My Man Godfrey (USA)

(94 min 1936; b/w; English)

Director: Gregory La Cava

With William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady

Recipient of the National Film Registry, National Film Preservation Board, USA 1999

Carole Lombard and William Powell dazzle in this definitive screwball comedy by Gregory La Cava—a potent cocktail of romantic repartee and social critique. Irene, an eccentric, wealthy Manhattanite, wins a society-ball scavenger hunt after finding a “forgotten man” (Powell)—an apparent down-and-out drifter—at a dump. She gives him work as the family butler and soon falls head over heels for him. Her attempts to both woo Godfrey and indoctrinate him in the household’s dysfunction make for a string of madcap high jinks that has never been bested. La Cava’s deft film was the first to garner Oscar nominations in all four acting categories, and it is one of Hollywood’s greatest commentaries on class and the social unrest of the Depression era.

https://archive.org/details/my_man_godfrey/my_man_godfrey.mp4

Curator: Rajiv Mehrotra

Siddhartha (89 min; 1972; English)

Director: Conrad Rooks

The film narrates the story of the young Siddhartha (played by Shashi Kapoor), born in a wealthy family, and his search for a meaningful way of life. This search takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, then self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony with himself that he was seeking.

(59 min; 2009; English)

Director: Louise Hooper

Jeremy Paxman tells the tragic story of World War One poet Wilfred Owen. At a time of jingoism and wartime propaganda, one Shropshire lad was compelled to tell the truth. Jeremy Paxman travels to the battlefields of France to discover how the ugliest and most terrible arena imaginable gave birth to some of the most poignant and powerful poetry in the English language. Wilfred Owen is played by Samuel Barnett.

https://vimeo.com/143154407 | Click here to watch

A 4-part series directed by David Wallace for BBC2/PBS with the English historian and broadcaster, Michael Wood. The Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century was one of the most important and cataclysmic events in history. Spanish expeditions endured incredible hardships in order to open up the lands of the ‘New World’, and few stories in history can match these for drama and endurance.

In Conquistadors, Michael Wood follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest of the Spanish adventurers travelling from the forests of Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, the deserts of North Mexico, the snowpeaks of the Andes and the heights of Machu Picchu. He experiences the epic journeys of Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana and Cabeza de Vaca, and explores the turbulent and terrifying events surrounding the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.

Conquistadores: The Conquest of the Incas (49 min) | Click here to watch

The amazing story of the overthrow of the Inca empire by Francisco Pizarro and his brothers. Following the route taken by the Spaniards, Wood climbs ancient Inca roads to Cajamarca where the Inca leader tried to ransom himself for a roomful of gold and undertakes an epic jungle trek to the lost city of the Incas.

https://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Conquistadors%3A+The+Conquest+of+the+Incas

(58 min; 2002; English)

Director: Robin Dashwood

On 1 July 1952, a 30-year-old architect called Michael Ventris made a BBC radio broadcast which was to secure his place in archaeological and history books forever. He announced that he'd deciphered Linear B, Europe's earliest known, and previously incomprehensible, writing system. His discovery was to revolutionise our understanding of Western civilisation. It was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Ventris was no more than an amateur enthusiast, a man passionately and often tortuously determined to crack the linguistic code which had puzzled experts, archaeologists and academics for three decades.

By Tabasmi Paul Majumdar from Kolkata, disciple of Dr. Malabika Mitra and Pt. Rajendra Kumar Gangani

Video recording of a dance recital for IIC online programme activities

Personal Data under the Constitution

Speakers: K.V. Viswanathan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India and former Additional Solicitor General; and Mariyam Kamil, DPhil Candidate, University of Oxford, General Editor, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal (2019-20)

Moderator: Lalit Panda, Senior Resident Fellow (Charkha), Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

Following the Supreme Court’s 2017 decision affirming a fundamental right to privacy under the Constitution and its 2018 decision on the Aadhaar Act, the governance and governmental use of information technology in India has seen a range of developments at a rapid pace. Much of the conversation on these developments has gravitated towards “informational privacy” or the right of an individual to exercise control over information related to them. This interest in informational privacy has been a paramount concern in a variety of issues related to the use of DNA technology, facial recognition systems, the Pegasus spyware, the legal duties of internet platforms, and national security surveillance. In the midst of this flurry of events, the wait for a comprehensive data protection law continues, and it is critical that we have greater clarity on precisely what protection our Constitution provides for our personal data

(Collaboration: Charkha, the Constitutional Law Research Centre, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)

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The Front Page (USA)
(100 min; 1931; b/w; English)
Director: Lewis Milestones

With Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian

Recipient of NBR Award for Top Ten Films, National Board of Film Review, USA 1931; and National Film Registry, National Film Preservation Board, USA 2010. This American screwball comedy is still widely regarded as one of Hollywood's most accomplished farces. 

The film centres on star newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson who is quitting his job in Chicago to move to New York City with his fiancée Peggy, despite the insistent protests of his editor, Walter Burns. When Hildy shows up at the city courthouse after his last day of work, however, he becomes caught up in the hubbub surrounding the escape of a convicted murderer who is scheduled for execution that night.

https://archive.org/details/the-front-page-1931
Or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS2Kezl0EZ4