You are cordially invited to the screening of Gandhi’s Children by David MacDougall followed by a discussion with the director
Date: Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: India International Centre, Lodi Estate, New Delhi
Entry Free
SYNOPSIS
Gandhi’s Children
A film by David MacDougall
2008 / 185 minutes
A shelter for children on the outskirts of Delhi provides food and accommodation for 350 boys. Some are orphans, others have been abandoned, still others have run away from home. About half are held under a court order, having been picked up from the streets for petty crimes. Living at the institution for several months, the filmmaker explores its routines and the varied experiences of several boys. Despite the harshness of their lives, many show remarkable strength of character, knowledge, and resilience. One day 181 child labourers arrive, placing additional strain on the building’s deteriorating facilities. The institution does what it can, but is it enough?
Festival Screenings:
Margaret Mead Film Festival, November 2008
Jean Rouch International Film Festival, Paris, March 2009
London International Documentary Film Festival, March 2009
Munich International Documentary Film Festival, May 2009
Director’s Bio
David MacDougall and his wife Judith MacDougall have been described as “the most significant ethnographic filmmakers in the English-speaking world today.”
David MacDougall’s films are distinguished by their humanity, intellectual subtlety, visual beauty, and eye for the telling detail. He also writes regularly on documentary and ethnographic cinema and is the author of Transcultural Cinema and the The Corporeal Image: Film, Ethnography and the Senses. The MacDougalls were among the first filmmakers to introduce subtitling of indigenous speech into their films made in Africa, an innovation that revolutionized visual anthropology. Their films continue to break new ground, both conceptually and cinematically. In 1997 he started shooting a project at the Doon School. This has resulted in five films focusing on various aspects of childhood and adolescence, masculinity, the social aesthetics of institutions, postcoloniality, and the training of South Asian elites.
for enquiries write to:
Rahul Roy:
rahul...@gmail.com