The history of experimental film in India is tied to the history of India’s quest for modernity and is particularly visible in the experimental films on science and technology produced by the Films Division of India during the cultural revolution of the late 60’s and early 70’s. This program will showcase a selection of these avant-garde state supported films that reflect the radical values, perspectives and ideas that shaped the vision of Indian democracy. Today, as India is ruled by a right-wing regime, these cinematic experiments remain important.
Curated by Shai Heredia
SCREENING
Explorer
Pramod Pati
India, 1968, digital transfer, b&w, sound, 7:03
An experimental short which daringly uses rapid cutting, dissonant noises, intercut negatives etc. to capture the tensions the urban youth of India experienced following the turmoil of the ’60s.
This Bit of That India
S.N.S Sastry
India, 1972, digital transfer, b&w, sound, 19:54
A layered reflection on youth culture, diversity, progress, education, technology and sexuality. The film juxtaposes documentary moments that celebrate individual freedom with a theatrical performance of Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, as a metaphor for repression and conformity. -25FPS Festival
Space and India
Vijay B Chandra
India, 1971 digital transfer, color, sound, 21 minutes
Space and India' (Dir. Vijay B. Chandra, 1971) is both an informational documentary about the India space programme and astronomy and an authorial, visionary kaleidoscope of space scientists, the landscapes produced by cosmic science of architectural scale instruments and the societal imaginary of science. -Creative Encounters With Science and Technology
Transcendence
K.Vishwanath
India, 1972, digital transfer, color, sound, 20:36
A film on Auroville. Auroville is an international city on the outskirts of Pondicherry, evolving a new way of life transcending the past and the present in search of true answer to the inner questions of man.
Shai Heredia is a filmmaker, a curator, and the founder of Experimenta, the international festival for experimental cinema in India. Her programs and award-winning films have been exhibited worldwide, and she is on the curatorial team of the Berlinale Forum Expanded. She is based in Bangalore, where she runs the graduate program in Curatorial Practices at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology.
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