Touching the Void (UK)
(104 min; 2003; English)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
With Simon Yates, John Simpson, Brendan Mackey

Multiple award winner including Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, BAFTA Awards 2004; British Independent Film Awards 2004 for Best Technical Achievement and Best British Documentary; Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Documentary, Seattle Film Critics Awards 2004; among others

Touching The Void is the true story of two British mountaineers and their disastrous climbing expedition in Peru. Their harrowing adventure has been turned into "a gripping tale of ordinary men coping with extraordinary circumstances"

https://youtu.be/Ddeq-vRCZ8k

Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives (UK)
(90 min; 2007; English)
Director: Andrew Smith

Professor Jim Al-Khalili investigates the amazing science of gravity. A fundamental force of nature, gravity shapes our entire universe. It sculpts galaxies and warps space and time. But gravity’s strange powers also affect our daily lives in the most unexpected ways. This is a story with surprises in store for Jim himself. In telling the story of gravity, his own understanding of the nature of reality comes to be challenged. Finally, Jim discovers that, despite incredible progress, gravity still has many secrets to unveil.

https://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Gravity+and+Me+The+Fo…

The World’s Most Expensive Paintings (UK)
(60 min; 2011; English)
Director: Russell England

Art critic Alastair Sooke tracks down the ten most expensive paintings to sell at auction, and investigates the stories behind the astronomic prices art can reach. Gaining access to the glittering world of the super-rich, Sooke discovers why the planet's richest people want to spend their millions on art.

Featuring works by Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Klimt and Rubens, Sooke enters a world of secrecy and rivalry, passion and power. These revelatory journeys allow Sooke to present an eye-opening view of the super wealthy, and their motivations as collectors of the world's great art treasures.

https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/what-makes-art-valuable/

Lost Kingdoms of Africa (2010-2012/UK)
An eight-part BBC series in which British art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores the pre-colonial history of some of Africa's most important kingdoms.

Episode 2: Ethiopia (59 min)
Director: David Wilson

When Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the Ethiopian military in 1974, an ancient kingdom came to an end. According to tradition, the imperial dynasty stretched back virtually unbroken to 950 BC and its origins had links to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. 

The legitimacy of Haile Selassie and the foundations of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church rested on this claim, but was it true?

Casely-Hayford searches for the evidence and discovers why faith in the legend has lasted for centuries. He traces Ethiopia's heritage back in time, investigating its astonishing secrets and legends.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8amxi5

FOCUS ON WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPOSERS

Dmitri Shostakovich, A Man of Many Faces
(56 min; 2015; English)
Director: Reiner E. Moritz
Narrator: John Hurt
Pianist: Daniil Trifonov
Conductor, violinist: Rudolf Barshai

Documentary on Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the 20th century's most brilliant and fascinating composers. With British actor John Hurt as narrator, the director, Reiner Moritz examines Shostakovich's life, focusing in on two events in particular: the 1936 banning of his highly successful opera Lady Mabeth of the Mtsensk District, and the composer's labelling as a "formalist and cosmopolitan" in 1948. Despite such setbacks, Shostakovich went on to pursue a resilient and fulfilling career that testifies to the power of art in the face of a dictatorial terror regime. In telling his story, Mortiz weaves together rare footage of the composer himself talking and performing his Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings with captivating performances of his 15 symphonies and 6 concertos by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra and filmed excerpts of Lady Macbeth and his quartets.

https://youtu.be/hvUt-Uc_KA0

Patti Smith: Dream of Life (USA)
(109 min; 2008; English)
Director: Steven Sebring

An intimate portrait of poet, painter, musician and singer Patti Smith that mirrors the essence of the artist herself.

https://youtu.be/5Nyj7YIVNlQ

Ambedkar, Stamps and the Indian Republic

Illustrated lecture by Prof. Vikas Kumar, Faculty, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru and author of the forthcoming book Waiting for a Christmas Gift and Other Essays and co-author of Numbers in India’s Periphery: The Political Economy of Government Statistics (Cambridge University Press: 2020)

FILMS OF THE SPIRIT
Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

Exemplar 
(55 min; 2021; English)
Produced by The Bahá’i World Centre, Haifa

Screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. A.K. Merchant, National Trustee/Secretary, Lotus Temple and Bahá’i Community of India

Exemplar follows the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Head of the Bahá’i Faith from 1892-1921, later canonized as the last of three ‘central figures’ of the religion. A sense of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s unique function as a shelter, a shield, a stronghold for all humanity is captured in vignettes of some of the souls whose lives were transformed through an association with Him. The film reflects a few of the universal principles embodied, both in word and deed, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá – principles that animate a global movement of individuals, communities and institutions.

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)

 

The Second Wife and Other Stories

By Nandini C. Sen (Om Books International: 2021)

Moderator: Prof Malashri Lal, Academician and Author

Speakers: Shri K. N. Shrivastava, Director, India International Centre (Chair) ; Prof. Aruna Chakravarti, Academician, Author and Translator; Prof. GJV Prasad, Academician, Author and Translator ; Ms. Rumi Malik, Writer and Broadcaster ;  Dr. Nandini C Sen,  Academician and Author of the Book

Saving the World? Reflections on UNESCO’s Mid Century Mission in Conflict

Illustrated lecture by Prof. Lynn Meskell, Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor, University of Pennsylvania and Richard D. Green Professor of Anthropology, School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, Weitzman School of Design, and Curator, Middle East and Asia sections, Penn Museum. Employing archival and ethnographic analysis, her award-winning book A Future in Ruins: UNESCO, World Heritage, and the Dream of Peace (OUP, 2018) reveals UNESCO’s early forays into a one-world archaeology and its later commitments to global heritage

Chair: Prof. Madhavan K. Palat

At the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO finds itself at an impasse, faced with the impossibility of calling powerful nations to account. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the most recent example. Yet earlier instances of inertia include international conflicts in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Crimea. More able to publicly repudiate non-state actors, such as Ansar Dine or Islamic State, than some of its own high-profile member states, UNESCO has increasingly walked a diplomatic tightrope and prioritized geopolitical alliances, financial considerations, and tactical relationships.