The Indian Independent: IndiEarth On Screen

With IndiEarth On Screen taking flight to different venues across the city and country, film lovers can be a part of the nationwide movement of independent cinema in India. Audiences are encouraged to come out and participate in the screenings, that over the next few weeks will take place in two venues in Chennai – Ashvita Bistro and Goethe-Institut – and a brand new venue in Bangalore – The BFlat Bar.

This Wednesday, 28th of January, Ashvita Bistro Chennai will play host to a scintillating line up of documentaries and shorts from a cross section of Indian filmmakers – paying tribute to the sheer diversity of the craft of independent filmmaking existing in the country. The evening begins with Indian documentary icon SNS Sastry’s Flashback – an in depth look at the documentary film movement in India, with interesting inputs from Films Division filmmakers S. Sukhdev and Sastry himself. Umesh Kulkarni’s award winning Garuud The Spell has been screened at over 25 international film festivals, and was the winner of the best film award at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), 2010 – now making its Chennai debut at IndiEarth On Screen. Anoop Sathyan’s student documentary A Dream Called America documents the life of 15-year-old Shahbaz, who returns to his little village in Gujarat, where his father earns a living by repairing cycles on a footpath. After a year of studying in America on a scholarship, Shahbaz continues to dream of returning to this faraway idyllic land that he once had a chance to live in.

From the world of Tamil independent cinema, Vydianathan Ramaswami’s film Hangover looks at the aftermath of college festivals, leaving in their wake a trail of plastic and environmentally hazardous waste, while Madhan Kodees Karma Vinai tells the story about two drunk friends who encounter a rather mysterious couple while passing a bus stop at the stroke of midnight. Closing the evening will be Sanjeev Kumar Choragudi’s At The End Of 20^th Week – a short film aimed at spreading awareness on female infanticide. (Visit the Facebook event page here.)

The 1st of February will showcase two exciting films at The BFlat Bar, Bangalore. The first, Yes We Make Them Short, features Tom Alter as narrator and elaborates upon the importance of the short form in the many innovations and experimentations it has facilitated. The second film – Hola, Venky – is a quirky comic tale about an Indian techie named Venky who loses 2% of his ‘organ’. The director of the film Sandeep Mohan will be present at the screening to engage in a Q&A session with the audience. (Visit the Facebook event page here.)

On the 4th of February IndiEarth On Screen will showcase a beautiful evening of dance, as portrayed in cinema, at the Goethe-Institut Chennai. The evening begins with a live Bharatanatyam dance performance by Anjana Anand. An epitome of the next generation of classical dancers in the country, Anjana has been trained in Kalakshetra, and is now making her mark on the Indian and international stage with her dance and choreography. The performance is followed by Guru Chengannur – a biographical film  by national award winning Indian director, script writer, and producer Adoor Gopalakrishnan, on one of the greatest exponents of Kathakali, who has trained generations of Kathakali dancers in his lifetime. Other films being screened include This Thing With Feathers – a film by Rain Kencana, Miguel Angelo Pate, and Jalaludin Trainman depicting a long distance relationship through dance; Project 2, a short music video on dancer Corey-Scott Gilbert made by Sebastian Gross and Tobias Ebling; and finally Arun Khopkar’s Pravahi – a biography that documents and cinematically interprets the dance of exquisite Bharatanatyam dancer Alarmel Valli. (Visit the Facebook event page here.)

Evenings designed for cinema lovers – so come celebrate the dawn of a new wave of independent film screenings in across the country, as we showcase the broad spectrum of cinematic expertise!

SCREENING SCHEDULE:

ASHVITA CAFE, Chennai – 28 Jan, 7:30 pm

FlashBack – SNS Sastry | 1974 | 21 min | English
Gaarud The Spell – Umesh Kulkarni | 2008 | 13 min | Marathi, Hindi (English subs)
A Dream called……..America – Anoop Sathyan | 2012 | 26 min | Hindi, English
Hangover – Vydianathan Ramaswami | 2005 | 4 min | English, Tamil (English subs)
Karma Vinai – Madhan Kodees | 2014 | 12 min | Tamil (English subs)
At the End Of 20th Week – Sanjeev Kumar Choragudi | 2014 | 3 min | English

BFLAT, Bangalore –  1 Feb, 8:00 pm

Yes We Make Them Short – Baba Mazgavkar | 1990 | 13 min | English
Hola Venky – Sandeep Mohan | 2014 | 88 min | English

GOETHE–INSTITUT, Chennai – 4 Feb, 7 pm

Guru Chengannur – Adoor Gopalakrishnan | 1975 | 19 min | English
This Thing with Feathers – Rain Kencana, Miguel Angelo Pate, Jalaludin Trainman | 2014 | 4 min | English
Project 2 – Sebastian Gross, Tobias Ebling | 2014 | 6 mins | English
Pravahi – Arun Khopkar | 2004 | 30 min | English

IndiEarth

IndiEarth is an online B2B platform that connects India’s non-mainstream independent Musicians and Filmmakers to worldwide Media. The platform features a blog, offers value-added services and wider opportunity networks through its partnerships. IndiEarth is an EarthSync Initiative.

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