The FleaPit Doc Night
Persistence Resistance: A festival of Contemporary Indian Political films
Entry: £5 per evening of films or £8 for both evenings (up to 11 films). Tickets available at The FleaPit on the day.
4.30pm-10.30pm
Held in New Delhi, India on the 28, 29 and 30 April 2008 Persistence Resistance aimed to create a cinema space to celebrate the diverse nature of films in India and to some extent, the world. The idea was to showcase the range of subjects and forms the films work with, and to interrogate the emerging aesthetics of political filmmaking. It is apparent that in the last decade or so Indian image-makers have crossed new boundaries, carried out different formal experiments and also recast the notion of political filmmaking. Women have played a significant role in this and have given a new formal twist to political documentaries that explore and engage with form and the political terrain in a nuanced manner with spaces for ambiguities and multiple readings. It seems that political films are no longer bound by the binaries of the past, perhaps developed during war filmmaking, and yet there is no one picture emerging, for the formal explorations are as vast as the diverse subjects.
Persistence Resistance screened nearly 100 films over three days in a multitude of spaces and manners.
The FleaPit is proud to present a mini version of Persistence Resistance for documentary lovers and watchers in London. We are attempting to showcase works by some of the pioneering filmmakers of India, many of whom are women, as well as locate some of key challenges and issues facing the nation.
Wednesday July 23,2008
On this day we see the counter part of the nation: the citizen and confront a series of situations that face citizens. In
Access Denied we screen two films that represent movements by ordinary people to claim their entitlements on natural resources. In
Invisible Citizens three films present diverse forms of exclusion using different styles, and
Neo-global Citizens is an ethnographic journey into the dislocated land-space of software companies.
4.30pm - Introduction
Access Denied
4.40pm -
The Bitter Drink directed by P Baburaj & C Saratchandran, 26 mins.
The people of Plachimada, a majority of them tribals, launched a struggle against one of the most powerful corporates in the world - Coca Cola.
5.10pm -
Between the Devil and the Deep Sea directed by Saraswati Rao Kavula, 73 mins.
This film documents the troubles and travails of the traditional marine fisher folk from Andhra and brings into focus the relationship between environment and the survival of human beings.
Break
Invisible Citizens
6.40pm -
Milind Soman Made Me Gay directed by Harjant Gill, 27 mins.
The film employs a unique mix of visual elements along with voice over narration to juxtapose memories of the filmmaker’s past against stories of three gay South Asian men living in the diaspora.
7.10pm -
Notes From The Crematorium directed by Amudhan R P, 25 mins.
The film introduces viewers to the world of undertakers, a community that is only remembered in the event of death and are among the lowest in the caste hierarchy.
Break
7.50pm -
Manjuben Truckdriver directed by Sherna Dastur, 51 mins.
Manjuben, a woman truckdriver has broken the stereotypes that are part of the social landscape she lives in. She has created an identity for herself against social,cultural and economic norms, and still commands respect from her peers.
Break
Neo-global Citizens
8.55pm -
Coding Culture: Bangalore's Software Industry directed by Gautam Sonti, 92 mins.
A series of three observational films that explore the diverse cultures of work in Bangalore's software outsourcing industry.
www.magiclanternfoundation.org
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