Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

The Long Search - IV

A film presented by Ronald Eyre 

 

Judaism: The Chosen People (51 min; dvd; English)

What is it that makes a Jew? In New York, Elie Wiesel, author and survivor of the concentration camps, tries to define it, In London, Nobert Brainin and the Amadeus Quartet carry the argument further, both in words and music. Inevitability the search takes us to Jerusalem, where Dr. Pinches Peli, tenth generation rabbi and fourth generation Jerusalem, explains the meaning of prayer and acts as our guide through the religious schools, the synagogues and a museum for the survivors of the Holocaust

 

Religion In Indonesia: The Way Of The Ancestors (51 min; dvd; English)

There are almost 200 million people scattered across the world who belong to tribal religions that are local, exclusive and frequency animist – i.e., they believe that inanimate objects and natural phenomena process a soul. Through no single group can be chosen as typical, this episode is devoted to primal religions-that of the Torajas who live in a mountain fortress on an Indonesia island

 

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

 

 

 

 

The Musical Journey of Rabindranath Tagore

Presented by Reba Som

Chair: Shri Suresh Goel
 

Despite having bunked school and formal training, Tagore imbibed multiple cultural influences and his music is a rich amalgam of classical Indian and western, folk, and regional musical styles. The talk will also explain why Rabindrasangeet remains relevant today and why to many it assumes the form of a personal religion

 

Reba Som is a noted academic and singer. Her publications include Rabindranath Tagore: The Singer and His Song (Penguin 2009) and Margot: Nivedita of Vivekananda (Penguin Random House, 2017) and her CDs include Select Songs of Rabindranath Tagore (Saregama 2005) and Love Songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam (Times Music 2016)

 

 

 

 

In Conversation

T.M. Krishna with Ananya Vajpeyi

 

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

 

 

 

Speaker: Dr. Lyudmila Klasanova, Researcher and Curator of Buddhist and Asian Arts, National Gallery, Kvadrat 500, Bulgaria and Lecturer, Centre for Eastern Languages and Cultures, Sofia University, Bulgaria

 

 

Chair: Dr. Shashibala, Dean, Centre of Indology, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

An intrepid traveller with a special interest in Romani music, language and culture, Punita Singh shares sounds, sights and stories from visits to Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania

 

 

Directed by Kivini Shohe who will introduce the film

Produced by Films Division of India

 

Recipient of the Best Documentary Award, Film Northeast 2015, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh; and Best Documentary Award, ADDA Film Festival 2016, Guwahati

 

Screening will be followed by a discussion

 

The film explores the struggle of three transgenders in Nagaland’s commercial hub, Dimapur. In the first ever documentation of a community haunted by taboo and denial, the film catches Rongsen’s pulse as it slows down; the relationship dilemma in Moa’s life and Toshi’s journey exploring the thin line between her professional and personal life

 

 

Speaker: Dr. Nawang B. Phuntsog, Fulbright-Nehru Research Scholar to India 2017-2018 and Associate Professor of Education, Department of Elementary, and Bilingual Education, California State University, Fullerton. Dr. Phuntsog is presenting working on exploring the intersections of compassion-based inner values (secular ethics), the Middle Way Approach for resolving Sino-Tibetan issue and Tibetan Nationalism in the schooling process

 

(Collaboration: Tibet House) 

 

 

Poets and Speakers: Himadri Kumar Datta, Mandira Ghosh, Nibedita Sen, Sirsendu Chakraborty and Dilip Fouzdar

 

Chair: Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee

 

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

(82 min; 2017; dvd; Kannada, Waghri boli with English subtitles)

 

Direction & Photography: Vinod Raja who will introduce the film

Script & Narration: Madhu Bhushan

 

Screening will be followed by a discussion

 

The Hakki Pikkis are a free spirited nomadic tribe who began their wandering many generations ago in the North Western part of the Indian subcontinent but have travelled through and settled in different states of the country. They make a living by trapping small game in the forest and selling them along with lucky charms and trinkets. If the trap fails, begging is the next bet! With their traditional ways of life outlawed, the community share their stories of wit and survival

 

 

 

Panellists: Dhruv Arora, Digital and Strategic Communications Manager, Centre for Policy Research; Parag Mohanty, Political Consultant; Bhanu Joshi, Research Associate, CPR;  Anshul Tewari, Founder, Youth ki Awaaz;  Apar Gupta, Lawyer and trustee, Internet Freedom Foundation; and Tamseel Hussain, Public Engagement and Communications Consultant

 

Moderator:  Richa Bansal, Director of Communications, Centre for Policy Research