Kathmandu, Nepal
Film South Asia '97
From 25-28 October 1997, fifty-five documentaries on Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka were screened in the first-ever festival of South Asian documentaries in Kathmandu. Most films were made by independent South Asian directors. Not restricted by government agencies or television networks, many of the films expressed open-minded and sometimes provocative views about the state of affairs on the Subcontinent.By Bert van den Hoek, Erik de Maaker, Dirk Nijland, and Balgopal Shrestha.
Film South Asia '97 was organized by Mr. Kanak Mani Dixit and other members of the editorial staff of the magazine Himal South Asia. The 11-year old journal is enjoying a steadily increasing popularity. Being based in Kathmandu, Himal South Asia often addresses issues transcending the disparities dividing the Subcontinent.The festival Film South Asia' 97 was organized from that same perspective: its purpose was to present documentary films on the South Asian region as a whole, addressing political, social, and cultural issues. A total of 135 films and videos were submitted, of which fifty-five were selected for screening. Of these, fifty-one competed for two prizes. Four films were screened hors concours. The jury consisted of the Indian documentary film maker, Pankaj Butalia, the Sri Lankan journalist, Nalaka Gunawardene, and the Pakistani actor and director, Salman Shadid.
Of the fifty-five films selected, thirty-six dealt with India, eight with Pakistan, four each with Bangladesh and Nepal, two with Sri Lanka and one with (Indian immigrants in) Thailand. A rough classification of the themes of the productions reveals that about twenty films were social and (inter) cultural commentaries (with gender issues being particularly prominent), while ten were ethnographic portrayals, nine could be called visual biographies, another nine dealt with environmental issues, and the remaining seven with history-related subjects.
The festival opened with Sacrifice of Serpents; the Festival of Indrayani in Kathmandu, Nepal, an ethnographic video film made by ethnographer/filmer Dr Dirk Nijland, indologist Bert van den Hoek (both of Leiden University,the Netherlands) and anthropologist Balgopal Shrestha (Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu) about the annual Indrayani festival. The screening drew the largest audience of the whole festival into the auditorium. The fact that the film's main characters, the 'ritual king' of North Kathmandu, Mr. Badri Raj Malla, and his team members were present at the screening and were ready to answer the audience's questions afterwards, was acclaimed in the newspapers the next day. Basanta Maharjan, commentator in the Newari daily Vishvabhumi, published a long review of the film and praised it as an excellent presentation of Newar cultural life. He urged for the production of a version the film with a Newari narration, making it accessible to a wider Nepalese (Newari speaking) audience.
The films were screened in two parallel sessions and included many interesting films. For a list and a short description, see elsewhere on this page.
Awarded the first prize (2500 U$) was The Spirit Doesn't Come Anymore, an intriguing ethnographic film by the Nepalese-Tibetan film maker, Tsering Rhitar. In 38 minutes Rhitar portrays the lives of the eminent 78-year old Tibetan spirit healer, Pao Wangchuk, and his son and heir, Karma. Rhitar explores both the father's successful practice and the family drama unfolding owing to the son's inability to communicate properly with the spirits.
The second prize, also of 2500 U$, was shared between Farjad Nabi's Nusrat Has left the Building...But When? (about the famous Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), Meals Ready of Surajit Sarkar and Vani Subramanian (on cultivation and trade in rice in South India), and Anand Patwardhan's, Father, Son and Holy War (dealing with the psychology of Indian communal violence). Special Mention was given to Tareque and Catherine Masud's Muktir Gaan (Song of Freedom) about the freedom songs which inspired the freedom fighters during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
The Nepalese media paid lavish attention to Film South Asia 97. Nepal Television and prominent English, Nepali, and Newari dailies and weeklies gave special coverage of the inaugural and concluding sessions of Film South Asia 97. Regrettably only the opening documentary on Newar culture drew a massive Nepalese public; the rest of the programme was only incidentally visited by local residents, in spite of the wide media coverage given. In any case, Kathmandu, as a venue that is relatively free from regional sensitivities, will again host the next (1999) Film South Asia festival. A selection of the documentaries from Film South Asia '97 will be shown in the Netherlands during the ICAS-conference in Noordwijkerhout from 25 - 28 June 1998.
Film South Asia at the ICAS
Films that have an area or theme in common will be screened in blocks. Panel members will be invited to participate in forum discussions after the screenings. As chairman, Kanak Mani Dixit will preside over the programme in its entirety, and relate the various topics with each other. Four of the film makers who contributed to Film South Asia '97, will be present to answer questions arising from the public.
Film South Asia at the ICAS is supported by the NCDO (National Committee for International Co-operation and Sustainable Development); the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science; and the IIAS.
1. A la Khate -- Kathmandu's street boys rummage and ruminate. Morten Nielsen 1997. 24 minutes. Nepal.
2. Aan Poove (Male Flower) -- How, in a northern Kerala village, gender relationships are redefined in the life of Seethalakshmi as she is 're-born' a boy, named Sridharan. P. Balan. 1995. 20 minutes. Kerala.
3. Achin Pakhi (The Unknown Bard) -- A search for the persona and mystic philosophy of Lalon Fakir, a baul singer of Bengal who lived in the last century. Tanvir Mokammel. 1995. 67 minutes. Bangladesh
4. Ajit (The Unconquerable) -- Through the story an eight-year domestic help in a Calcutta household, the film articulates the failure of the social system to provide the poorest with the basics. Arvind Sinha. 1996. 28 minutes. West Bengal.
5. Alif Be -- Girl from shanties overcomes odds, goes to school. Nandini Bedi 1997. 40 minutes. India.
6. Amrit Beeja (Eternal Seed) -- Traditional methods used by women farmers of Karnataka are better than those of the modern seed companies. Meera Dewan. 1996. 43 minutes. Karnataka
7. Aur Woh Raks Karte Rahi (And She Dances On) -- Chronicling the life and times of dancer Tehreema Mitha, and the role of traditional Hindustani and modern dance in the contemporary Pakistani society. Shireen Pasha. 1996. 60 minutes. Sindh.
8. Ashgari Bai: Echoes of Silence -- The 86-year-old singer, once nationally acclaimed and the last living exponent of the Dhraupada genre, today lives in penury. Priti Chandriani and Brahmanand Singh. 1997. 45 minutes. Madhya Pradesh.
9. Bereavement -- Sinhala and Tamil sorrow in civil war. Sharminj Boyle 1995. 30 minutes. Sri Lanka.
10. Darubrahma.-- Detailed portrayal of the making and consecration of a new statue for the god Jagannath (Puri, Orissa). Sudheer Gupta. 138 minutes. India.
11. Dry Days in Dobbagunta -- Women unite against alcohol in this tiny village of Andhra Pradesh and succeed in turning the tables in their favour. Nupur Basu. 1995. 10 minutes. Andhra Pradesh
12. Fate Worse than Tragedy -- Breaking flood stereotypes in Bangladesh, Bihar, and Nepal. Bjorn Vassnes. 48 minutes. Bangladesh.
13. Father, Son, and Holy War -- An exploration of the relationship between machismo, political chauvinism, and communal violence in contemporary India. Anand Patwardhan. 1995. 120 minutes. All India. (Awarded second-best film prize at FSA '97)
14. Himalayan Herders -- A Nepali Helambu village studied over a span of 25 years. John and Naomi Bishop. 76 minutes. Nepal.
15. I Live in Behrampada -- Why was one of Bombay's neighbourhoods cast as a villain in the 1993 riots? Madhushree Dutta. 46 minutes. India.
16. Kahankar: Ahankar -- Maharahtrian adivasis, external myth making. K.P. Jayasankar and A. Monteiro. 38 minutes. India.
16. Ka phor Sorat -- Documentation of a Lynggham funeral ritual. Raphael Warjri. 33 minutes. India.
18. Lepchas of Sikkim: A Vanishing Tribe? -- Portrait of the Lepchas, an intriguing ethic group of Sikkim. Kesang Tseten. 20 minutes. India.
19. Living Together -- In some parts of Sri Lanka, Sinhalas and Tamils live together peacefully. Anoma Rajakaruna. 24 minutes. Sri Lanka.
20. Marubhumi -- The story of how water was harvested from the desert to supply historic Jodhpur, and the movement to rehabilitate the system. Amar Kanwar. 1995. 52 minutes. Rajasthan.
21. Meals Ready -- Explores the rice market in South India and uncovers the social and economic factors that influence the growing and selling of the grain today. Surajit Sarkar and Vani Subramanian. 1996. 46 minutes. Tamil Nadu. (Awarded second-best film prize at FSA '97)
22. Mr Jinnah: The Making of Pakistan -- The creator of Pakistan has long been a controversial figure. The film tries to unravel his personality with interviews and footage never before aired. Christopher Mitchell. 1997. 90 minutes. Pakistan.
23. Muktir Gaan (Song of Freedom) -- Captures the spirit of the the Bangla liberation, profiling a musicians troupe. Uses recovered footage of the 1971 War. Tareque and Catherine Masud. 1995. 80 minutes. Bangladesh. (Earned Special Mention at FSA '97)
24. Nusrat Has Left the Building . But When? -- A tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan going back to the days before he became the Nusrat Fateh celebrated by the West. Farjad Nabi. 1997. 20 minutes. Pakistani Punjab. (Earned second-best film prize at FSA '97)
25. Pastoral Politics -- The ecological debate on deforestation in Himachal as it relates to the sheep-herding Gaddi community. Sanjay Barnela and Vasant Saberwal. 1996. 29 minutes. Himachal Pradesh.
26. Sacrifice of Serpents -- Ethnographic account of Kathmandu's Indrayani festival. Dirk Nijland a.o. 108 minutes. Nepal.
27. The Selling of Innocents -- Tracing the trade of young woman from Nepal's hills to Bombay's brothels. Rajesh Bedi a.o. 47 minutes. Nepal.
28. The Spirit Doesn't Come Anymore -- For 13 generations, PaoWangchuk's ancestors have been Tibetan faith healers, but his son is not interested. Tsering Rhitar. 1997. 38 minutes. Nepal. (Awarded the prize for the Best Film at FSA '97)
29. Teyyam -- Ethnographic account of a yearly village festival in Kerala. Erik de Maaker. 56 minutes. India.
30. Tantra Mantra -- Tamang rinpoche from Kalimpong has zest. Alex Gabbay. 74 minutes. India.
31. Tu Zinda Hai -- Female activism in Madhya Pradesh. Shabnam Virmani. 49 minutes. India
32. Veiled in Vapour -- Documentary on the steam locomotives of the Thar desert. G. Loreaux & M. Mangalik. 26 minutes. India.
The complementarity between academic writings and audiovisual representations will of course offer a general theme for discussion throughout the course of the film programme.
It should not be forgotten that documentaries, like articles written, offer a certain, possibly contested, view on society. The selection of "Film South Asia" contains fine examples of fresh and provocative views.