Documentary Today #9

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18 Is this a golden age for documentaries?

There was a time not so long ago when feature filmmakers and the award-givers would turn up their nose at documentaries. At the grand shows – with the Oscars at the apex of such shows – there was no place for documentary films – and definitely no awards! But times have changed and documentary filmmakers are now being wined and dined.

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The Journey of a River

An Educational Treasure Trove

River Narmada is the second most revered river in India – after the Ganges – and thus holds a special position in the country. Cinematographer-director MAHESH KAMBLE captures life along its banks as he does the sacred Narmada Parikrama.

Artificial classifications of the documentary format into genres are a misnomer because all genres are subject to considerable overlapping thus often lending themselves to varied interpretations, blurring the dividing line between one genre and another. But the one genre which has caught the attention of filmgoers is that of the biographicals.

14 Short Fiction to the Fore The short fiction film is a genre which has not been extensively explored in India. Short films gained a modicum of popularity in the last couple of decades because of television serials which had stand-alone episodes.

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55 National Awards for Non Feature Films

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From The Editor’s Desk

“A documentary is a creative interpretation of reality,” said the ace documentary filmmaker John Grierson, thus giving us a definition for the documentary which lasted us for decades though the understanding of the three crucial words creativity, interpretation and reality has varied from place to place and from person to person. There has never been a tacit understanding of these basic elements of a documentary though no one has really disputed the basic premise that the objective of a documentary should be for the general welfare of society.

That altruistic objective is one reason why documentary films could never get slotted into the commercial mode. Most documentary filmmakers were constrained to be morally sensitive to social sentiments. These inherent moral barriers notwithstanding the newer set of “realistic” filmmakers not only imbibed commercialism with their bold eye-catching statements but left no stone unturned to create controversies and thus hog media limelight.

In fact, they have coined a new definition by redefining John Grierson’s concept of the documentary. For them creativity means painting everything black and occasionally grey. There are no whites in their palette of colours.

Interpretation implies a personal bias while reality is to be misused and often abused. This has often resulted in an insensitive presentation of reality which, more often than not, has, in the long term, hurt society, and at the larger level, the nation, more than helped it. .

We as lovers of documentary had rejoiced when Mumbai’s main transport carrier the BEST had taken up the screening of these films on the new LCD screens installed in BEST buses for eight hours daily for a month during peak hours.

We thought it was a sign of the future that the transport line should take up such commendable work. We had also hoped that more such documentaries would be shown and it would open up a new means of screening documentaries.

Imagine our shock therefore when we read the news that the BEST had discontinued the screening of five short films on child abuse on its buses following protests from commuters that the content of the films were creating psychological problems among children. This was apparently the result of a Mumbai daily reporting the case

of a young school girl who refused to stay alone with her father when her mother was not at home.

What was even more shocking for us was the fact that the film should cause such an adverse effect. In fact, it is a lesson for all those who underestimate the power of documentary films to bring about a change in society. If one short film after just one viewing in a busy place like a BEST bus could have such an impact what about films which are viewed in the quiet solace of the theatre. What was truly frightening was that no psychiatric counselling was available for the poor affected girl and that even her own mother could not counsel her properly and put things in the right perspective.

Psychiatrists and child activists say raising awareness about issues like child abuse and trafficking is important, but emphasize that the way in which this is done, and the medium chosen, are crucial. The saddest part of the whole story is that a great initiative by the BEST to use the medium of documentary films to create awareness has floundered because there was a small mistake in selecting the right content and the right messages. We feel that the makers should never be overexcited while selecting content for a documentary film.

The major blame for such insensitivity should also be shared by the NGO which produced such documentary films for the general public. They should first think about how the content and hence, the final film affects the people at large once it is made public. If it is not done documentary makers will fail in their duty to society and the nation.

Kuldeep Sinha Editor Kuldeep Sinha Executive Editor Sanjit Narwekar Correspondents Shankar Patnaik Ramsahay Yadav Production Co-ordinator Anil Kumar N. Photographer S. S. Chavan Printed at Work Center Offset Printers (I) Pvt Ltd. A2/32, Shah & Nahar Industrial Estate, S. J. Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013 Tel.: 24943227 / 24929261 Published by Films Division, 24, Dr.Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai 400026 Tel.: 23510461 / 23521421 DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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LEAD STORY THE NARMADA PARIKRAMA

The Journey of a River

Narmada is a Sanskrit word meaning “the Giver of Pleasure”. The river is the second most revered river in India – after the Ganges – and thus holds a special position in a country where all rivers are looked upon as givers of Life and hence, sacred. But there are other more practical reasons why the river is special: it is the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent and one of only three major rivers in pensinsular India that runs from east to west – in fact, it is the largest west-flowing river. It forms the traditional boundary between North India and South India and flows westwards over a length of 1,312 km before draining through the Gulf of Cambey (Khambat) into the Arabian Sea, 30 km west of Bharuch in Gujarat. It is also the only river in the world which can be circumambulated. Thus the Narmada Parikrama is considered to be one of the holiest pilgrimages in India. Cinematographer-director MAHESH KAMBLE captures life along its banks as he does the parikrama.

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I think I was destined to make a film on the Narmada and in doing so, inadvertently perform the Narmada Parikrama, the sacred circumambulation of the River Narmada. I am not the superstitious sort but today when I reflect on how I came to make the film I feel that there must have been a divine intervention at some point.

Most people have heard of the Narmada because of the controversial Sardar Sarovar Project but the first I heard about this sacred river was over All India Radio. As most people of my generation and the generation before mine I am a “radio” person. I find it convenient to listen to the radio as I go about my morning tasks of getting ready for the office.

It was on one such morning in 2002 when I first heard someone talking about the Narmada Parikrama. I am ashamed to say that I have forgotten the gentleman’s full name but he was a Mr Bhatt. He spoke about his own experience of circumambulating the Narmada and that is what fascinated me. This is the only river in the world which has the honour of being circumambulated. That is when the thought that the river could make an excellent subject for a documentary film first came to me.

organization and so, my own work is dictated by what I am told to do. This is where divine intervention works. I was posted to Kolkata in those days and there already was, unknown to me, a director working on the subject of the Narmada river. In any case I was soon transferred back to Mumbai and I began to work on other subjects, principally a film on the legendary singer Kundan Lal Saigal. The Narmada slipped to the back of my mind till …

One day I got a call from Mr A.S.Nagaraju, then Deputy Chief Producer, in charge of the Kolkata office of the Films Division. He asked me if I could make a film on the River Narmada. That is when I heard that a colleague had started work on the project, and even shot substantial footage at Amarkantak but had not been able to proceed any further. It was as if Mother Narmada wished me to make the film.

It was only in February 2006 that I could finally disentangle myself from the creative throes of my earlier film and begin concentrating on planning the Narmada shoot. I desperately wanted to make the film and so, wanted to plan the entire shoot meticulously.

me with the camera I picked up Anand Nakhwa, Mukesh Sharma and Laxman Keni – all young but experienced in cinematography. For the sound I chose Kamlesh Dwivedi who accompanied me all through the shooting which lasted for almost two years.

From the very beginning my mind started visualizing the film in widescreen. Keeping in mind the terrain we would be traveling through I decided to shoot the film in 16 mm with Super 16 format. We had the Arri SR3 camera with Super 16 gate but no ground glass to view the picture in a widescreen format while shooting. The idea was already discussed with the then producer R.Babu and the then Chief Producer Raghu Krishna. A ground glass was immediately ordered from Germany.

The most important thing was that I was given a free hand – one of the most valuable things to get in a Government office – by my bosses: Mr Nagaraju who had first mooted the idea, Mr Raghu Krishna, who was then the Chief Producer, and Mr Kuldeep Sinha, who is now the Chief Producer.

I set about forming my unit. To assist

A good idea but not very practical since I work for a government

Cinematographer-director Mahesh Kamble on location for Narmada.

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The River Narmada is worshipped as a Goddess – as most rivers are in India.

Traditionally then Amarkantak, from where the Narmada emerges, is considered to be the head while Bharuch is where the feet lie. Most filmmakers would naturally follow the course of the river from its emergence to its confluence but since I was looking at the whole thing as a sacred task I decided I would pay homage to the Goddess by starting the shoot at the feet, that is, in Bharuch.

This is the point where the River Narmada completes her 1312 kilometre journey from Amarkantak and meets the Arabian Sea. The blushing maiden of Amarkantak has become an adult as she gets ready to flow into the Arabian Sea. At this point the Narmada is 20 kilometres wide and devotees who are near to completing their Parikrama take the sea route to cross over to the other side of the Narmada.

Our start was actually at the village of Bimbaleshwar. The village is situated on the opposite bank of Bharuch. It has two temples dedicated to Lord Shiva; Vamalnath and Ratneshwar. We boarded the boat at Bimbaleshwar to cross the forty nautical miles to the other end. One has to catch the boat at the start of the low tide when the water of the Arabian Sea is receding from the river. This helps the boat to navigate much better because the current of the sea pushes the boat in the right direction. The journey itself takes five hours. On the way offerings of coconut and glass bangles are offered at the point where the Narmada merges into the ocean.

We finally landed on the other side of the shore, a place known as Hari Ka Dham, on the northern shore of River Narmada at Bharuch. When my crew and I landed it was still low tide and so, we had to get down at a little distance from the actual shore since the boat could not go all the way to the temple. Before us we could see the soft silt of the river merging with the ocean. We had to cross that to reach the temple at Hari Ka Dham.

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Fulfilling Sardar Patel’s dream … the Sardar Sarovar is the second largest dam in the world.

At first it was a pleasure to walk on firm ground after being in a boat for so long but as we advanced we began to sink into the mud. The camera and the other filming equipment added to our natural weights making us sink till the mud was thigh-high. We did not know where our next step would land us. As we reached the shore we saw firm sand and we were happy that we had at last reached our destination. Unknown to us the firm sand was red hot and within a matter of seconds it had sucked away the wet mud clogging our feet. By the time we reached the temple, the skin of my feet had been burnt and there were huge heat boils near my big toe.

Having completed our shoot at Bimbaleshwar and Bharuch we moved to another small but important village along the way near Vadodara: Kewadia.

This is the point where the Narmada leaves behind the Satpura Mountain Range and enters Gujarat. This is also the site of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

A fulfillment of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s dream, the Sardar Sarovar is the second largest dam in the world.

In spite of the fact that this project will enrich several thousands of hectares of land providing potable water to thousands of parched villages and

even cities, it has become controversial from the time it was initiated. When my team and I reached the site of the dam I forgot the politics and concentrated on its visual beauty. And that is what we wanted to capture apart from the engineering marvel the project undoubtedly is.

But whatever the controversy there is no denying that every tree cut or submerged by the Sardar Sarovar Project has been replaced by planting a tree at another place. That is why there is greenery all over the place.

Different entertainment spots are being developed along the waterside so as to attract the maximum number of tourists and encourage tourism.

Not only that, the few temples which were inevitably submerged under the dam were rebuilt in a more modern style at a safer spot. A little before the Kewadia village, 12 kilometres short of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, lies Garudeshwar a pilgrim site with a holy bathing ghat. It has the Garudeshwar Temple dedicated to Lord Dattatreya.

It is also the site of a holy memorial and ashram of His Holiness Vasudevanandasarasvati who chose to take leave of his physical body at this sacred site

The scintillating history of the Holkars took us to Indore, which was the capital of the Holkar empire, established by Malharrao Holkar in 1733. Being a part of the Maratha Confederacy, the state had been granted to him as a fiefdom by the Peshwa. After the untimely death of Malharrao Holkar the throne went to his daughter-in-law Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar. She ruled for three decades from 1767 to 1795. Ahilyabai believed in simplicity. Believing the kingdom to be gift of God she saw her duty in serving the people. A staunch devotee of Lord Shiva, she shifted her capital from Indore to Maheshwar (the abode of Mahesh which is another name for Lord Shiva), which lies on the banks of River Narmada.

One of our locations near Maheshwar was the small town of Dhamnod where we saw a long queue of bullock carts loaded with cotton. It was then that we discovered that the town was a huge market for the cotton trade, which had been actively encouraged and developed by Rani Ahilyadevi since the region was the best producer of cotton. It is said that in 1765 she brought together the weavers of

Gujarat and Maharashtra and encouraged them to concentrate on the manufacture of sarees. Maheshwari sarees are popular even today.

The devout Queen was also a great builder and patron of many Hindu temples, which embellished Maheshwar and Indore. The Shiva Temple at Maheshwar is an excellent example of Indian sculpture. She also built temples at sacred sites outside her kingdom, from Dwarka in Gujarat east to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple at Varanasi on the Ganges.

The Maheshwar Ghat, even today, stands mute testimony to the eternal generosity of Queen Ahilyabai. The main attraction of Maheshwar, however, is the Maheshwar fort which is situated on the banks of River Narmada, on top of a small hill. Inside the fort there is the state archaeological museum, and temples, it is also famous for the Rajgadi (royal throne) of Rani Ahilyadevi. A part of the fort is still used by the royal family as a residence.

Cultural programmes are held in the artistically-designed courtyard on the night of Kartik Poornima.

As we moved along from Maheshwar to Hoshangabad, we crossed several small villages. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city they seemed calm and peaceful. The bleating of the goats, the tinkling bells on the cows, the gurgling of the brooks, the dusty pathways … all of it seemed so mesmerising that for some time we were lost in its beauty.

The quaint railway station at Hoshangabad reminded me of the many small town railway stations shown in Hindi films. It was three oclock in the morning – just before dawn and a mild fog had enveloped the station. It was the winter month of January and amazingly cold. There was no one else around and everything was calm and quiet. After we got down from the train, the only passengers to alight at the station, one scene was indelibly impirinted on my mind’s eye: that of the long tail of the train disappearing into the fog. And through this curtain of fog the green lantern of the railway guard signaling the train to leave the station.

Hoshangabad is one of the many

The Maheshwar Ghat stands mute testimony to Rani Ahilyabai’s generosity.

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villages which have come up on the banks of this perennial river. In the ancient days it was named Narmadapuram but later it came to be named after Hoshang Shah (Gori) of Malwa. Along the banks of the river at Hoshangabad is the famed Sethani Ghat, a nineteenth century construction which is one of the largest ghats in India. The ghat was built after generous contributions by Jankibai Sethani after devotees complained to her about the difficulty in getting to the river, Hence the ghat is named after her. It is one of the few examples of public infrastructure built through private funding in India.

Praying daily on its bank is considered a meritorious act. During Narmada Jayanti celebrations the ghat comes alive when thousands of people converge on the ghats and diyas are floated in the river. The Ghat has three temples: a Narmada temple, a Shiva temple and a Jagdish temple. The ghat has a special place in Hindu culture.

The faithful come here to perform the last rites. Hoshangabad is important for another reason: the 2000-year-old rock paintings which are now being looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Five miles from Hoshangabad the Tawa River merges with the Narmada. For several metres the clear blue water of the Narmada is unable to assimilate the muddy water of the Tawa. This results in a unique sight.

The village of Budhni lies on the riverbank close to Hoshangabad. The Vishwakarma community based here lives by their art. Modern amenities are now available here. The Vishwakarma craftsmen (and, of course, women)use their hands skillfully to give different shapes to jungle wood. Each member of the family executes his part with responsibility and finally, a new toy takes shape. There is a ready market for this art which has been handed down from generations. These toys and other things are sold on handcarts parked all along the highway. As we moved ahead we saw a rare Ekmukhi 8

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The Onkareshwar is one among the 12 jyotirlingas worshipped in India.

Shree Datta Temple with a single-faced icon of Lord Dattatreya who, customarily, has the three faces of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh..

The Indira Sagar Project is a huge project. (In fact, I was struck by the immensity of the Project when we began filming by helicopter much later.)

Under this Project, 29 large, 135 medium and 3000 small schemes will be initiated along the Narmada. The villages which will be submerged by the Project will be rehabilitated at another place. The rail lines going towards Delhi have also been shifted to a safer place.

This story was told to us by A.K.Choksi, Chief Executive Engineer (Power Station). This Project, which lies in the Mundi taluka of the village of Piplia, had created quite a controversy when it was first mooted. The village had the Samadhi of Saint Singaji and like every other religious place the idea had been to shift it to a safer place before the village was submerged.

However, the Project team was shocked to discover that the entire village gathered at the Samadhi to protest against its shifting to another place.

The place was revered and hence the Samadhi could not be shifted.

Eventually the engineers and project

authorities found a way out. A well with a height of 50 feet was constructed around the Samadhi so that the water could flow around the Samadhi without disturbing it. Then an elevated approach road was constructed to reach the upper opening of the well which contained the Samadhi so that the devotees could visit it for darshan and pooja whenever they wished. Thus the project work continued without hinderance and the sentiments of the people were also respected.

On the northern bank of Narmada and 77 kilometres from Indore and Khandwa lies Onkareshwar – sometimes also known as Mandhata Onkareshwar after Mandhata the great Emperor of the Ishvaku clan who ruled this land. It is one among the 12 Jyotirlingas worshipped in the country.

These are shrines built in the homage of Lord Shiva. The significance of the jyotirlinga is that It is the resplendent light (flame) form of the Supreme solidified to make the worship of It easier. It represents the real nature of God - formless essentially and taking various forms as It wills.

Shukla Saptami in Magha (that is, the seventh day in the first fortnight of Magha) is said to be the birthdate of the River Narmada. Many programmes

Shiva temple of Nemawar is now looked after by the Archeological Survey of India.

The road ahead took us to the Satpura mountain range where lies the Jain pilgrimage centre Bawangaja. The 84 feet tall statue of Bhagwan Adinath made in brown stone also stands here.

Bawangaja has 11 temples while Talhati has 19 temples. Legends say that Ravan’s brother Kumbhakarna and Ravan’s son Indrajeet were vanquished at Bawangaja. One of the peaks in these mountains is named after Ravan’s Queen Mandodari. We had to climb 800 steps to the top of the mountain but we were rewarded with a unique sight of the Sunrise.

The Dhuandhar Waterfall is a majestic sight.

are organized on this day at Onkareshwar. A spacious ghat has been constructed so that the devotees can bathe here. Lights are placed in the waters of the Narmada. The night skies are lit up with festive lights while the sound of firecrackers echo

Finally I made a collage of my illustrations and wrote a book.

However, when I completed 75 years of age, I began my second circumambulation. This time I was joined by my wife. We have completed 500 kilometres.”

An electricity generation plant has also been set up at Onkareshwar by the Narmada Hydro-electric Development Corporation, a joint collaboration between the Madhya Pradesh Government and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. This plant will generate 520 megawatts of electricity which will benefit 529 villages. Thus, thanks to the Narmada, the region is progressing rapidly.

25 kilometres from Jabalpur is Bhedaghat. It is here that the Narmada or the Rewa, as she is also called here, cuts through mountains of marbled rocks to emerge as the Dhuandhar Waterfall. The place looks as if some divine sculptor has haphazardly thrown together moon-white rocks. It is a truly majestic sight which cannot be put in words. In any case I am a cinematographer and not a writer. At a little distance from Bhedaghat our car crossed a bridge spanning a river. This was the River Hiran which had emerged from the Kanha forest. This is the second large river which joins the Narmada near Bhedaghat.

From Hoshangabad we went to Jabalpur – primarily to meet the illustrator and writer Amrutlal Vegadji who has had the rare privilege of circumambulating the Narmada twice in his lifetime. At the time I met him, he had begun the second circumambulation. He said, “What intrigues me about the Narmada is that it is the only river in the world which can be circumambulated. The first time I circumambulated this river it was not for religious reasons. My reasons were cultural. I completed my journey in parts, illustrating as I went along.

Moving to Nemawar we came across the Barwani Ghat. Sage Parshuram’s father Jamadagni is said to have meditated here. Close by is Handia – said to be the navel of Goddess Narmada and hence, the central point of the Narmada Parikrama. Devotees wishing to offer prayer can access this central point using a boat. The famous

From Nemawar we moved to the place which is enshrined in the romantic memory of India. Mandu or Mandavgad. The place is immortalized by the romance of Rani Roopmati and Baaz Bahadur. Legend says that Queen of Mandala Durgavati defeated Baaz Bahadur the ruler of Mandu. After his defeat Baaz Bahadur began to spend all his time in poetry and music and with his wife Queen Roopmati. Queen Roopmati was a devout devotee of the Narmada. Baaz Bahadur built a special balcony for her so that she could gaze upon her beloved river.

From Mandu we moved to Barman Ghat in the Narsinhpur district. It is a pilgrimage centre known for its famous temples. It is said that Lord Bramha had meditated here. Hence, any meditation undertaken here yields instant results.

The large temple on the southern bank of the river is called Rani Durgavati’s, as it is supposed to have been built by the famous queen of the Gond-Rajput dynasty of Mandla. Another temple on this side is called the Pisanhari’s, as it is supposed to have been built by a corn-grinder out of her small earnings.

Another important temple is that of Lakshmi Narayan. At the top of the steps on the northern bank is a great gateway called the Hathi Darwaza, as elephants can pass through it. This was built by the Lodhi malguzar of Umaria.

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There are several temples on this side, the principal ones being the Bairagi’s temple, built by a well-known Bairagi of Indore, and a temple of Rama and Lakshman with a large pillar of stone in front, on which are depicted the past and future Avatars of Vishnu.

Our next stop was the small town of Mandala which lies in the centre of the half arc made by the River Narmada as it leaves the mountainous terrain of Amarkantak and comes out in the open plains taking a roundabout circuitous path towards the South instead of making straight for Jabalpur.

Mandala was once ruled by the Gond King Dalpati Shah who was married to Queen Durgavati, the beautiful daughter of a Chandela King. When King Dalpati Shah died a premature death in 1548, Queen Durgavati ascended the throne instead of her immature son Veernarayan Singh. She ruled competently for 16 years. 20 kilometres from Mandala and on the banks of River Narmada is the ruined fort of Ramnagar which stands testimony to the wealth and extent of the Gond empire. The State Museum of Madhya Pradesh at Mandala has in its collection several sculptures and artifacts found in the Narmada Valley.

On the way from Mandala to Ramnagar lies the Banjar Nadi, a large tributary which merges with the Narmada at Mandalaghat. The saints and mendicants with their matted locks who have made the riverbanks of the Narmada their home make a picturesque sight and hence, a unique subject for my camera.

The potters have, for centuries, used this soft and malleable earth to make pots. Even today their flexible fingers shape the pots with the same skill that they did centuries ago. The shape of the pots has changed but the colour of the earth has remained the same! The younger generation of potters has now begun to manufacture bricks ‌ the colour is the same but the form has changed.

The Kanha jungle is a dense forest which is a part of the Narmada Valley.

The Hiran tributary emerges from this very jungle and joins the Narmada. The delicate lush green grass, large trees, dense forests make the environment romantic. It is a forest of deciduous hardwood, including sal, are interspersed with stands of bamboo and accented with colourful displays of flowering trees. The valley and plateaus are primarily meadowlands (or maidans) in pleasant contrast to the surrounding lush woodlands.

Within its boundaries, Kanha protects a multitude of animals and birds, such as Chital, Chausinga (4-horned antelope) Sambar, Muntjak (barking deer), Gaur, leopard, wild-dog, gray jackal, wild boar, sloth bear and, of course, the sovereign of the Park - the Bengal tiger. Kanha also has rare and endangered Barasingha, a hard-

ground-adapted swamp deer, and the black buck antelope. The Kanha National Park provides excellent opportunities for observing the magnificent tiger in the wild. At Kanha National Park we found the forest officials engaged in the tiger census.

The amazing thing we discovered is that the census is done on the basis of tiger spoor.

What should have been shot first I shot at the very end: Amarkantak. That was to be our last stop. 1051 metres above sea level, the Amarkantak mountain range lies in the Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. The source of River Narmada lies here in a small lake known as the Koti Kunda. The water from this source flows into the Narmada Kunda.

It is also known as Koti Tirtha or the blessing of Koti. That is why the Amarkantak is known as the area of fulfillment. So many tales of its greatness have been told that there is always a crowd of devotees thronging the river banks. The Amarkantak is also known as Maikala which is the reason why the adivasis refer to the river as Maikalsuta or the child of the Maikala.

The Puranas narrate the story of Narmada’s birth. At the time of the churning of the oceans Lord Shiva was meditating on the highest peak of the Amarkantak mountain range when,

At a little distance from Mandala, the Narmada crashes against the rocks and divides itself into seven parts. It was a difficult task walking on these sharp rocks while filming this segment but who knows from where we found the strength to accomplish every difficulty.

Many civilizations have flourished on the banks of the Narmada for centuries.

Because of the continuously flowing water the earth here has become soft.

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The peace and calm of the Kanha Forest is unrivalled.

unknown to Him, the Narmada was released from his throat. From the moment she was born the Narmada began to worship Lord Shiva. When the Lord opened his eyes He saw before Him this unusual worshipper.

Pleased by her worship He granted her a boon: “May you be filled with nectar.

Your worship alone will bring merit to your devotees.” The Narmada is also known as the child of Lord Shiva.

The ancient temple of Narmada is on the left of the Narmada Kunda and was built by the Kalchuri Kings of the 10th or 11 th century. In its sanctum sanctorum is installed the statue of Goddess Narmada, sculpted by four different expert sculptors. The statute was probably installed by the Kalchuri Kings.

The original settlers of this region are the Gonds … which is why this land is also known as Gondyana. It is a land where rare herbs and plants grow in plenty. Those living in the area have a deep and abiding faith in the medicinal properties of these herbs.

The Narmada is also known as the “west-bound” river. Mythology says that the Narmada was betrothed to Lord Bramha’s son Sone. But Prince Sone was in love with a slave girl with whom he eloped. Angered, the Narmada began to flow away from River Sone, that is, towards the West.

Six kilometers from its source, the Narmada cascades from a height of 150 feet – justifying her alternative name “Rewa”. This is the Kapildhara in the sacred land of Sage Kapil. A little distance away there is another waterfall. According to a folk legend the Narmada had appeared before a King of the Baghel dynasty of Rewa as a waterfall of milky water. The water splashing on these rocks resembles a flow of milk. Faithful devotees can be seen bathing in these waters. We arrived at Amarkantak on the day of Mahashivaratri and one can only imagine the crowd of devotees which had collected there.

Finally, my shoot was complete and all that I had shot was being digitized and dumped into the AVID but my mind was strangely restless. I could not define my feelings. Was it the withdrawal pangs after a long eventful shoot? Or was it because my heart hankered for more?

By the time I had completed the shoot Mr Kuldeep Sinha had taken over as the Chief Producer. One day he called me to his room and asked me if my shoot was completed. I hesitated for a moment and then confided to him that I felt that the film would be really complete if I could get aerial shots of the River Narmada. For a moment he just looked at me and then slowly nodded as a plan formed itself in his

The Films Division unit led by Mahesh Kamble contemplates the serenity of River Narmada.

mind. Being a filmmaker himself he understood my passion.

On that very day Mr Sinha wrote and promptly faxed a letter to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh explaining the problem and asking if a Government helicopter could be provided for the aerial shoot. The Chief Minister’s Office replied promptly: Yes! A helicopter could be spared for such a shoot. And that is how I got the aerial shots which, to my mind, really completed the film.

The film was now completed to my satisfaction. It had taken almost two years of hard planning and harder work.

Our AVID Editors Shirish Amberkar and Sanjay Jadhav were given the mammoth task of putting the whole film in order. I had shot so much that it took them almost six months to make the first assembly of the film. After that began the task of trimming the film down to a manageable length. That is when I realized how much one can fall in love with one’s own work. Every frame was precious to me for it told a story but the editing had to be done. Finally we could bring it down to five reels.

Then began the task of writing the commentary. For a film which embraced so much of geography, history, religion, indeed the very spirit of India itself, the task was an onerous one. Since the film was so close to my heart I felt it would sound just right in the first person. I entrusted the commentary to Dr Vishakha Thakur. It took us three months to get the commentary done.

After that it was a matter of recording the commentary in Manohar Mahajan’s voice, mixing the tracks and the film was ready for an audience.

The film was appreciated by all those who saw it. When we got Tom Alter to dub the film in English even he was struck by the visual richness of the film. Today a reasonably-priced VCD of the film Narmada: Ek Amritmay Dhara (in Hindi) and Narmada: A Flow of Nectar (in English) is available at the Films Division. Grab your copy today!!!

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HUMOUR THE LIGHTER SIDE OF FILMMAKING H. S. ADVANI recalls three hillarius incidents from his newsreel days.

Though it seems very glamorous to the onlooker filmmaking can be backbreaking hard work. There are times when one has to climb mountains, cross warships in an improvised chair car or at the very least, walk miles and miles with camera equipment on one’s back to get that one single shot which will prove crucial to the making of the film.

I joined the Films Division in September 1954 and had the opportunity to travel all over India – sometimes to places where few people would venture. After I was promoted to the status of news cameraman in 1962 my travels extended beyond Indian shores to foreign climes. Most of these were a visual reporting of the goodwill visits to foreign countries by our dignitaries like Presidents, Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers.

Just being attached to a newsreel unit can teach one a lot – not only about filmmaking bust also life in general.

Sometimes it can be life challenging.

But sometimes it can also be great fun.

Filmmaking also has its lighter side.

And the following stories will vouch for it!!

A Pinch of Salt It was 1962. I was on assignment as an assistant cameraman to Mr. N S Thapa, shooting for his film Snows and Glaciers in the Chamoli district of what is now Uttarakhand. And for me this was literally a Himalayan challenge. It had been a long but spectacular ascent from the plains of UP to the icy vales of Kashmir. We – just the two of us, smothered in wool, our equipment in tow – had trekked all the way up from Joshimath to the Valley of Flowers, more than 7,000 feet above sea level.

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The Joshimath village is an important transit point for travelling pilgrims.

more than 300 feet, in my hometown Hubli in Karnataka.

We had got there braving rickety buses, cratered roads and above all our weary legs, lugging equipment and stores. It was in Joshimath that Mr Thapa asked me to stock up for the arduous journey ahead to the Valley of Flowers. There was rice, dal and butter to be bought for our on-transit culinary exertions.

I took one of our three hired coolies with me. Our Rest House was on top of a 600-ft ridge overlooking the Joshimath village, an important transit point for traveling pilgrims. Over our descent to the bazaar, I made some quick mental calculations about what needed to be bought based on the number of meals that were to be cooked.

By the time we reached the shop, I was grinning. I have it all worked out, I thought to myself smugly. But somehow, the look on the grocer’s face did not match that optimism. He was

certainly puzzled. “For how many days are you going away,” he asked me several times, looking bewildered. Just to put him off, I said, “A fortnight.”

With all my groceries and other sundry, eatable well packed I reached the Rest House, triumphantly. When Mr. Thapa returned, my satisfaction quickly turned to dismay. “I told you we will be away for just three days and two nights, from your grocery bag it looks like that you want to be away for a fortnight.” He pointed to a pack and asked: “What does that contain?”

“Salt,” I said bravely. “How much did you buy?” he asked evenly. Thinking I had bought less, I said timorously: “Three kilogrammes.” Mr. Thapa looked at me, his face a mix of shock and amusement and said: “Your future as a great cook is definitely bright”.

A ‘Sindhi’ Dosa After Mr Thapa and I had completed our work on the film Snows and Glaciers, we landed in Srinagar where

Dosas for South Indians, why must an Advani teach anyone how to make dosas,” I overheard some one saying.

But by now I was past caring.

A Roman Holiday It was the sweltering summer of 1973. I was based in Kolkata, then better known as Calcutta. It was assigned to join the Press group accompanying the Prime Minister’s official visit to Yugoslavia and Canada from June 14 to 25, 1973. The itiniery was well chalked out: the first stage of the visit was two days in Yugoslavia followed by eight days visiting various places in Canada where the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi would address the Canadian Parliament.

The Valley of Flowers

we gratefully accepted a lunch invitation from our colleague Mr. Agnihotri. It had been an exhilarating but taxing assignment which had drained every iota of energy from us and so, the prospect of hot, homemade food was tempting, to say the least. In my seven years at the Films Division, I had met Mr. Agnihotri only a few times.

Now sitting opposite me at the lunch table, he was asking me: “Your name does not sound South Indian; aren’t Advanis always Sindhis? Having encountered that question at every introduction, I had my well-practiced answer out in a jiffy, little knowing that on this occasion it was not going to be enough. “Hmm hmm,” said my friend, rather suspiciously. “Now tell me how do you make great dosas? The recipe my Bangalore-returned neighbor gave us proved a disaster.”

This was it! The moment of truth was upon me. My whole identity (as a South Indian) hung on my being able to make a dosa! My mind was racing to gather every word my mother had ever said about dosas and mercifully my memory, despite the gravity of the situation (and a hungry stomach), did not fail me.

And as well as I could I recited the formula, going into such fine nuances as the selection of the right Udad dal to

the importance of the soaking, grinding and fermentation process. “You just have to get the proportions right,” I said professorially. “One cup of rice, 2-and-a-half cups of dal.” The Agnihotris were hanging on to every word and nodding their heads vigorously in agreement. “And don’t forget to let the dosa batter ferment well,” I concluded triumphantly, my South Indian credentials by now proved beyond all doubt. “My neighbor got it all wrong,” pouted Mrs. Agnihotri. “It is obvious she didn’t ask the right South Indian!”

After the meal we profusely thanked Mr. & Mrs. Agnihotri for the delicious lunch and the Agnihotris thanked me for the recipe. The next day we left for what was then Bombay.

A few years later, I happened to run into Mr. Agnihotri at the Regional News Cameramen’s conference in Delhi. “My wife can never forget your visit to our house in Srinagar,” said our friend from Srinagar, a big smile on his face.

Thinking it was compliment of sorts, I was about to say thanks, when our friend quickly completed what he had to say: “That dosa recipe of yours, well it proved to be a disaster, the batter never came off the tava.”

By now my colleagues were roaring with laughter. “Papads are for Sindhis,

After the hectic Canadian tour we boarded Air India’s specially chartered aircraft aircraft to return to Delhi via London where we were scheduled to halt for a few hours for technical reasons. We left London by 2 pm. We must have traveled for about an hour or so when we heard the airhostess announcing an unscheduled landing at Roma airport for a short duration because of “some technical reasons”.

We were tired and we just wanted to get back home but who can fight a technical snag?

Minutes after our aircraft had landed at the Roma airport, we saw several cars arriving alongside the aircraft and our Prime Minister getting into one of them. Soon after the cavalcade had left we found out that she was was resting in the VIP lounge till the aircraft was ready to leave. The anxious press corps was keen on knowing what was holding up the plane. At last an enterprising Sherlock Holmes among the press group found out that some part of the aircraft needed a replacement which was to arrive from London shortly.

The sky was still bright because of the summer. The crew, anxious as ever to pacify the restless accompanying media men, fed us with eatables and enough liquor to wash it down. This went on till around 7.30 pm. We were DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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fed up with eating and drinking. After all, how much can you eat and drink.

Then we were told that the spare part for the aircraft would arrive quite late in the night. Therefore we had to halt in Roma for the night. That was the beginning of our Roman holiday. I had seen the Audrey Hepbuirn film which has become quite a hit and the phrase conjured up pleasant images.

The only snag was that we would have to make do with our cabin luggage. Our suitcases were all in the aircraft hold and they could not be taken out for security and other logistic reasons.

Most of the accompanying media or for that matter even the accompanying officials and the security men did not have anything other than what they were carrying in small handbags. I only had the camera gear with me. Everyone grumbled at the inconvenience while leaving the aircraft.

The Indian embassy officials, who were present in large numbers, had arranged for a big bus to ferry all of us to the hotel where we had another late dinner.

Fortunately, the embassy officials were sympathetic to our predicament of having to spend the night with whatever we had, and so, they arranged independent rooms for each one of the accompanying media. Before bidding good night thay said that a tourist bus would take us around Roma in the morning at 9 am.

The next morning we had a delicious Italian breakfast and were greeted by a very charming lady official from the Indian embassy. We all boarded the bus and our Roman holiday began. The bus journey was delightful as it drove through the Roman streets passing by many historic monuments. After a long drive our first stop was at the Vatican.

We spent quite a lot of time admiring the majestic buildings that excelled in Gothic architecture. The Vatican was crowded with lots of tourist from various parts of the world. When I looked at those innumerable individual curio sellers crowding around groups of tourist, I was reminded of the Indian curio sellers at the various monuments 14

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in India. People the world over are the same, I smiled to myself.

I too decided to purchase a few curios.

Haggl;ing was fun and I managed to greatly redice the price of many of items I fancied. I carried my wares triumphantly happy at my success in haggling. It would be a great story to tell my wife. This happiness, however, was short-lived. In fact, it vanished when I met the next curio seller a few feet away who was selling the same curio for less than half the price I had paid for it. I decided not to tell my wife about my “heroics”.

One important stop was the famous Trevi Fountain. The fountain was full of tourists. We were all disappointed when we discovered that the fountain was being cleaned – maybe to collect the coins dropped by the tourists. Our entire press corps got down. Many tourists were getting themselves photographed against “the most beautiful fountain”. I too turned my back to the fountain and just dropped the coin. My colleagues from the media kept telling me to make a wish. I just couldn’t make any wish and walked away. My Italian friend later asked me how many coins I had dropped. I said, “One.” Frankly I had only one coin.

My friend said that, according to the legend, a person who dropped one coin was fated to visit the fountain again. I just laughed.

The Trevi Fountain is a magnificent piece of architecture.

Soon it was time to return to the hotel, grab a quick lunch and return to the aircraft. The spare part everyone was waiting for had arrived late last night, We were all set to go. Thus our enforced Roman holiday came to an end. I said, “Arrivedrici Roma.”

(Goodbye Rome!).

When I walked into the plane that night I didn’t realize that I would visit Rome again a little less than a decade later in July 1982. I had been deputed to “cover” the 2nd World Athletic Meet on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the 9th Asian Games which were to be held in December 1982. The strange thing is that after I had finished the coverage and was scheduled to return to Delhi I had occasion to re-visit the Trevi Fountain. This time I was lucky to find the fountain working and indeed full and I was not short of coins to drop.

I dropped a number of coins without making any wish.

When we returned to the hotel in Roma, our guide who was helping us with language asked if I had made any wish after dropping the coin. I proudly said, “I dropped many coins and as usual made no wish.” My guide said that the significance of dropping many coins in the fountain is that “the person who drops many coins returns to Roma again and gets married to an Italian”.

Who knows maybe I’ll return to Rome in my next life to fulfill this prophecy!

REPORT

Short fiction to the fore Though it has been a distinct category from the very first Mumbai International Film Festival held in 1990, the short fiction film is a genre which has not been extensively explored in India. In the West short films were always seen as a way for directors to launch their careers — usually with productions like Martin Scorsese’s What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing In a Place Like This and George Lucas’s Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB made as film-school projects.

In India short films gained a modicum of popularity in the last couple of decades because of television serials which had standalone episodes like Ek Kahani, Rishtey, Star Bestsellers and so many others. But it was never sagfe

to make a standalone short fiction film because there was no way to exhibit except at festivals like the MIFF. There were short films which caught the eye but the ball was actually set rolling at the turn of this century by Londonbased actor Ashwin Kumar who made his cinematic debut with Road to Ladakh (2003) which, as the name suggests, is set against the Himalayan mountain region of Ladakh. Koel Purie plays a high-strung model whose car develops a flat tyre. Irfan Khan plays the wandering stranger in a jeep. Both travelers are alone and in search of companionship, so they end up spending the night together. The 50minute film is now being expanded to feature length since the director has found international financing for the extended story.

Ashwin Kumar followed this with another short film Little Terrorist (2004) which even bagged an Oscar nomination in the short film category.

It was a surprise winner since most Indian eyes were turned to the Marathi film Shwaas which was the official entry but which sank into oblivion. The film revolves around Jamal (played by Salim), a 10 year old Pakistani Muslim boy who accidentally strays into India chasing a cricket ball. He is given shelter by Bhola (Sushil Sharma), a devout Hindu Brahmin and his niece, Rani (Megnaa Mehtta), who are, at first, skeptical about allowing a Muslim boy into their home but protect him when the security forces come looking for.

Jamal does manage to return to Pakistan in the end.

Though Kumar did not win the coveted statuette, the nomination of his film was Koel Purie plays the lead role in Road to Ladakh, written and directed by Ashvin Kumar (inset).

a great morale boost for other budding small-time directors who did not have the resources to make big-budget films.

What followed was a burgeoning of new-age young directors who themselves shot their films on digital cameras – with their friends or amateur actors enacting the roles – and did post-production work (editing, music, effects) in studios within a budget of few thousand rupees. Some of them got the chance to show their works on television while the others uploaded their movies on the Internet and even participated in online film festivals for short films.

And success has come to quite a few of them. Anurag Kashyap is a name which comes immediately to mind. His debut with the Star Bestsellers episode Last Train to Mahakali (1999) starring Kay Kay led to a promising career in the cinema. Having begun in this fashion Anurag has helped many other younger directors jumpstart their careers. A case in point is that of young Rahi Anil Barve whose starkly shot short Manjha bagged the top award in its category at MIFF 2008 and then, thanks to Anurag’s recommendation, became a part of the Slumdog Millionaire DVD. Anurag Kashyap is again directing one segment of Mumbai 10, a compilation of ten short films based on the city of Mumbai. The other segments are directed by Sudhir Mishra, Kundan Shah, Rituparno Ghosh, Rahul Dholakia, Saket Choudhary, Revathi, Manish Jha, and Ruchi Narain. Each of the movies is of 10 minutes duration, and is their take on the city of Mumbai (remember the Frnech film Paris je t’aime which was directed by 21 famous directors?). It’s very interesting the way all the directors have revealed the hidden truth about the city.

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because there can be no sense of smell in the cinema.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s 2007 Malayalam film Naalu Pennangal (Four Women) and his latest Oru Pennum Randaamum are compliations of stories written by the noted Malayalam writer Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Both films have been favourably received but then that could be because Adoor is an internationally acknowledged filmmaker.

A brave attempt to string together ten short stories.

And it is not only a matter of posting a visual visiting card as it were.

Established directors have chosen to explore the new genre – at least those who are willing to take a risk. Ram Gopal Varma has often dared to be different and so, among the Bollywood stalwarts, he was the first to start with his compilation of spooky stories Darna Mana Hai (2003). And though the film didn’t do too well he followed it up with Darna Zaroori Hai (2006).

Another Bollywood enthusiast of the genre is Sanjay Gupta whose Dus Kahaniyan (2007), which strings together ten short stories directed along with others like Apoorva Lakhia, Meghna Gulzar , Hansal Mehta and Rohit Roy. The film failed to win acclaim or do well at the box office but Gupta has plans for Dus Aur Kahaniyan.

The advantage of such a format is obvious: the audience will never go back fully dissatisfied. If one story fails to appeal there will be a few others which will definitely appeal. For example, while Dus Kahaniyan had quite a few duds, a few stories directed

by Meghna Gulzar (Puranmaasi), Sanjay Gupta (Matrimony) and Rohit Roy (Rice Plate) turned out to be quite brilliant. In a way the producer can hedge his/her bets.

Regional filmmakers have managed the 16

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format much better. They have chosen stories around a theme so that the viewer does not have to switch is emotions every ten minutes as it happens in the case of Dus Kahaniyan where different kinds of stories just dovetail into one another. Mani Rathnam takes the concept a step further with Yuva (Hindi)/Aayutha Ezhuthu(Tamil) (2004) which tells the stories of three youngsters which intersect in a moment in time. Marathi filmmaker Sachin Kundalkar’s Gandha (2008) tells three stories woven around the sense of smell which is unique

Cinematographer Rajiv Menon is consciously inspired by Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s experiment and is currently at work on Sakhi Prana which will be the third part of his feature film comprising three stories woven around the theme of “traditional classical numbers as a base to tell a modern, contemporary story” The other two films which comprise this trio are Aasai Mugam Marandhu Poche and Plain Sita. All three short films have been made with the help of the students of the Mindscreen Film Institute.

Sakhi Prana, which is being shot by the sixth batch of students, is based on the original anguished javali, (in Chencurutti ragam) written by Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer, and stars the Kalakshetra couple, Parvathy and

Anurag Kashyap has been at the forefront of good cinema.

Here he shoots for Mumbai 10.

The Net Encourage New Filmmakers Multiplication has been viewed nearly two million times and How to Remove Car Dents nearly 700,000 times since November 2006.

Filmaka (www.filmaka.com) takes a different approach — a sort of “Pop Idol” for budding Francis Ford Coppolas. Set up by a group of film producers from India, the U.K. and the U.S., Filmaka invites submissions of short films from anyone, with or without industry experience, on a new theme every month.

Death Possum Spree, the low-budget Internet horror movie that hit the jackpot.

YouTube with its “everybody-is-afilmmaker” concept was the first of the web sites which demystified the concept of filmmaking and gave everyone a chance to get their work seen widely. Today the site is a cultural phenomenon. Today, several Internet sites have cropped up to encourage production of short films as well as provide movie buffs an online forum in which to view them. These Web sites go beyond YouTube — with its clips of famous people embarrassing themselves and bizarre home videos — and actually curate short films as an art form in their own right. They encourage submissions of original work from anyone, amateurs to aspiring professionals. As an added incentive to filmmakers, serious short-film sites offer revenue-sharing schemes.

Among the first of the short-film Web sites was AtomFilms (www.atomfilms.com). Started in 1998 by ex-Sony Music executive Mika Salmi and now part of MTV, it began by showing professionally produced live-action and animated short films and has racked up several

Internet successes, including the horror-flick spoof “Possum Death Spree” by Michael Horowitz and Gareth Smith, which has been viewed nearly 800,000 times since May 2007. From May 2007, AtomFilms started AtomUploads, a feature that allows anyone to post a short film. If a submission proves popular with viewers, then Atom’s acquisition staff offers to move the film to AtomFilms.

MetaCafe (www.metacafe.com), is more focused on amateur filmmakers.

Started in Israel in 2003 and now based in San Francisco, the site claims 30 million regular viewers every month.

MetaCafe pioneered the concept of peer review of submitted films with its “community view panel” made up of 100,000 of the site’s members. The panel helps to determine what stays on the site.

Michelle Cox, MetaCafe’s communications director, says the site is looking for “short-form films with original content and entertainment value that appeals to a wide audience.”

How-to films are also popular on the site. How to do Graphic

Past themes have included Lost and Found, Mistaken Identity and Family Gathering. Films must be one to three minutes long. From the submissions, up to 20 winners are selected; some by peer-to-peer voting and some by Filmaka employees. Winners of this entrylevel contest receive a prize of $500 and $1,000 toward the production of another film on the same subject, which is automatically entered in the next round — called the jury level.

The jury includes industry professionals.

The winners receive $3,000, runnersup $2,000; both are automatically entered in the annual final-level contest. Final-level entrants are each given $500 to make another film on a subject chosen by Filmaka. A combination of jury members and peer-to-peer voting selects a winner, who gets the opportunity to make a feature film.

One hopeful director who has submitted to Filmaka is 30-year-old London-based TV-commercial researcher Ben Whitehouse, who made it through the first round but failed in the next. “The way the industry is set up, no one will give you the money to make a feature film unless they see you know how to direct already,” Mr. Whitehouse says. “A short film is one of the ways to prove that.”

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Shijith Nambiar, and NRI Karthik Cholan in the standard love triangle .

The first, Aasai Mugam, is an evergreen favourite of fans of Subramaniya Bharati and is said to be Bharati’s anguished call to his late mother. The short film, featuring Andrea Jeremiah and Karthik Kumar, shows how a wronged woman seeks justice for herself from beyond the grave.

Plain Sita is about how a woman’s comfortable married life comes crashing in a day, and is evocative of Bharati’s famous line, Dikku theriyada kaattil’.

How she picks up the pieces of her shattered life and learns to make a life for herself is shown in 20 minutes. A power-packed performance by Kannadiga actor, Divya Spandanah, (of Vaaranam Ayiram fame) is backed by a taut screenplay and great visuals A South corporate, the noted Pyramid Saimira group in collaboration with Gnyanabanu Visual Media launched a unique movement called the ‘One Reel Movement’. The concept was simple and yet, effective. Films with the duration of only one reel will be produced and exhibited in a chain of theatres. The 10-minute-long films will feature new ideas and new talent. The one reel will be shown before the main film in the theatres as a bonus film to the audiences. Both the audiences and the film industry are expected to benefit from the fresh ideas and fresh talent

Yuva, Mani Rathnam’s amazing experiment at blending three short stories into one.

that would emerge from the one reel movement. The concept has been made possible thanks to the company having under its command a chain of hundreds of theatres.

was new and that will be the principle followed in future. The One Reel Movement will soon be introduced in other languages: Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English.

The first one reel film will be screened on Dec. 28, 2007. On the same day exactly 112 years ago, the first cinema was shown to the public by Lumiere brothers. The inaugural film in the series Ippodhu Enna Seiya Vendum?, directed by Thirumathi James and starring Rohini and Neelson was screened at Woodlands Theatre in Chennai. The film is based on a short story by eminent Tamil writer Dilip Kumar. Cinematography is by P S Dharan, editing is by I P Sivamathi and music is by Anil N C. Most of the crew

On the international level four young Indian filmmakers – Mira Nair (Migration), Vishal Bharadwaj (Blood Brothers), Farhan Akhtar (Positive) and Santosh Sivan (Prarambh) – were funded by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation to make four short films on HIV/AIDS and shown under the title of AIDS Jaago.. Shot by the Oscar winning cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, it is a film that educates a viewer about the difference between HIV and AIDS through an interesting story. The movies, shown on national televisions on World AIDS Day, helped remove the stigma attached to AIDS.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan also experimented with the short story format with Naalu Pennangal.

Short fiction films were also made in the past but the problem has always been of showing them to a mass audience. Television solved this problem because many of the popular serials paved the way for showing shirt stories through episodes. But the recent trend of clubbing stories for a theatrical audience is new and deserves the backing of all those who cherish the wide range of our literature. The first few efforts have not been hugely successful – in terms of commerce – but there is every possibility that audiences will accept this format.

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ANALYSIS

Is this a golden age for documentaries?

The voice of protest … a moment from Dispatches: Underground Mosque.

After several decades of isolation the documentary format has reached centre-stage. This article talks more about the American situation than the Indian circumstance but surely there are lessons to be learned from the American example for we, in India, are facing more or less the same situation that American documentary faced a decade ago. All it needs is a controversial figure like Michael Moore.

Michael Moore did not invent the documentary. In fact, his detractors might point out that his documentaries are a bit too inventive when it comes to presenting the facts. But there is no denying that he gave the genre eyeballs and status. There was a time not so long ago when feature filmmakers and the award-givers would turn up their nose at documentaries. At the grand shows of the innumerable awards that make their presence felt every year –

with the Oscars at the apex of such shows – there is no place for documentary films – and definitely no awards!

Remember the time when Steve James’ excellent 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams received a nomination at the Oscars but didn’t win, despite widespread critical acclaim. But in 1999 the Academy instituted changes in voting procedures to ensure that a

wider pool of voters who are more active and accomplished in non-fiction filmmaking would participate in the initial screening of entrants, and that voters would be given more opportunity to see the eligible films.

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particular political topic but of other documentary filmmakers with passion and stories to tell. So, if every parade needs a grand marshal, then Moore is serving that purpose when it comes to documentaries. He is garnering attention for non-fiction filmmaking, even if there are those who insist he belongs in another category.

Because of Moore, people who might not include documentaries in their regular viewing might now rent Hoop Dreams, Steve James’ excellent 1994 chronicle of the lives of two inner-city African American kids as they pursue their hopes for a career in professional basketball, or Four Little Girls, Spike Lee’s 1997 take on the tragic bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, or even Grey Gardens, the seminal cinema verite’ work by brothers Albert and David Maysles from 1975 that looks at the lives of two distant relatives of the Kennedy clan living in a decaying estate in East Hampton.

Cut to the scene today when documentaries and current affairs programming are making it to the centre-stage on that ruthless of all mediums: television. Even in India which is so fiction-focussed that a nonfiction programme can only be telecast at an unearthly hour, non-fiction programming is becoming the norm.

Witness also the mushrooming of news channels where, apart from news, current affairs programming dominates.

programs, which in turn begat reality programming, have whetted the appetites for mass audiences to indulge in nonfiction fare. Since truth is indeed often stranger than fiction, pictures like Capturing the Friedmans offers a staggering amount of real-life human drama in a context that would be considered hard to believe if presented by the Hollywood dream factory.

And because of this, another development may be taking place.

Talented filmmakers who ordinarily might head right toward the studios with a screenplay in one hand and a short film in another with aspirations to be the next Spielberg are instead being drawn toward the creative and financial rewards of this current documentary renaissance. It is no longer the domain of obscure academics and hardcore cinema buffs.

Documentaries have gone mainstream, and they’re bringing some of the best filmmakers along with them.

There are several other reasons why broadcasters are looking with renewed enthusiasm at documentary making, but one stands out: it’s cheap. The average prime-time current affairs

documentary can be made for as little as £150,000 per hour and many are made for less. Drama costs around £100,000 more, with a typical costume drama requiring at least £500,000 per hour of screened footage. Not only that the spread of smaller, cheaper, and better video cameras has spawned legions of would-be documentarians.

The Internet has provided a cheap and accessible venue for their work that may one day make television obsolete.

It’s easy to see that there is a substantial saving to be made by airing documentary factual programming instead of drama, and goes some way to explaining why the award-winning current-affairs department at Channel 4 was left untouched by the first round of cuts made by executives there. So, while the debate over medium-term funding rages, the terrestrial broadcasters have a more immediate dilemma: how to continue delivering original content with even fewer resources. The solution may usher in a new period of creativity and insight from British programme makers – by sparking a renaissance in current affairs and documentary programme making.

Indeed, the success of Sky Real Lives’

There are various theories for why documentaries are suddenly darlings.

One logical but optimistic possibility is that audiences are craving good stories. This doesn’t mean all audiences — after all, sleepers like The Chronicles of Riddick and The Stepford Wives still draw crowds despite being crippled by a lack of imagination — but savvy movie-goers who want more than just the usual plot rehashes and stock characters are turning to documentaries in large numbers.

Another suggestion is that news events like the O.J. Simpson trial, which begat myriad court television 20

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Living in isolation and squalor … the Beales in Grey Gardens.

broadcast of Right to Die?, made by Oscar-winning Canadian director John Zaritsky, which garnered blanket press coverage, demonstrated that even broadcasters little used to creating agenda-setting current affairs programming can still harness the medium with an emotive subject.

Audience shares for current affairs programming have struggled in the past few years. Peak-time broadcasts of Channel 4’s Dispatches and the BBC’s Panorama (which, when it was re-launched, was unhelpfully scheduled at the same time as the Channel 4 programme) have remained at around one and three million viewers respectively. However, the continued emphasis on fast turnaround zeitgeisty special editions are boosting viewing figures. Panorama’s examination of the high-profile kidnapping of Shannon Matthews pulled in the programme’s highest audience of the year, with 5.7 million viewers earlier this month. ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald is well placed to offer this kind of programming and Dispatches has established some fast-turnaround teams, so it seems inevitable that all three flagship current-affairs

programmes will be paying more attention to these shows in future.

Another growth area is so-called “immersion television” of which the most famous proponent is Louis Theroux. His programmes have grown increasingly hard-hitting in the past few years, swapping B-list celebrity subjects for prisons, gangs and Nazis, but they are not the only factual documentaries that are crossing into current-affairs territory. Examine the BBC 3 series Blood, Sweat and Tshirts, broadcast in May 2008, which followed six fashion addicts from Britain’s high streets to India’s cotton fields and clothes factories. Viewers watched as the protagonists attitudes to throwaway fashion changed. The “immersion” format which, rather than providing polemical narrative, invites the viewer to form their own conclusions, will almost certainly become a more regular feature in television schedules.

Having said that, broadcasters ignore agenda-setting original programming at their own cost. Programmes such as The Secret Policeman and Dispatches: Undercover Mosque demonstrate the

enormous power of public service broadcasting for running investigations and breaking exclusives. These stories are difficult, expensive and time-consuming to obtain, film and bring to air, but they reward channels by providing output that serves not just “the public interest” but the interests of society and democracy as well.

All these programmes are no longer just TV shows. It is documentary content which has easily been converted into other formats. IWitness, Discovery and National Geographic documentatries are converted to DVDs and even sold in Powerbooks, shown on the big screen during documentary festivals on campuses and in festival theatres, uploaded on youtube, and used as educational materials in high school and college classes. No prime time show can claim the same versatility.

In the coming years, it is very possible that viewing figures for these programmes will improve too, because viewers tend to respond better to current affairs programming at times of uncertainty. In the months following 9/11, it was Panorama that grew its audience most dramatically in the UK by providing context for the destruction of the twin towers. So too, as our banking sector and then our economy falter, will current affairs programming be sought out by viewers to provide context and insight. As Mary Ewert, whose husband’s death Sky broadcast, wrote in The Independent: “He was keen to have it shown, because when death is hidden and private, people don’t face their fears about it. They don’t acknowledge that it is going to happen, they don’t reflect on it, they don’t want to face it.”

The very best factual and currentaffairs programming does just that: forcing society to confront truths that are too often ignored. And if it saves some money in the meantime, that can only be a good thing.

Louis Theroux is the guru of “immersion television”.

(With inputs from Ed Howker and Michael Ventre) DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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OPINION FD BIOGRAPHICALS

An Educational Treasure Trove

By Shoma A Chatterji

The life of painter Jehangir Sabavala … Colours of Absence.

Perhaps one of the greatest contributions of the Films Division that is into its 61st year, is in its massive output of biographical documentaries.

Besides films made by producers within FD, the organisation also has in its priceless archive, biographical documentaries made by prominent filmmakers beyond the borders of FD such as Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Gulzar, Chidananda Dasgupta, Shaji Karun and so on. The best part of these excellent biographical documentations of great lives is that they defy genre classification as typically biographical films. Nor do they succumb to the temptation of turning into celebratory 22

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tributes that lack perspective and are simply idolatry.

Artificial classifications of the documentary format into genres are a misnomer because all genres are subject to considerable overlapping thus often lending themselves to varied interpretations, blurring the dividing line between one genre and another.

Gulzar’s documentary on Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is as much a biographical documentary as it is a historical one because alongside tracing the life of the great vocalist, it also traces the history of one school of Hindustani classical music, namely,

the Kirana gharana, without which no history of Hindustani classical music styles can be complete.

Arun Khopkar’s Colours of Absence, on cubist-abstract painter Jehangir Sabawala, unfolds the painter’s evolution to become one of the most outstanding among contemporary painters in India. But in terms of sheer form of expression, it can be termed an experimental documentary considering the way in which Khopkar interweaves his narrative with his subject’s views on Nature through variable chromatic light, through sound effects that sometimes relate directly to the visuals

and sometimes create a contrapuntal tension, aiming to capture the spirit of the paintings. In this sense, it is also an art-centric, aesthetic documentary.

It is also an archival film that forms part of India’s art history.

Problems arise when biographical documentaries are made on celebrated filmmakers themselves. It is difficult to document their lives, their aesthetic approach, their choice of subject, etc. because the documentary filming such a person is constantly dogged by questions of his own creativity, ingenuity, aesthetic expression and research. Films Division and Nandan jointly presented a programme entitled Film Memoirs: Directors on Celluloid to showcase five documentaries on five renowned Indian filmmakers made by some of the most eminent documentary filmmakers in the country. Among the five films screened was A Dream Takes Wings, on Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, by Gajanan Jagirdar. The film had archival footage from Phalke’s life, probably cinematographed by Phalke himself, with clippings from some of the 95 films and 26 short films he made during his career.

BN Sircar, directed by Nishith Banerjee, is a biographical film about

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee is the subject of another film.

the founder of the once-famous and now historic New Theatres Ltd., the production banner and its two studios that changed the history of Bengali and Hindi cinema in the country forever.

The film traces what drew the interest of Sircar, a foreign-trained engineer, to filmmaking and how he produced 150 films under his production banner in Hindi, Bengali and even Tamil, making path- breaking films like Devdas and

introducing the audience to some of the greatest talents Indian cinema has seen. P.C. Barua, R.C. Boral, Pankaj Mullick, Bimal Roy, K.L. Saigal, Nitin Bose are just a few names that found their feet and bloomed in New Theatres.

B.D. Garga’s Creative Artistes of India: Satyajit Ray, shot in black-and-white, is mainly a coverage of Ray’s approach to filmmaking, he strategy of shooting, directing his actors, preparing before a shoot, discussing and debating with his cast and crew, all done when Ray was shooting Mahanagar with Madhabi Mukherjee and Anil Chatterjee. Garga’s styling of the biographical documentary is original as it does not go through the routine paces of place and date of birth, early childhood, his father’s passing away and so on. The film offers an unusual insight into the mindscape of one of the world’s greatest filmmakers at his prime.

U.B. Mathur’s Hrishikesh Mukherjee is a simple, straightforward, very conventional documentary on this extremely successful filmmaker who redefined the term “wholesome family entertainment” for mass audiences in the country. The film had clips from DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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Abhimaan, Aashirwaad, Anand and Namak Haraam and demonstrated how Mukherjee could get his message across to reach his target audience without using voyeuristic strategies of sex and violence in his films.

Cinematically and aesthetically speaking however, the best film in this bunch was Shaji Karun’s tribute to his mentor in the film, G Aravindan. Karun, began his career as cinematographer for Aravindan and shot the film after the sudden and untimely demise of the great, but extremely low-profile filmmaker. Karun later became an independent filmmaker in his own right and this gives the film that extra touch of aesthetic sensibility and social concern not usually witnessed in biological documentaries. With archival clippings from Aravindan’s early life, still photographs picked from the family album, Karun uses colour to shoot an actor shot from behind to personalize Aravindan and his enduring love for nature in all its beauty. The film mentions how in Kanchana Sita, Aravindan used nature to symbolise Sita instead of using an actor to play the character in his original interpretation of Sita in captivity.

The biographical archive of Films Division will go a long way in educating aspiring film-makers, students and cine buffs in tracing the mindset of these artists for whom, cinema was not just a commodity to be advertised, promoted and sold to the market but to be imbibed, ingested and understood forever.

MAKING A BIOGRAPHICAL A film, more than any picture, says a thousand words. And a biographical film is the best substitute for a biography in print. But making a biographical is quite unlike making a documentary since it involves people and their sentiments. Attention to detail and a map of your direction are important aspects in this experiment. But the film biographer has to keep in mind many aspects which may not concern the normal run of biographical films. Here are a few of them: Permission to film. This is probably the most important thing in filmmaking yet is disregarded by most filmmakers. In biographicals, there are no release forms or contracts, but it does not hurt to inform the family of your plan to film them. Though, this should not be a problem to most members, there are cases when a family member is just not comfortable with having their lives on film. Be sensitive about their issues and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of making your film without them.

Have your questions ready. Each person being interviewed has something unique to contribute because he/she has observed some unique aspect of the person on whom the film is being made. Frame your questions so that you can draw out that uniqueness. In this way you can avoid all interviewees saying the same thing over and over again.

Let others talk. A documentary should be based on the opinion and the views of others. Allow the family and friends to talk for a better viewing experience and more interesting documentary. Do not interject your own ideas unless you find that the interviewee is unable to express his/her thoughts clearly.

Avoid filming too much coverage, sometimes, too much information is just that - too much information. Life happens slowly; sometimes you need to present life faster than real-time. Be reasonable when using a camera; use it carefully for maximum effect.

Think about the future. Sometimes, when filming a movie, it is easy to get so wrapped up with the process of documenting and filming that the end result seem to get blurry. Do not forget the gist and the purpose of the film.

The topics and the scene that makes for an interesting viewing should be the front and centre of your film.

Edit, edit, edit. The sister continuously yakking on the stairway? Cut. That slow pan of images in the living room and kitchen? Cut. Everything that is not essential to the “plot” must go. Do not feed your viewers useless images that would only bore them. This is the key to a really great biographical documentary. This is not some careless, random piece that will sit in the archive forever. This should be a masterpiece at its finest.

Do not ignore old family movies. This can be a great addition to your film.

Look for a company that converts old movies into digital movies to make the film workable. Add old elements to your new film to show contrast in time.

Above all, do not be afraid to experiment. It is okay to make mistakes.

Discard the standard approach and think of a new way to present the biographical. Remember that every life is unique.

Dadasaheb Phalke.

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NEWS 55th NATIONAL FILM AWARDS FOR 2007

Supriyo Sen’s film bags top award

Supriyo Sen’s Hope Dies Last In War bagged the Swarna Kamal.

Best Non-feature film (Swarna Kamal) HOPE DIES LAST IN WAR (English/ Hindi) Producer: Supriyo Sen Director : Supriyo Sen Citation: For its sensitive albeit searching exploration of those in prisons in alien countries; a complex polyphony of variegated voices, the film is an endeavour to find hope in the midst of a struggle against despair.

Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film (Rajat Kamal) TAI PHAKEY (English) Producer: Priyam Chaliha Director : Mridul Gupta Citation: Tai Phakey is an honest portrayal of life and traditions of the miniscule Phakey community of the Northeast, which despite the influence of globalization, continues to preserve its individual identity.

Best First Non-feature film of a Director (Rajat Kamal) LAL JUTO (Bengali) Producer: Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata Director : Shweta Merchant Citation: For its conventional handling of a renowned literary text. The element of surprise is presented in an effortless manner, spontaneous and full of miraculous madness.

Best Biographical/Historical Reconstruction/ compilation film (Rajat Kamal) ANTARDHAWANI (Hindi) Producer: Films Division Director : Jabbar Patel Citation: The film creatively brings out the life and times of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma in his journey to revive the lost music of the Santoor and place it on the world stage. The pace and rhythm of the film is in tune with the melodious music of the Santoor.

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Best Scientific Film (including method and process of science, contribution of Scientists etc.) Environment Conservation/Preservation Film (including awareness) (Rajat Kamal) BHANGA GHARA (Bengali) Producer: Film & Television Institute of India Director : Nilanjan Datta Citation: For championing the cause of environmental conservation. The film depicts the contrast between two regions of the Malda district as they come to terms with the inevitable flow of nature. While one faces the eroding onslaught of the river Ganga, the other renews itself to survive amidst the scarcity of water.

Best film on Social Issues (such as prohibition,women and child welfare and dowry, drug abuse, welfare of the handicapped etc.) (Rajat Kamal) BAGHER BACHA (Bengali) & Producer: Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata Director : Bishnu Dev Halder Citation: For its spontaneous and multilayered depiction of the life of a child living in a railway station. He is shown on the borderline between a struggle for survival and a life of crime.

SHIFTING PROPHECY (English) Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust Antardhwani on Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma was awarded the Best Biographical.

Shweta Merchant made the Best Debut with Lal Juto.

Director : Merajur Rahman Baruah Citation: For handling the discrimination that Muslim women face in Tamil Nadu from some of the conservative clergy.

The film successfully brings out the story of a woman activist who has galvanized the socially depressed women into fighting this gender discrimination.

Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film (Rajat Kamal) PRARAMBHA (Kannada) Producer: Santosh Sivan Director : Santosh Sivan Citation: Prarambh is a sensitive portrayal of the struggle faced by an HIV infected boy who is dismissed from school.

The film takes a playful standpoint to inspire and instill a positive attitude towards this issue.

Best Investigative Film (Rajat Kamal) THE JOURNALIST AND A JIHADI (English) Producer: Ramesh Sharma Director : Ramesh Sharma and Ahmad Jamal Citation: The film tries to uncover the sequence of events that led to the gruesome murder of the Wall-street journalist, Daniel Pearl. This film is very well researched and the investigation provides an insight into the working of a militant organization.

Special Jury Award (Rajat Kamal) BHULTIR KHERO (Bengali) Producer: Amalan Datta Director : Anirban Datta Citation: For its brilliant evocation of Kolkata. The film brings out sights and sounds, smells and stories, myths and memories in a manner that is realistic and yet magical.

POOMARAM (Malayalam) Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust Director : Vipin Vijay Citation: For its creative use of visual craft to reflect on the relationship between menstrual rituals, the colour red and nature of human existence. The film engages the audience very deeply in its experimental exploration of the inner life

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of young women protagonists and their unique relationship with blood.

Short Fiction Film (Rajat Kamal) UDHED BUN (Hindi) Producer: Film & Television Institute of India Director : Siddharth Sinha Citation: Udhed Bun is a creative portrayal of a young boy’s dilemma as he comes face to face with the temptations of life. The film evocatively explores the erotic under currents in this coming of age tale.

Best Film on Family Welfare (Rajat Kamal) MAKING THE FACE (English) Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust Director : Suvendu Chatterjee Citation: For its multilayered exploration of the issue of alternative sexuality in a politically troubled state; celebrating this sexual orientation in a spontaneous manner, the film depicts it as a normal proclivity in a family setup.

This, in no way, effects one’s daily chores, particularly as the protagonist is a make up artist of great acceptance.

Best Direction (Swarna Kamal) VELLAPOKATHIL (Malayalam) Producer: Jayaraj Citation: For his minimalist portrayal of the traumatic tale of a faithful canine Best Cinematography (Rajat Kamal) KRAMASHA (Hindi) Producer : Savita Singh Citation: For her arresting use of lenses and lighting in the creation of a strange and magical world, full of a certain atmospheric dampness and mistiness, further enhanced by a consistent exhibition of striking cinematic compositions.

Daniel Pearl in The Journalist and the Jihadi

Best Audiography (Rajat Kamal) KRAMASHA (Hindi) Producer : Ajit Singh Rathore Citation: The innovative sound design enhances the mood of the film and draws one into the magical ambience replete with fairy tales.

Best Editing (Rajat Kamal) HOPE DIES LAST IN WAR (English/ Hindi) Producer : Saikat Ray Citation: For its creative blending of various elements of the past and present, as also for its seamless flow of images that evoke genuine emotions.

Best Music Direction (Rajat Kamal) ECHOES OF SILENCE ((English/ Khasi) Producer : Zubin Garg Citation: The emptiness of Pori’s world is enhanced through the effective use of music, which is understated yet powerful, thus blending seamlessly into the narrative.

Best Narration/Voice Over (Rajat Kamal) AYODHYA GATHA (English/ Hindi) Producer : Vani Subramanian Citation: The powerful and humane narration of Ayodhya Gatha weaves together the story of Ayodhya — its past, present and uncertain future — in a manner that touches you without overpowering you.

Non-Feature Film Jury Ashoke Viswanathan (Chairperson) Prabhu Radhakrishnan, Rajendra Janglay, Ms Jasmine K Roy, Ashok Ogra, Ramesh Asher

Shifting Prophecy is on the discrimination of Muslim women.

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Garga’s book bags National Award

Supermen bags German honour

Noted film historian and documentary filmmaker Bhagwan Das Garga’s book Raj to Swaraj: The non fiction film in India was awarded the Swarna Kamal for being the Best Book on Cinema for 2007 at the 55th National Film Awards.

The jury which decided the awrd comprised Namita Gokhale (chairperson). Jerry Pinto and G.P. Ramachandran.

From Raj to Swaraj is an account of the history of non-fiction film-making in India, from the colonial times to the post-Independence era and includes archival research, previously unrecorded information and visuals from the author’s personal collection.

Audience award winner Seven Days in Slow Motion.

One of country’s most eminent film scholars, B.D.Garga began his career in films with the legendary filmmaker V.Shantaram but opted to make documentary films. He has written, directed and produced over 50 documentaries. He has also written extensively on the history of Indian cinema and his best known books include So Many Cinemas and The Art Of Cinema - An Insider’s Journey Through Fifty Years Of Film History.

Faiza Khan’s Supermen of Malegaon bagged the top prize for the Best Documentary worth 1000 Euros at the sixth Bollywood and Beyond 2009, which concluded on July 19, 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany. Members of the Documentary Jury comprised Natasa von Kopp, Sonia Otto, Dr. Kay Hoffmann. The other documentary which bagged the audience award was Umakanth Thumrugoti’s Seven Days in Slow Motion which was also endowed with 1000 Euro.

Garga was the first recipient of the Shantaram Award for Lifetime Achievement at the first-ever Bombay (now Mumbai) International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films held in 1990.

In the short fiction category Dipti Gogna’s Narmeen won the Best Short Film award, endowed with 1000 Euros.

The members of the jury were: Marianne Gassner, Ulrich Wegenast, Benjamin Seide.

In the feature film category Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan won the ‘German Star of India’ plus 4000 Euros for being the Best Feature Film while Satish Manwar’s Gabricha Paus got an Honorable Mention from the jury which comprised Gabriele Röthemeyer, Isabelle Danel, Kunal Kohli, Herbert Spaich, Jochen Laube. Both films have been noted for their documentary-like story-telling.

Anant Mahadevan’s Red Alert was awarded the Director’s Vision award which was being awarded for the first time. The film tells the true story of an Andhra farm labourer who gets caught

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in a group of Naxalites and how he evolves out of the entire experience.

Bollywood and Beyond celebrates Indian cinema which dares to go beyond the concept of Bollywood by attempting themes which are unusual in the Indian context. The Festival team is very proud that even in the year of the crisis they managed to present a festival with one of the most ambitious programmes ever seen. 44 films in 31 screenings presented Indian cinema in the categories feature film, short film and documentary to the European audience.

The festival’s new venue SI-Centrum was well received by the audience and the partners of the festival. Andreas Lapp, main sponsor and co-founder of the festival already assured his further support for 2010. The festival has a promising future at the new venue,” said festival director Oliver Mahn.

Faiza Khan, director of the muchawarded Supermen of Malegaon.

The 2009 Venice Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded to Lasseter and Pixar directors

Disney Pixar directors Andrew Stanton, Peter Docter, John Lasseter, Brad Bird and Lee Unkrich receive the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2009 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa)

The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 66 th Venice International Film Festival 2009 was presented to John Lasseter – one of the protagonists of the innovation in contemporary animated cinema – at a special ceremony in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema at Venice Lido.

Four other directors of Disney Pixar – Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich – were also awarded on the occasion. This is for the first time in the history of the Venice Film Festival that the award celebrates not only a single filmmaker, but also the contribution of all the directors of this visionary studio.

Lasseter said he was “tremendously honored” that the festival chose to give the award to the team of five Pixar directors. “Filmmaking and animation is one of the most collaborative art forms there is in the world, and it is

never more collaborative than it is at Pixar,” Lasseter said.

“We are particularly pleased to award this Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to one of the great innovators and experimenters of Hollywood,” declared the President of the Venice Biennale, Paolo Baratta. “We believe that the presence of John Lasseter in Venice, with his fellow Disney Pixar directors, will represent an extraordinary opportunity for them to meet young Italian and European animation filmmakers as part of a workshop organised with the Biennale.”

“John Lasseter is the protagonist of ‘Western’ contemporary animation cinema,” declared Venice Festival Director Marco Müller. “Always on the lookout for that point at which the avant-garde (whether artistic, technological or formal) meets the

blockbuster and the director of magnificent films – such as Toy Story (1995), A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Cars (2006), Lasseter has not only contributed in a fundamental manner to bringing animation cinema to new heights as one of the great expressive forces of the new millennium, but has also become one of the symbols of the most precious, vital and inventive tradition of the great Hollywood cinema.”

The presentation was made by noted Hollywood director and innovator George Lucas who first launched Pixar as the computer graphics division of his company Lucasfilm. It later became Pixar after Lucas sold it to Apple founder Steve Jobs for 10million dollars in 1986. “I think anybody else when they sell a company and the company goes on to be very successful, they would feel like they missed out but George Lucas is so proud of us and we DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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are so thankful to him - he is a true visionary,” John Lassiter told the BBC.

P.O.V. Founder Receives 2009 North Star Award

Today Pixar Animation Studios is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. It is an Academy Award-winning film studio with worldrenowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, the North California-based studio has won 21 Academy Awards and its nine films have grossed more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office to date.

Two-time Academy Award-winning director (for Toy Story, 1995; Tin Toy, 1988) John Lasseter is chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering. Under Lasseter’s supervision, Pixar’s animated feature and short films have received a multitude of critical accolades and film industry honors. He received a Special Achievement Oscar in 1995 for his inspired leadership of the Toy Story team.

Lasseter directed the ground-breaking films Toy Story (1995), A Bug’s Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999).

Additionally, he executive produced Monsters, Inc. (2001, Pete Docter), Finding Nemo (2003, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich), The Incredibles (2004, Brad Bird), Ratatouille (2007, Brad Bird) and WALL-E (2008, Andrew Stanton). Lasseter returned to the director’s chair in 2006 with the release of Disney/Pixar film, Cars.

Marc Weiss and Nancy Meyer (Mrs Weiss) were awarded the North Star award for their commitment to social justice.

Marc N. Weiss, the founder of the much-talked-about P.O.V. series on PBS, was awarded the 2009 North Star Award for his commitment to social justice and for giving voice and power to unheard individuals and groups working for social justice at North Star Fund’s 30th Anniversary Community Gala on April 30, 2009 at Tribeca Rooftop.

According to Marc N. Weiss, “I’m honored to be recognized for my work as a media activist and a supporter of community change. But it’s a particular honour to be recognized by North Star Fund, an organization which I’ve admired and respected for so many years.”

George Lucas speaks at the awards.

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Marc N. Weiss has dedicated his career and philanthropic giving to fostering citizen awareness and action on a broad

scale. Before founding P.O.V., Marc was a filmmaker, freelance journalist and film festival consultant. He is also the cofounder of several media organizations, including Association of the Independent Video and Filmmakers, the national trade association of independent film and video makers, and Media Network, a clearinghouse for information on social issue media.

Marc created P.O.V. Interactive in 1995 and started Web Lab, a nonprofit internet think tank, in 1997. Marc continues his work as an independent producer.

Also awarded on the same occasion was philanthropic activist Nancy Meyer (Mrs. Weiss); David Strathairn, the Academy Award-nominated actor; and Marsha Bonner, Vice President of the Marin Community Foundation.

Mugabe and the White African, October Country bag top awards at SILVERDOCS 2009 Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson’s Mugabe and the White African and Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s feature-length documentary October Country bagged the top awards at the SILVERDOCS Documentary Film Festival 2009 held in Silver Spring, Maryland from June 15 to 22, 2009. The former was awarded the Sterling Award for World Feature while the latter was awarded the Sterling Award for US Feature. Both films received a cash award of $10,000. The winning filmmakers were selected by professional panels of filmmakers, distributors and critics.

Told from the point of view of a 74year-old-white farmer, Mugabe and the White African looks at President Mugabe’s deeply controversial land seizure program, which was intended to re-distribute white-owned farmland.

The jury felt that “the film displays a moral conviction which grew from the vision behind it, became an integral part of the trusting relationship between the contributors and the filmmakers, and that powerfully elevates a resonant story to a global stage. We want to commend the filmmaking team for the physical risks they took in their relentless pursuit of this story, and for having the wisdom and humility to simply give their characters the freedom to intimately express anguish, doubt and resolve.”

Mugabe and the White African … social discrimination in reverse.

October Country documents several generations of a working-class family grappling with poverty, teen pregnancy and foster care, as well as the added horrors of child molestation and war. The jury felt that “it is a film that is subtle and intuitively creative while presenting important social issues in a surprising way. It showcases an extraordinary fresh talent, which left us excited to see what they do next.”

However the top cash award of $25,000 was awarded to David Grabias’ Cinema Chimp, a feature length documentary which follows the film and TV star Cheeta (a chimpanzee who starred in

October Country depicts several generations of working class struggle.

the Tarzan films) and explores the ethical debate over the entertainment industry’s use of non-human primate “actors”. The prize was awarded under the Animal Content in Entertainment Grant.

Other award winning films included: Andreas Koefoed’s 12 Notes Down which follows 14-year old choir star, Jorgis, after his voice starts changing and he decides when and how to make an unexpected yet graceful exit from the choir. The film bagged the SILVERDOCS Sterling Award for a Short Film plus $5000 in cash.

Luciano Blotta’s Riseup which follows three Jamaican musicians trying to make their way in the overcrowded reggae field. The film bagged the SILVERDOCS Music Documentary Award. A Special Jury Mention was made of Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s Soul Power which recaps the legendary rock concert held in conjunction with the Ali-Forman boxing match in Zaire in 1974.

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40-year old ox was awarded the SILVERDOCS Cinematic Vision Award plus a cash award of- 2,500 and $4,000 in- services from Alpha Cine.

India connection at Student Oscars

Landon Van Soest’s Good Fortune which covers two multi-million dollar international aid projects in Africa that may actually be undermining the very communities they seek to help, was awarded the SILVERDOCS WITNESS Award in honor of Joey R. B. Lozano which carries a cash award of $5000.

The award is given to the strongest documentary about human rights violations or social justice issues.

Nicole Opper, the writer/director of Off and Running bagged the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award which carries a cash award of $1000 as well as a one-year free membership in the WGAW Nonfiction Writers Caucus or WGAE Nonfiction Writers Committee.

The prize is awarded by The Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East. Off and Running is a study of personal identity, race and family, focuses on Avery, a talented African-American teenager adopted by Jewish lesbians.

The 2009 SILVERDOCS Festival 2009 screened 122 films representing 58 countries and held a five day International Documentary Conference. The festival hosted over 25,000 attendees, including more than 1,000 filmmakers, film and television executives and media professionals.

Another film with an India background wins a student Oscar … Gregg Halvey’s diploma film Kavi.

Once again there is an India connection at the 2009 Student Academy Awards which were given out at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, USA on June 13, 2009. Gregg Helvey’s diploma film for the University of Southern California Kavi, which has an Indian background, was awarded the Gold Medal in the Narrative category. Kavi is a boy in India who wants to play cricket and go to school, but instead he is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. Unsatisfied with his fate, Kavi must either accept what he’s always been told, or fight for a different life even if he’s unsure of the ultimate outcome.

The other awards were: Alternative Gold Medal: Alice’s Attic, Robyn Yannoukos, University of California, Los Angeles Silver Medal: Matter, in a Quiescent State, Prepares Itself to Be Transformed, Kwibum Chung, School of Visual Arts, New York Bronze Medal: Not awarded

Nicole Opper bagged the Best Screenplay Award.

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Animation Gold Medal: Pajama Gladiator, Glenn Harmon, Brigham Young University

Silver Medal: Sebastian’s Voodoo, Joaquin Baldwin, University of California, Los Angeles Bronze Medal: Kites, Jed Henry, Brigham Young University Documentary Gold Medal: The Last Mermaids, Liz Chae, Columbia University Silver Medal: The Wait, Cassandra Lizaire and Kelly Asmuth, Columbia University Bronze Medal: A Place to Land, Lauren DeAngelis, American University, Washington, D.C. Narrative Gold Medal: Kavi, Gregg Helvey, University of Southern California Silver Medal: The Bronx Balletomane, Jeremy Joffee, The City College of New York Bronze Medal: Bohemibot, Brendan Bellomo, New York University Honorary Foreign Film Elkland, Per Hanefjord, Dramatiska Institutet, Sweden Don’t be surprised if one or more of the above titles end up in the list of short-film nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards.

Rajesh Jala bags IFFLA Award

Rajesh Jala, director of Children of the Pyre, speaks at the IFFLA Awards.

Rajesh Jala’s Children of the Pyre was named as the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary while. Dipti Gogna’s Narmeen won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short with Sushrut Jain’s Andheri receiving an Honorable Mention at the 7th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles which concluded in Hollywood recently.

The Audience Choice Awards went to Faiza Ahmad Khan’s Supermen of Malegaon in the Documentary and Gregg Helvey’s Kavi in the Short Film category.

Nina Paley’s feature-length animation film Sita Sings The Blues was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature with Nandita Das’s Firaaq receiving an Honorable Mention in the category. The Audience Choice Award went to Sooni Taraporevala’s Little Zizou for Narrative, The 2009 IFFLA lineup showcased 21 features (16 narrative and 5 documentary) and 16 shorts for a total of 37 films representing 5 countries. The documentaries were judged by Mark Jonathan Harris, Michael Lumpkin and David Tenzer while the short films were judged by Rupak Ginn, Linda “O.” Olszewski and Hebe Tabachnik. The feature film jury comprised Paul

Federbush, Rana Joy Glickman, Matt Holzman, Richard Shepard and Gill Dennis.

Earlier the festival had kicked off with Anand Surapur’s The Fakir of Venice.

Opening Night also featured the official launch of CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s and Suneel Gupta’s Kahani Movement.

The brothers are co-founders of the film project to capture and share stories from Indians that immigrated to the United States. Kahani accomplishes this by motivating second-generation Indian Americans to pick up a camera, interview their parents, and then post that footage to a central website.

Other highlights included a salute to Bollywood legend Anil Kapoor one of Indian cinema’s most significant and popular personalities which included screenings of Kapoor’s classic films Lamhe (1991) and Virasat (1997) as well as the world premiere of the English language version of Kapoor’s production of Gandhi My Father(2007). IFFLA also continued its ongoing commitment to supporting and showcasing restored prints of Indian classic films, as it paid homage to BR Chopra by screening his classic, Naya Daur.

The festival closed with Yes Madam Sir a documentary profiling Dr. Kiran Bedi, the first woman to join the Indian Police Service and a controversial and inspiring figure in India. Dr. Bedi attended the festival as a guest of honor that evening along with director, Doneman.

IFFLA Director Christina Marouda said, “This film festival has been a pivotal one in celebrating the impressive diversity of filmmaking styles and vision from both well known Indian filmmakers and new cinematic voices emerging in the Indian filmmaking community. And the award winners only highlighted that fact. IFFLA also took another important step in establishing itself as a key annual event for the Hollywood and Indian entertainment business community to come together and collaborate.”

Sushrut Jain, director of Andheri, with Devyani Nanduri DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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Mumbai’s Gay Festival

Documenting a movement … Queer Azaadi March 2008.

It is still far from being the Indian version of the famed New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival but it surely is a start. Following the High Court decision in Delhi which read down Section 377 of the IPC thus decriminalizing same sex relationships, a new era of freedom has opened up for sexual minorities in India. On July 31, 2009, a fortnight before the annual Queer Azadi March, Alliance Francaise de Bombay unspooled five films dealing with various aspects of the lesbian and gay community.

The film program attempted to look at the queer individual and the LGTBI community in society and society’s gaze back. Glancing at this reflected image, the question that manifested was: “Is it enough that a society only protects us with a set of rights or do we also need the freedom to act as who we are within that society. Legal recognition and human rights are very important but social acceptance is equally, if not more, crucial.”

The films extended this essential idea of acceptance “to include our sexuality, our gender presentation, our choice of sex work as livelihood, and how we love”. After each film there was an informal discussion to share points of view amongst the audience.

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Indian films, one from Ireland and one from France.

The Irish film was The Marching Season (Grace Chapman & Emma Jones/60 minutes) which diocuments two very different kinds of events, both held in June 2007. While London celebrates 35 years of Gay Pride, Riga holds its first officially sanctioned LGBT march, faced with the chilling opposition of religious fundamentalist and neo-Nazi groups. The Riga march is a solemn political act, while in London some worry that the political origins of Pride have become lost. The Marching Season asks important questions about the purpose and future of Pride.

The French film Love and Words (Sylvie Ballyot/France/45 minutes) is based on an abandoned attempt to make a film about a woman in Yemen – abandoned to protect the women whose life was put in danger by the filming. Both a narrative of a film that could not be made, a portrait of young Yemenites and a discussion on sexuality, intimate meetings with another woman, translator for the shooting. Sylvie Ballyot gives us a magnificent film and a truly rare and intelligent cinematic experience of pure beauty.

The Indian films included: The Bath(Sachin Kundalkar/19 minutes) is

about a male prostitute who starts his day when the rest of Bombay is getting ready to sleep. He often feels ridiculed after being used. But one particular night, he gets picked up by a client and encounters an unusual experience.

What are You?(Tejal Shah/12 minutes) explores the pliable language of gender in a physical, concrete manner not only by the artist’s chosen protagonists – hijras, but also through the medium itself. Moving casually between staged performances, documentary, music video and appropriation, What are You? creates a direct relationship to her subjects’ manipulation of their own gender. The film is originally composed as a dual channel video installation and is only exceptionally screened as a single projection.

Queer Azaadi March (Subuhi Jiwani/ 5 minutes) documents the first Queer Azaadi March (QAM) in Mumbai took place on August 16, 2008. It started at August Kranti Maidan and ended at Chowpatty. People who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, hijra, transgender, kothi panthi and intersex came together under the umbrella term queer to register their protest against the colonial legacy of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

Nigah QueerFest 2009 The Nigah QueerFest 2009 will be held at multiple venues in Delhi, India from October 23 to November 1, 2009. This year’s festival follows the successful hosting of two previous festivals The Nigah QueerFests of 2007 and 2008.

This year, the ten-day celebration of queerness will showcase films, photo exhibition, workshops, performance night, parties and much more.

The QueerFest is entirely funded by individual donations from queer and queer friendly people from India and abroad. It is hosted by Nigah, a queer collective that works on issues of gender and sexuality. Based in Delhi, India, the organization tries to create inclusive and safe queer spaces using media, training, and conversations.

Against All Odds

Captains both! Anjum Chopra and Jhulan Goswami flank a BCCI official.

India’s first docudrama on the Indian Women’s Cricket team, Poor Cousins of Million Dollar Babies, researched, scripted and filmed by Sunil Yash Kalra, was unveiled at a press conference recently. The 25 minute docudrama focuses on the strong thread of friendship between former captain Anjum Chopra and the current skipper Jhulan Goswami and uses it as the foreground to capture the camaraderie of the members of the Indian women’s cricket team.

Shot over a span of four years, the film is Kalra’s tribute to the women’s cricket in India. . “This docu drama is about mutual respect amongst team members and former skippers, deep desire to excel while playing for the country.

This is the story of Women’s Cricket.

It’s not just a tale of disparities among men and women in the cricketing arena, but a story of the triumph of women’s cricket despite the disparities that prevail,” he says.

The film pays its respect to the hallowed institutions of world cricket.

It has been shot in the three of the most influential dressing rooms in the cricketing world. These institutions are weaved into the tale quite organically.

“The story ends on a high when girls fulfill their long cherished dream of playing at the Mecca of Cricket- Lord’s Cricket Ground, alongside the men at the Twenty20 world Cup early this year,” says Kalra.

Anjum Chopra feels that the film is an inspiring tale of ambition and struggle.

“This film is a landmark step in promoting women’s cricket at the global arena. The complete cycle of the project from conceptulisation to execution is handled with sensitivity and dignity that a national team deserves to be portrayed with. I am sure people would enjoy the movie irrespective of which ever part of the world they see in,” she says.

Jhulan Goswami reiterartes the point.

“This docu drama heralds a new chapter in the Women’s cricket and for the first time viewers get a look into our dressing room lives. It is a sincere, well researched impactful and aesthetic display of women’s cricket.”

Polanski arrested Roman Polanski’s ongoing legal woes, so well-chronicled in Marina Zenovich’s documentary film, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008), are in the headlines again. Polanski was arrested by Swiss authorities on Saturday, September 26, 2009, in Zurich, and put in “provisional detention,” awaiting judicial determination as to whether or not he can be extradited to the United States on an arrest warrant issued by U.S. authorities in 1978 in connection with the decades-old charge that he had had unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. At the time, Polanski pled guilty on a single charge that he’d had sex with a 13-year-old girl. After he was released from 42 days in a maximum security prison for psychological testing, Polanski fled the United States before he could be sentenced on the sex offender charge.

Although the documentary, which presents compelling evidence that there was significant misconduct by authorities — including Judge Lawrence Rittenband, now deceased — handling Polanski’s 1977 arrest and trial, was seen and acknowledged by Judge Peter Espinoza, now in charge of the Polanski case, the court refused to consider the most recent motion, presented earlier this year, to dismiss the case unless the filmmaker appeared in court for a hearing — thereby risking arrest upon entry into the United States.

Polanski, now 76, has lived in France since he left America. He has avoided traveling to the U.S. — not even to collect the Academy Award for Best Director bestowed upon him in 2003 for “The Pianist” — because of the threat of arrest. Ironically, he was taken into custody by Swiss authorities — at the behest of the U.S., of course — while entering Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival’s tribute to him as one of the world’s most important directors.

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Fulbright scholarship to study impact of Hindi film music Tina Wadhwa, an Indian-American Columbia University graduate has bagged the Fulbright-mtvU scholarship to make a documentary that will explore the impact and influence of Hindi film music on underprivileged youth in Mumbai. She is one of the four youngsters to have been awarded this scholarship announced by the U.S. State Department. Besides the documentary, Ms. Wadhwa will also help develop the Music and Drama Centre at the Akanksha Foundation while focusing on the role of music as a vehicle for collective expression and understanding among the children.

Recipients were chosen through a multi-tiered, merit-based selection process, beginning with field and discipline reviews by the U.S., foreign academic leaders and area experts; mtvU and icons like Death Cab for Cutie, Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Santigold and Vampire Weekend reviewed and nominated the top qualifying candidates. The final selection was made by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, appointed by the President.

The other winners are Andrew Magill of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Michael Silvers of the University of California at Los Angeles and Rod Solaimani of Georgetown University.

Rag: ‘Docus are must for FTII students’ 52 documentaries made by Indian and foreign documentary filmmakers were screened at the Film and Television Institute of India between September 15 and 17, 2009 as part of Persistence Resistance, a festival of contemporary political films, FTII in association with the Magic Lantern Foundation.

The films, an eclectic assortment of documentary films that highlight politics in different aspects of our dayto-day life, were by prominent filmmakers such as Shyamal Karmakar, Paromita Vohra, Sherna Dastur, T Jayasree, Madhusree Dutta, Farjid Nabi, Reena Mohan, R V Ramani, Amar Kanwar, Meena Nanji, Shabani Hassanwalia, Samreen Farooqui, Mamta Murthy and Vipin Vijay who were also present for the festival. A few films from foreign filmmakers like Simon Chambers and Roz Mortimer both from UK, Meena Nanji (USA), Nadia Kamel (Egypt), Kesang Tseten (Nepal), Yasmine Kabir (Bangladesh) Farjad Nabi (Pakistani) were also be screened.

“Documentary filmmaking as a new artistic language began to evolve in the mid-1970s. In the early 1990s, it began to be led largely by Indian women filmmakers. They broke the traditional format of documentary filmmaking and brought in new themes, narratives and

formats,” said Gargi Sen, director of Magic Lantern Foundation.

Explaining documentaries as aesthetically constructed texts, Sen said the festival began with an aim to show the public the kind of documentaries India makes and the way in which Indian women documentary filmmakers have broken certain barriers.

“The films in the festival are about politics in our day-to-day life: contemporary documentary films that show politics in our day-to-day life through a variety of themes like gender bias, property, marriage, relationships, patriarchy and citizenship status, to name a few,” added Sen. The festival will also include three seminars on topics Independent cinema in the globalised world: Challenges and Possibilities, The Cinematic Subject: Gaze, Voyeurism and Eco-political Legitimacy and Reality and Representation: Responsibilities/ Scripting for the Real or Anticipating the Future.

Talking about the academic importance of this festival, Pankaj Rag, director, FTII, said, “I don’t remember a documentary film festival happening in FTII in the last seven to eight years.

This is a good thing, because I think documentary film-making by FTII students needs to improve. Hence the emphasis on documentaries.”

On making documentary films at FTII, he said documentary filmmaking requires a lot of research. “We’ve noticed a lot of students at FTII are more interested in making fiction films.

But this festival will lend them aesthetic perspective towards documentary filmmaking,” said Rag. Fabian Gasmia and Henning Kamm, producers of Wagah, hold aloft the trophy that the film bagged for being the Best Documentary Film under 30 minutes at the recently concluded Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

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BEST discontinues showing of child abuse shorts Mumbai’s main transport line BEST discontinued the screening of five short films on child abuse on its buses following protests from commuters that the content of the films were causing psychological problems amongst children. A Mumbai daily had reported the case of a young school girl who refused to stay alone with her father after watching the short films.

The films had been made as part of an awareness campaign by an NGO, Save The Children, India. BEST, however, continued to show the five 60 second shorts on human trafficking made by students of the BMM (Bachelor of Mass Media) course of Mumbai University which were a part of the original Save The Children package since there was no complaint against them.

It may be recalled that the BEST had begun screening these films as also those an child abuse on the new LCD TVs installed in Mumbai’s BEST buses for eight hours daily for a month during peak hours. “We decided to use the LCD TVs in the buses to spread awareness by showcasing these

documentaries. All the films touch many lives,” said Uttam Khobragade, general manager, BEST. The five films on human rights are winners of an inter-collegiate short film competition organized recently by Save the Children, India, an NGO which works towards the empowerment of women and children. The competition attracted as man as 44 entries from 30 colleges which were judged by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather which also awarded the winning team with an internship at their agency. The BEST undertaking then stepped forward to highlight the issue and screen the films.

Students from Burhani College bagged the first prize with a touching portrayal of a college girl being traded like any other product. “It is great to know that our film will reach such a huge audience. When we made the documentary, we only wanted to highlight the crime,” said the winners Hatim Katawala and Nazim Khan. Other winners were from National College, Chandibai Himatmal Mansukhani College and Jai Hind College.

“Our objective was to create awareness about the cause and also reach out to students and foster their talent and creativity on a socially relevant topic,” said Shubhadra Anand, chief executive officer, Save the Children India. Actress Raveena Tandon, who also attended the ceremony to encourage the students, said, “I was touched by the films and even had goosebumps while watching them. It is really great to know that these boys have portrayed the feelings experienced by women during such situations.”

Documentary on Anna Anna 100, a documentary on the life of one of Tamil Nadu’s foremost political leaders, was released in Chennai to commemorate his centenary on September 15, 2009 at the South Indian Film Chamber Theatre. Directed

by RR Srinivasan, the documentary was produced by Prof Thandavan, professor and head, Anna Centre for Public Affairs, in association with the Mass Media and Communication Studies, University of Madras.

Since Anndurai’s life is synonymous with the rise of Dravidian politics in the State, the film explores Annadurai’s life as a political leader, writer and later, Chief Minister. His relationship with his mentor and social leader Periyar is also elaborated. Annadurai’s political leanings, which were reflected in his writings for films, and his relationship with Former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran, were also shown vividly.

Those were the days … C.N.Annadurai with M.K.Radha and M.G.Ramachandran.

The documentary was released by former Justice S Jagadeesan. Director Ameer received the first copy. The documentary will be available to researchers for their research purposes, a full collection of all of the leaders photographs will be released soon, explained Thandavan. The celebrations for Anna in his hundredth year will not be a one day affair, and will be held across the year, he added.

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In the land of the immortals Vilas Marathe, Managing Editor, Hindustan, Kumar Bobade and Shivrai Kulkarni, President and Secretary respectively of Amravati Union of Working Journalists. Also attending were senior officials of the Films Division, Shankar Patnaik, Chief Cameraman, Anil Kumar N, OCD, Manohar Bisht, ME, Rakesh Chandel, Branch Manager, and Ramsahay Yadav, Cameraman. The inaugural ceremony was anchored by Ms Jyoti Thotewar while vote of thanks was proposed by Kumar Bobade.

Ms Sulabha Khodke, MLA, lights the auspicious lamp to signal the inauguration of the Amravati Mahotsav in the presence of Kuldeep Sinha, Chief Producer, Films Division and others.

Independence Day 2009. We were all in Amravati (which literally means “the abode of the immortals”) watching Balidan: Sardar Bhagat Singh, a biographical made by Films Division, which was being unspoiled at the auditorium of the Physical Education College run by Sri Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, Amravati.

I looked around and saw a commemorative inscription on the wall about Bhagat Singh, his underground stay in Amravati and visits to the Sri Hanuman Akhada for physical training.

The film and the inscription suddenly made me realize the special moment we were living through. I was therefore doubly elated that the Films Division was organising a three-day documentary film festival in Amravati at such revered premises.

The Amravati Film Mahotsav, jointly organized by Films Division, Pratidin and the Hindustan dailies and the Amravati Shramik Patrakar Sangh was held from August 13 to 15, 2009. The idea of organising a documentary film festival in Amravati was first mooted

by Shankar Patnaik, Chief Camerman, Films Division to senior Amravati 38

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journalists Nanak Ahuja and Vilas Marathe while traveling together as part of the press entourage of the President, Smt Pratibha Patil, on her recent State visit to Spain and Poland.

The festival was inaugurated by Ms Sulabha Khodke, MLA and Vice Chairman, Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation in the presence of Kuldeep Sinha, Chief Producer, Films Division, Anantrao Gharad, Trustee, Nagpur Improvement Trust, Nanak Ahuja, Editor, Pratidin,

A total of 54 documentaries were screened to house-full audiences during the three day festival. The package included films on the freedom struggle, rare films on the Second World War, award winning films from M.I.F.F and animation films.

Kuldeep Sinha addressed the media on August 14 where he spelt out the various activities being undertaken by Films Division in strengthening the documentary movement in the country as well as highlighted the salient features of the forthcoming Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films. The film festival ended with the screening of award winning film, Nehru, directed by eminent film maker Shyam Benegal on August.15.

— Anil Kumar N.

Anil Kumar N., presents a copy of Documentary Today to Dr. Kamal Singh, Vice Chancellor Sant Gadge Amravati University while Shankar Patnaik looks on.

Michael Moore’s ‘Last’ Stand profit. The difference between him and a real vulture? “I don’t vomit on myself!” he cackles. As Moore’s movie zooms out to show the many other pernicious aspects of capitalism, it loses focus. Moore starts by depicting his comfortable 1950s childhood as an autoworker’s son, and ends with the 1980 election of President Ronald Reagan. “The country would now be run by a corporation,” says Moore, pointing out that Reagan’s Treasury secretary Donald Regan was previously the chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch.

Michael Moore signs autographs at the Venice Film Festival.

“This is the last film they will let us make,” said Moore while addressing a packed press conference following the screening of his latest indictment of the American system Capitalism: A Love Story which made a triumphant if somewhat stormy debut at the Venice Film Festival. Wearing a dark jacket and a denim cap, Moore said his aim was to “speak the words that need to be spoken”, and “raise the issues that need to be raised”.

And though the New York Times, in its review of the documentary said that it “lacks the clean, hard punch provided by the record-breaking Fahrenheit 9/11” it could not deny that “the veteran tub-thumper has lost none of his power to whip up a response” – a conclusion which was inevitable following the “tumultuous applause” with which the film was greeted.

The film is classic Moore: a wholesale indictment of capitalism: funny, gloomy and even a little preachy. “Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil,” he lectures. “You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that’s good for all people, and that something is called democracy.”

Capitalism: A Love Story opens with heart-rending foreclosure scenes. A young black man watches as his lifelong home is boarded up. A white woman sobs as a sheriff appears with an eviction notice. “This is capitalism,” says the Moore voiceover, “a system of taking and giving, mostly taking.”

Next, we meet a Florida-based man who works for a company called Condo Vultures. It deals with clients who buy foreclosed homes and sell them at a

Moore then offers illustrations of capitalism’s worst excesses. A company running a juvenile home gets youths locked up for minor offences so it can overcharge the state. Other companies collect hefty life-insurance payments on dead employees. Underpaid airline pilots live on food stamps, sell their plasma, and moonlight as dog walkers to make ends meet.

Moore shows how citizens are taking the matter into their own hands: through collective company ownership, sit-ins and squatter action.

He encourages them to do more. In an openly religious section, a priest defines capitalism as “immoral, obscene, outrageous”. Jesus wouldn’t approve, says Moore. He tries to prove it by redubbing an old movie where the Christ figure is made to pronounce freemarket messages such as: “He’ll have to pay out of pocket.” “Somehow, I don’t think Jesus came to earth to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange,” Moore deadpans.

Not till the second half does Moore finally get down to what he has pitched his film to be: a lampooning of Wall Street. This section has an urgency that the others lack. It’s scathing, effective and hilarious. Wall Street bankers are stopped on the street for a definition of derivatives. All are silent, except for one, who replies, “Don’t make any more movies!”

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Moore gives a blow-by-blow account of the bailout. He suggests that Henry Paulson’s prior job as CEO of Goldman Sachs led the administration to use taxpayers to bail out favoured financial institutions.

In the final scene, we see him sticking a long yellow strip of tape on a row of Wall Street security barriers. It reads: CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS. Capitalism shows Moore as a talented pamphleteer and voice in American democracy. Only it tries to be too many things at once. Moore’s best movies are single-issue ones, like Sicko (on health care). Too bad this one didn’t make Wall Street the sole theme....

As the NY Times puts it, “He jabs his finger at everyone from Reagan to Bush Jr, Hank Paulson to Alan Greenspan. He drags the viewer through a thicket of insurance scams, sub-prime bubbles and derivative trading so wilfully obfuscatory that even the experts can’t explain how it works. The big villain, of course, is capitalism itself, which the film paints as a wily old philanderer intent on lining the pockets of the few at the expense of the many. America.” The charge is not lightly made since Moore shows that the top 1% of America owns almost 95% of the wealth.

Moore, whose documentaries such as Sicko and Roger and Me have

Arguing with the guardians of corporate American … Moore outside the office of Moore’s main target, Goldman Sachs.

criticised the establishment for over two decades, said that he had started working on Capitalism five months before the financial crisis stunned America and the world a year ago. He had been convinced for a long time, he said, that something was awfully wrong in America and capitalism was behind it all. He came to realise over six months ago that he would no more dance around the same issues and decided to take on capitalism directly. He admitted that he is not an economist and that he had no specific plan to change the way the American system works.

“I am looking at the issue from the viewpoint of an artist,” he said while addressing the press conference soon

after the Toronto Festival screening.

“I use my privileged position as a filmmaker to give voice to millions of people who have no voice.”

Ridiculing a suggestion from a reporter that there can be a gentle and humane capitalism, Michael Moore said that capitalism cannot be trusted and is incapable of changing its nature. He said he believed that capitalism should be eliminated, and the country should think of a system that provided social and economic justice to the vast majority of the people and stop the one percent of the population that owns most of the country’s wealth.

“Capitalism is a Ponzi scheme because it guarantees just a few people at the top of the pyramid are going to earn most of the money and everybody else becomes their slaves essentially,” he said, laughing bitterly.

“They won’t give up their billions and privileged positions easily,” he said.

“Only citizens could take the wealth and position from them but through non-violent means.”

Moore, who was raised Catholic, uses Christian scriptures in his film to denounce capitalism. “But you don’t have to be a Catholic to take a stand against capitalism,” he said. “All religions speak against greed.”

Getting opinions off the street … Moore shooting for Capitalism.

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“Greed was there centuries before capitalism arose,” he continued, “but

principal agent of capitalistic wickedness – was the largest private contributor to the Obama campaign. As the NY Times observes, “Capitalism: A Love Story is by turns crude and sentimental, impassioned and invigorating. It posits a simple moral universe inhabited by good little guys and evil big ones, yet the basic thrust of its argument proves hard to resist.”

Moore tips his hat to fans at the Venice Film Festival.

under capitalism, it has been legitimised. Companies are told by the system that their loyalty should be to the shareholders, and there is little compassion for anyone else. There is no ethical foundation for capitalism in any system, under any religion. Greed is to be controlled by a moral code but capitalism has no desire or moral authority to keep the greed in check. It endorses greed whole heartedly.”

Moore said it is the corporate world that relied on socialism as their leaders availed themselves of billions of taxpayers money in the bailout. ”The true believers of socialism in the United States of America are Wall Street and corporate America,” he said with a grim smile. “They want the safety net there for themselves and they have very willingly taken trillions (of dollars) of our money.”

Moore, whose last documentary Sicko lashed out at the American health care industry which he argued works against the poor, said he understands President Obama’s struggle to introduce universal health care. But the President is not going the full way, and the halfway measures are not acceptable to many people who had voted for him. This could be the reason why they are not in the streets offering their support to the health care proposals, he added.

The insurance companies and their allies were spending $1 million a day on lobbyists and advertisements to fight health care reform that would extend coverage to 47 million Americans.

“My favourite (ads) are the ones showing Canada as a Third World country with people lined up out the door of the doctor’s office waiting in line for nine months, dying of brain tumours on the sidewalks of Toronto,” he said. Canada has a far more outreaching health care system than America has. Industrialised countries in Europe too offer universal health care, he said.

And so, will Obama spell an end to all this? No, concludes Moore, since Goldman Sachs – depicted here as the

That is because Moore’s research, as always, is impeccable. More than that he is able to present the little human stories behind the headlines which has the power to move his middle class audience. Moore’s conclusion? That capitalism is both un-Christian and unAmerican, an evil that deserves not regulation but elimination.

And as the NY Times rather cattily observes, “No doubt he had concluded all this anyway, well in advance of making the film, but no matter. There is something energising – even moving – about the sight of him setting out to prove it all over again. Like some shambling Columbo, he amasses the evidence, takes witness statements from the victims and then starts doorstepping the guilty parties.”

Somewhere in all that clever writing there is also a grudging admiration of the man who has relentlessly fought a lone battle against the American way of life – a tough thing to do while living in the United States. But Moore has his admirers in the United States and indeed the world.

Raising a voice against American imperialism.

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US Documentary Showcase in India Today, if you are an aspiring documentary filmmaker, there are a lot of options,”she said.

Sandra Ruchs takes questions at the Hyderabad session of the American Documentary Showcase.

The American Documentary Showcase, a set of 29 American documentary films made by American independent filmmakers and put together by the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, was screened for the first time at various cities in India.

The bouquet of films included 29 documentaries that represented specific aspects of American life and culture through exceptional nonfictional work. Some of these exceptional collections include Another Day in Paradise, Autism: The Musical, Children in No Man’s Land, Front Runner, The Garden..

The package also comprised the muchtalked-about film The Hobart Shakespeareans which is a one-hour documentary about the unusual teaching methods of an extraordinary teacher as he takes on the difficulties of teaching fifth grade at a disadvantaged school: Hobart Elementary in Los Angeles. The film focuses on the unique relationship between the teacher and his young students during the course of a school year as they pursue his unorthodox 42

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curriculum. The students, mostly from Asian and Latino immigrant families, are led through an uncompromising course of study including mathematics, history, geography and literature. By the end of the term, every member of the class participates in a performance of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Accompanying the Showcase was Sandra J. Ruch, former Executive Director of the International Documentary Association, who, apart from introducing the films in the showcase, also interacted with students, teachers and documentary filmmakers in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata.and Delhi. She also participated in a seminar on documentary filmmaking in Madurai.

She is an expert in documentary filmmaking, marketing distribution and festival strategy.

“These are independent (indie) films which project various facets of American life. Since they are indie films, they are both critical and objective about American life films,” said Ms Ruch. “Recent technological developments have made documentary filmmaking much easier than we think.

During her four-day visit to Hyderabad, Ms. Ruch addressed a wide range of audience comprising, high school, undergraduate and post-graduate students to documentary film makers and media persons at screenings and workshops. At a workshop organized for the post-graduate students of mass communication at the Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad Ms. Ruch elicited ideas for potential documentaries from and inspired them to turn their ideas into reality. At the St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad, Ms. Ruch viewed a student documentary on college life and presented students with avenues for funding documentaries.

After the screenings of Hobart Shakespeareans and Beginning Filmmaking, she had a lively discussion with students on the finer aspects of documentary filmmaking.

Addressing over 200 school students and teachers at the Chirec Public School, Ms. Ruch drew their attention to the role of a teacher in inculcating values like honesty and hard work in students. Mel Stuart’s film was also screened at the Moving Images film club. During her four day visit to Hyderabad, Ms. Ruch also met with independent documentary filmmakers and media persons and discussed issues of popularizing documentary films made in India.

In Mumbai on August 17 and 18 Ms Ruch held an interactive discussion with media students. Students and three faculty from several media and communications institutes participated. On August 18, Ruch conducted a master class on documentary film making for a group of documentary filmmakers in Mumbai, offering expertise on American documentary films, themes, festivals, rights, and distribution.

Sandra Ruch: “A documentary is an analysis of reality” Sandra Ruch served as Executive Director of the International Documentary Association (IDA) and Publisher, Documentary Magazine for more than seven years before she resigned in 2008 to work independently in the documentary movement. Before heading the IDA, she was the President (Marketing) New Line Cinema and Senior Vice President (Marketing) at Cinergi Pictures. She is currently President of CinElixir Consulting, a company which helps documentary filmmakers with story development, marketing and distribution. She is also the Co-Founder of DocAngeles: The Los Angeles International Documentary Film Festival, to be launched in 2010. Ms Ruch was in India recently accompanying a package of 29 American documentary films. Excerpts from an interview by D. KARTHIKEYAN. importance of documentaries is thus linked to a notion of the public as a social phenomenon.

Sandra J. Ruch, Executive Director, International Documentary Association (IDA) is flanked by writer and film programmer Agnes Varnum (left) and Diane Estelle Vicari, President of the IDA Board (right).

There remains an ‘ever-present ambiguity’ on what is a documentary film. Can you elaborate?

There has always been a debate on what documentaries are and it is always easy to say what is not a documentary.

However, a documentary could be defined as an analysis of reality, real events and real people. It’s about telling a story of human beings in a real situation with the time-space continuum. There have been attempts to bring about different genres among the documentary films and now recently films with 90 per cent animated visuals claim to be documentaries. It’s is an important reality-shaping communication, because of its claims to truth.

What about the proliferation of images and the idea of cyber space as a platform?

Yes! It is now easier to make documentaries as anyone can afford a camera and do the editing. With this sort of space for participation, one can comment that democratisation of the usage has happened… However there remains a pertinent issue of quality of the information this process of democratised sphere provides.

Documentaries and the camera have replaced formalism through immediately captured images. But photojournalism too claims to be a documentary but it is a scripted form; documentary is an art form. The

How important is the identity of the filmmaker?

It is not an important issue if the story is about a more universal human conditions that do not belong to a single sub-category of human experience. However, if the documentary is about the personal experience that the filmmaker has undergone, there filmmaking does become the expression of an individual’s worldview and all the insight and baggage that comes with it. It’s also important to note that the identity of a person is inextricably tied to what the person deals with in the films. Filmmaking style is more important than the filmmaker and there are different ones such as cinema vérité and interview styles that have made a mark.

How do you compare the Latin American documentaries made during the 1960s and 1970s and the present?

The documentaries made now are more socially active than what those made during the 1960s and 1970s. Ambulante, a travelling documentary film festival based in Mexico, which aims to promote the documentary culture across Mexico is doing a great job.

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are being made consciously to bring about a change.

Documentaries as elitist?

Poverty as a condition here is an everyday affair and is also more tangible unlike what it is in the U.S. and that could be a reason why people may not be interested in watching documentaries. But another important thing is that this premise of virtual space is a good change as it provides a chance to express oneself, and there is also a chance for the viewer to choose his genre of films.

Documentary films as a harbinger of change…

Most documentary filmmakers carry the idea of making a difference or bringing about a change and if one watches documentaries such as the Inconvenient Truth he/she develops a consciousness to save energy.

What about the documentary scene in India?

Unfortunately, the scene in India for the documentary is not so rosy.

Commercial cinema, otherwise known as Bollywood, and the numerous “vernacular woods”, still rule the roost while documentary lovers have to

scrounge around for festivals and special screenings. Bollywood is so popular in India that it overshadows documentaries.

But there is a definite interest in making documentaries here. I talked to film students in Chennai and Madurai and they are all interested. There are a lot of documentaries made in India these days, but those on India are made by non-Indians. But films such as Born into Brothels, even though made by foreigners, are an effective portrayal of the essence of the lost childhood of children (who were) born into brothels.

What can be done to improve the status of documentaries in India?

In the US, documentary films have gained the status of an alternative and more reliable source of news. People there don’t trust the media. They turn to documentaries for untampered news. Documentaries made in India can achieve that status too if only they are properly marketed. There should be separate slots for documentary films in television channels and aspiring filmmakers should be encouraged to make non-fiction films.

(Courtersy: The Hindu, Chennai dated 11/09/09)

IFFLA Grant for Emerging Filmmakers The IFFLA Film Fund is a new programme started by the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) and seeks to help emerging filmmakers realize their feature-length narrative and nonnarrative film projects that reflect universal themes inherent within Indian culture.

The first phase of the film fund is the Development Grant of up to $10,000 aimed at helping screenwriters develop and finetune their scripts as well as to strengthen these writers’ profile in the US. IFFLA Film Fund submissions are being accepted now up to November 2, 2009.

IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant Jury comprises Gill Dennis, Anurag Kashyap and Sooni Taraporevala.

The festival is also accepting film submissions for IFFLA 2010 up to January 8, 2010. The eighth annual festival will span six days from 20 - 25 April, 2010 and will be held at ArcLight Hollywood.

IFFLA 2010 seeks narrative, documentary, music videos, experimental, children’s and animated films of any length and format.

IFFLA 2010 showcase outstanding cinema by filmmakers of Indian descent or about Indian culture. The festival will also present red carpet gala premieres, the Bollywood by Night section, feature, short and documentary film competition, seminars, and the IFFLA Industry Leadership Award attended by high-level US and India-based entertainment executives.

Sandra Ruchs interacting with documentary filmmakers in Mumbai.

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Doordarshan turns 50 Ms Ambika Soni, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, lauded the national broadcaster Doordarshan for catering to remote areas neglected by private TV channels and invited eminent as well as young filmmakers to enrich it with their creativity. The Minister was speaking at a commemorative event marking 50 years

of public television in India, organised by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), a Delhi-based NGO. Ms Soni underlined her ministry’s commitment to making Doordarshan (DD) “more vibrant and interesting while retaining its commitment for healthy entertainment suitable for family viewing” and sought suggestions from eminent filmmakers to rejuvenate the public broadcaster and invited stalwarts like Benegal, who directed the memorable Bharat Ek Khoj serial for Doordarshan, to contribute meaningfully to DD again.

Ms Soni especially exhorted young filmmakers to take up the challenge of making relevant programmes for the marginalised strata of society. She stressed that her ministry would continue to encourage creative skills “so long as they honour the sensibilities of all single television viewing families”.

by DD, was screened on the occasion.

It may be recalled that Doordarshan started broadcasting in India from September15, 1959 when UNESCO gave the Indian government $20,000 and 180 Philips TV sets. , “In 1955, there was an industrial exhibition in Delhi where Philips imported some TV equipment and set up a stall and beamed some short clips. That was the first time we saw a TV set. The Indian government decided to keep this TV equipment in India. Then we set up a TV unit in 1958 and started experimenting,” recalls television engineer Vasant Mulay who was instrumental in setting up the first studio in New Delhi.

“Thus Doordarshan came into existence on September 15, 1959 when actress Vyjayanthimala’s dance was telecast live. Some programmes on social awareness and documentaries by the Film Division were also transmitted on that day,” says Mr Mulay. It was a team of two to three people led by Mulay, which experimented with just one camera, a transmitter and 25 TV sets. The crew then started televising programmes, films from the Film Division and the American Embassy and transmitted the same to these 25 TV sets.

Mr Mulay was soon joined by humorist P L Deshpande and a creative team started forming. “We became more ambitious and in 1959, we televised the Republic Day parade. We procured the equipment from the defence ministry on loan and televised the parade. Soon in April, the American government donated a studio equipment that was set up in Delhi and ready to transmit programmes,” recalls the 82-year-old engineer who had completed his graduation in telecommunication engineering from Jabalpur College of Engineering.

Later, the team grew larger and it broadcast programmes such as Queen Elizabeth’s visit to India and her address to the public on February 20, 1961 and the Ramlila performances.

Technology progressed and the Doordarshan team even got a video tape recording equipment as a gift from the Ford Foundation, following which educational and music programmes were recorded and transmitted. An outdoor broadcast (OB) van was acquired in 1969.

From one transmitter in 1959 to as many as 1,410 transmitters now. From one studio in Delhi to 66 in 32 states. That is the story of India’s first-ever TV channel, Doordarshan.

She reminded the audience comprising filmmakers and television personalities that DD is the only channel with the widest terrestrial reach which caters to remote and border areas that are often neglected by other channels due to their commercial interests.

Director Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s new film Oru Pennum Randaanum, funded

Another Adoor Gopalakrishnan film Oru Pennum Randaanum, funded by Doordarshan.

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Indian envoy praises Sikh community at film festival

UK Fellowships for environmental filmmakers Four Fellowships worth approximately Rs 8 lakh each will be awarded to teams of environmental filmmakers and climate change professionals or institutions through a countrywide bidding process by the UK Environment Film Fellowships. These fellowships have been awarded since 2005 to Indian filmmakers for creating well researched 12-minute documentaries on issues related to climate change in India. The theme for this year’s Fellowship in Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas.

The evocative poster of A Warrior’s Religion.

Turbanology, a film highlighting west’s reaction to the Sikh turban and the plight of the community of the 9/11 terror attacks, drew a lot of attention at the two-day Sikh International Film Festival held at the Asia Society & Museum, New York on September 18 and 19, 2009. In its seventh year, the Sikh Film Festival received 50 entries and screened 14 films on the history, arts, politics and contemporary life of the community in two days.

The Best Documentary award went to A Warrior’s Religion, portraying South Asian youth gangs and the related violence among youths. Its director, Mani Amar, grew up in Vancouver and hopes for world peace. “But that’s what I really want. I really want to fight for peace,” Amar said.

The Indian envoy to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri praised the Sikh community for its efforts at home and abroad while give away awards at the Sikh International Film Festival here. “The Sikh community both here and in India is recognized for its hard work and commitment”, said Puri. The Consul General of India Prabhu Dayal added that the Sikh community was also recognised for its excellence.

Unravelling won the Best short film award and was about a man who fought in WWII and his relation with his grandson. The film reflected upon 46

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the complexities of war, personal loss and India’s colonial legacy. Its director Kuldip Powar has made several films on Asian life in Britain. While accepting his award he said that Sikhs had to fight two battles before filmmaking. “The first is to convince your family that having anything to do with art is good,” he said. The second battle, the young artist said, was to get funds for non-mainstream films.

A favorite in the pack was Nineteen Eighty Four and the Via Dolorosa by UK-based Singh twins that depicted the political corruption and the human rights abuse after the Indian military took over the Golden Temple in 1984.

The sufferings of the community were portrayed approbos the Christian tradition of Via Dolorosa, or the pain suffered by Jesus Christ.

Bhangra Generation and Flying Sikhs were some of the films that drew popular response. Where as the former was on the impact of Bhangra on second-generation South Asians in the West, the latter was on the history of Sikhs pilots in the Indian and British Air Force.

The two day event ended with a popular band, RDB (Rhythm Dhol Bass) entertaining the audience by playing popular hits from Bollywood movies.

What the Fellowship is looking for are successful case studies in Indian cities which depict original and innovative methods to tackle climate change.

The case studies should be successful examples of low-carbon adaptation in urban areas. Greener technology, policy changes, lifestyle changes all contribute significantly to reducing carbon emissions which consequently leads to mitigating climate change.

Suggested sub-themes could be: • Green spaces in urban areas • Green buildings • Lifestyle/ behavioural • Green technology innovation & entrepreneurs • Green awareness & Youth The filmmaker can apply by sending a concept note on the above theme in the prescribed application form available on the website, www.britishcouncil.org/india-projectslcf-ukeff.htm. The 4 chosen filmmakers will then have to make documentaries on their chosen subject within four months.

Completed forms can be sent by email AND post: Email to shruti.sharma@in. britishcouncil.org Also post to Shruti Sharma, British Council, 17 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 The last date for the submission of the filled application forms: November 2, 2009.

VISITORS TO FILMS DIVISION

Kuldeep Sinha, Chief Producer, Films Division, welcomes Mr Raghu Menon, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Mr Raghu Menon meets Suresh Menon, Director-in-Charge, Films Division.

Mr Raghu Menon pays a visit to the Editing Rooms where the work of checking archival prints is in progress.

N.D.Sadamate, Animation Department explains the working of the animation camera to Mr Raghu Menon.

Ms Deepali Khanna, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, and Supriya Sahu, Director (Films), both from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, paid a visit to Films Division. They showed a great interest in the archival building Gulshan Mahal which houses the Films Division Book Library.

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The Brothers Warner, made to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the studio in 2008, is an intimate portrait of the four film pioneers who founded and ran Warner Bros. for over 50 years, the four pioneers being: legendary Harry Warner; honest Abe, visionary Sam, and volatile Jack — the original Hollywood independent filmmakers.

This close-knit band of brothers proved in their pioneering efforts to use mass media to “educate, entertain, and enlighten” while being commercially successful. Their films were often produced from stories ripped from news headlines.

It was Harry’s personal belief that, “Those who make a nation’s entertainment have obligations above and beyond their primary commercial objective, which is the box office.”

Their legendary scrappy rise from nothing, their overcoming of personal tragedies, and their battles are all woven together with the times they lived in. From opening their first storefront theatre by hanging a sheet on the wall and borrowing chairs from a funeral parlour to creating one of the top studios in the world— four brothers built an empire on a dream and revolutionized Hollywood.

The tribute is written, directed and voiced by Harry Warner’s granddaughter Cass Warner Sperling under the American Masters series.

Their epic story includes never before seen photos and footage, and unfolds through the eyes of family members and those who personally knew them and experienced the Golden Years of Hollywood.

The WB was also known for gritty, socially conscious themes that took on the human condition in films like I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang, Black Legion, and Confessions of a Nazi Spy. It was, in fact, the family that gave the world everything from Bogart to Bugs Bunny.

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aptly named independent production company, Warner Sisters, which claims to continue the family tradition. She is also the author of the family’s definitive biography, Hollywood Be Thy Name.” The book – and now this film – mark the culmination of a promise Cass made to her grandfather on his deathbed.

Cass credits digital video and the explosion of the documentary form with making the film possible. I’ve wanted to tell the story of the Brothers on film for so long and digital technology has finally made it feasible,” Cass said. And since my grandfather was known for making gritty, socially conscious films, it seems only fitting to tell his, and the other brothers’ story in a documentary where relevant films

live today.”

She wanted to deliver her vision with a seasoned documentary team, and is co-writing and producing the documentary with Oscar nominated filmmaker Eddie Schmidt, whose writing and producing credits include last year’s This Film Is Not Yet Rated and HBO’s Oscarnominated Twist Of Faith.

The interviewees who have lined up for the documentary are an impressively eclectic cast of movers and shakers past and present that includes Dennis Hopper, Angie Dickinson, Haskell Wexler, and Morgan Spurlock. In total, filmmakers have interviewed over 30 actors, filmmakers, moguls and cultural analysts.

The Lion of Capitol Hill Teddy: In His Own Words is produced

by Peter Kunhardt and Sheila Nevins; senior editor, Phillip Schopper; editor, Jennifer McGarrity; original music, Michael Bacon; co-producer, Caroline Waterlow. For HBO: supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover. For Kunhardt McGee Productions: executive producer, Dyllan McGee. Kunhardt’s Teddy Kennedy tribute documentary is part of the filmmaker’s Kennedy family trilogy, which also includes JFK: In His Own Words and Bobby Kennedy: In His Own Words, both also produced for HBO.

Senator Ted Kennedy with President barrack Obama.

Edward Moore “Teddy” Kennedy has been in the public eye all his life. A child of privilege, Ted Kennedy and his siblings were brought up to believe that the highest calling was to serve the public. Serving 46 years, the nine-time senior Mass. Senator has also shouldered the patriarchal mantle of America’s most famous family for almost four decades. Enduring countless personal tragedies and the burden of oversized family expectations, Kennedy has forged a political career that is unparalleled in American history.

Teddy: In His Own Words tells the story of Camelot’s last male survivor through his own words, from his childhood through his speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Teddy: In His Own Words deftly combines the Senator’s own voice culled from past commentary, speeches and public and private sources - with archival newsreel and television footage, iconic photographs and rarely seen archival footage, such as home movies and photographs, to tell the sweeping saga of Teddy Kennedy.

What emerges is a portrait of a crusader

who has kept his eye on the most important public goals, from civil rights and desegregation to minimum wage and health reform, despite a series of personal tragedies and crises.

As the film shows, none of these setbacks derailed his career, and the rejuvenating bonds he shares with members of his illustrious family continue to this day.

Three-time Emmy® winner Peter Kunhardt (whose previous HBO credits include the documentaries JFK: In His Own Words and Bobby Kennedy: In His Own Words), produces an illuminating and highly personal profile of one of the most influential forces in modern American politics.

Through the years, Teddy’s reputation as a liberal icon fighting for the rights of the underprivileged has been balanced by his ascension to family patriarch, where he has brought counsel, wisdom and love to a new generation of civic- minded Kennedys.

His recent battle with brain cancer underscores the fighting spirit and resiliency of this remarkable man, who continues his crusade for liberal causes despite daunting odds and advancing age.

This is your third film about the Kennedys. Why did you decide to tell Teddy’s story now?

Back in the late 1980s, I produced for HBO JFK: In His Own Words, and in 1990 Bobby: In His Own Words. At that time, Teddy was right in the midst of his career. He wasn’t ready for a film that would look back over his life and work; it was still unfolding. But now, he has served nearly half a century in the Senate, and he has been diagnosed with brain cancer. The time had come to take a look back at his life and career, and try to use the same “in his own words” approach that we used in the films about his brothers.

The challenge was not to conduct a brand new interview, but to go back through the archives and piece his story together using his own recorded words. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle with many pieces of his story scattered in many different archives. Unlike our experience working on the films about his brothers, in Teddy’s case we realized we were doing something that hadn’t been done before when we found out that there was no single large archive to turn to. That was exciting.

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first step of the process was to gather these many pieces together.

How did you decide what to include and what to leave out?

That was one of the hardest parts because, as it turned out, there is such a massive amount of material. Each of his brothers has a rich story that intersected with his story, so we had to resist wandering down those paths.

Our rule was to always keep the focus on Teddy. The second thing we did was to seek out material most people haven’t seen before or have long forgotten, like coverage of his very early Senate years from when he first decided to run in ’62.

Did your original perception of Teddy change as you got deeper into the material?

I didn’t have as clear a sense of Ted Kennedy’s story as I had of his two brothers’ stories. In the interviews he gave over the years, he tried to keep his personal life as quiet as he possibly could and stuck to the issues. What impressed me most was his dogged determination, his ability to continue to fight for what he believed in and to stick to his Senate battles year after year after year, in spite of everything else that was going on in his life. It really is an amazing story of determination.

What qualities do you think differentiate and distinguish Teddy from Bobby and JFK? I think it’s his knowledge of the Senate and how it works. When you look back at JFK, you think of his impact as president much more so than his impact as a young senator.

And when you think back to Bobby Kennedy, you think of that ’68 presidential campaign and all the optimism and enthusiasm he generated. When you think about Teddy Kennedy’s impact, you realize that it spans a much longer period of

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time and throughout the past half century, his platform has always been the Senate.

Teddy ran for president in 1980, but his real legacy is what he was able to accomplish on that Senate floor. Love him or hate him, he’s known as the “Lion of the Senate” for good reason.

What is it about the Kennedy family that holds such an enduring appeal for so many people?

I think part of the attraction is that the public is moved by the fact that this family has undergone so much tragedy.

Teddy’s story is an emotional rollercoaster. When you look at the film, you realize about halfway through that this man has been bombarded with tragedy and grief in proportions that

most of us couldn’t bear up under, and yet he continues to rebound and do his work and devote himself to the people. He admits to his own personal shortcomings and moves on. And I think it’s this dogged determination to do what he feels is right and to help others less fortunate than he that resounds with the public.

What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?

I think Teddy’s done something that is quite remarkable, and it’s that he has established not only his own legacy, but also worked hard to continue to establish the legacies of his brothers.

He devoted much of his career making certain that the unfinished work of his brothers was carried on, was fulfilled.

And I think what audiences will see is that Teddy Kennedy was not simply living out his own life during these past decades, he’s been doing whatever he can to fulfill their dreams as well.

Senator Edward Kennedy

Futuristic docu warns of climate change Pete Postlethwaite

The time has come when we cannot ignore the rapid climate changes that are taking place around us. Nearly 100 world leaders accepted UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon’s invitation to participate in an historic Summit on Climate Change and gathered in New York on September 22, 2009 to mobilize political will and strengthen momentum for a fair, effective, and ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen this December.

One such initiative outside the summit was the global premiere of a film Age of Stupid, directed by Franny Armstrong for Producer: Lizzie Gillett. A green carpet, solar-powered cinema tent in New York was linked by satellite to 442 cinemas across the USA and to more than 200 cinemas in more than 45 other countries. Special guests included Kofi Annan, Pete Postlethwaite and Gillian Anderson. Popular musicians Moby and Thom Yorke performed live at this unique premiere.

The Age of Stupid was crowd-funded by 223 people and groups (ranging from a hockey team to a women’s health centre) who donated between £500 and £35,000 and will receive a pro-rata share in any profits, alongside the 105 crew who worked for survival wages. The producers calculated the carbon footprint of the film to be 94 tonnes of CO2. The soundtrack includes songs from Radiohead, Depeche Mode,

Dragnerve and The Band of Holy Joy, as well as an original orchestral score written by Chris Brierley.

Shot in seven countries over a period of three years, the film running to 92 minutes features six separate documentary stories, archive footage and lots of animation from, amongst others, Passion Pictures, creators of the Gorillaz animations.

The film is set in 2055, a little less than half a century on from today. Pete Postlethwaite plays the last person alive in a post-apocalyptic, climatefried world, introducing a preserved video archive of news clips and interviews filmed way back in the first

decade of the 21st century. He muses sorrowfully on how humankind could have been so stupid, ignoring the environmental warning signs.Many people are left alive, but there has clearly been a collapse in both the human population and the structures of civilization we know today.

The opening sequence may raise some eyebrows:London is flooded and silent, the Sydney Opera House is shown against a backdrop of raging flames, the Matterhorn in Switzerland is denuded of snow, and Las Vegas is buried in shifting desert sands. But the scenario is borne out by the facts.

Suffice to say that the social collapse scenario is realistic enough to be being taken seriously by the military in both America and other countries.

The Age of Stupid is a creative, artistic work, presenting an imaginary future.

It is definitely not a filmed version of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report.

Expert scientists and everyone else who watches it to have different reactions.

Some may love it, and be moved by it; others may hate it and refuse to accept its lessons. All the film’s makers ask is that you do not dismiss it and thereby deny your own responsibility to act on the basis that it is ‘alarmist’ or unscientific.

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A Tribute to the King of Romance Karunanidhi have been interviewed for the documentary.

Gemini Ganesh is flanked by his grandsons.

Kadhal Mannan (King of Romance) was the name by which Gemini Ganesh was known to his fans. Indeed he was one among the three actors who ruled Tamil cinema for three decades: MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesh.

Each had his own acting style and hence, his own charm. MGR was known for his swashbuckling action roles while Sivaji Gnesan was known for his dramas of social relevance but Gemini Ganesh was known for his romantic charm.

Ganesh was born on November 17, 1920 in a Brahmnin familyfrom Pudukottai.

He graduated from the prestigious Madras Christian College and began working as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the same college. His first cinema-related work was in 1947 as Production Executive with the Gemini Studios which is why he added the title Gemini to his name.

Ganesh got his first break in films with Miss Malini. This was followed by Chakravarthi, in which he played Lord Krishna. However, not until 1953, when he played the villain in the film Thai Ullam, did people take notice of him as an actor. The next year, he was upgraded as a hero with Manampol Mangalyam. From then on, he carved out a niche for himself in Tamil cinema with films that required a lot of ‘romance’. Ganesh was one of the “Big Three” of Tamil cinema.

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Kadhal Mannan is now the name of a 90-minute biographical film being produced by the late actor’s daughter Dr. Kamala Selvaraj under her banner of Alamelu Creations. The direction and screenplay is by M Venkatesan, who has produced and directed over 60 ad films, short films, documentaries and music videos. Popular actors Kamal Haasan, Sathyaraj, Sivakumar, Prabhu, Charu Haasan, Sowcar Janaki, Anjali Devi, Saroja Devi, KR Vijaya and producers, directors, singers and even our honorable Chief Minister M

The first part of the 90minute documentary is an enactment and begins from the birth of the actor in Pudukottai till the time he worked as production coordinator in Gemini Studios, working alongside the legendary producer-director S.S. Vasan. The latter part of the biography contains never before seen footage of the actor in his early days and clippings of his movies from the 50s till Avvai Shanmugham. It also has rare photographs of the actor from his early days.

The memoir contains songs and action sequences that are re-enactments and scene recreations from the films which the actor had worked. The specialty of the film is that no black and white or sepia tone has been used but a specific colour palette has been used.

According to Venkatesan, the piece de resistance will be the drum-dance song from the black-and-white film Chandralekha which has been recreated in colour. For good measure, the stunt scenes and the sword fights have also been re-enacted.

Script writer - Director M. Venkatesan briefs Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for the documentary on Gemini Ganesh.

THE KABIR PROJECT

Exploring the Mystic Weaver Poet waters. The bhakti saint Ramananda took his bath as he did every day, by arising before dawn.

On this special day, Ramananda awoke before dawn and found his customary way down to the steps of the Ganges.

As he was walking down the steps to the waters, a little hand reached out in the predawn morning and grabbed the saint’s big toe. Ramananda was taken by surprise and he expressed his shock by calling out the name of God. Looking down he saw in the early morning light the hand of the young Kabir. After his bath in the early light he noticed that on the back of the little one’s hand was written in Arabic the name Kabir.ýÿ He adopted him as son and disciple and brought him back to his ashrama, much to the disturbance of his Hindu students, some of whom left in righteous protest.

It is said that what really made this meeting the most special is that in this case it, was only after Kabir’s enlightenment that Ramananda, his teacher, became enlightened.

The Kabir project is a 6-year initiative undertaken by filmmaker Shabnam Virmani as an artist-in-residency project at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology. Started in 2003, it brings together the experiences of a series of journeys exploring how this 15th century mystic weaver poet lives in diverse social, political, religious and spiritual spaces in India (and Pakistan).

Kabir is not easily categorized as a Sufi or a Yogi — he is all of these. He is revered by Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.

He stands as a unique, saintly, yet very human, bridge between the great traditions that live in India. Kabir says of himself that he is, “at once the child of Allah and Ram.”

He was born in Varanasi (Benares), India, probably around the year 1440 (though other accounts place his birth as early as 1398), to Muslim parents.

But early in his life Kabir became a disciple of the Hindu bhakti saint Ramananda. It was unusual for a Hindu teacher to accept a Muslim student, but tradition says the young Kabir found a creative way to overcome all objections.

The story is told that on one particular day of the year, anyone can become a disciple by having a master speak the name of God over him. It is common for those who live near the Ganges to take their morning bath there in the sacred

Not much is known about what sort of spiritual training Kabir may have received. He did not become a sadhu or rununciate. Kabir never abandoned worldly life, choosing instead to live the balanced life of a householder and mystic, tradesman and contemplative.

Kabir was married, had children, and lived the simple life of a weaver.

Although Kabir labored to bring the often clashing religious cultures of Islam and Hinduism together, he was equally disdainful of professional piety in any form. This earned him the hatred and persecution of the religious authorities in Varanasi. Nearing age 60, he was denounced before the king but, because of his Muslim birth, he was spared execution and, instead, banished from the region.

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traveling through northern India with a group of disciples. In 1518, he died at Maghar near Gorakhpur.

One of the most loved legends associated with Kabir is told of his funeral. Kabir’s disciples disputed over his body, the Muslims wanting to claim the body for burial, the Hindus wanting to cremate the body. Kabir appeared to the arguing disciples and told them to lift the burial shroud. When they did so, they found fragrant flowers where the body had rested. The flowers were divided, and the Muslims buried the flowers while the Hindus reverently committed them to fire.

The core inspiration of the project is music, and Kabir comes alive in 4 documentary films, 2 folk music videos and 10 music CDs and poetry books through the power of song.

The four films in the Kabir Project are: Had-Anhad: Journeys with Ram & Kabir, Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Kumar & Kabir,Chalo Hamara Des: Journeys with Kabir & Friends, Kabira Khada Bazar Mein: Journeys with Sacred & Secular Kabir. They are interwoven in significant ways, but each can be viewed independently.

These films journey into contemporary spaces touched by the music and poetry of the 15th century mystic weaver-poet of north India, Kabir. We meet a diverse array of people in the films – an urban folklorist, a street fruit seller, a social activist, a Dalit folk singer, a Zen Buddhist scholar, a neofascist cleric of a Kabir sect, a Muslim qawwal – each encounter offering a moment of insight into the poetry and its contemporary meanings.

We glimpse not one but many Kabirs.

Sometimes he beckons, sometimes he baffles, but always he pushes you to self-interrogate, to question the boundaries of your ego, identity, nation, ideology, caste and religion— making these journeys unrelentingly inward even as they venture outward.

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The Director of the Kabir Project Shabnam Virmani has directed several documentaries in close partnership with grassroots women’s groups in the country, some of which have won awards.

Shabnam’s camera has consistently and evocatively captured the suffering and the dignity of the rural women of India. When Women Unite, for instance, portrayed the successful anti-liquor agitation by rural women in Andhra Pradesh while in Andhra Pradesh while Tu Zinda Hai depicted the success of women activists in Madhya Pradesh. In a series of eight 1 minute films,which were telecast on major television networks in India. She conveyed the agony of victims of domestic violence and succeeded in spreading awareness. In 2002, she codirected an award-winning community radio program with the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan in Gujarat.

Co-founder (with K.Stalin) of the Drishti Media Arts and Human Rights Collective, Shabnam Virmani began her career as a subeditor in The Times of India in Jaipur in 1987. A few months later she made journalistic history when she filed the story on what happened in Deorala village, Rajasthan: the sati of Roop Kanwar. The next year she won a scholarship to do a Masters degree in Development Communication at the Cornell University, United States. She tried her hand at film making there and her 20minute student film Have a Nice Day, was a personal narrative of her alienation, as an Indian student trying to come to terms with North American culture. Returning to India the next year, she learnt the craft of film making. She said “I was keen to engage in communication that would break down literacy barriers. Films seemed to be the best way of doing that.”

Journeys with Ram and Kabir Had-Anhad (Bounded-Boundless) 102 minutes Kabir was a 15th century mystic poet of north India who defied the boundaries between Hindu and Muslim. He had a Muslim name and upbringing, but his poetry repeatedly invokes the widely revered Hindu name for God – Ram. Who is Kabir’s Ram? This film journeys through song and poem into the politics of religion, and finds a myriad answers on both sides of the hostile border between India and Pakistan.

1st Prize (shared), One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2008, Chennai Mahindra Indo-Americal Arts Council Film Festival, Nov 5-9, New York, USA World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan Bangalore International Film Festival, Jan, 2009, Bangalore, India Kala Ghoda Festival, Feb, 2009, Mumbai Inaugural film, VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb, 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India Telecast twice on NDTV-24/7

Journeys with Kabir and Friends Chalo Hamara Des (Come to My Country) 98 minutes A journey in search of the “des” (country) invoked in the poetry of the 15th century mystic poet of north India – Kabir – this film interweaves the stories of two people from two very different countries, Indian folk singer Prahlad Tipanya and North American scholar Linda Hess. Where is Kabir’s country? The answer is elusive, as we journey through song and poem into these two lives, brought together in an unlikely friendship by the crosscultural resonance of Kabir.

One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan International Festival of Sacred Arts, Feb, 2009 Delhi, India VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb, 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India

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Journeys with Sacred & Secular Kabir Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein (In the Market Stands Kabir) 94 minutes In 15th century north India, the mystic weaver Kabir spoke his poems in the market place, his spirituality firmly grounded in the public square. 600 years after his time, Kabir is found in both spaces – sacred and secular. This film interweaves his deification by the Kabir Panth sect with his secular appropriation by the social activist group Eklavya. The story unfolds through the life of Prahlad Tipanya, a Dalit singer whose participation in both domains, begins to raise difficult questions for him about ritual and organized religion.

One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan

Journeys with Kumar and Kabir

Koi Sunta Hai (Someone is Listening) 96 minutes Interweaving the folk music traditions of the mystic poet Kabir with the life and music of the late classical singer Kumar Gandharva, this film searches for that elusive sound, that jhini si awaaz, Kabir urges us to hear. Where does it resonate, that subtle sound? Journeying between folk and classical, oral and written, rural and urban expressions of this 15th century mystic poet of north India, the film finds moments of both continuity and rupture between these disparate worlds.

One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb, 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India

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NEW FILMS and political discourse.

The film delves in to the prophecy of Ms Sharifa Khanam and thousands of other village women, who believe in freedom, justice humanity and democratic principles. And they now want to control their own affairs, hence constructing the world’s first women’s mosque and also formed the first women Jamat ever to counter against the gender biases, blatant discrimination in the name of religious and patriarchal social order.

Morality TV Aur Loving Jehad

MORALITY TV AUR LOVING JEHAD: EK MANOHAR KAHANI (Paromita Vohra/Hindi with EST/ Colour/31 minutes) In the winter of 2005 Indians switched on their TV sets to watch yet another breaking news story, but one which shocked them. In the town of Meerut, police officers, mostly women, swooped down on lovers in a park and began to beat them up. Along with them they took photographers and news cameramen with the promise of an exclusive sting operation. As images of the operation played again and again on every news channel, Meerut saw some of the couples run away out of fear and shame and serial protests for and against the event, which also made the news for some days.

What is the story of this news story?

The film looks outside the frames that weave the frenetic tapestry of Breaking News on India¹s news channels to uncover a town¹s complex dynamics the fear of love, the constant scrutiny and control of women¹s mobility and sexuality, a history of communal

violence, caste brutalization and feudal equations. Assuming the tone of pulp fiction and tabloid features it examines the legacy of this kind of story telling, from the relishing accounts of true crime magazines like Manohar Kahaniyan to the double morality of pulp detective fiction to the tabloid news on Indian TV, to unfold a thrilling but disturbing tale of its own.

Cinematography is by Avijit Mukul Kishore and editing by Sankalp Meshram. The film is narrated by Lovleen Mishra.

SHIFTING PROPHECY (Merajur Rahman Baruah/English) Shifting Prophecy is about the struggles of Muslim women in Tamil Nadu. Woven around Sharifa Khanam who is trying to build a mosque for Muslim women, the film explores the emergence of a rural Muslim women movement in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The essence of their staggering struggle engaging with the question of gender violence, linking with the issues of poverty, survival, and women’s rights thus locating Muslim women’s concerns within a larger civic

The film was awarded the Rajat Kamal for being the Best Film on Social Issues at the 55th National Award as well as the Best Director Award at the Hyderabad International Film Festival in 2008.

BEWARE DOGS (Spandan Banerjee/English and Hindi/40 minutes) Beware Dogs follows four musicians in the groundbreaking rock band Indian Ocean as they work on a film score over the course of a day.

Individually and collectively, they discuss their lives, their fears, their hopes, and their music. We hear their moods and traditions reflected in their music that wafts through the crumbling old mansion in old Delhi where they are being filmed; and we witness the process of their musical creation.

Indian Ocean has done the soundtracks of several independent movies.

NARMEEN (Dipti Gogna/Hindi/18 minutes) The film is about loss of identity, of humanity, of association, of memories and of attachment in the trying times of partition. The Partition of the country is drawing close. Noor is a young woman grieving the death of her daughter. She exists in the dreamlike state, unable to come to terms with reality. Their servant boy, also a DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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Muslim, is not even considering the option of going. He actually voices a lot of opinions that Noor ascribes to.

In their neighbourhood shifts a Sikh man with his young son. The man, who has migrated from would-be Pakistan, has lost his wife in one of the massacres. Noor takes a liking for the young boy but her attempts at befriending him are blatantly thwarted by the father. Will humanity prevail in the times of collective madness?

7 DAYS IN SLOW MOTION (Umakanth Thumrugoti/Hindi/ 100 minutes) A group of 6th graders show their passion for movies by making one themselves. The film centres around Ravi and his buddies who share this insatiable passion towards film making but it goes miles beyond that. A chance encounter hands this group a high end camera which has to be returned before the end of seven days. It wouldn’t take a lot of deliberation for them to decide what they want to do with it except that they also have exams towards the end of the week.

For Ravi who is the most determined of the lot and also the class topper, this means a lot of problems. The biggest of them is an obsessed mother (played

by Rajeshwari Sachdev).who is determined to hide her own failure in life through the academic success of

7 Days in Slow Motion

her son. She is shown in an attempt to redeem her ego from the clutches of her own mother who unabashedly worships her other daughter. This affects Ravi so much that he has nightmares about his mother committing suicide in case he fails the exams and he becomes incapable of sleep. But there is more than what meets the eye.

ANDHERI (Sushrut Jain/Hindi with EST) Based on true events, the film is shot on the crowded streets of Mumbai and offers a gritty, realistic depiction of the city. It takes place in the span of a single day. The city of Mumbai is home to Andheri

millions of stories of hope and despair.

Anita’s is one such story.

Ever since she was a little girl, Anita has led a quiet, lonely existence as a live-in maid for the cantankerous old Mrs. Kapoor. But now as a young woman, she dreams of an independent life in the world outside her window — a world, which both entices and terrifies her. One day, sent out to buy massage oil by Mrs. Kapoor, Anita impulsively decides to run away. On a crowded Mumbai city bus she sits down next to a stranger, Salma, a newlywed Muslim girl. The girls strike a rare human connection. Just as Anita begins to feel hopeful about the new life she is embarking on, the conversation is abruptly interrupted.

Anita is forced to face her worst fears and make a decision about her future.

Cinematography is by Pankaj Kumar and editing by Chris Meagher

WHEN THIS MAN DIES (Arun Sukumar/22 minutes) The monotony of an office worker’s life is disrupted when he receives a letter offering him money when a particular person dies. As these letters and the promised money are delivered to him regularly, his fixed daily patterns start to change along with his life style. The theme is that of a man caught up in his routine and financially difficult life getting corrupt with easy money, turning him into a killer.

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THE FICTION (Spandan Banerjee/English and Hindi/42 minutes) The film explores the fictions of friendship and intimacy that the characters in this film spin amongst themselves in the big bad city of Delhi.

In the daily grind of extremely excruciating rigmarole each one comfortably succumb to the fictional developments. The Fiction is Banerjee’s first narrative film.

MIDNIGHT LOST AND FOUND

The Private Life of Albert Pinto

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF ALBERT PINTO (Sidharth Singh/Hindi/10 minutes) Albert Pinto (Shiv Pandit) is a struggling actor in the burgeoning film industry in Mumbai. A typical day takes him from one audition to another.

Things start taking a dark turn in his life after a series of phone calls. This leads the audience to discover the private realm of this deeply complex individual. That perhaps may be the grim reality behind the strugglers of this tinsel world. Cinematography by Laxman Utekar and edited by Kartikeya Singh

This is Shradha Pasi’s diploma film made at the : Film and Television Institute of India. Cinematography is

by Hitesh Korat and editing is by Saikat Ray. Music is composed by Saurabh Kumar.

THE FURNISHED ROOM (Priyanka Chhabra/Hindi/ 8 minutes 33 seconds) An experimental film on the continuous passage of time, the film shows three O Henry stories happening simultaneously in three different frames.

(Atul Sabharwal/Hindi with EST/19 minutes) Arvind (Deepak Dobriyal) works nights, alone, behind the iron bars of a chemist shop in Mumbai. He passes the time reading Batman comics. A call girl (Geetika Tyagi) visits his shop every night to purchase a condom pack for her shy customers. Their repeated encounters help them both in understanding each other and slowly a subtle bond starts developing between them. When girl asks why an young man like him finds a respite in reading, ,Arvind says, Batman is his hero because Batman always saves people in distress .Then, one day, Arvind finds the super hero in him –a la Batman. The film won the Jury Award for best short film at this year’s Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

DHIN TAK DHA (Shraddha Pasi /Hindi with EST/ Colour/22 minutes) Purely by chance one day, the village garage mechanic Gopal encounters a troupe of traditional artists who tour the countryside performing in villages along the way. Gopal gets carried away with the romance and freewheeling freedom apparently enjoyed by the travelling artists. But as his involvement with the group continues, his attempts at helping them backfire and miserably, he is forced to leave.

That is, until another chance encounter comes his way …

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ERASED (Neha Thakkar/Hindi with EST/8 minutes 23 seconds) A street child obsessed with a heroine on a film poster, grapples with his burgeoning sexuality as he stands on the precipice of impending manhood.

While selling flowers on the streets of Mumbai he orchestrates encounters with a number of women in order to collect valuables that have a special significance and relationship to his paper goddess. A girl’s perfume, a woman’s ring, a look or a feel enable him to transform the paper heroine of his fantasies into sensations more tangible. His child-like innocence is slowly erased.

VIKRUTI (Viplove K/Tamil and English/8 minutes and 35 seconds) A woman from the lower middle class of southern India agrees to be a surrogate mother for a foreign couple.

When the child is born and it is diagnosed as having a congenital problem, the baby becomes a burden for everyone involved in this situation.

Erased

“... evocative use of the language of cinema blended in a simple, yet strong & sensitive [style] that unveils the tiny skirmishes of life between siblings & the experiences of childhood that they look back on as adults.”

SUKRIT’S SUNDAYS REWIND (Atul Taishete/Hindi/9 minutes) The story of three thieves, one blind, is shown backwards. After cracking a safe filled with diamonds, they decide to play Russian Roulette. The survivor will keep all.

HARAVALELE INDRADHANUSH (Dhiraj Meshram/Marathi with EST/ 22 minutes) When a young man (Chinmay Patwardhan) goes to the ancestral temple with his new bride (Anupama Rajopadhye), his brother, his brother’s wife and their son, he recalls the last summer that he and his brother spent time with their grandmother. With this recollection comes a guilt he had long suppressed. Meshram received the Gold Award for Excellence in Short Fiction from the India Documentary Producers’ Association for the film’s 60

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(Vasant Nath/8 minutes) The film effectively conveys the loneliness and void created in the life a six year old grandson, who on Sundays (off from school)used to enjoy and also observe and sometimes help his grandpa in carrying out his daily chores. Since his parents used to remain more busy on Sundays, to enjoy and the company of his retired grandpa.

After his sudden demise, he was experiencing an emotional and psychological void on his holiday. That state of mind of the child has been effectively depicted which touches our hearts. The child actor was natural and spontaneous.

BILAL (Sourav SarangiBengali with EST/88 minutes) The story begins inside an 8x10 feet partitioned room in central Kolkata.

Almost nothing is visible inside. In

fact, Bilal’s parents don’t need any light to see things around; they are blind. Bilal is just three years old and he has an infant brother. Both can see.

So together they live as if in a game of seeing and not seeing. Though of a very tender age, Bilal is fully aware of the physical handicap of his parents.

He knows how to communicate with them through sounds and touch. He is never jobless or tired, be it guiding his blind parents through the traffic or teasing his brother, as all elder brothers do! Whenever Bilal is in the mood for mischief, his parents become strict and he jumps into the world outside as adventurous escapades. Bilal tastes life on street... it’s hard. But he never gives up. Very unusually for our times, Bilal’s upbringing and care seems to have become a collective responsibility of all the neighbors. The film tells this curious story by observing the little boy over a year and capturing rare moments of sharing love, fun, cruelty and hope... the wonder world of Bilal.

The film is almost a one-man show with Sourav Sarangi playing cinematographer, sound recordist, editor and director. Additional Camera work is

by Somdev Chatterjee and Tapas Ganguly.

VIDEO PRIMER Outputting Your Video (This is a continuation of our series on understanding the world of video.)

Once you have finished assembling and editing clips, it’s time to output your final video. These days, creative professionals are expected to deliver movies that can be used in multiple media. Broadcast and film professionals alike are now creating Web-based work, while Web designers may need to create animations that are output in video formats.

The Web is rapidly gaining importance as a vehicle for distributing video content. From movie trailers to training programs to sharing the experience of personal events such as weddings, video delivered via the Internet or a corporate intranet is now a reality.

To address this growing need for flexibility, Premiere and After Effects both offer a wide range of output options that enable you to produce high-quality output for film, video, multimedia, and the Web. Getting Video Out of Your Computer The program you edited in the Timeline does not actually contain the material from which it was pieced together— rather, it references your source files.

Before export, make sure that the Timeline is ready to output at the quality you require. For example, replace any offline files with highresolution files suitable for final export.

To get your edited program out of your computer in one piece, you can: • Record the Timeline to physical media including videotape or motion picture film, if you have the proper hardware for video or film transfer, or have access to a service provider that offers the appropriate equipment and services.

• Export a video file for viewing from a hard disk, removable cartridge,

CD-ROM, DVD, or the Web • You can also output stills or sequences of stills, portions of your Timeline as clips, and/or an EDL (edit decision list).

Good Housekeeping In professional production environments, once a video project has been completed, it must be cleared from the editing system to make room for new work. Because the multi-gigabyte storage media that would be needed is costly, and the process of uploading can be very time-consuming, projects—including the referenced source files—are not usually saved in their entirety. If you do want to save your entire project, you’ll want to conserve space. So, when you are satisfied with the results of your editing, you may want to trim unused frames from some or all of your source clips and remove unused clips in their entirety from Project Bins.

Typically, however, a digital master file is exported and archived, the original raw footage is stored on tapes, and an EDL is saved. If the project needs to be revised later, the master file can often be edited.

For more extensive repurposing, the EDL can be used to generate the necessary clips from the original tapes.

Files used to develop titles, graphics, and animations, as well as portions of the project that have undergone extreme manipulation to achieve special effects may also be archived.

Exporting to Videotape You can record your edited program onto videotape directly from your computer. This can be as simple as playing the Timeline and recording on a connected device. When you record DV video back to DV tape, all that is required is the IEEE 1394 connection.

However, if you plan to record DV audio and video to an analog format, such as VHS tape, you’ll need a device that is capable of converting DV to analog using the connectors supported by your analog video recorder. Most DV cameras and all DV video tape recorders are capable of this conversion; some DV cameras require you to record the video to DV tape, then dub the DV tape to the analog video recorder.

Exporting to Digital Files You can prepare variations of a program or clip for a variety of different uses. For example, you can create separate versions for DVD distribution and Web viewing. Adobe Premiere and After Effects both offer built-in support for exporting the following video file formats: Microsoft AVI, Animated GIF, QuickTime, and MPEG. Adobe Premiere includes plug-ins that export RealMedia and Windows Media video files for the Web, and After Effects can export files in the Macromedia Flash (SWF) format.

Several audio-only formats and a variety of still-image and sequence formats are also supported by both applications. Additional file formats may be available if provided with your video capture card or if you add thirdparty plug-in software.

When you export to digital files, you need to adjust settings, depending on the kind of output you need. These settings may include such choices as the data rate for playback, the color depth, the frame size and frame rate, the quality, and what type of compression method, or codec, to use.

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compression settings are arrived at through trial and error. You should always test the files you export on the type of platform or equipment you expect your audience to use, prior to distribution.

With Adobe Premiere, you can export multiple video programs or clips to multiple files automatically. This is known as batch processing. The Batch Processing command uses the export settings and compression options you specify for each video file being created. You can create and save multiple batch lists for easy, repeatable exporting of groups of projects. Batch processing can save time and greatly simplify the following tasks: • Exporting several video files overnight, or while you attend to something else • Testing several different export settings files to find out which work best • Creating versions for different media, such as videotape, CD, and Web delivery

Economics of Digital Filmmaking For the last 25 years, many respected filmmakers like George Lucas have predicted that electronic or digital cinematography would bring about a revolution in filmmaking, by dramatically lowering costs.

For low-budget and so-called “nobudget” productions, digital cinematography on prosumer cameras clearly has cost benefits over shooting on 35 mm or even 16 mm film. The cost of film stock, processing, telecine, negative cutting, and titling for a feature film can run to tens of thousands of dollars according to From Reel to Deal, a book on independent film production by Dov S-S Simens, based on his 2-day film course. Costs directly attributable to shooting a low-budget feature on 35 mm film could be $50,000 on the low side, and over twice that on the high side. In contrast, obtaining a highdefinition prosumer camera and sufficient tape stock to shoot a feature can easily be done for under $10,000, or significantly less if, as is typically

James Cameron’s latest film Avatar was shot using digital technology.

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the case with 35 mm shoots, the camera is rented.

If a 35 mm print of the film is required, an April 2003 article in American Cinematographer found the costs between shooting film and video are roughly the same. The benefit to shooting video is that the cost of a filmout is only necessary should the film find a distributor to pick up the cost.

When shooting film, the costs are upfront and cannot be deferred in such a manner. On the other hand, the same article found 16 mm film to deliver better image quality in terms of resolution and dynamic range. Given the progress digital acquisition, film recording, and related technologies have seen in the last few years, it is unclear how relevant this article is today.

Most extremely low-budget movies never receive wide distribution, so the impact of low-budget video acquisition on the industry remains to be seen. It is possible that as a result of new distribution methods and the long tail effects they may bring into play, more

gains wider use for finishing movies shot on film, and as digital acquisition technology continues to improve, it seems likely digital cinematography will continue to gain wider acceptance.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an Oscar Award winning film which was shot using digital technology.

such productions may find profitable distribution in the future. Traditional distributors may also begin to acquire more low-budget movies as better affordable digital acquisition eliminates the liability of low picture quality, and as they look for a means to escape the increasingly drastic “boom and bust” financial situation created by spending huge amounts of money on a relatively small number of very large movies, not all of which succeed.

The mainstream industry in Hollywood has also begun to accept digital cinematography and the success of a few of the recent films have only added to this acceptance. In 2009, the Academy Award for Best Cinematography was awarded for a film where more than half was shot digitally, Slumdog Millionaire. Another nominee, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was also shot digitally.

It was different in the last century, virtually all movies have been shot on film then and nearly every film student learned about how to handle 16 mm and 35 mm film. Today, digital acquisition accounts for the vast majority of moving image acquisition, as most content for broadcast is shot on digital formats.

The majority of movies destined for theatrical release are still shot on film.

Digital cinematography cameras suitable for acquiring footage intended for theatrical release have meanwhile gained widespread adoption, digital cinematography gains more market share every year while mechanical film cameras lose market share every year.

Some directors have expressed an openness for either format, such as Jean-Jacques Annaud who used 35 mm and HDCAM together for Two Brothers, or Quentin Tarantino, who, while he ended up shooting his contribution on film, expressed an interest in digital acquisition for Grindhouse.

Directors Christopher Nolan, M. Night Shyamalan, Oliver Stone, and Paul Thomas Anderson belong to the opposing camp, and have vowed to continue to shoot on film.

Lower-budget and limited-release movies have adopted digital cinematography at a somewhat faster pace, although some filmmakers still choose to shoot such productions on 16 mm film, the traditional medium for that market segment.

Digital technology has eclipsed analog alternatives in many other content creation and distribution markets. On the content creation side, digital photo cameras significantly outsell film photo cameras, digital video tape formats like MiniDV have superseded analog tape formats, digital audio workstations have almost entirely replaced multitrack tape recorders, digital non-linear editing systems have displaced Moviola/Steenbeck equipment as the standard means of editing movies, and page layout software running on desktop computers has come to dominate the graphic design industry.

On the distribution side, CDs have largely replaced LPs, DVDs have largely replaced VHS tapes, and digital cable systems are displacing analog cable systems. It seems likely that despite current resistance on the part of some in the industry, digital technology will eventually be similarly successful in the feature film acquisition and theatrical exhibition markets.

With this article we come to the end of Digital Video Primer. We hope this series has answered enough of your questions to encourage you to get started. We know that once you do, you and your audience will be thrilled with the rewards upon the screening of your first motion picture project— whether personal or professional. If you still feel somewhat confused and hesitant, however, it’s not surprising—there is a lot to know about video. But the best thing to do is to jump right in and learn as you go. Finding the information you need is easy with the amazing amount of information that is now available on the web (see box)

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RESOURCES FOR DIGITAL VIDEO Here are a few resources for you to keep in touch with information on Digital Video and the industry that has formed around it. Many of them are free or available for reading online.

MAGAZINES & NEWSLETTERS AV Video Multimedia Producer Covers video production, multimedia, and presentation www.avvideo.com/Htm/homeset2.htm About www.desktopvideo.about.com/gi/pages/ mmail.htm Good information on Desktop video Adobe www.adobe.com/services/newsletter/ subscribe.html Featuring articles, features, tips, and techniques from experienced Web producers and designers Computer Videomaker www.videomaker.com Covers camcorders, computers, tools and techniques for creating video Digital Editor Online www.digitaleditor.com Master the tools needed to make nonlinear and digital editing profitable Digital Media Net www.digitalmedianet.com/ newsletters/ Topics related to digital content creation Digital Video Magazine www.dv.com Covers mainstream digital video Film & Video www.filmandvideomagazine.com/ Covers film and video production Millimeter www.millimeter.com Resource for technology trends in animation, production and postproduction for film, video and streaming Post Magazine www.postmagazine.com Resource for video, audio, and film post-production Videography www.videography.com Covers the professional video production market Video Systems www.videosystems.com Covers the video production process from acquisition through presentation ONLINE RESOURCES Tool Farm www.toolfarm.com/tips Tips on using network rendering, 3D channels, and Mesh Warp in After Effects 64

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FlickTips www.newvenue.com/flicktips Tips for low budget video-web production.

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Krishna docu in 8 languages A documentary that explores the archaeological, astronomical and other evidences to confirm the existence of Lord Krishna is set to be dubbed in eight Indian languages besides Spanish and German. Krishna: History or Myth, made by UKbased nuclear medicine physician Dr Manish Pandit, is a perfect blend of blind belief and concrete evidence related to Lord Krishna’s existence.

According to Dr Pandit, Krishna “existed in reality and not merely in the imagination of devotees and scripture writers.” The film captures the beliefs of Krishna worshippers on one hand and juxtaposes it with archaeological, historical and astronomical evidences on the other, to make the point that he “existed in reality and not merely in the imagination of devotees and scripture writers.”

“The film relies on four premises — the archaeological evidence, the astronomical evidence, the living traditions and the oral traditions to prove that Krishna existed and the Mahabharat did occur,” says Dr Pandit, originally from Pune and now working as a consultant and an honorary senior clinical lecturer in nuclear medicine in United Kingdom.”

“There are 150 astronomical references in Mahabharata. If it were a mere exaggerated account of a family feud as some claim, why would there be so many astronomical references. One could have written a fictional story using a few of them,” he told the media, while he was on a visit to India to promote the documentary.

According to him there is a planetary software which substantiates the astronomical events as referred to in the book. “Some of the astronomical references are straight, some are a conjunction of stars and comets,” Pandit said.

recently found evidences of the existence of Saraswati river, believed mythical, which led to many intellectuals discarding the Mahabharata as a figment of imagination of its author,” says Pandit. The film also explores coins which have images that are similar to Krishna and also Balarama, issued by Greek Kings as well as the details on the homage paid by Greek kings to Krishna.

The discovery of underwater Dwarka, the seal of Dwarka, the inscription of Badami by Pulakeshini provide the evidence related to the existence of Krishna on earth.

“Under archaeological evidence, the film looks at the Hastinapur excavation, the

Under the living traditions, it traces the banyan tree at Kuruskshetra, said to be a witness to the battle, people worshipping Ganges and chanting of Krishna in Kurukshetra.

Dr Pandit, an expert on comparative religions, has added that many Catholic priests and believers have been interviewed, who are now part of the ISKON movement on their opinion about Krishna.

“The film tries to verify Krishna`s existence. It does not attempt to make a statement on his Godhood,” said Pandit who says he was struck by the idea of making the film while meditating.

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