Screening of “Kora Rajee” and ” Gaon Chodab Nahi” on Monday, the 6th of July at 6:00 p.m. in room no. 4, TISS

 

Kora Rajee
(The land of the diggers)

Kora Rajee is the first film in Kurukh,a tribal language. The film is about the stories of the adivasi labourers from the tea gardens of Assam and Punjab. People in this film talk about themselves and their ancestors, their migrations and exiles, their continued exploitation and marginalisation. This complex film touches upon many issues, ranging from labour migrations in the 19th century to displacement and globalisation in the 21st century.

About the Filmmakers Meghnath & Biju Toppo
Meghnath and Biju Toppo are founders of AKHRA, a group working in the field of culture and communication in Jharkhand. Meghnath is an activist working in Jharkhand for last 25 years. He has been participating in the people’s struggle against destructive development. As a film maker he tries to document voices that remain unheard.Currently, he is a teacher of Mass Communication at St. Xaviers College, Ranchi.Biju Toppo is one of the first Adivasi film makers to have effectively used the camera to counter the misrepresentation of his community by the ‘mainstream’ media. Their films have received national and international recognition.

Gaon chodab nahi!
(We will not leave our lands!)
Music Video on Adivasi Struggles in India
5 Minutes

A cry that echoes through forests and mountains in India today is of the
adivasis, the original or indigenous dwellers who face massive
displacement due to developmental projects that are destroying the roots of
their survival base…Gaon chhodab nahin! A voice of assertion that
echoes throughout this music video that captures the marginalisation
of adivasis all over India and forces us to ask: In whose favour does
the God of Development work, and whom does it curse?

About the Director – K.P.Sasi
Sasi is a documentary film makers and in the last 25 years, has made more than
20 documentaries to be used by various people’s movements. He has made 3 feature
films which have received national and international recognition. His music video
America-America is an anti-war film and has been used all over the world. The
music video “Gaon chodab nahi” is latest to his credit.

Screening of Filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak’s “Shadows Formless” and “Antaral” at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, the 3rd of July in room no:5, TISS

Vikalp@TISS screening of Etre et avoir (To be and To have) at 6pm on wednesday,the 21st of january 2009 in room no. V,TISS

  In a village schoolhouse in Auvergne, Georges Lopez teaches 13 children, ages ranging from about four to 12. Against a landscape of mountains and farmland, the children gather in Lopez’s warm and colorful classroom. As the children learn to read and write with Lopez’s help, they also learn to live side by side.
Inspired by the French phenomenon of ‘single-class’ schools ÊTRE ET AVOIR charts the life of a small one-class village school over the course of one academic year, and takes a warm and serene look at primary education in the French heartlands.

Director Nicolas Philibert began his education by studying philosophy and later worked as an assistant director with filmmakers such as Rene Allio and Alain Tanner. His filmography includes Trilogy for a Lone Man (Trilogie pour un homme seul, 1987), Animals (Un animal, des animaux, 1996), Louvre City (La Ville Louvre, 1990), In the Land of the Deaf (Le Pays des sourds, 1993) and the recently released Back to Normandy (2008).

screening of children of heaven at 6 p.m, 7th january,2008 in room no.4

Zohre’s shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes, Ali’s.
School awaits. Will the plan succeed?

Children of Heaven(1997)  is a film by Iranian film maker Majid Majidi and has won several awards.

Screening of Ek Dozen Paani (2008) at 6pm on 17th December 2008, at Room No. V, TISS

Welcome to Adda once again. We start our screenings this new semester with
Ek Dozen Paani (2008)
6 p.m.
17th of December 2008
Room No. V in TISS.

In Mumbai we witness the passage of water from rain to sea via lakes, watersheds, pipes, pumps, pots, human and animal bodies, drains and sewers. These hidden passages describe a unique social, chemical and political structure, a map of ourselves in the modern world.

More than many of us, residents in the bastis of Jogeshwari spend time arranging this substance, its leaks and sources.  As part of an investigation into the social life of water in these areas,  Ek Dozen Paani is a collaborative project between youth of two community  organizations- Aakansha Sewa Sangh and Agaaz, Arts Collective CAMP and anthropologist Nikhil Anand.

Working together since March 2008, we have been thinking through questions of citizenship and distribution by looking at how residents form relationships with water and its infrastructures: including official water supply, the rains, alternative plumbing, ground water, nallas, and so on.

As the name of the film suggests, water has several narrative flows.  The films have been made with the youth groups shooting on their own, bringing their footage into a collective pool, and writing over images in analytical, diarisitic or essay styles. These twelve stories speak of water’s time and place, of leaky systems and subterranean flows, of struggle and/over imagination.

A discussion with the  filmmakers will follow the screening

Screening of Animatrix on Wednesday, Sept 10, 6pm at the Conference Hall

Adda presents a screening of Animatrix on Wednesday, September 10th, 6pm at the Conference Hall of Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated short films released in 2003, and set in the fictional universe of the Matrix series.

Vikalp@TISS Screening of The Great Indian School Show by Avinash Deshpande at 6pm on Friday, 5th September ’08

Vikalp@TISS presents a screening of The Great Indian School Show by Avinash Deshpande on Friday, 5th September ’08 at the Conference Hall, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

The film maker will be present for a discussion following the screening.

‘1984’: George Orwell writes about the Big Brother watching

2005: ‘1984’ becomes reality in a city in India

In The Great Indian School Show (2005), Avinash Deshpande takes you through the surreal images of a school in Nagpur which is ‘controlled’ and ‘watched over’ by more than 200 CCTVs in classrooms and staffrooms. The Principal is convinced that the technology of CCTVs is the best thing to happen to education in India. Is it?

This Teacher’s Day, take a ‘look’ at what the state of the art technology can do to the state of education in India.

Conference Hall, TISS

Friday, September 5th, 2008

6 P.M.

Screening of “About Elsewhere” and “Moustaches Unlimited” on 27th August ’08

Adda presents a screening of two documentaries on Wednesday, 27th August ’08 at the Conference Hall, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

About Elsewhere (29 min)
A film by Priya Sen

The film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, Priya Sen.

Moustaches Unlimited (30min)
A film by Vasudha Joshi

About Elsewhere is a film that seeks to foreground the impossibility of fixing notions of sexuality through ideas of “identity” and “language”. As the film moves through various worlds the filmmaker has inhabited, it suggests a self in constant formation; one that constructs itself from parts and places that are in themselves, fragments of memory and experience. The film uses the metaphor of a “shell” as a place of repose and withdrawal from which it is possible to emerge. Uniquely, and with all the flair and multiplicity that accompanies a way of being.

Moustaches Unlimited is a charming, irreverent documentary film. The film is an assemblage of interviews, opinions, poetry and story that explores the stubborn legacy and allure of the eponymous facial feature of men and some intrepid women. Somehow both celebratory and satirical, Moustaches’ exploration of the male body politics is amusingly illuminating. It will take the bushiest of moustaches to hide the grins that this film elicits from its audience.

Screening of Ardhsatya on Wednesday, 20th August ’08, 6 p.m.

Adda will screen Ardhsatya on Wednesday, 20th August ’08 in the Conference Hall, Tata Institute of Social Sciences at 6 p.m.

Based on a book written by Vijay Tendulkar, Ardh Satya is a film by Govind Nihalini. In this acclaimed cop-drama, the protagonist, played by Om Puri, is a policeman struggling both with the evils around him and with his own frailties. The film also stars Amrish Puri, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar.

The following is an excerpt of Dilip Chitre’s poem spoken by Om Puri in the film.

Chakravyuh mein ghusne se pehle,
kaun tha mein aur kaisa tha,
yeh mujhe yaad hi na rahega.

Chakravyuh mein ghusne ke baad,
mere aur chakravyuh ke beech,
sirf ek jaanleva nikat’ta thi,
iska mujhe pata hi na chalega.

Chakravyuh se nikalne ke baad,
main mukt ho jaoon bhale hi,
phir bhi chakravyuh ki rachna mein
farq hi na padega.

Marun ya maarun,
maara jaoon ya jaan se maardun.
iska faisla kabhi na ho paayega.

Soya hua aadmi jab
neend se uthkar chalna shuru karta hai,
tab sapnon ka sansar use,
dobara dikh hi na paayega.

Us roshni mein jo nirnay ki roshni hai
sab kuchh s’maan hoga kya?

Ek palde mein napunsakta,
ek palde mein paurush,
aur theek taraazu ke kaante par
ardh satya.

Screening of Persepolis! – Wednesday, August 13th ’08

On Wednesday, 13th of August ’08, Adda presents a screening of the film ‘Persepolis’ at 6 pm in the Conference Hall, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Persepolis is an adaptation of Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel detailing the trials faced by an outspoken Iranian girl who finds her unique attitude and outlook on life repeatedly challenged during the Islamic revolution.