Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar’s latest film Do din ka mela (A Two-day Fair) is screening in Delhi.
Date: Friday, July 9, 2010, 19:00 – 21:00
Venue: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Do Din Ka Mela (A Two-day Fair)
60 mins, Kutchi and Gujarati with English subtitles, 2009
Directed by Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar
http://atwodayfair.wordpress.com/
“Nothing in the world will last – it is but a two day fair” sings Mura Lala Fafal, drawing inspiration from the Sufi traditions of Sant Kabir and Abdul Lateef Bhita’i. He is accompanied on the Jodiya Pava (double flute) by his nephew Kanji Rana Sanjot. Kanji taught himself to play and make his own flutes after hearing the music on the radio. Mura and Kanji are Meghwals, a pastoral Dalit community that lives on the edge of the Great Rann of Kutch, in the Western Indian state of Gujarat. They are both daily wage labourers and subsistence farmers in an arid zone. The film is a a two day journey into the music and every day life of this uncle-nephew duo, set against the backdrop of the Rann.
The Great Rann of Kutch is a vast salt marsh/desert that separates India and Pakistan. Before the Partition the Meghwals moved freely across the Rann, between Sindh (now in Pakistan) and Kutch. The music and culture of the region is a rich tapestry of many traditions and faiths, an affirmation of the syncretic wisdom of the marginalised comunities that live in this spectacular and yet fragile area.
Festival Screenings
Jean Rouch International Film Festival, Paris 2010
Goettingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany 2010
JDCA Festival on Art and Artists, Orissa, India, 2010
Vibgyor Film festival, Kerala, India, 2010
Prakriti Film Festival, Jodhpur 2010
3rd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala
Zanzibar International Film Festival 2010
Sardinia International Ethnographic Film Festival 2010
Entry free. All welcome. And do spread the word.