Fwd: Fw: Festival of Theatre Films at Max Mueller on November 25-26
Spurthi Reddy
From: Delhi Film Archive <delhifil...@gmail.com>
To: announ...@sarai.net; delhifil...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 22 November, 2006 4:04:47 PM
Subject: [Reader-list] [DFA:4] invitation: Festival of Theatre Films
Dear friends
Prithvi Theatre Festival in partnership with the Delhi Film Archives
and Max Mueller Bhavan
presents an array of Theatre films...
at the:
Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi
On 25th & 26th November 2006
ENTRY FREE, NO PASSES NEEDED
look to seeing you there
for the Delhi Film Archive
Rahul Roy / Kavita Joshi
subscribe to the Delhi Film Archive Mailing-List
send an email to: delhifilmarch...@googlegroups.com
************ SCHEDULE & SYNOPSIS**************
Day 1: Saturday 25thNovember '06
11:00 am – 12:35 pm
My Name Is Bertolt Brecht – Exile In USA
Director: Norbert Bunge, Germany , 95 min., 1989
After his escape from Nazi Germany Brecht tried to become established
in the Hollywood film business. However, the years of exile from 1941
to 1947, were marked by a sense of failure and deep resignation.
Brecht, like many other film directors and authors of the group "
Hollywood 10", in October 1947 was interrogated by an investigation
commission because of any possible anti-American activities. Following
this he left the United States returning to Germany via Switzerland .
The film is based on Brecht's diary and talks with his friends of
those times as well as close fellow workers. It also provides an
insight into the situation in the United States during the thirties
and forties.
12:35 pm - 1:15 pm
Pather Chujaeri (The Play Is On...)
Director: Pankaj Rishi Kumar , India , 44 mins
How does art survive in a regime of fear? I first encountered this
question in 1999, while taking photographs of Kashmir during that
mindless war with Pakistan . That summer, I established contact with
the National Bhand Theatre, Wathora, and the Bhagat Theatre, Akingam,
two groups that were still performing in the traditional pather form
of satire. I returned twice in 2001, now armed with a camera. I was
encouraged by what I found: an illiterate community has sustained a
centuries-old tradition in the face of debilitating social and
cultural changes. Although perenially intimidated by the corruption,
violence and intolerance that prevail in Kashmir , the bhands are
still affirming a commitment to their theatre, to the critical
potential of its form and the liberating joys of performance. Faith
in Sufism has tempered their enthusiam for satire and they identify
with the collective voices of Kashmir 's freedom.
The Play is on.... follows the two groups as they prepare for public
performances, a rare phenomenon today. For the bhands, who daily
witness the erosion of their way of life, each performance represents
both a change as well as a repetition of the same brutal fact:
that they are not free to share their revolutionary spirit.
enquiries: kumartalkies (at) yahoo.com
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm : LUNCH BREAK
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm
Some Roots Grow Upwards
Directors: Kavita Joshi and Malati Rao; 52 mins, India , 2002
[The film will be preceded by a 5 minute clip on the situation in Manipur.]
What is the relevance of theatre (or all art, for that matter) to the
crisis of our times? Some Roots Grow Upwards explores the work of
theatre director Ratan Thiyam against the backdrop of the violence
torn state of Manipur. For over 25 years now, Ratan Thiyam has been
creating a theatre that is as visually compelling as it is
intellectually stimulating. His theatre is steeped in the traditional
performing arts of his home state, Manipur. But while his aesthetic
influences are traditional, his concerns are intensely modern. His
plays reflect upon the socio-political crisis gripping Manipur, the
youth unrest, war and violence; at the same time, they also dwell on
the larger human condition. The film examines the art of Ratan Thiyam,
and seeks to delineate the imagination & the influences that give form
to this theatre.
enquiries: kj.impulse (at) gmail.com
followed by a: Discussion with Kavita Joshi
3:15 pm – 3:30 pm
Bertolt Brecht
Director: Ines Jacob ; 14 min., Germany , 1998
If he were still alive today, writer and theatre director Bertolt
Brecht would turn 100 years old on February 10th, 1998 . His best
know play internationally is "The Threepenny Opera". It´s a crazy saga
about prostitutes, scroungers, beggars, and gangsters. His style, and
his use of language continue to have a great influence on modern
theatre. Famous director Hansgünther Heyme analyses the features, and
charm of Brecht´s scripts. Using excerpts from rehearsals for "The
Threepenny Opera", this report documents the role and timeliness of
the theatrical work of Bertolt Brecht.
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm : TEA BREAK
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
The Plaint of the Empress ( Die Klage der Kaiserin)
Director: Pina Bausch; 103 min., Germany , 1989
"Die Klage der Kaiserin" was produced between October 1987 and April
1989. It is the first film by choreographer Pina Bausch, who was born
in Solingen in 1940. The general framework is set by the changing
seasons - autumn, winter and spring.The film's inner structure
reflects Pina Bausch's method of working as developed with the
Wuppertal Theatre of Dance during the 1973/74 season. The film
consequently does not tell a story, but is made up of various scenes
put together as a collage reflecting certain moods and invoking
different associations. A variety of themes which Pina Bausch has
frequently dealt with in her stage productions are also loosely
interwoven in the film. Unlike the stage productions, however, the
film scenes, some of which are thoroughly absurd, are set in different
locations, such as the woods and fields around Wuppertal , the city
centre, the suspension railway, a carpet shop, a greenhouse and the
rehearsal room in a former cinema ( Wuppertal 's "Lichtburg"). The
film features the dancers and an actress from the Wuppertal Theatre of
Dance whose text improvisations, dancing and scenic variations leave
their usual distinctive mark on the overall production. The futility
of human activity and the search for love make up the film's central
theme set against the strains of a Silician funeral march. "The
despair is tangible. After all, the film is a lament", according to
Pina Bausch.
Day 2: Sunday 26th November '06
10:30 am – 1:00 pm
Nee Engey (Where Are You)
Director: RV Ramani; 150 mins, 2003, India
This film, with the Shadow Puppeteers, living in South India , is a
celebration and dedication to the art of moving images and to its
original practitioners and community. An impressionistic ethnography,
reflecting on shadow puppet theatre, history, mythology, cinema and
our lives.
enquiries: ramanirv (at) hotmail.com
followed by a: Discussion wth R V Ramani
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm : LUNCH BREAK
1:45 pm - 3:20 pm
Love Me You
Director: Sylvie Banuls and Sabina Engel ; 92 mins, 2003, Germany
Love Me You is a film about some very special actors in an
extraordinary theater and about the unusual love between two of
them: Moritz and Nele. They both have Down's syndrome and both act in
productions of the Ramba Zamba Theater in Berlin – frequently playing
to full houses. The film sheds light on a world which most "normal"
people tend to regard as substandard. Despite the international trend
of global assimilation and homogenous lifestyles, the film reveals
life without the filters of society and its rules: one which is not
only different, but also uniquely special and full of color. Against
the backdrop of the bio-ethics debate, the film shows people who are
assumed to be far removed from the norm, yet nonetheless manage to
live a rich and whole-hearted life – wonderfully free from the
constraints of social conventions.
3:20 – 3:30 : Break
3:30 pm – 5:15 pm
Naatak Jaari Hai
Director: Lalit Vachani; 84 mins, 2005, India
Natak Jari Hai is a documentary about JANAM (The People's Theatre
Front), the little theatre group that never stopped performing in the
face of dramatic political transformation and personal tragedy. The
film explores the motivations and ideals of the JANAM actors and their
vision of resistance and change as they perform their 'People's
Theatre' in diverse parts of India . It brings to life the world of
socialist theatre through the words of JANAM's members, and through a
reflective portrayal of the group's greatest tragedy – the
assassination of its convenor Safdar Hashmi in 1989.
enquiries: lvachani (at) vsnl.com
followed by a: Discussion with Sudhanva Deshpande of JANAM (to be confirmed)
5:15 pm – 7:00 pm
Die Spielwütigen
Director: Andres Veiel; 108 min., Germany , 2003
Four drama students are observed during their training at the reputed
Ernst Busch school of drama in Berlin . They are very different as
regards their vita, their mentality and their social conduct, but they
share the same passion for drama. They conclude their training
successfully and we also hear of their first professional experiences.
********END********
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