Screening Details

ARISTOCRATS (Anoko was kizoku/Japan)

(124 min; 2021; Japanese with English subtitles)
Director: Yukiko Sode

Born in Tokyo into wealth, Hanako (Mugi Kadowaki) has never really had to think about how her life would play out. However, at the age of 27 she’s suddenly dumped by her fiancé and finds herself pressurised by her family to find a husband. Mika (Kiko Mizuhara) grew up in a small town, moving to the capital in order to give herself a chance of a future; working hard for everything she got. When Hanako finds a prospective partner, who happens to be Mika’s best friend, they bond over their differences and similarities.

Aristocrats is an expertly measured drama about class and gender in a society which is nowhere near as progressive as it may like to think. The trick with Yukiko Sode’s film is the restraint. Every shot is calculated. Every gesture. There’s an exactness which is thrilling. While their backgrounds are very different, both women find an affinity in each other and their experiences in a patriarchal society.  Aristocrats is a quiet and thoughtful look at contemporary Japan.  
 

 Screening Details

IVIE WIE IVIE (Germany)

(109 min; 2021; German with English subtitles)
Director: Sarah Blaßkiewitz

Récipient of the Film Award in Gold for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, German Film Award 2021

The film will be introduced by Mr. Johannes Höber, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of Germany

Sarah Blaßkiewitz's feature debut centres on Ivie, a 30-year-old woman with African roots living in Leipzig, who is searching for permanent employment as a teacher whilst working at her best friend's solarium. One day, her younger half-sister Naomie turns up unexpectedly from Berlin at her front door. Ivie had previously not even known of her existence and now learns that their father has died in Africa. The question is whether she will travel to Guinea for the funeral with Naomie. But, first of all, they have to get to know each other, triggering a rollercoaster of feelings and alienating her friends and work colleagues who suddenly see her in a new light...

Screening Details

THOU SHALT NOT HATE (Non odiare/Italy/Poland)

(96 min; 2020; Italian with English subtitles)
Director: Mauro Mancini

Recipient of the Sorriso Diverso Venezia Award for Best Italian Film & Pasinetti Award for Best Actor, Venice Film Festival 2020; Silver Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress, Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalist 2021; Jury Award for Best Film, Moscow Jewish Film Festival 2021

Simone is an established surgeon with a satisfying life, an elegant flat and no ties.

The conflicts with his father, a prison camp survivor, are just a memory, now that his father passed away. During a boating training, he witnesses a car accident and, as a doctor, he intervenes to save the victim. When he discovers a Nazi tattoo on his chest, he hesitates, leaving the man to his fate. But immediately, Simone, tormented by guilt, starts investigating on the dead man, reaching to his family in a working-class neighbourhood.

Screening Details

THE EMPTY NEST (China)

(84 min; 2020; Chinese with English subtitles)
Director: Zhang Wei  

The Empty Nest is about an old woman who is an empty nester. It is a melancholic story based on the novel by Xue Yiwei. The film ends with hope and realization by the central character Zhao Yemie that life is about moving on and not about pondering over the sad moments.

Zhao Yemie is played by Zhu Xijuan, a superstar of 1960s in China
 

Screening Details

ANA. UNTITLED (Ana. Sem Titulo/Brazil)

(110 min; 2020; with English subtitles)
Director: Lúcia Murat 

Stela, a young Brazilian actress, decides to make a work on the letters exchanged between Latin American plastic artists in the 70s and 80s. She travels to Cuba, Mexico, Argentina and Chile looking for her works and testimonies about the reality they lived during the dictatorships that most of these countries faced at the time. In the midst of the investigation, Stela discovers the existence of Ana, a young Brazilian artist who was part of this world, but disappeared. Ana went from southern Brazil, from a small town in the interior to Buenos Aires. Obsessed by the character, Stela decides to find her and find out what happened to her. A road movie about Latin American reality.  The film won the 2020 Havana Film Festival and at the 6th BRICS festival in Goa for the best director. 

Screening Details 

WE ARE STILL HERE (Australia)

(90 min; 2022; English)
Directors:  Beck Cole, Dena Curtis, Tracey Rigney, Danielle MacLean, Tim Worrall, Renae Maihi, Miki Magasiva, Mario Gaoa, Richard Curtis, Chantelle Burgoyne.

Recipient of the CGA Award for Best Casting in a Feature Film, Casting Guild of Australia Awards 2022; and Best Dramatic Feature Award, ImagineNative Film +Media Arts Festival 2022

Ten leading Indigenous filmmakers interweave eight powerful tales to tell a sweeping story of hope and survival, traversing 1000 years from the past to the present and future.

Screening Details

Presented by India International Centre and G20 Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India 

INAUGURATION
By Shri Victor Banerjee, well-known actor; and Shri Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa, Govt. of India

Followed by
PATHER PANCHALI (Song of the Little Road/India)
(112 min; 1955; b/w; Bluray; Bengali with English subtitles)
A film by Satyajit Ray

With Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Subir Banerjee

Multiple award winner including Best Human Document & OCIC Award – Special Mention, Cannes Film Festival 1956; National Film Awards for Best Feature Film & Best Feature Film in Bengali, National Film Awards, 1956; Golden Gate Awards for Best Director & Best Picture, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1957; among others

With the release in 1955 of Satyajit Ray’s debut, Pather Panchali, an eloquent and important new cinematic voice made itself heard all over the world. A depiction of rural Bengali life in a style inspired by Italian neorealism, this naturalistic but poetic evocation of a number of years in the life of a family introduces us to both little Apu and, just as essentially, the women who will help shape him: his independent older sister, Durga; his harried mother, Sarbajaya, who, with her husband away, must hold the family together; and his kindly and mischievous elderly “auntie,” Indir—vivid, multifaceted characters all. With resplendent photography informed by its young protagonist’s perpetual sense of discovery, Pather Panchali, which won an award for Best Human Document at Cannes, is an immersive cinematic experience and a film of elemental power.

Ethnomedicine and Tribal Healing Practices in India: Challenges and Possibilities of Recognition and Integration

Edited by Sunita Reddy, Nemthianngai Guite and Bamdev Subedi (Springer: 2023)

Speakers: Dr. Anandaraman Sharma PV, Professor and Head, Department of Panchakarma, All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi ; Dr. Ritu Priya, Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU

Chair: Dr. Shailja Chandra, Former Secretary, GoI & Former Chief Secretary Delhi & Public Policy Analyst
 

To Celebrate the Birth Centenary of Pt. Kumar Gandharva

A day-long seminar organised in collaboration with The Raza Foundation

11:00 TO 13:30
Musical Vision
With Satyasheel Deshpande; Anubhuti Sharma; Madan Soni; Arun Khopkar; Partho Datta; Neela Bhagwat; and Jyotirmoy Sharma

14:30 TO 16:00
Musical Practice
With Vidyadhar Vyas; Madhup Mudgal;  Asteek Vajpayi; Priyavrat Soni; and Manjari Sinha

16:30 TO 18:00
Raag and Folk Music

With Dhruv Shukla; Udayan Vajpeyi; Rajiv Vora;  Shabnam Virmani and Kalapini Komkali

AT 18:30
Absence and Presence
With Kumar Shahani; Ghulam Mohd. Sheikh;  Bhuvanesh Komkali

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory

By Thomas Hertog (Bantam: 2023)

Discussants: Dr. Sanil Unnikrishnan, Dean, International Relations & Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, St. Stephen’s College; Dr. Alphy Geever, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, St. Stephen’s College

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University and Indian Society of International Law