[Reader-list] Hundreds Years of Experimentation (1913-2013): Retrospective of Indian cinema and video

Tue Jun 18 01:29:21 CDT 2013

                                                    Hundreds Years ofExperimentation (1913-2013)

Retrospective ofIndian cinema and video

28, 29, 30 June2013
FD Zone, FilmsDivision, Mumbai

Curated by
Ashish Avikunthak& Pankaj Rishi Kumar
Print Courtesy:DFF, FTII, SRFTI, NFAI

ConceptNote
This retrospective is acelebration of the spirit of experimentation in Indian cinema from the momentof its mythic birth with Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra in 1913 to the innovative and challenging movingimages been produced and exhibited today in 2013. The curatorial impetus of thefestival is marked by an emphasis at tracing the chronology of experimentationthrough history of Indian cinema. This retrospective halts at pit stops ofradical moments of experimentation. 

The idea of “experimentation” drives the films put together in thisretrospective. The conceptual rubric of the term experiment in this show drawsits theoretical genealogy from Gandhian “Experiments with Truth” rather thanwestern art historical lineage of the term ‘experimental’ or avant-garde. Althoughthese terms are temporally analogous (1920s), experimentation in Gandhi has aphilosophical, self-reflexive and ontological root rather than an aestheticorigin. 

Experimentation in this retrospective is viewed as a philosophicalresponse to colonial and postcolonial modernity in India. These films challengemodernity by opening up conversation with Indian history, tradition, cultureand religion. Experimentation then becomes a dexterous rejoinder, like Gandhi’sexperiments. These are careful, controlled and meticulous intervention into theworld of cinematic modernity than fortuitous experiments whose outcomes areunknown. These films are not driven by the desire to just produce an aestheticartifact but rather to create a discursive field.

Retrospective Program
The retrospective begins by underscoring that the moment of birth ofIndian cinema with Phalke was the first experiment – the “Experiments withGods”. The kinesthetic employment of the divine sparks a birth of arepresentation medium in India that catapults modernity and tradition into acinema of religiosity – a dominant form of cinema of the silent era.

Then 50 years later, experimentation with cinema occurred with statesupport in Films Division (1967), the films funded by Film Finance Corporation(later NFDC) and in the state run film school by Ritwik Ghatak and hisstudents. These films are featured in the Sections titled “Experiment withState” and “Experiments in the School” respectively. 
Narrative feature was not the only formal location of experimentationbut the documentary, short film and animation were equally formidable locationsof experimentation. There will be sections devoted to each of these forms inthis retrospective that will showcase some of the most cutting edge works madein recent times.

In the last decades the meteoric rise of contemporary Indian art alongwith the technological democratization of video has allowed for a productiveintersection. Now Galleries and museums have become fecund locations ofexperimentation in moving images. This section will focus on emerging artistsexperimenting with video and specifically showing in the gallery context.

Finally, the emergence of the term ‘Cinema of Prayoga’ as coined by Amrit Gangar to challenge thehegemonic category of experimental and avant-garde has been one of the mostsignificant move in the history of Indian cinema. The termPrayoga in  “Cinema of Prayoga” isboth in conversation with the western art history term ‘experimental’, by firstunequivocally critiquing it and at the same time it argues for a newimagination for comprehending idiosyncratic cinematic practices in India. Itsignals the conceptual inadequacy of the term experimental and at the same timeopens up a richer discourse to understand what is happening in India. It rootsits discursive imagination within the world of Indian philosophical theories. 

Retrospective Structure 
This retrospective isconceptualized as a conversation with cinema, cinematic experience andcinematic thought. The curators hope that the three days festival will provideopportunities for thinking through the nature of experimentation in Indiancinema in an historical fashion. The conceptual tension of terms likeavant-garde, experimentation, experimental and Prayoga are hoped to be debatedand thought through. 

This retrospective also respondsto the careless and ahistorical usage of the term ‘expermental’ in media andpopular culture. It delineates a clear genealogy of experimentation and createsa lineage. This retrospective more than a curatorial assertion is a historicalframing of experimentation in Indian cinema. It builds upon the work ofcurators like Shai Heredia and Amrit Gangar who have in the past decadesignaled robust nature of experimentation in Indian cinematic modernity. 

As a disclaimer, it should benoted that this not a comprehensive historical delineation of experimentationin Indian cinema. Some key and very important works by filmmakers like ManiKaul, Kumar Shahni, G. Arvindan, John Abraham are missing because thecuratorial emphasis have been on showing rarer, unseen films rather than knownmasterpieces like Uski Roti or MayaDarpan and many others. However we wouldalso like to note that the curatorial ambitions of this retrospective have beenthwarted due to the lack of original prints of some films that we would haveliked to show. Here we would specifically like to name Kamal Swaroop’s OmDar Badar, S.N. Dheer’s Pratishod and Vishnu Mathur’s Phela Adhya.

Almost all the works in thisretrospective will be shown in their original format - 35mm, 16mm or digital.

Below is a tentative schedule. Adetailed schedule with show timings will be circulated next week.

Day One--28 June 2013,Friday

28 June, 2013, Friday, 10.00-12.30
Session 1: Experiments withGods
A collection of early films madeby D.B. Phalke between 1913 and 1935 - Raja Harishchandra, Lanka Dahan, Sri Krishna Janam, Kaliya Mardan.

28 June, 2013, Friday, 1.30- 4.00
Session 2: Experiment in theState
The earliest robust experimentationin India begins under the imaginative tutelage of Jean Bhownagary while heheaded the Films Division in 1965. Films by Sukhdev, Pramoad Pati, S.N.S.Shastry, K. Chari, T.A. Abrham, Vinod Chandra, Tyeb Mehta will be shown in thissection.

28 June 2013, Friday, 4.15- 6.15
Session 3: Experiment in the School
FTII became center ofexperimentation soon after it was headed by Ritwik Ghatak. This section willfeature Diploma films by Kuntal Bhogilal, Rajan Khosa, and Rajeev Raj alongwith films from SRFTII, which in recent times has become another center forexperimentation.

28 June, 2013, Friday, 6.30-8.30
Session 3: Feature Film 1- KanchanSeetha (87mins, 35mm, Malayalam,1977) by G. Arvindan
Ending the day with MalyaliFilmmaker Arvindan’s masterpiece Kanchan Seetha- an invigorating reworking on Ramayana, which opens up a new discourseon Indian cinema and its interpretation of religion. 

Day Two--29 June 2013,Saturday

29 June, 2013, Saturday, 10.00-12.30
Session 1: Experiment with theDocumentary
Documentary has been a formidablecinematic form in India. Although most innovation has occurred in world of thepolitical, it has also has seen serious experimentation. This section willfeature works by Ramani, Ruchir Joshi, Mani Kaul and contrast it with films byyounger artists like Santana Issar, Tin Roof Collective and Pallavi Paul. 

29 June, 2013, Saturday, 1.30-4.00
Session 2: Experiments withthe Short Film
This sections focuses on filmsthat were made outside the institutional framework of the state or the schooland can be understood as independent experimentations. Films by Santosh Gaur,Ashim Ahulwalia, Shumona Goel, Shai Heredia, Natasha Mendosa and AiyeshaAbraham will be shown.

29 June, 2013, Saturday, 4.15-6.15
Session 3: Experiments in theGallery 
In the last decade the ArtGallery has become a vibrant space for the show casing of moving images mostlyin the form of video art and installation. This section attempts to grasp newspace of experimentation. Co-curated by Mortimeer Chatterjee this sectionconsists of artists – Nikhil Chpora, Hetain Patel, Sahej Rahel, Nalini Maliniand Kiran Subhaiah. 

29 June, 2013, Saturday, 6.30-8.30
Session 4: Feature Film 2- SatahSe Uthata Aadmi (114 mins, 35mm,Hindi, 1980) by Mani Kaul
Mani Kaul hasbeen mostly known for his landmark film Uski Roti, however Satah SeUthata Aadmi is probably his mostconceptually rigorous and philosophically penetrating work. 

Day Three--30 June 2013, Sunday
30June, 2013, Sunday, 10.00-12.30
Session1: Experiments with Animation
Co-curatedby Nina Sabnani, this section examines the experimentation in the world ofanimation cinema. 

30June, 2013, Sunday, 1.30- 4.00 & 4.15- 6.15
Session2 & 3: Cinema of Prayoga
Prayogais Amrit Gangar’s radical move of rejecting western art historical terminologyof experimental and avant-garde to explain the nature of experimentation inIndian cinema. This section will showcase films of Prayoga artists- Amit Dutta,Vipin Vijay, Kabir Mohanty, Argha Basu, Ashish Avikunthak and Sambhavi Kaul.This section is co-curated by Amrit Gangar.

30June, 2013, Sunday, 6.30- 8.30
Session4: Feature Film 2- KaalAbhirati (120 mins, 35mm Bengali,1989) by Amitabh Chakraborthy. 
This is a significant film ofthis era that explores the complexities of human existence within the confinesof Indian philosophy and discourse. 

CuratorBiographies
Ashish Avikunthak isa filmmaker, film scholar and anthropologist. He has been making films for thepast eighteen years and his films have been shown in film festivals and museumsworldwide. He is an Assistant Professor in Film Media at the University ofRhode Island and has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University. 
Pankaj Rishi Kumaris a graduate from FTII who began his career as an assistant editor on SekharKapoor’s Bandit Queen. He has been making documentaries for 16 years. His filmshave been screened at festivals all over the world. He has won grants fromHubert Bals, IFA, Jan Vrijman, AND (Korea), Banff, Majlis, Sarai and Pad.ma andwas awarded an Asia Society fellowship at Harvard Asia Centre (2003). He alsoteaches and curates. 

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