István Szabó Retrospective: Central European Present and Past in Film
Organised in collaboration with Liszt Institute-Hungarian Cultural Centre Delhi; and University of Delhi

Colonel Redl (Hungary)
(144 min; 1985; dvd; Hungarian with English subtitles)
Director: István Szabó

Multiple award winner including Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 1985; BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film, BAFTA Film Awards 1986; Film Award in Gold for Outstanding Feature Film & Best Performance of an Actor in a Leading Role, German Film Awards 1985; among others

The rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Austro-Hungarian Secret Police, only to become ensnared in a web of political deception.

Szabó returns to the formula that made Mephisto a success and improves on it, delivering a stunning historical piece with the amazing Brandauer in the lead role.  This one is set in the years preceding The Great War, where the glory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is in decline.  Brandauer plays Alfred Redl, a young officer from a poor upbringing who quickly rises in the ranks to become head of the secret police.  Once again it is Brandauer's charismatic presence and dramatic range that carries the film. The final scene in the film is one of the most emotional powerful displays of acting ever filmed.

A fascinating story of a true historical figure, with another brilliant performance from Klaus Maria Brandauer, one of the most underrated actors of his generation.

Ikebana with Shona stone sculptures
Lecture demonstration by Ms Mary Marques from Zimbabwe, a Riji in Sogetsu School of Ikebana and President of the Harare Chapter of the Sogetsu School

Introduction: Smt Veena Dass, Director, Sogetsu School, New Delhi

(Collaboration: Sogetsu School, New Delhi)

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87913555918?pwd=SWxxWERSbkFxbTAramZxTHdQam5hd…
           
Meeting ID: 879 1355 5918
Passcode: Sogetsu

The programme will focus on the poetry of Akka Mahadevi (virashaivism); Mirabai (devotion to Krishna); Kabir; Yunus Emre; Rumi; and William Blake (Songs of Innocence and Experience)

Talk followed by readings in English, Hindi and Urdu by Sanjula Sharma (Akka Mahadevi & Rumi); Rachna Joshi (Mirabai & William Blake); and Sameer Kakkar (readings from Kabir and Yunus Emre)

Chair: Dr. Amrita Bhalla, Associate Professor of English, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi

In India, during the middle ages, Bhakti poets challenged social norms through their writings. However, it rarely resulted in the persecution and martyrdom of the kind that Europe saw for centuries. The religious establishments in India continued a dialogue with the Bhaktas, and the many streams of thought practice frequently coexisted, and at times merged one with another. Mirabai is the poet saint of India who defied the conventions of the time, choosing to leave home and hearth to live among the saints and wandering mendicants out of devotion to Krishna. For the English mystical poet, William Blake, the life of the imagination was more real than the material world. 

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

Role of Private Players in Eradicating Child Labour in the Supply Chains
Speakers: Shri Daya Ram, Secretary and Executive Director, ASPIRE – an organization working in the area of school education, and formerly Education Head, Agha Khan Foundation in India; and Ms Sandra Claassen, Director, Arisa (Advocating Rights in South Asia), Dutch human rights organization working on the defence and protection of human rights in global supply chains, especially in the sectors of garments and textiles, natural stone, leather, cottonseed and vegetable seeds and Ms Mamuni Das, business journalist for over 15 years, formerly Senior Editor, The Hindu Business Line; and a WNCB awardee for Untold Stories

Moderator: Shri Shankar Venkateswaran, Advisor and interim Director, CDP India, Chairperson, Oxfam India and CSR Trust for SDGs in India
  
Second discussion in a series of three dialogues addressing the root causes of child labour organised in collaboration with Work: No Child’s Business (WNCB) to mark International Year for Elimination of Child Labour (IYECL – 2021). 

Chair: Shri N.N. Vohra, President, IIC

Speakers: Brig. Ashok Abbey (retd.), AVSM, President, Indian Mountaineering Foundation; Smt. Rita Gombu Marwah, veteran mountaineer and Member of the 1984 Indian Expedition to Mount Everest, Vice President, Indian Mountaineering Foundation; and Ms Prerna Dangi, professional climber, athlete and guide, accomplished rock climber and one of India's top women ice climbers

Moderator: Shri Mandip Singh Soin

(Collaboration: Indian Mountaineering Foundation)

A weekly screening of four award winning children’s films organized in collaboration with Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Delhi to celebrate National Children’s Day. Screenings will be held every Saturday and Sunday in November 2021. Each film will be accessible for a period of 36 hours from Saturday 9 am to Sunday 11:55 pm. The registration link for accessing the weekly screenings is given below:

Life According to Nino (Het leven volgens Nino)
(77 min; 2014; Dutch with English subtitles)
Director: Simone van Dusseldorp

Recipient of the Cinekid Film Award for Best Children’s Film, Cinekid 2014; and Special Jury Diploma ‘Molodists for Kids’ programme, Molodist International Film Festival 2015

The film opens with an almost utopian portrayal of family harmony and happiness.  The narrative begins on the birthday of the film’s lead protagonist, eight-year-old Nino who receives, as a gift — not the dog that he had wished for — but a rabbit. His disappointment is short-lived, however, and Bobby (the newly arrived rabbit’s name) is ready to join the happy family. This happy idyll is shattered by the death of Nino’s mother. Nino and his teenaged brother Lucas are left to deal with life on their own... 

Life According to Nino takes a potentially dour story and infuses it with humour and vitality. 

Screening schedule and online registration to access the films

Family Film | Eye Film Player

This series deals with two of the deepest questions there are - what is everything, and what is nothing? In two epic, surreal and mind-expanding films, Professor Jim Al-Khalili searches for an answer to these questions as he explores the true size and shape of the universe and delves into the amazing science behind apparent nothingness.

Nothing | Click here to watch
(58 min; English)
The second part, Nothing, explores science at the very limits of human perception, where we now understand the deepest mysteries of the universe lie. Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to answer one very simple question - what is nothing? His journey ends with perhaps the most profound insight about reality that humanity has ever made. Everything came from nothing. The quantum world of the super small shaped the vast universe we inhabit today, and Jim can prove it. 
 

A series of documentaries presented by the historian Bettany Hughes. Travelling across present locations, Bettany explores the cultural and political pasts of ancient peoples, including the Greeks, Minoans and Egyptian.

The Ancient Worlds: The Minoans | Click here to watch
(50 min; English)

The tale of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth is perhaps the most compelling of all Greek myths. Just over 100 years ago, English archaeologist Arthur Evans went to the 'Minotaur's Island' to explore the roots of this myth and discovered instead a sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation that had been lost to history for thousands of years.

He called them The Minoans, and the riches of their culture astonished the world, prompting Evans to proclaim them the first civilisation of the Western World.

Tagore and Gandhi: Walking Alone, Walking Together
By Rudrangshu Mukherjee (Aleph Book Company, New Delhi: September 2021)

Discussants: Shri Tushar Gandhi, President, Lok Seva Trust and Director, Gandhi Research Foundation; Dr. Ravindra Kumar, former Vice-Chancellor, CCS University, Meerut and Ombudsman, Swami Vivekananda Subharati University, Meerut; and Prof. Rudrangshu Mukherjee, historian and author of the book

Chair: Prof. Sanjukta Dasgupta, academic, poet and Convenor, English Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi and President, Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library, ICCR, Kolkata