[Reader-list] ‘Amir Khan’ and ‘Finding Carlton’ - two films on music at The FD Zone on 20th October. Mumbai

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

Dear friends,




On 20th October we will bring you two delightful films on music and music-makers. One of the musicians is the renowned classical maestro Ustad Amir Khan and the other the relatively unknown Carlton Kitto, the maverick guitarist from Calcutta, dedicated to pure jazz. The films reflect on their lives, posing the eternal questions about art and patronage; the place of the artist in society and as a family person. And finally, the love for one’s music and the drive to keep a tradition alive.

SNS Sastry’s beautiful film ‘Amir Khan’, made in 1970, is a compelling advocate of the short film as a high-art form in its own right. Susheel J Kurien’s labour of love ‘Finding Carlton’ started with him finding a news report on the jazz guitarist Carlton Kitto. That encouraged him to travel to Calcutta and make this film, crowd-funded by jazz lovers in India and abroad.

We will also continue our study of the newsreel as a document of visual history by looking at the 'Indian News Review' series. 

INDIAN NEWS REVIEW NO. 310
English, B/W, 35mm, 8 min, the early 1950s.

Funds are collected for flood relief. Flood images from UP, Bihar, Assam, and West Bengal. In Bombay, films stars perform the finest performance of their careers and appeal for donations. Over a lakh of rupees are collected – the stars are both the givers and askers. The funds are put to immediate use, food is distributed, medical supplies brought in and rehabilitation of the flood victims is facilitated. The road to progress - backward regions are developed in Kashmir and villagers help build the roads that will bring prosperity. An exhibition of child art in Bombay and the lumbering locomotive called ‘Rhino’ in the US.

AMIR KHAN
Hindi and Urdu, B/W, 35mm, 19 min, 1970

Direction – SNS Sastry
Camera – SNS Sastry, SJ Joshi
Sound – NP Sitaram, RC Chendvankar
Editing – MN Chaubal
Producer – Mohan Wadhwani

SNS Sastry’s portrait of the Hindustani classical master Ustad Amir Khan is at once gentle and audacious in the way it sets up the images of his world of concerts, disciples, travel, his adoring and nagging wife and their little child. Of course, there is Khan sahab’s beautiful singing as well, as are his reflections on recognition and remuneration. 

This film occupies an inspiring and enviable place between documentary and fiction and could as much be a film about the film maker and his place in this world as an artist.

FINDING CARLTON
English, Colour, High definition video, 75 min, 2011

Direction – Susheel J Kurien
Camera – Avijit Mukul Kishore, Matt Bockelman
Sound – Suresh Rajamani
Editing – Rikhav Desai
Associate Editor – Sruti Visweswaran
Production – Half Diminished Film in collaboration with Chrysalis Films

'Finding Carlton' is an original and lovingly crafted documentary about the story of jazz in India. Built around a portrait of Carlton Kitto, the maverick guitarist dedicated to pure jazz, particularly bebop, the film takes the audience on a richly atmospheric journey into India’s little-known jazz age that lasted from the 1920s to the 1970s and until now has gone unrecorded in the history of our country and the history of jazz. Carlton, 68, is an unsung cultural custodian who has nurtured hundreds of young musicians in the jazz idiom, and who still plays to half-empty Calcutta hotels. What emerges is the unknown and mesmerizing story of a bygone era and the testimony of one of its last survivors. 

Weaving verité scenes of Carlton’s isolated, impoverished, yet passionately dedicated existence, 'Finding Carlton' uncovers an untold story of cultural cross-pollination born of the pre-war African-American diaspora, the American Army presence in Calcutta during the Second World War and of the US State Department’s sponsored jazz tours in India. The film also illuminates the influence of American jazz on Bollywood and provides one of the earliest examples of cultural globalization.

http://www.findingcarlton.com/

Director Susheel J Kurien, the film’s crew and jazz enthusiast Naresh Fernandes will be present at the screening to discuss the film with the audience.

The screenings are open to all. Please spread the word and circulate this widely!

Date and time
Saturday, 20th October, 4 pm

Venue:
RR Theatre
10th floor
Films Division
24, Pedder Road
Mumbai - 400026

Directions
Nearest station - Grant Road. From Grant Road (West), take a taxi, or bus no 155 to Pedder Road. The Films Division building is located at the signal diagonally opposite Jaslok Hospital.
    
             
__._,_.
  
.

   

__,_._,___