Presenting a selection of short films from the Catalan festival, ‘Animac Lleida. International Animated Film Festival of Catalonia’. Organised in collaboration with Cervantes Institute, New Delhi and Decaf Festival, the festival presents a selection of the best short films recently produced in Spain, and from Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina

Decorated (Spain/11 min/2016)
Director: Alberto Vásquez
Short fiction film about the unravelling of a relationship between two people and how it affects the world around them

Carnal Symbiosis (Belgium/2017/10 min)
Director: Rocío Álvarez Varela
Erotic experimental short film where the game and the personal transformation of the characters are more important than the reality of their bodies

Tío (Mexico/2021/12 min)
Director: Juan José Medina
Film in stop motion, set in a dystopian world, it is the story of a twelve-year-old boy Martin and his family of miners

Flesh (Spain/2019/12 min)
Director: Camila Káter
Animation and documentary about five women, and their relationship with their bodies from childhood to old age

Beast (Chile/2021/15 min)
Director: Hugo Covarrubias
Inspired by trues events, Beast delves into the life of a secret police agent in the military dictatorship in Chile 

Selection Process (Spain/2020/3 min)
Director: Carla Pereira
A cat goes to a job interview where his skills are evaluated by three mice

Loop (Argentina/2021/7 min)
Director: Pablo Polledri
In a society where each member has a specific role and performs a certain action in an eternal loop, a couple decide to do

Infrastructure and Chinese Influence in Southeast Asia 

Speaker: Selina Ho, Assistant Professor in International Affairs and Co-Director, Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She researches Chinese politics and foreign policy, with a focus on how China wields power and influence via infrastructure and water disputes in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Chair: Amb. Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary and Visiting Fellow, Ashoka University

China’s increasing material capabilities stand at the heart of the US-China power transition. The focus on material power reflects a realist definition of power based on the possession of resources. However, material capabilities alone do not necessarily translate into influence and do not always determine outcomes. Non-material power matters at least as much as material capabilities. China under President Xi Jinping views power differently from previous generations of Chinese leaders. While material power remains important, Xi has paid greater attention to strengthening Chinese non-material power, specifically structural power and discursive power. Drawing from the findings of her book, Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia, Selina Ho discusses how China wields infrastructure as a source of power in Southeast Asia. To what extent has China been successful in converting infrastructure power into influence? How have Southeast Asian states responded to China's infrastructure initiatives?

(Collaboration: Centre for Chinese Studies, Ashoka University; and NYU Shanghai)
 

Is AMR a Growing Public Health Concern?

Speakers: Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, Professor, Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences (IHBAS); Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, veterinarian, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology and Assistant Professor, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR); and Dr. Rupak Singla, National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases (NITRD)

Moderator: Ravi Agarwal, Founder Director, Toxics Link

AMR is identified as one of the biggest health threats of the present time. It is a global issue of concern rendering common and life-threatening infections increasingly untreatable. India has one of the largest burdens of drug resistant pathogens worldwide, including the highest burden of multidrug resistant tuberculosis. The panel will discuss the pressing concerns of AMR, its repercussions on human health and the environment and also the solutions that can help mitigate the problem

(Collaboration: Toxics Link)

Kirtaniye…The Invisible Divine: The Udasi Edition

Gurbani

Presented by Bibi Amrita Kaur from New Zealand, well known Gurbani artist
 

Madhushala: Vartaman Paripeksya mein ek Nutan Kavya

By Balram Singh (D.K. Printworld: 2023)

Discussants: Prof. Devendra Choubey, Centre of Indian Languages, School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Raghwendra Pratap Singh, Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Ms Mridula Pradhan, poet and writer; Prof. Akhlaque Ahmed ‘Ahan’, Chairperson, Centre for Persian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Prof. Bal Ram Singh, Professor and President, Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth and author of the book

Chair: Prof. Makarand Paranjape, Professor of English, Jawaharlal Nehru University

(106 min; 2016; English)

Director: Vishaal Nityanand

With Tom Alter, Michael Dieter, Allegra Dunn, Astri Ghosh

A film about dementia and elderly care, and revolves around the lives of three patients. The film evocatively portrays the psychological and emotional journey of Emma whose mother is progressively degenerating, with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, after the death of her husband. 
 

An exhibition of paintings – acrylic on canvas

By Shruti Goyal from Delhi

Inauguration on Tuesday, 19 September 2023 at 18.30pm

Sitar Recital

By Dr. Renuka Gambhir from Hissar, disciple of Pt. Harvinder Kumar

At 19:00
Hindustani Vocal Recital

By Shweta Dubey from Gurugram, disciple of Late Vidushi Savita Devi and Pt. Bholanath Mishra

Burning Pyres, Mass Graves and a State that Failed its People 

By Harsh Mander (Speaking Tiger: 2023)

The author, Harsh Mander will be in conversation with Natasha Badhwar, writer and filmmaker

Objects and Histories

Illustrated  lecture by Prof. Sudeshna Guha, Professor, Dept. of History and Archaeology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence

Chair: Surajit Sarkar

Sudeshna Guha will be speaking on her recent book A History of India Through 75 Objects (Hachette India: 2022). Through a selection of things from prehistory to modern-day India, the book demonstrates the importance of mapping the changing meanings and valuations of things over time for seeking historical and archaeological enquiries. It conveys the inordinate power of object worlds for interrogating projects of history-and heritage-making and brings to focus objects’ experiential and social effects, It, thereby, creates regard for the many histories we may expect of a particular phenomenon, encourages appreciation of history’s complexity, and guides readers to see what history is always making