Screening of a documentary film followed by a discussion

Film: Nodir Kul Nai (17:11 min; 2019; with English subtitles)
Director: Parasher Baruah

The film will be introduced by Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Screening will be followed by a discussion with Parasher Baruah on some of the issues raised in the film

The short documentary produced by ArtEast, features singers, boatmen and everyday life on the Chars or numerous sand banks that dot the red river, the Brahmaputra. The river does not know boundaries, it just flows. In the film, through songs and poetry, the miyahs who inhabit the chars explore their relationship with the river, their struggle for survival and the larger issue of migration and identity. They are as much outsider as water is to land

Organised in collaboration with Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, four plays of Pippo Delbono, well-known Italian theatre actor and director will be streamed through Vimeo links. Presented by the Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Italy, each of the plays feature leading actors from theatres in Modena, Cesena, Vignola and Castelfranco Emilia.

The four plays will be presented over the next four weeks and can be accessed through the Vimeo link pasted below. The plays are in Italian with English subtitles

This Fierce darkness (Questo buio feroce; 110 min)
Written and Directed by Pippo Delbono

Composed of text (Italian and English), music, dance and a remarkable display of visuals, the non-linear show explores the relationship between life and death and the impressions, conscious and unconscious, that fly through our thoughts.

Set in a large white box designed by Claude Santerre and strikingly lit by Robert John Resteghini, the 14 actors, stepping into the production on opening day to replace an ailing company member – play out Delbono’s carnival-like vision. The cast includes a number of non-professional actors, among them street people and others who, for various reasons, some would consider social outsiders
 
https://vimeo.com/407985900

Organised in collaboration with Cervantes Institute, New Delhi

Fourth film in the online series presenting five exceptional films from Spain, created between 1973–1997. Each of the films has received awards at the most prestigious international festivals and are emblematic of the collective memory, continuing to connect with contemporary viewers, offering them a much richer and more complex imagination.

Screenings will be held every Friday in July 2020 from 11:30 pm onwards. Vimeo links of the films will be made accessible for a period of 48 hours

Friday, 24th July 2020 from 11:30 pm onwards
The Lucky Star (La Buena estrella)
(102 min; 1997; Spanish with English subtitles)
Director: Ricardo Franco

Multiple award winner including Prize of the Ecumenical Jury- Special Mention, Cannes Film Festival 1997; Goya Awards for Best Director, Best Lead Actor, Best Original Screenplay & Best Film, Goya Awards 1998; CEC Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress & Best Score, Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1998; among others

After making his daily purchases at the slaughterhouse, Rafael, a butcher, witnesses Marina - a woman with a glass eye - being attacked on the street by Daniel; her long-time acquaintance since the orphanage, where they were both raised as children. He rescues her from Daniel and brings her to his home, where soon a relationship develops between them. Rafael and Marina settle down together as a couple. However, Daniel is released from prison and comes back in search of Marina…

https://cultura.cervantes.es/nuevadelhi/en/the-good-star/134828

Speaker: Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Former Indian High Commissioner to South Africa and former Governor of West Bengal 

Welcome remarks: Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies

Closing remarks: H.E. Mr. Joel Sibusiso Ndebele, South African High Commissioner to India

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

(Collaboration: Working Group on Alternative Strategies; and South African High Commission)

Speakers: Mr. Yubaraj Ghimire, Editor, Deshsanchar multimedia news portal; Ambassador Ranjit Rae, former Indian Ambassador to Nepal; and Shri Nrip Singh Napalchyal, former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand

Moderator: Prof. Sangeeta Thapliyal, Inner Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Vice-President, Association of Asia Scholars, New Delhi

Nepal’s parliament has passed a new map claiming territory in the Kumaon district of Uttarakhand. Many questions have been raised on the reasons for Nepal’s cartographic expansion, on whose behest was such a decision taken, and it's impact on relations with India. The panel will also discuss the geographical location of the area, what does Nepal gain from such cartographic aggression and how does it impact the people living in the areas directly impacted by the new map? And what are the options available to India.

Are Today’s Crises Catastrophic Enough for Neoclassical Economists and Neoliberal Politicians to Change their Minesets?
Speaker: Dr. Ashok Khosla, eminent environmentalist and Founder, Development Alternatives

Introduction: Prof. Nitya Nanda, Director, Council for Social Development

Remarks: Prof. Muchkund Dubey, President, Council for Social Development

Historically, deep structural change in society has originated either from charisma or from crisis. Since charismatic leaders seem to arise only once in several hundred years, for most transformative change we have to depend on crises. The crises of today are the life-threatening products of grossly flawed intellectual and ethical choices that we have made in our search for “development” over the past few centuries – particularly during recent decades…Despite the mindsets of those who make decisions at the highest levels, with their interests so deeply vested in the status quo, it is now a matter of civilizational, human and planetary survival that we urgently and fundamentally change, and in many cases turn upside down, the assumptions and practices of both the “science” and praxis of economics.

(Collaboration: Council for Social Development)
 

Presentation by Vidya Rao, well-known vocalist

Introduction to Dakhini Poetry and the artist by Dr Preeti Bahadur Ramswamy, art historian and one of the two curators of the noted exhibition, ‘Nauras’ held at the National Museum who will  also speak about Dakkhani art and culture

Webcast recording of the programme held on 12th August 2015

IIC Webinar programmes

Organised in collaboration with Cervantes Institute, New Delhi

Third film in the online film series presenting five exceptional films from Spain, created between 1973–1997. Each of the films has received awards at the most prestigious international festivals and are emblematic of the collective memory, continuing to connect with contemporary viewers, offering them a much richer and more complex imagination.

Screenings will be held every Friday in July 2020 from 11:30 pm onwards. Vimeo links of the films will be made accessible for a period of 48 hours

Friday, 17th July 2020 from 11:30 pm onwards
The South (El sur)
(93 min; 1983; Spanish with English subtitles)
Director: Víctor Erice

Multiple award winner including Gold Hugo for Best Feature Film, Chicago International Film Festival 1983; CEC Award for Best Director, Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1985; Critics Award, São Paolo International Film Festival 1984; among others

Victor Erice’s 1983 gem remains a haunting tale of family secrets and postwar loss.

Estrella Arenas, a rural Spanish teenager with a rich imagination, dreams of her mysterious father Agustín, a man who in recent years has drifted away from her. Estrella struggles to piece together Agustín's secret history and recalls her family's sudden unexplained move from Seville, Spain, to the northern countryside in her youth. Estrella decides to return alone to the South, a place warped by years of her father's hazy and nostalgic recollections.


https://cultura.cervantes.es/nuevadelhi/en/the-south/134827

Speaker: Dr. Puja Dewan, Medical Consultant, Gynaecologist and Musician

The talk will focus on demystifying Corona; give stress help tips; mindfulness; and music therapy

Dancing Music By Sudha Raghuraman

With demonstrations by Priya Venkataraman and Justin McCarthy, well-known Bharatanatyam artists

Accompanists: Shri G. Raghuraman on flute and Shri P Padmanabhan on mridangam

Her lec-dem will look into how music for dance is an art by itself and how musicians accompanying dance form are trained especially for this purpose. Sudha Raghuraman hails from a family of distinguished musicians. She is a much sought after singer of Delhi and is recipient of the noted Ustad Bismillah Khan Puraskar by the Sangeet Natak Akademi

Webcast recording of the programme held on 15th May 2014