Persistence Resistance 2012
FILMS | PREMIERES | CONVERSATIONS | INSTALLATIONS
“Our eyes see very little and very badly – so people [ …] have perfected the cinecamera to penetrate more deeply into the visible world, to explore and record visual phenomena so that what is happening now, which will have to be taken account of in the future, is not forgotten.”- Dziga Vertov
“The other is in me and in the midst of my very identification.”- Emmanuel Levinas
These two diametrically oppositional view points of Dziga Vertov and Emmanuel Levinas places the philosophical categories of “being” and “knowing” squarely at the center of documentary studies. For while Vertov proclaimed the primacy of the camera ( the “Kino-eye”) over the human eye for recording the world as it is, ethical philosopher Levinas challenges rational inquiry as an absolute good, pointing towards the violence embedded in processes of knowledge production.
In the light of the above views, how can documentary films specifically reflect upon the complexities of encountering knowledge? What happens when these strands of knowledge, encounters, and chance meetings become part of an archive or leave visual footprints across the world— foraying through museum spaces, cinema halls, webcasts, podcasts and pirated DVDs. The mode of distribution of the film thus becomes a key part of the film narrative, responsible for the fragmentation, reimagination and rebirth of the narrative— each performance slightly different than the previous one.
This intention to celebrate the changing limits of history, narrative, ideology, culture and aesthetics formed the backbone of Persistence Resistance 2012. Persistence Resistance is premised on the belief that documentary practices in any place actively participate in the shaping of our times. Therefore, debates on healthcare, information policy, freedom of speech and expression, democracy and governance will be some of the themes around which Persistence Resistance 2012 will be located. So while Sameera Jain’s film My Own City is the experience of a gendered urban landscape of Delhi, Deepa Bhatia’s film (Nero’s Guest) is a conversation with noted journalist P. Sainath on the growing agrarian crisis in India. Interestingly, both these directors test the complexities of the gaze of the camera, the subject and the quest for knowledge leads to ruptures in the visible evidence as well the notional “I” that feminists have been critiqued with.
From the personal to the conceptual, the essayistic to the poetic, the performative to the self-reflective or the fictional – these films create distinct political voices and impulses for their audiences to engage with. The visual engagement with films does not end simply with screenings. This year Persistence Resistance will exhibit an installation by Rattanamol Johal Singh titled “Elusive Truth, Evolving Medium: Evaluating Contemporary Political Documentary” that positions the evolution of the documentary movement in an open public space. Along a slightly different trajectory, filmmaker Sabeena Gadhioke presents a visual tribute to Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first press photographer whose work spans almost an entire century of Indian history. Vyarawalla’s images, Gadhioke’s chronicling of Vyarawalla’s legacy, the evolution of the technology used for recording – all become crucial elements in constructing an alternative view of reality.
Since its inception, Persistence Resistance has engaged with another crucial cinematic question that concerns audience participation. Marcel Duchamp in 1957 at Session on the Creative Act; Convention of the American Federation of Arts, Houston, Texas, says:
“The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act. This becomes even more obvious when posterity gives a final verdict and sometimes rehabilitates forgotten artists”
Drawing from this Persistence Resistance allows the spectator to occupy a central position by opening up the cinema viewing space for her/him. Persistence Resistance 2012 will present films, images and interactions that will move between spaces, from the inside to the outside, between times and between ideas. The spectator is invited not simply to view but to engage, argue, articulate and to participate. Along with screenings in auditorium, films will also be shown in simulated video parlors, in a multi hub video library and as installations, encompassing linear, circulatory, on-demand and transitory ways of screening and viewing.
Persistence Resistance 2012 will be held in four locations across the city of New Delhi. The 2012 edition will premier documentaries, screen award winning films, a few rarely seen films, curated sections from film archives from Germany and India, installations, in-depth conversations with filmmakers and pay homage to Homai Vyarwallah, Tariq Masud and Lucia Rikaki.
Persistence Resistance 2012 is an attempt at bringing together the documentary, the documentary filmmaker and the audience to collectively create and define public cultures. There are pressing issues that these documentaries touch upon, they are often ethically charged, but without being bereft of what film theorist Michael Renov would term as the “jouissance” or pleasure. We hope you will join us in this journey of reflections, tributes and public as well as private histories— stories that need to be seen, heard and repeated.
Schedule
| British Council | |||||
| 17, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place , New Delhi, 110001 | Theatre | ||||
| Thursday 9 February 2012 | |||||
| 17:00 | Inauguration | 30 min | |||
| Welcome | |||||
| Homage to Lucia Rikaki by Magic Lantern | |||||
| Homage to Homai Vyarawalla by Sabeena Gadihoke | |||||
| 17:30 | Break | 10 min | |||
| 17:40 | Bom – aka One Day Ahead of Democracy | Amlan Datta | 117 min | India | 2011 |
| Friday 10 February 2012 | |||||
| 15:30 | The Immoral Daughters in the Land of Honour | Nakul Singh Sawhney | 93 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 17:30 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 18:00 | A Pestering Journey | K. R. Manoj | 66 min | India | 2011 |
| 19:10 | Bitter Seeds | Micha Peled | 88 min | USA | 2011 |
| Q&A with Dr. Vandana Shiva | |||||
| Saturday 11 February 2012 | |||||
| 9:30 | The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy | Carl-A. Fechner | 83 min | Germany | 2010 |
| 10:55 | Blood and Iron | Paranjoy Guha Thakurta | 93 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 13:00 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 13:30 | At the Stairs | Rajesh S Jala | 30 min | India | 2011 |
| 14:00 | This is the Day | Kersti Uibo | 65 min | Estonia | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 15:35 | Break | 15 min | |||
| 15:50 | My Own City | Sameera Jain | 64 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 17:25 | Break | 15 min | |||
| 17:40 | Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show | Mamta Murthy | 90 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 19:40 | Break | 15 min | |||
| 19:55 | Animation films by Sarnath Banerjee: | 60 min | |||
| Bengali Tourist | Sarnath Banerjee | 4 min | India | 2003 | |
| Bachelor of 21 Dreams | Sarnath Banerjee | 8 min | India | ||
| Sophistication is Fragile | Sarnath Banerjee | 6 min | India | 2009 | |
| Hakim Tartoosi’s Potency Oil | Sarnath Banerjee | 21 min | India | 2001 | |
| 1943 | Sarnath Banerjee | 7 min | India | ||
| Paradise Locked | Sarnath Banerjee | 10 min | India | ||
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| British Council | |||||
| 17, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110001 | Queens Gallery | ||||
| 9 – 15 February 2012, 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM | |||||
| Elusive Truth, Evolving Medium: Evaluating Contemporary Political Documentary – Curated by Rattanamol Singh Johal, Presented in collaboration with Khoj-IFA | |||||
| Arts Faculty | |||||
| Delhi University North Campus | Room No 22 | ||||
| Friday 10 February 2012 | |||||
| 14:00 | Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show | Mamta Murthy | 90 min | India | 2011 |
| 15:30 | Introduction to Persistence Resistance 2012 (Gargi Sen) and MargH (Prasanta Chakravarty) | 10 min | |||
| 15:40 | Panel Discussion with director Mamta Murthy. Panelists: Lawrence Liang and Ravi Sundaram. Moderator: Brinda Bose | 80 min | |||
| India International Centre | |||||
| 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi 110003 | Auditorium 1 (IIC Auditorium) | ||||
| Sunday 12 February 2012 | |||||
| 17:00 | Inauguration | 60 min | |||
| Welcome | |||||
| Homage to Lucia Rikaki by Magic Lantern | |||||
| Homage to Homai Vyarawalla by Sabeena Gadihoke | |||||
| Homage to Tarique Masud by Shohini Ghosh | |||||
| 18:00 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 18:30 | Bom – aka One Day Ahead of Democracy | Amlan Datta | 117 min | India | 2011 |
| Monday 13 February 2012 | |||||
| 10:00 | At the Stairs | Rajesh S Jala | 30 min | India | 2011 |
| 10:35 | This is the Day | Kersti Uibo | 65 min | Estonia | 2011 |
| 11:40 | Break | 20 min | |||
| 12:00 | Living Like a Common Man | Mario Rutten, Sanderien Verstappen and Isabelle Makay | 65 min | The Netherlands | 2011 |
| 13:05 | The Musalman | Ishani K Dutta | 10 min | 2011 | |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 13:30 | Break | 45 min | |||
| 14:15 | Two Tales of Modikhana | Gouri Patwardhan | 73 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 15:45 | 16mm – Memories, Movement and a Machine | K. R. Manoj | 40 min | India | 2007 |
| 16:25 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 16:55 | Vertical City | Avijit Mukul Kishore | 35 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 18:00 | My Own City | Sameera Jain | 64 min | India | 2011 |
| 19:05 | Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show | Mamta Murthy | 90 min | India | 2011 |
| Tuesday 14 February 2012 | |||||
| 10:00 | The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy | Carl-A. Fechner | 83 min | Germany | 2010 |
| 11:25 | Workers – Routes of the Globalisation | Tommaso D’elia | 52 min | Italy | 2011 |
| 12:20 | Break | 20 min | |||
| 12:40 | A Brush with Life | Sujata Kulshreshtha | 32 min | 2011 | |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 13:40 | Break | 50 min | |||
| 14:30 | A Doctor to Defend: The Binayak Sen Story | Minnie Vaid | 48 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 15:40 | Brave New Medium | Subasri Krishnan | 32 min | India | 2010 |
| 16:15 | Break | 20 min | |||
| 16:35 | Nero’s Guests | Deepa Bhatia | 56 min | India | 2009 |
| 17:35 | Bitter Seeds | Micha Peled | 88 min | USA | 2011 |
| Q&A with Associate Producer Prachi Bari | |||||
| 19:35 | Break | 25 min | |||
| 20:00 | My Camera and Tsunami | R. V. Ramani | 90 min | India | 2011 |
| Wednesday 15 February 2012 | |||||
| 10:00 | Birds | Sohaila Kapur | 50 min | India | 2010 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 11:20 | The Nine Months | Merajur Rahman Baruah | 77 min | India | 2010 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 13:00 | Break | 45 min | |||
| 13:45 | The Immoral Daughters in the Land of Honour | Nakul Singh Sawhney | 93 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| 15:45 | Break | 15 min | |||
| 16:00 | The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom | Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam | 79 min | India | |
| 17:20 | Mr. India | Haobam Paban Kumar | 47 min | India | 2009 |
| 18:10 | A Pestering Journey | K. R. Manoj | 66 min | India | 2011 |
| 19:20 | Break | 15 min | |||
| 19:35 | I am Your Poet | Nitin Pamnani | 42 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| India International Centre | |||||
| 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi 110003 | Auditorium 2 (IIC Conference Room 1) | ||||
| Monday 13 February 2012 | |||||
| 10:00 | Bom – aka One Day Ahead of Democracy | Amlan Datta | 117 min | India | 2011 |
| 12:00 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 12:30 | Sanjay Kak in conversation with director Amlan Datta | 90 min | |||
| 14:00 | Break | 60 min | |||
| 15:00 | This is the Day | Kersti Uibo | 65 min | Estonia | 2011 |
| 16:05 | Anupama Srinivasan in conversation with director Kersti Uibo | 90 min | |||
| Tuesday 14 February 2012 | |||||
| 10:00 | Living Like a Common Man | Mario Rutten, Sanderien Verstappen and Isabelle Makay | 65 min | The Netherlands | 2011 |
| 11:05 | Break | 15 min | |||
| 11:20 | Panel discussion with director Mario Rutten. Panelists: Nivedita Ghosh and Dr. Sanjay Srivastava | 90 min | |||
| 12:50 | Break | 70 min | |||
| 14:00 | Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show | Mamta Murthy | 90 min | India | 2011 |
| 15:30 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 16:00 | Bhaskar Sarkar in conversation with director Mamta Murthy and producer Madhushree Dutta | 90 min | |||
| Wednesday 15 February 2012 | |||||
| 10:00 | My Own City | Sameera Jain | 64 min | India | 2011 |
| 11:05 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 11:35 | Conversation: Detailed Q&A with director Sameera Jain. Moderated by Ira Bhaskar | 90 min | |||
| 13:05 | Break | 55 min | |||
| 14:00 | My Camera and Tsunami | R. V. Ramani | 90 min | India | 2011 |
| 15:30 | Break | 30 min | |||
| 16:00 | Rahul Roy in conversation with director R. V. Ramani | 90 min | |||
| India International Centre | |||||
| 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi 110003 | Quadrangle Lawn | ||||
| 12 – 15 February 2012, 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM | |||||
| A Visual Tribute to Homai Vyarawalla By Sabeena Gadihoke | |||||
| India International Centre | Video Parlour: Film Archive, Germany | ||||
| 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi 110003 | Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) | ||||
| 13 – 15 February 2012, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM | |||||
| After Winter Comes Spring | Helke Misselwitz | 94 min | Germany | 1988 | |
| Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella | Vaclav Vorlicek | 82 min | Germany | 1973 | |
| Germany – Final Terminal East | Frans Buyens | 77 min | Germany | 1964 | |
| Wittstock Girls | Volker Koepp | 20 min | Germany | 1974 | |
| Locked up Time | Sibylle Schönemann | 90 min | Germany | 1991 | |
| India International Centre | Video Parlour: Film Archive, India | ||||
| 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi 110003 | Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs | ||||
| 13 – 15 February 2012, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM | |||||
| Revealed: The Golden Temple | Rajendra Srivathsa Kondapalli | 48 min | India | 2011 | |
| A World of Beauty and Grace – Islamic Architecture of India | Benoy K. Behl | 32 min | India | 2011 | |
| Magic Realism and After – Indian English Fiction: 1981-2011 | Suresh Kohli | 60 min | India | 2011 | |
| Six Yards of Grace – The Handcrafted Indian Saree | Dheeraj Piplani | 23 min | India | 2011 | |
| Bridging the Gap between India and Bharat – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act | Puneeta Roy | 52 min | India | 2011 | |
| Cradle by the Stream | Rajesh S. Jala | 26 min | India | 2008 | |
| Nisbat…Connection | Muzaffar Ali | 29 min | India | 1999 | |
| Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan | |||||
| 3, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 | |||||
| Friday 17 February 2012 | |||||
| 18:30 | Between Border and the Fence On Edge of a Map |
Ajay Raina | 78 min | India | 2011 |
| 19:50 | Break | ||||
| 20:10 | Don’t Cut My Head Off | Somnath Batabyal, Matti Pohjonen, Kazimuddin Ahmed and Pradip Saha | 49 min | India | 2011 |
| Q&A with Director | |||||
| Entry Free – all are welcome | |||||
| Seating on first come first serve basis | |||||
| Schedule subject to last minute changes | |||||