Travelling Film South Asia

EKTA
presents

TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA 2002
SOUTH ASIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

California College of Arts and Crafts
jan 26th & 27th, feb  2nd & 3rd

San Francisco Campus 1/26 - 1/27
Oakland Campus 2/2 - 2/3

For more info, visit
http://www.ektaonline.org/tfsa

LIST OF TRAVELLING FILMS

All films are in English or subtitled in English.

The Bee, the Bear and the Kuruba
Forcible eviction of the Kurubas of
the  forests of Nagarahole and Kakanakote in the Western Ghats started in
the early 70s. Today these forest dwellers have nowhere to go, and they find
it hard to adapt to the new recommended way of life. They have become
trespassers on their own lands. Vinod Raja, 2000, 63 min, Karnataka

Between the Devil and the Deep River
Manmade floods have devastated
North Bihar. The embankments on the Kosi river represent a development model
which devastates the lives of millions, and yet it is a failed model that no
one is willing to abandon. Arvind Sinha, 1999, 65 min, Bihar

Born at Home
Born at Home observes indigenous birth practices in parts
of India. Poised between social reality and the eternal mystery of
childbearing, the film presents an intricate delineation of the figure of
the dai (midwife) who is almost always a low-caste, poor woman.
Sameera Jain, 2000, 60 min, North India

Colours Black
Structured around the narratives of four children,
Colours Black seeks to break the silence around the sexual abuse of
children -- in this case among Bombay's well-to-do.
Mamta Murthy, 2001, 30 min, Bombay

Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories
The narrow lanes of the Jari Mari slum in Bombay house
hundreds of sweatshops where people have no right
to organise. The film records the changes in the nature and organisation of
Bombay's workforce over the past two decades.
Winner of Third Best Film Award at FSA '01.
Surabhi Sharma, 2001, 74 min, Bombay

The Killing Terraces
With footage shot in the Nepali Maoist stronghold
districts of Rukum, Rolpa and Jajarkot, the film attempts to understand the
causes underlying the rise of the Maobaadi, the role of the state, and the
devastating impact on the lives of the hill people.
Dhruba Basnet, 2001, 40 min, Nepal.

King for a Day
When Bill Clinton agreed to visit Bangladesh in March
2000, the Bangladesh government began the biggest clean-up operation of
Dhaka since 1971. This is a diary of a cynical journalist assigned to
discover what the man-on-the-street thinks of the hoopla.
Alex Gabbay, 2001, 33 min, Bangladesh.

King of Dreams
How many fantasies does a man have in his lifetime
about sexual union? How often do his dreams substitute the act itself? And
where exactly does love fit into the scheme? The film tries to answer these
questions and show manhood in a new light.
Winner of Jury's Special Mention at FSA '01.
Amar Kanwar, 2001, 30 min, India.

The Loom
The Loom is the story of a poet, a painter and a city. The
poet is Narayan Surve, the painter Sudhir Patwardhan and the city Bombay --
both of them part of a left cultural movement in the city.
Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar, 2001, 49 min, Bombay

My Migrant Soul
"If I live, I'll write the history of my travels in
Malaysia...I'll write a poem about it," said Shahjahan Babu, before leaving
Bangladesh as a migrant worker. Shahjahan's posthumous account, in the form
of audiotapes, are a record of one man's hopes, disillusions and fears.
Winner of the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film at FSA '01.
Yasmine Kabir, 2000, 35 min, Bangladesh.

Our Boys
In these confusing times, boys from a pop group and a young
artist from the newly emerging upper middle class of Dhaka open up about
duties and obligations, women and desire, confusion and contradictions.
Manzare Hassin, 2000, 42 min, Bangladesh

Ramlila
Ramlila the spectacle is one thing for the audience and quite
another for the performers, the filmmakers discover as they turn their
camera on streetside Delhi. The documentary captures the fascinating
behind-the-scenes discussons of those who would play Ram and Ravan.
Ananth Sridhar, Sanjay Pande, Subash Kapoor, 2000, 28 min, Delhi

A Rough Cut on the Life and Times of Lachuman Magar
He has fought in the Bangladesh war, jumped as a paratrooper, and married
five times. At age of 58, Lachuman still eyes the opposite sex, charming them,
cajoling them. But his life seems to have come full circle for this cleaner at a tourist
lodge in Nepal's western Tarai. Winner of Second Best Film Award at FSA '01.
Dinesh Deokota, 2001, 39 min, Nepal.

A Sun Sets In
Documented through interviews, audio tapes and visuals,
religious intolerance in Pakistan comes alive in this film. This is a life
sketch of Bishop John Joseph, who laid down his life in 1999 to dramatically
tell the world of the plight of religious minorities in his country.
Shahid Nadeem, 1999, 45 min, Pakistan.

We Homes Chap
The centennial celebration of Dr. Graham's Homes in
Kalimpong offers some old girls and boys a chance to revisit the site of
their childhood and adolescence. Even as the film courses through layers of
sentiment, there is a gradual unfolding of real childhoods, a testimony to
powerful early experiences.
Kesang Tseten, 2001, 65 min, North Bengal.

Silent Shorts
Kathmandu Silent Night was a festival-within-a-festival
of 22 short films shown at FSA '01. The intention was to spark creativity by
handicapping filmmakers by disallowing the use of ambient sound. These five
'goongi films' presented in TFSA indicate how successful the exercise was.

For more info, visit
http://www.ektaonline.org/tfsa

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