Focus Sri Lanka: Contemporary Views

 

A special focus on Sri Lanka today through exhibitions; discussions and film screening organized in collaboration with the South Asian University; Sri Lanka High Commission; and with the support of Sri Lankan Airlines

 

 

 

Exhibition 

 

Portraits of Resistance

 

Curators: Anoli Perera, Theertha International Artists’ Collective, Colombo; and Dr. Dev Pathak, Department of Sociology, South Asian University

 

Participating artists: Jagath Weerasinghe, Anoli Perera, Bandu Manamperi, Pala Pothupitiya, Anura Krishanta, Pradeep Chandrasiri, Pradeep Talawatte, Thisath thoradeniya and Pushpakumara Koralegedera

 

Each of the artists have tried to capture a portrait of a nation whose historical trajectory has gone through strained moments that are heavy with colonial legacies, homeland claims, armed conflicts, autocratic rules and polarized ethnic politics

 

 

Inauguration on Monday, 22 August 2016 at 18:30

 

 

 

Organised in collaboration with Department of Sociology, South Asian University; Society and Culture in South Asia Journal; India-Sri Lanka Foundation; and Theertha International Artists Collective, Colombo

 

 

 

Under the People Tree: A Meeting of Hands, Heads and Hearts

Speakers: Orijit Sen and Gurpreet Sidhu, The People Tree

 

First lecture in the Lila Prism series for 2016

 

(Collaboration: Lila Foundation for Translocal Initiatives)

 

By Anand Seshadri, Indian pianist presently based in Budapest

 

The artist will present a concert of works by Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Bartok

 

(Collaboration: Delhi Music Society)

 

Edited by Himanshu Prabha Ray with Foreword by Kapila Vatsyayan, Chairperson, IIC – International Research Division and published by Manohar Publishers, New Delhi

 

The editor will briefly introduce the book

 

Discussants: Prof. Pia Brancaccio, Drexel University, USA; and Shri  B. M. Pande, former Director of the Archaeological Survey of India

 

Chairperson: Shri  Nalin Surie, Director-General, Indian Council of World Affairs

 

Part of the international conference: Heritage in Context: Balancing the Global with the Local

Organised in collaboration with the Anneliese Maier Research Programme, Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich) and Nalanda University (Rajgir) and International Research Division

 

Release and discussion of a book by Aditya Malik, Professor and Dean, School of Historical Studies, Nalanda University, published by Oxford University Press, New York

 

Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda University, will inaugurate the book release

 

A short lecture with slides by the author introducing the book will precede the discussion and reading.
 

Discussants: Professor Molly Kaushal, Professor of Performance Studies and Head, Janapada Sampada, IGNCA
 
Dr. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Aruna Asaf Ali Chair, Delhi University, writer, poet and artist

CANCELLED


Speaker: Dr V. K. Saraswat, Member, Niti Aayog

 

Chair: Prof D. P. Agrawal, Former Chairman, UPSC

 

(Collaboration: Climate Change Research Institute)

 

Discussion on Indraprastha: The Poetic Work of Upendra Kumar

 

Discussants: Dr. Ganga Prasad Vimal; Shri Leeladhar Mandol; Prof. VishwanathTripathi; and Shri Madan Kashyap

Chair: Shri Manager Pandey

 

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

 

THE DISCUSSION HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO TUESDAY, 6TH SEPTEMBER 2016

Geeti Sen in conversation with Krishen Khanna

 

In creative expression the process becomes as significant as the initial idea.  Invariably the results are not what were originally planned! In this dialogue Geeti Sen will be in conversation with Krishen Khanna in exploring the genesis of ideas and his explorations in drawing and on the final canvas

 

What You Don’t See is Worse Than What You See!

Series moderator: Dr. Naresh Gupta, Director-Professor, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi

 

Keynote Speaker: Shri J.K. Dadoo, IAS, Additional Secretary, Govt. of India

 

Panelists: Ms Lesley Onyon, Regional Advisor, World Health Organisation (WHO-SEARO), New Delhi; Dr. A.K. Ambasht, IFS, Vice-President, Health Environment Foundation; Dr. T.K. Joshi, Occupational & Environment Health Consultant; and Dr. Jayashree Gupta, IAS (Retd.), President, Consumers India

 

(Collaboration: Health Environment Foundation in association with Consumers India)

 

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE DETAILS OF THE FESTIVAL


14:30
Cities of Sleep (India)
(74 min; 2014; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Shaunak Sen

 

Cities of Sleep is set in a world where just being able to secure a good night’s sleep often becomes a matter of life and death

 

AT 16:00 

My Name is Salt (India)

(92 min; 2013; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Farida Pacha

 

Multiple award winner including Golden Award for Medium Film, Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival 2015; First Appearance Award, Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 2015; Golden Conch for Best International Documentary Film/Video Above 60 minutes & International Jury Award for Best Cinematography, Mumbai International Documentary, Short and Animation Film Festival 2016; Best Documentary Feature Film & EDA Award-Special Commendation, Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014; among many others

 

The desert extends endlessly – flat, grey, relentless. This is the Little Rann of Kutch, 5000 sqkms of saline desert in India. And for eight months of the year, Chhanabhai and his family live here without water, electricity or provisions – tirelessly extracting salt from this desolate landscape

 

AT 18:00 

Phum Shang (Floating Life; India)

(52 min; 2014; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Haobam Paban Kumar

 

Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India, characterised by its unique floating biomass phumdi, is the primary source of livelihood for the fishermen who live on huts built on the phumdis. Today it is considered a dying lake

 

AT 19:00 

A Walnut Tree (Pakistan)

(81 min; 2015; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Ammar Aziz

 

Recipient of the Ram Bahadur Trophy, Film South Asia, Kathmandu 2015

 

An old man reminisces about a distant homeland. He wants to return. Internally displaced from Swat as a result of the ongoing conflict between the Pakistan army and the Taliban and forced to live in a camp, the family is caught between memories of what life was, an insecure present and a bleak future