Thursday, September 6, 2007, 6pm
For nearly a century, Indian filmmakers have drawn on the country’s rich aesthetic traditions to craft radically original works. Despite the international popularity of Bollywood, the country’s “Cinema of Prayoga” (which loosely translates as cinema of “experiment” in Sanskrit) remains largely unknown. Curated by Brad Butler and Karen Mirza of no.w.here (London) and in partnership with Filter India (Mumbai), this program gathers work from multiple generations to provide a glimpse into the history of India’s innovative independents. Programs includes Birth of Shri Krishna (1918, D.G. Phalke); Bridging the Ocean (1932, D.G. Phalke); And I Make Short Films (1968, S.N.S. Sastry); Trip (1970, Pramod Pati); Child on a Chess Board (1979, Vijay B. Chandra); Kalighat Fetish (1999, Ashish Avikunthak); and XYZ (2004, Amit Dutta). 1918–2004, various directors, India, ca. 90 min, various formats.