ONLINE FILM SCREENING PROGRAMMES FROM 24TH TO 30TH AUGUST 2020

[rohit...@aol.in]

India International Centre

Film Club

 

India International Film Club in collaboration with Federation of Film Societies of India presents an online Retrospective of Films by Tanvir Mokammel, well-known filmmaker and writer from Bangladesh. This week’s programmes also included a short fiction film from Sri Lanka and a documentary film. All the films can be accessed for the period 24^th to 30^th August 2020 on the Vimeo links listed below each of the films. A password is not required to access the films.

 

ONLINE FILM SCREENING  PROGRAMME FROM 24^TH TO 30^TH AUGUST

 

	Retrospective of Films by Tanvir Mokammel Tanvir Mokammel is an award-winning film-maker from Bangladesh, critically acclaimed for his historical and political commentaries in films such as Nodir Naam Modhumoti (1995), Lalsalu, (2001) and Jibondhuli (2014). He remains the only filmmaker from Bangladesh whose work has focused on the partition in a comprehensive manner. His feature film Chitra Nadir Pare (1999), which won seven national awards, follows the life of a Hindu family in the then East Pakistan. His latest project, Seemantorekha, is a documentary about the Partition of Bengal, the arbitrariness of borders and its effects on a people displaced.
1	Introduction By Tanvir Mokammel   Link: https://vimeo.com/451058384
2	Jibandhuli (The Drummer/Bengali) (90 min; 2014; with English subtitles) Written by Tanvir Mokammel   During the Bangladesh war of liberation in 1971, Jibonkrishna Das, a poor lower-caste Hindu drummer, eked out a living with his wife and two children. A lower-caste, Jibon was subjected to all kinds of humiliation both from his Muslim neighbours as well as by the upper caste Hindus. When the Pakistani army occupied his village, Jibon and his family try to flee to India. Along the way, all his family members are killed in a massacre. Jibon alone survived, and after roaming around the war-ravaged countryside, finally returned to his native village.  His village is now brutally ruled by the Razakars, an Islamic auxiliary force collaborating with the Pakistani army. The commander of the Razakars spares Jibon's life on condition that he plays his drum for the marauding forces. Jibon faces a difficult situation entertaining the Razakars until the Bengali freedom fighters arrived   Link: https://vimeo.com/450763204
3	Lalon (Bengali) (128 min; 2004; with English subtitles) Written by Tanvir Mokammel   Film on Lalon Fakir (? - 1890), a doyen among the Baul-Fakirs of Bengal who composed a few hundred songs of profound spiritual depth with an excellent sense of music. Buddhist Tantricism, Hindu Vaisnavism and Islamic Sufism all have their share of influence on Lalon. Throughout the decades Lalon's songs, depicting asceticism and transience of life, have expressed the pathos and pangs of the caste-ridden subaltern rural populace of Bengal. Lalon's secular ideas and enchanting lyrics left a deep influence on the subsequent generations of Baul-Fakirs of Bangladesh and India. Though Lalon died only a hundred years ago yet not much details of his life is clearly known and some aspects are still shrouded in mystery. By portraying the milieu of Lalon who was a kind of a Guru during his life-time, the film aims to capture the social ethos of his period including some historical personalities, who were prominent in the cultural history of Bengal of that time and came in touch with Lalon.   Link: https://vimeo.com/450760708
4	Lalsalu (A Tree Without Roots/Bengali) (109 min; 2001; with English subtitles) Written by Tanvir Mokammel   Recipient of the Merit Awards for Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role; and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, National Film Awards, Bangladesh 2001   In a remote agrarian village, suddenly a haggard-looking Mullah named Majid appears. He cleans up an old dilapidated grave and declares it as the shrine of a famous 'Pir' (a holy man). He begins to take care of the shrine and worship it. The villagers, of course, have no clue who the holy man is, and though it is a hoax, gradually give in and begin to believe in the myth. The mystery of the grave, the iconic red fabric covering its oval shaped structure, the glowing candles and the Quranic verses that Majid recites beside the grave, create such an aura that the villagers, mostly simple peasants, completely succumb to Majid's spell. They start to bring rice and money as offerings to the 'holy shrine'. The shrine, over the years, provides Majid not only economic solvency but psychological domination over the community as well. From a vagabond desperado, he becomes a man well rooted in society. He marries Rahima, a not-so-young but hard working peasant woman who though robustly built, remains a docile wife.   Link: https://vimeo.com/450757019
5	Chitra Nodir Pare (Quiet Flows the River Chitra/Bengali) (107 min; 1999; with English subtitles) Written by Tanvir Mokammel   Recipient of the Merit Award for Best Feature Film and Best Director, National Film Awards, Bangladesh 1999   After the partition of India in 1947, Shashikanta's family, like millions of other Hindu families of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), faced the dilemma of whether to migrate from the land in which they have been living for centuries. But Shashikanta Sengupta, an eccentric lawyer, stubbornly refuses to leave his motherland. Widower Shashikanta has two children, Minoti and Bidyut. Anuprava Devi is an affectionate old aunt who lives with the family. The family has a house in Narail, a small provincial town on the bank of the Chitra river. Some Muslim neighbors eye Shashaikanta's house. But the family refuse to migrate. Shashikanta's children Minoti and Bidyut are friends with the neighboring Muslim children- Badal, Salma and Nazma. Minoti and Badal become more than friends. The children grow up. Badal goes to Dhaka University. Those were the days in 1960's when the atmosphere of the universities was charged with political radicalism. Badal got involved in anti-military student movement and while participating in a demonstration for democracy was killed by police firing.Shashikanta's brother Nidhukanta is an idealist doctor who lives in their ancestral village on the other side of the Chitra River. During the 1964 riot between the Hindus and the Muslims, his daughter Basanti, a widow, is raped. Basanti commits suicide by drowning herself in the Chitra River. Nidhukanta's family migrate to India. All these untoward incidents happening around affect Shashikanta's failing health. He suffers a heart stroke and passes away. Minoti and Anuprava finally leave for the border en route to Calcutta.   Link: https://vimeo.com/450754521
	Short fiction film of the week
6	A Story Nobody Cares About (Ganan Gannethi Kathawak/Sri Lanka) (8 min; 2017; with English subtitles) Director: Thisara Mangala Bandara   Recipient of the Jury Award: Bronze, Midnapore FiIm Society, 2018; Best Short Film Award, 6th Derana FilmAwards, Sri Lanka 2018 The story of a boy, ‘nobody cares’ in the country of Nobody Cares who finds a mobile phone   Link: https://vimeo.com/450769008
	Documentary of the Week
7	The Jungle Man…Loiya (21 min; 2018; Manipuri with English subtitles) Director: Farha Khatun   A documentary about Moirangthem Loiya Ngamba, a nature activist and who has spent most of the time in the woods to preserve forests in the state of Manipur.  The Jungle Man... Loiya tells the story of this man, a nature lover who chanced upon an area in Punshilok in Langol hill range in Manipur and created a green space for the local communities. At a time when trees are cut down rampantly in the name of ‘development’, when ‘civilization’, ‘urbanization’ has come to mean building blocks of concrete, when forests are being cleared and sold off to corporate houses to usher in ‘modernity’, this film asks pertinent questions as it tells the story of reorienting man’s relationship with nature and building a culture of peaceful coexistence   Link: https://vimeo.com/450770402
	Screenings organised with the support of Films Division India, Celluloid Chapter, Kalamandir   - Rohit  ---------------------- Regards, Rohit Rellan http://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitrellan Follow me on TWITTER: twitter.com/rohitrellan Be my friend on FACEBOOK:http://www.facebook.com/rohit.rellan Skype :rohitrellan WeWork: WeWork office spaces supports businesses through a network of 150,000+  members who work with each other across the world. WeWork is more than just an office space – we provide amenities, services, and technology that evolve space into experience.Private offices and Co-working Space in #Gurugram, #Mumbai,#Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad & Noida.    Book a tour at WeWork ! http://bit.ly/2vnqkYB  #wework Touch the sky. #dowhatyoulove Find your purpose. #wework Find a place to grow. #wework