Magic and Magicians of Niche Gardening: A Gardener's Delight (Zorba Books: 2023)
By Rasham Ratna

Discussants: Ms. Rasham Ratna, Author of the Book; Shri Sheel Vardhan Singh, DG, Central Industry Security Force(CISF); Major General S. S. Patil, ADG TA, Directorate Indian Army; Ms. Radhika Anand, Founder & CEO, Plantology & Environmentalist

Chair: Shri K N Shrivastava, Director IIC

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Arvind Virmani, Member, Niti Aayog and Founder Chairman, EGROW Foundation

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Speakers: Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, Niti Aayog; Shri Sanjeev Sanyal, Member, EAC-PM; Dr. Surjit Bhalla, former ED, IMF; Shri Ajay Shankar, former Secretary, DIPP; Prof. B.N. Goldar, Institute of Economic Growth; Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Dr. Charan Singh, CEO, EGROW Foundation

The Conference is based on the upcoming book co-authored by Dr. Virmani which focuses on India’s growth model which has sustained nearly 5000 years

(Collaboration: EGROW Foundation)

Intach-IIC National Heritage Quiz 2023

Delhi and NCR Zonal Final round with school children 

(Collaboration: Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH)

An Alternative Development Agenda for India
By Sanjay Kaul (Routledge, 2023)

Discussants: Prof. Rajen Harshe, former Vice Chancellor, Allahabad University; Prof. Shreekant Gupta, Professor, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi; Prof. Asha Sarangi, Professor, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University;  and Shri Sanjay Kaul, IAS (retd.), Development Policy Analyst and author of the book
 
Chair: Sh. K N Srivastava, Director IIC

Kashmir under the Dogras
Transition to Peace, Progress & Modernity

by S. N. Pandita

Speakers: Shri Alok Mehta, Senior Journalist & Author; Shri Deepak Dwivedi, Chief editor, Blitz; Prof Nandini Sinha Kapur, Professor, School of Inter-Disciplinary and Trans-Disciplinary Studies, IGNOU; Dr S. N. Pandita, Author of the Book

Chair:  Dr Karan Singh 
  

Presented by Ved Prakash and party from Jind, Haryana

Ved Prakash Alipuriya is a well-known folk singer and musician from Jind region of Haryana. He is accompanied by artists on traditional folk instruments – matka,dholak,harmonium and manjiras.

Ragini is a popular folk form of Haryana with multiple performers gathering together to sing and dance. A rigorous and lively performance, full of colour and rhythm, tone and expressions, the songs are sung in the local dialect. The Ragini performance is divided into three parts- a slow verse; followed by a hyped-up chorus and bridge; and closing with a slow chorus. Raginis are performed on special occasions to mark the cycle of birth and death, harvest, weddings, etc. 

(Collaboration: North Central Zone Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India)

Speakers: Najaf Haider, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); Aparna Balachandran, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Delhi University; Harish Wankhede, Assistant Professor, Centre for Political Studies, JNU; Akanksha Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Janaki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University; and Divya Cherian  Assistant  Professor, Department of History, Princeton University

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) & Trustee, IIC 

The programme shall commence with the release of Divya Cherian's book Merchants of Virtue - Hindus, Muslims and Untouchables in Eighteenth-Century South Asia - Recipient of the 2022 Joseph W. Elder Prize in the Indian Social Sciences

What did it mean to be Hindu in pre-colonial India in the centuries immediately prior to British conquest? What do histories of Hindu identity have to do with histories of caste? These questions have taken on increasing relevance in contemporary India and in the Indian diaspora, with the assertions of the anti-caste movement being countered through references to historical scholarship that has demonstrated the ways in which colonialism remade caste. Centering the pre-colonial pasts of caste provides a new perspective into how categories of “Hindu,” “Muslim,” and “Untouchable” animated life, law, and local politics in India on the eve of colonial modernity. In turn, these insights are significant for the quest for social justice today.
 

In the Reflections of poems, music and the letters of the artist

Compiled by Gábor Lanczkor to mark the 110th birth anniversary of Amrita Sher-Gil. The programme includes his own poems about Amrita Sher-Gil and letters by her

Music by Krisztina Lanczkor

Gábor Lanczkor is an award-winning Hungarian author with sixteen published books, novels, poetry volumes, essays and children’s books. He is the Editor-in Chief of the Hungarian online world literature magazine

(Collaboration: Liszt Institute-Hungarian Cultural Centre)

Screening Details

At 11 am   

HEARTS AND BONES (Australia)
(111 min; 2019; English)
Director: Ben Lawrence

Multiple award winner including the awards for Best Narrative Feature & Best Actor, Fargo Film Festival 2020; ADG Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film, Australian Directors Guild Awards 2020; Awgie Award for Feature Film – Original, Australian Writers’ Guild 2020; among others

Daniel Fisher (Hugo Weaving) is an acclaimed war photographer. His work means he leaves his long-term partner, Josie Avril (Haley McElhinney), a ballet teacher, for long stretches. In the past she had been pregnant but lost that baby. When Daniel returns from his latest assignment, Josie drops the news that she is with child again, although he’s less than enamoured with the idea. Daniel is preparing for an upcoming exhibition of his work when he’s approached by Sebastian Aman (Andrew Luri), a South Sudanese refugee. Sebastian wants Fisher to photograph members of a community choir – all survivors of war. Daniel isn’t interested, but then matters take a turn. As Fisher gets to know Sebastian and his pregnant wife, Anishka Ahmed (Bolude Watson), he can see how drawn Sebastian is to owning a patch of land he can call his own. But he’s also hiding a dark secret.

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At 1:30 pm
HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Lazzaro felice/Italy) 
(128 min; 2018; Italian with English subtitles)
Director: Alice Rohrwacher

Multiple award winning film including Best Screenplay Award, Cannes Film Festival 2018; Spirit for Freedom Award for Best Feature, Jerusalem Film Festival 2018; Gold Hugo Award for Best Feature, Chicago International Film Festival, 2018; Winner ICS Cannes Award for Best Director, International Cinephile Society Cannes Award 2018; among others

The story of Lazzaro, a peasant still shy of 20 and so good he appears stupid, and Tancredi, a young man of the same age but spoilt by his own imagination, is the story of a friendship. It’s a friendship that begins genuinely amid a flurry of secret schemes and lies. Full of light and youthful enthusiasm, it’s the first friendship Lazzaro has ever had. And it subsequently survives the passing of time and the disruptive consequences of a Big Swindle to bring the one, Lazzaro, to a huge, empty city in search of the other, Tancredi.
 

At 4 pm  

THE CATHEDRAL (USA)
(88 min; 2021; English)
Director: Ricky D’Ambrose

Recipient of the HFPA Special Prize, Venice Film Festival 2021; and John Cassavetes Award, Film Independent Spirit Award 2023 

An only child's meditative, impressionistic account of an American family's rise and fall over two decades.

An unseen narrator unfolds the constellation of familial relationships of Jesse Damrosh, born in 1987, chronicling the dissolution of his parents’ marriage and the feuds, money concerns, and deaths that define a typical middle-class American existence. Yet in this impressionistic account of one life, what penetrates the most are not events but incidents. The beautiful yet quotidian moments of the shoulder-padded jacket of an aunt, the certain print of a rug, an ad for Kodak film, or the light in a room one afternoon from years before.

At 6.30 pm  

 FOOTPRINTS ON WATER (UK)
(108 min; 2023; English)
Director: Nathalia Syam

Recipient of the Best Actor Award & Best Director Award, UK Asian Film Festival 2023; Best Debut Film & Best Actor Award, Indo-German Film Week 2023; and Special Jury Award for Best Debut Film & Best Actor Award, Ottawa Indian Film Festival 2023

The director, Nathalia Syam and the lead actor, Adil Hussain will be present to introduce the film and lead a discussion after

Away from the glitz and glam of Birmingham resides an illegal immigrant community who are always in hiding, leaving no proof of their existence, not even their footprints.

Raghu, an illegal immigrant in Birmingham - UK, believes that he has finally struck gold as his daughter, Meera, is all set to marry a wealthy groom, a legal resident in the UK.

Raghu was a small-scale business owner in India who fled to the UK with his wife and daughter after being mired in a financial scam. The life that awaited them in the UK was far from perfect – they were dumped into shared accommodation, they did not have legit visas, and they were all expected to work for a meagre wage. Raghu regrets this move, but he is left with no choice but to stay on in the UK, make enough money to pay off his debts, and return home with dignity.