of impression. We also recorded, with pride and surprise, the largest audience turnout for a discussion, as around 70 people stayed back; perhaps as a tribute to one of the greatest films of all time, or as a courteous approval of our efforts of the last week. Whichever, it made us pleased. Thus, with the feeling of a job well done, and the excitement of other such jobs in the near future, the festival was officially declared closed.

For sometime.

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Coming soon.

The new Issue of Indian Auteur with updates on the just concluded Taiwan Cine Experience and the upcoming dates and info on the Cinephile Meetings- August 2009 will be online on 14th of July.

www.indianauteur.com

Taiwan Cine Experience

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:57:00 +0000

TAIPEI ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CENTRE

and

CINE DARBAAR
(www.indianauteur.com)

Cordially invite you to

TAIWAN CINE EXPERIENCE 2009

At the ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTRE, 27 and 28th June

NEW DELHI, 11 JUNE: The Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in collaboration with Cine Darbaar will host “Taiwan Cine Experience 2009” from June 27 to 28 at the Islamic Cultural Centre, here.

The two-day festival will be inaugurated by Mr S M Khan, Director, Directorate of Film Festival, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at 5 pm on June 27, followed by the screening of the film, Three Times. The guest of honour will be film director Mani Kaul.

According to TECC Representative Wenchyi Ong, the festival will help Indians to watch Taiwanese films such as Palme d’Or and Cannes-nominated movie Three Times, critically acclaimed psychological thriller The Hole, Berlin International Film winner The River and the autobiographical film, A Borrowed Life. “The aim of the festival is to spread the aesthetics of Taiwan cinema,” he added.- SNS

(This is a report written by Mr. Jose Kalathil, published by The Statesman dated June 12, 2009, Page 4.)

SCHEDULE

27th June, Saturday

5 pm

Inauguration and a brief introduction by Mr. Mani Kaul (film director) and SM Khan (Director of film festival, India)

5:30 P.M.

Zuei Hao De Shih Guang (Three times) by Hsiao Hsien Hou, 120 min, 2005

8: 00 P.M.

Dong (The Hole), by Miang Liang Tsai, 95 minutes, 1998

28TH June, Sunday

11:30 a.m.

Orz Boys, 2008, by Ya Che Yang 110 min, 2008

3 P.M

He Liou (The River), by Ming Liang Tsai, 115 min, 1997

6 P.M.

Duo Sang (A borrowed Life), by Nien Jen Wu, 165 min, 1994

Indian Auteur- Issue no-4 June 14th- July 14th

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Editorial- Issue No-4

In an interview with Jacques Rivette, the great French auteur Jean Renoir remarked that technical advancement is not the way forward but step backward towards ugliness. Something that we witness every Friday with our weekly release of mainstream films, no matter how far our directors go with their new gizmos they still lack the touch to create magic on screen- like a Guru Dutt close-up- or a Vijay Anand dynamic camera movement. This absence is evident across our mainstream industry in India. And even our regional cinema is decaying and adopting the nomenclature of Bollywood. Read More

Issue No-4

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Le post-modernism explique aux enfent

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Postmodernism for Kids or What is POSTmodernISM

In this lucid account of postmodernism DR. ARUP RATAN GHOSH cites examples form our known Indian culture, the day-to-day experiences and from the Indian myths, including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata en route to Jibanananda Das, Uday Shankar School of Dance, the entertainment Hindi films and the hyper-real festivals and the worship of the Goddess Durga- Postmodernism looked through Indian visionary terminals

Postmodernism is a world view. It is very difficult or impossible to define what is postmodernism? We find that philosophy to latest fashion-shoe all are labelled as post-modern. Variety is the spice of postmodernism. Postmodernism takes its breath in differences. So from fashion designers to social philosophers the context of postmodernism comes in contradiction, hybrid and chaos. From global politics including the poverty in the third world to MTV, postmodernism exists everywhere.

In the name of definition or something like definition of postmodernism we may feel ourselves helpless and utterly confused. Denzin tries to define it in this way: ‘Living the post-modern into experience; a set of emotional experiences defined by resentment, anger, alienation, anxiety, poverty, racism, and sexism; the cultural logics of late capitalism’.

VISUAL CULTURE

Let us display every thing visually as postmodernism appears to us very much visually (though there are differences of opinions) promoting a visual culture. The visual culture which exists at present is very much post-modern indeed.

The Neo-TV with its satellite and cable networks, the flow of video-texts in the sophisticated modes of CD-video or laser-disc and as computer graphics in the World Wide Web of Internet (including the practice of watching pornographic films in the computer or TV monitor, lolling on a sofa or bed in a comfortable room), the neon-shine advertisements, the hoardings, the electronic display boards, the video terminals, the posters (including the semi-pornographic ones — as of the Hindi and American commercial films), expositions (as book fair, tourism fair etc.) and high-tech fairs (as computer fair, industrial fair etc.) and tableaus etc. all attack and arrest our vision in their non-stop motion and motivation.

SIMULATION

The primary motivation of them is creation of simulation. The motivation in depth is political and economic (global and local) and there is of course the interplay of cultural logics of Late Capitalism (multinational) which are the output of postmodernism. But now let us enter in simulation. What is simulation? Simulation is a ‘make believe’ of an appearance which has been created or constructed as actual. As for example the multi-channel TV. In one channel we see a fashion show, in another we see the game of glorious uncertainty — the ‘cricket’ which is being played at the ‘Lords’ or in another we see someone who died recently singing Rabindrasangeet . Now what is the ‘actuality’? What is actually going on now? If one just zaps of one after another of the eighty-four channels of world wide television-flow the whole world will appear to him in simulation of multiple reality. The multiple reality through electronic impulses is a post-modern entity. With the use of electronics the sense and sensibilities of multiple reality in the present day world is also strongly and strangely post-modern.

HYPER-REALITY

There is some strangeness in simulation because time to time it takes us to a world of the hyper-real. Let us look at the screen of TV. It may be MTV, any other TV channel or a video-text. There are two colours dividing the screen. One is green and the other one is blue which appear as the land and the sky. In the middle there is a man singing vigorously. He looks like a man like any of us. But the background and the violently throbbing music is hyper-real. Actually something like this was in display with an array of sixty TV monitors in the pavilion of ‘France’ in the Calcutta Book Fair in 1996. I along with many others got almost lost into the hyper-real world with French music and images simulated through electronic impulses.

THE POSTMODERN VOYEUR

Simulation, hyper-real, visual culture come holding hand in hand to a post-modern voyeur putting him into the ever shifting multiple reality.

A post-modern voyeur looks at the images (be it of electronic or not). Film, TV, video etc. are open to him. He looks at the different shades of life through these and simultaneously constructs his total vision of life. Out of the looked-at-experiences of the audiovisual media he looks at the ‘lived experiences’ of life like a passive voyeur. This passive voyeurism is not always recognised. The people looking at the female body in and outside the screen has been identified as ‘male gaze’ by Laura Maulvey in her paper entitled ‘Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema’ in 1975. Afterwards she is countered why she hadn’t considered the women for the ‘gaze’. Though that is a different context of feminist idea but voyeurism or the post-modern voyeur is seen clearly at the centre.

THE DEATH OF GOD, AUTHOR AND MODERNITY

In all the fields of art including the film postmodernism emphasises on the ‘process’ rather than the ‘product’. Its simulated world emits ‘feeling’ as well as the ‘unfeeling’. As the deconstructionists emphasises on the ‘misreadings’ of a text and ‘Foucault accepted the death of author as God’, postmodernism (which has come out of post-structuralism and again which has followed the theory of deconstruction) emphasises on ‘plurality’ in stead of the auteur or ‘authorship’ of modernity. Christian Metz puts the authorship theory of film as ‘modern’. But from the deconstructionist postmodernist point of view it can be said that ‘what the author meant is part of his autobiography’. We, the readers and viewers will interpret the text often creating the ‘misreadings’. ‘Plurality’, ‘multiplicity’ and ‘hybridity’ are a few important characteristics of postmodernism — very specially and clearly visible in post-modern architecture. But before the creation of post-modern architecture some one has died. The name of the dead is ‘Modernity’. In 1901 Nietzsche announced ‘the death of God’ in the book Thus Spake Zarathrustra through Zarathrustra’s uttering in his imaginary revisit to the human beings of the world. ‘Foucault also accepted the death of author as God’ and strikingly Charles Jencks, the pioneering theoretician of post-modern architecture and other post-modernists found the Modern Architecture as dead. ‘Happily, we can date the death of Modern Architecture to a precise moment in time’ Jencks wrote. ‘Unlike the legal death of a person, which is becoming a complex affair of brain waves versus heart beats, Modern Architecture went out with a bang... [It] died in St. Louis Missouri on July 15, 1972 at 3.32 p.m.... The occasion was the blowing up of the prize winning Pruitt Igoe housing scheme. The scheme was classically modern. It was constructed according to the principles of the Congress of International Modern Architects, which put economic and sociological issues above those of style as the imperatives of architectural progress.

THE POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE

POSTMODERN architecture basically considers architecture as a language. It should also be in analysed through the tools like ‘signs’, ‘codes’ and ‘meanings’. As the film theoreticians like Christian Metz and others consider ‘film as a language’ using the concepts of semiotics to decode its meaning. Architecture has also become a language. Semiotics is applied to decode its meaning. We see in wonder the semiotics, the film theory and the post-modern architecture are all deconstructed in the linguistic terms of ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’. The contemporary trend of analysing with the theories of linguistics or semiotics doesn’t spare film and architecture. Even the mad or lunatic people are not spared. Lacan who applies semiotics in the psychoanalysis holds that the schizophrenics get no ‘signified’ counterparts for their ‘signifiers’ creating a collapse in communication. Let us visualize the post-modern architecture theoretically. One of the fundamental characteristics of postmodernism is the ‘presentation of the impossible’. It is evident in post-modern architecture. Think of the new American Centre building on J. N. Road, Calcutta. Wrapped with the black basaltic stone sheets, the building appears to be terribly unbalanced — it may fall down any time. From the engineering point of view it is perfectly balanced but appearance is just the opposite i.e. ‘the presentation of the impossible.’

In every post-modern architecture there is a kind of ornamentation. It may be reminiscence of history or an older style of building-making like placing earthen tiles along with the hybrid of concrete and fibre glass. It also may be a pattern or rhythm with flora and fauna or high-technological suggestions. Remembrance of history in fragmentation or its non-chronological presentation are the basic characteristics of postmodernism. Architecture takes that view in its own post-modern way. The post-modern architecture emphasises on style rather than function, individuality rather than commonness and non-identity, language – like communicativeness rather than mere rationality. We can think of most of the office buildings of New Delhi showing their uniqueness in post-modern way. In Calcutta Nandan (style and language), Akshvani Bhavan (individuality) are also like that.

END OF HISTORY

Now, after witnessing the death of modern architecture, we can look at history. In an invisible board some one has already written ‘end of history’. History has ended its course but world goes on. How is it possible? I don’t know whether history has ended but the post-modernists think, that there is point in marking the ‘end of history’ in the eternal flux of time.

In modernism there are two basic notions. One is about history. That history is like an unwritten agenda on which all the events are happening one after another. Hegel introduced that. And obviously the whites i.e. the Europeans lead the rest of the world towards the conclusion of history. If conclusion comes then the history ends one day. But the world does not end. Moreover we find things are not going according to the hidden agenda of history at all. The outbreak of wars, depression, nihilism, chaotic environment prove that there is nothing as chronological history. Europeans are considered as ‘historical people’ and India and some other countries of third world are put into the category of ‘a-historical’. But this notion of modernism proves futile to the post-modernists. So, to them the value of ‘history as progress’ collapses making an ‘end of history’.

The second notion – which the modernism bears is that the advanced countries of the west will lead the rest of the world. But the various global events from World War II to Vietnam War show the collapse of this notion too. Today the west is not leading the rest of the world. One can think of the emergence of Japanism and others like that.

So with the breakdown of the two modernist notions, people have two ways to go. One is towards the pre-modern and the other is towards the post-modern directly. The pre-modern approaches include the revival of matriarchy, Green movement etc. The pre-modern approaches are in a way post-modern reactions towards the world. And the direct approach towards the postmodernism is what we see today as post-modern.

Is postmodernism radically different from modernism or is it a continuation of modernism? There are opinions on both the sides. Some think it is counter to the modernism. Some think it is very much different. Arnold Toynbee found beginning of the post-modern era from the seventh cycle of the nineteenth century and somewhere he emphasised the beginning of the post-modern time since 1939 (after the World War II). All these he wrote in the different volumes of his famous book The Study of History. But to many of us it is not the time only but the mood of the world view in altogether the Zeitgeist i.e. the post-modern.

KITSCH, PASTICHE AND THE HYBRID

In all the fields of post-modern art, we find the use of three elements like kitsch, pastiche and hybrid. Let us take a fine example of hybrid-ity. I find it in some of the compositions of Uday Shankar School of Dance. Even in the same stage at the same time they show two groups are performing Kathak dance. One group dance after the traditional Indian music, the other group dance after a sort of western music. It is a hybrid presentation of dance.

If one fixes a picture of Monalisa on a bath tub then it is an example of Kitsch. In Hindi entertainment films often we find the use of Kitsch. As a dancer dances in an exciting way, the close up of a Hellenistic sculpture or a glimpse of the Ajanta cave paintings come intermittently. The dignified, high serious objects of art mix with the cheap and popular culture, forming examples of Kitsch (originally a German word).

Pastiche also has the hybrid nature. In the puja pandal we see in astonishment that the famous temple of Dakshineshwar has been erected at Howrah. The pandal looks like the original one (even more brighter and more real) creating a pastiche. In the book fair, the created pastiche of Eiffel Tower or Notredame church are clear enough to understand what pastiche is like. Pastiche some times becomes the harbinger of hyper-reality. The enormously big idol of Jagatdhatri of Chandannagar is a concrete example of pastiche-hyper-reality.

Kitsch, pastiche and parody are evident in TV, film, architecture, popular culture including fashion designing and the beauty contests and in almost everywhere in the post-modern world.

In the context of pastiche an example from the Third Cinema comes in mind. It is The Journey by Fernando Solanas. It becomes controversial for its political implications. Once we see the president of America is present in a ridiculous form. He is wearing a pair of skintight stockings - cum - trousers and his feet are abnormally big — look a almost like webbed-feet swan in an abnormal enlargement. His feet suggest security and stability in a humorous way. Moreover he is introduced as Mr. Fox, the president of America. To raise our surprise in his peculiar make up he begins to play tennis with the president of Argentina. Creating pastiche, the whole sequence has become very much post-modern indeed. ‘Presentation of the impossible’ the other characteristics of postmodernism is also presented here. In the appearance and disappearance of the pleasant momentary sight of a beautiful girl, as the essence and spirit of Argentina time to time comes throughout the film. The opposite and uncomfortable example of it is the scene where we find the ‘sheets’ are floating in the water and ignoring which the people are going by a boat. This ‘unpresentable’ sight of Argentina is also presented in this never ending odyssey The Journey.

NOSTALGIA

Nostalgia is also a post-modern characteristics. In the post-modern film and literature we often find nostalgia for the past, presented in a manner so that the past ‘re-creates’ the present. In the use of flexible time sequence or non-chronological time or the fragmentary use of time we often face a kind of post-modern nostalgia.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND POSTMODERNITY

Photography may be considered today as very much post-modern. As in postmodernism, specially in the postmodernist art, the use of the ‘past recreating the present’ and the ‘sense of the perpetual present’ is much reflected in photographs. A photograph transfers the ‘past’ into the ‘present’ instantly at the time of the viewers’ interaction. This kind of visual interaction as the viewer finds it is neither totally ‘past’ nor it is absolutely ‘present’. This re-creation of the ‘present’ engineering the ‘past’ is an important post-modern characteristics.

PRESENTATION OF THE UNPRESENTABLE

The sense of ‘presentation of the unpresentable’ in the vein of cathartic visual pleasure comes through most of the Hindi commercial films especially in the films of the eighties and the nineties and more specifically in the sequences of song picturisation. Just think of any of them this flow of post-modernity inundates your mind.

TV ‘PROGRAMMING FLOW’ AND THE REAL WORLD ‘HOUSEHOLD FLOW’

TV viewing and its interaction to the tele-viewers is itself a post-modern activity. Unlike cinema, TV has now captive target audience. TV viewers sip in the tea cup, rear babies or do some other household works while viewing the TV. So there creates a mixed atmosphere of communicating images from the TV ‘programming’ flow and as well as a sort of ‘household flow’. These two flows present the electronically simulated images in the dimensions of multiple reality, intertextuality and the differences of activity making the whole experience of TV viewing a post-modern one.

THE PREFIXES OF MODERNISM

The spontaneous mixing of high culture and low culture or popular culture creating a middle brow culture is a characteristic feature of postmodernism. POST Cyber MODERN punk ISM or Men’s Studies or Post-Feminism are not just some names of chapters in the recently published books on literary theory or postmodernism. They are actually in the fringe area of expanding postmodernism. ‘What is after postmodernism?’ — Charles Jencks, the post-modern architecture-critic questions. Now all the POSTs and ISMs have come at the end of this century enrolling as post-structuralism, post-industrialism, post-Fordism, post-Marxism along with postmodernism. Postmodernism also contains many ramifications or the chain of evolution with pre-modernism, modernism, high-modernism, late-modernism and the non-modern (traditional) and the anti-modern. The labels including the neo-modern and the palaeo-modern (used by Frank Kermade) are enough to cover the course of our whole civilisation.

LATE CAPITALISM AND ITS CULTURAL LOGICS

Postmodernism is a product of Late Capitalism. Fredric Jameson and some others think like that. Late Capitalism is the economics of the multinationals and its consequences. All our cultural currents are due to it. Some think like that. Poverty created by the exploitation of the third world by the first and the second world, the Michael Jackson show (in Bangalore also), the scams and corruptions of global, national and local leaders and politicians, the MTV, the TV serials and the blockbuster films all have come out of the cultural logics of Late Capitalism, creating the plural post-modern world in a single one.

THE POSTMODERN EVERYDAY LIFE

Gone are the days of ideals. There are corruptions, falsehood, pretensions, exigency of sexual activities (as in the film sex, lies and video tape). The study of popular cultures including fashion designing, hotel management, tourism, film making, packaging etc. get the status of academic studies of the university level. English departments expand with the media studies, film etc. A modern couple try to become the double career machine to earn in five digits . People like to wear designer shirts, want to live in the luxury flats, go for expensive holidaying and weekend programmes. In India they like to get their children the English-medium schooling. The growing habit of unnecessary sophisticated means like drinking-habit of mineral water in the branded plastic bottles is just among the all others (mentioned above) creating the post-modern scenario.

It is indeed serious. Think of the days of the Gulf War. Where did the war actually take place? Was it not in the TV monitors of our rooms too? The live CNN telecast of the war showing launching and exploding missiles through the millions of TV monitors all over the world expanding the Gulf War is virtuality and hyper-reality. It covers or uncovers the bloodshed, death, horror and destruction which are normally concealed under the terrain of culture.

DREAM: THE POSTMODERN SOLUTION

In this world man has to go nowhere. Today’s man is also a ‘no where man’ as John Lenon, the Beatles singer used to sing one day. Only dream is the post-modern solution in today’s world. Denzin says so in his discussion on postmodernism and cinema in the ‘Images of Postmodern Society’.

THE INDIAN REPRESENTATION OF THE POSTMODERN

The oriental view of postmodernism can be sketched like this. The concept of multiplicity has its echo in the Jain philosophy of absolute-truthless-ness. Poet Jibanananda Das and his imaginary beloved Banalata Sen meet in fragmentation of history in non-chronological time and somewhere in the placeless geography (of global postmodernism). The quickly changing disguises of the characters of our myth or the characters of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana with their illusions of their virtual reality creating a total hyper-real world of our mythology is post-modern indeed. Then the pre-modern and the post-modern can be seen as the two sides of the same coin of culture. Often the two mix in a kind of post-modern synthesis. So we find the consciousness for the ecological balance, the Green movement and even the hyper-real atmosphere of the worship of the Goddess Durga remembering us of the pre-modern (rituals), the non-modern (traditional) and the post-modern with the automation of electric-decoration, the feeling of or ‘unfeeling’ of virtual reality (of the divine existence), pastiche, the mass fashion show, the recording of the fest in video or TV camera and its telecasting creating simulation in electronic impulses and voyeurism — altogether imagineering* the total post-modernity. (*Walt Disney coined and spelt this word)

- Dr Arup Ratan Ghosh

Note: Just the name of the book Le post-modernism explique aux enfent or Postmodernism explained to the children by Lyotard inspired author to call his essay as ‘Post-modernism for kids or what is post-modernism’

The article was originally published in 2006 in then now defunct e-zine angelfire.
pic source- jewsworldreview

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Indian Auteur Issue-4 coming soon.

Montage

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:23:00 +0000

TRUE

“Do not call it Bollywood. This is a very wrong thing to call it. We are not trying to copy Hollywood. We are making films for an audience of a billion people. Over 80% of these people don’t have enough food in their bellies. Our country does not provide its people with pool halls, basketball courts and video parlours, so we make films for them that will let them forget their lives for 3 hours. We create total fantasy, not the polished reality that Hollywood portrays. Never forget that, never forget that we are making films that allow people to believe for 3 hours that they are not poor and hungry”.

Subhash Ghai, Indian filmmaker, producer...etc.

BOLLYWOOD STRIKE ENDS

Lies

How I learned to stop worrying about life and watch only Bollywood films

When will strike and curfews end in Manipur?

Cinema-verite

When will we see traffic jam in our films
When will we hear stories from Manipur, Orissa, Chattisgarh.....
When will...
When will...
When will...
When will....

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Indian Auteur Issue no-4- Coming Soon.

Poem in the Form of A Film Poster

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Fernando Birri

I see, I see
a green parrot
in the Zoo in Berlin

and I think:
“ The New Latin American
Cinema is today a reality
But
But
But
Twenty-five years agao
It was utopia
Which is the new utopia?

and the parrot
the green parrot
green parrot
whose name is Latin
is very difficult
but who is surely
called Junacito or
Nemesio is a parrot
from the High Parana
that is to say my
brother or my cousin
I saw him, I saw him

And I think:
‘National identity.
Did the parrot need its
national(and critical)
identity?
But ourselves, we do

We needed it:
for a national cinema
realist
and
critical
Later we added
Popular’.

I see, I see
the parrot
Looking at the grey sky
Of Berlin
through the holes
Of the woven wire of
cage
It wasn’t sad
just effective.

And I think:
“The Problem now
is the language
(ideology we’ve dealt with)
blood
saliva
sperm
death
resistance
Violent,serene
liberation
from hunger
Of conscience
A revolution
which doesn’t
revolutionize
(permanently)
Its language
alphabets
gestures
looks
turns in on itself and dies
(the parrot breathes, blinking)
Film poetry
anti-literary
anti-theatre
Live Metaphor
Make of poetic-political
light revolution and orgasm’

I see, I see
the parrot
these are others
As well
Packed in
a feather falls
like a green snowflake
under
the distant sky
of Berlin

I think
Or think I think
‘grandfather Lumiere
grandfather Melies
grandfather Edison
receive
this new Latin American
cinema
one in diversity
diverse in unity
one and uni-versal
until now there have been
auteur cinema
schools and movements
national cinema
today there is a cinema
of an entire continent
which is called
New Latin American Cinema
An entire continent
I want to tell you
phonofilmic parrot
Expresses its vision
Its frenzy
of magma and snow
Its angry trembling
-we shall places the camera
At the height of human eyes-
Its trans-figuration

I say:
‘Release me from the obligation
Of the prologue
Let me speak(I do)
with pan, zoom,
traveling, decibels
Mix, 24 frames
Per second
In my language made of
Projected light.’

In the zoo
in Berlin, in Berlin
I saw, I saw
The green parrot

And the parrot didn’t
See me.

- Excerpt from New Latin American Cinema dossier published by the British Film Institute and Translated by Michal Chanan.

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New Issue of Indian Auteur coming soon.

Issue-4 and Archive.

Indian Auteur- Forum

Classic Film Posters- Hindi Cinema

niteshrohit@gmail.com (nitesh) — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:44:00 +0000

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Read More about the classics in our third issue of Indian Auteur.

Issue No-3

Issue No-2

Issue No-1

Bollywood Strike