Polity, Economy and International Relations

Editors
Jakub,Zajaczkowski, Jivanta Schottli and Manish Thapa

Book Release by
Ambassador Piotr Klodkowski, The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in  New Delhi

Chair: Prof. B.B. Bhattacharya, former Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Discussants: Professor Shantanu Chakrabarti, University of Calcutta; Prof. B.N. Goldar, Institute of  Economic Growth; Dr. Boguslaw Zeleski, Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw and Mr. Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Hindustan Times

Invoking Justice (India; 86 min; 2011; English subtitles)
Director: Deepa Dhanraj
 
Recipient of the QFX Jury Award, Film Southasia 2013
 
Film on the women’s Jamaats in South India, which applies Islamic Sharia law to cases ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more
 
At 15:00                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
No Fire Zone (Sri Lanka; 93 min; 2013; English subtitles)    
Director: Callum Macrae                                                                                                                                                
 
Special Mention of the Jury, Film Southasia 2013
 
An investigative documentary about the final weeks of the Sri Lankan Civil War           
 
At 17:00 pm     
Miss Nikki and the Tiger Girls (Burma; 75 min; 2012; English subtitles)
Director: Juliet Lamont
 
An insightful and entertaining story of Burma’s first girl band
 
At 18:30 pm     
Algorithms (India; 96 min; 2012; English)
Director: Ian McDonald
 
Recipient of the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film, Film Southasia 2013
 
Film on the thriving but little-known world of ‘blind chess’ in India. It moves through the algorithms of the blind chess world, challenging the sighted on what it means to see
 
(Collaboration: The Southasian Trust, Kathmandu)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 
The Story of One (Sri Lanka; 19 min; 2012; English)
Director: Kannan Arunasalam
 
At the height of the troubles in Sri Lanka, a mother asked a Jesuit priest to take her son to safety, thinking no harm could come to him if he was with an American priest. She was wrong. The film explores how parents of the disappeared struggle to get on with their lives and how communities polarized by violence re-learn to live together in present-day Batticaloa
 
At 18:55      
 Who Will Be a Gurkha (Nepal; 75 min; 2012; English subtitles)                                                                           
Director: Kesang Tseten
 
What does it take to be a Gurkha? The film follows the candidates and the recruitment process, carried out with meticulous British planning, a modern-day ritual born in the days of Empire

 
No. 62 Pansodan Street (Burma; 12 min; 2013; English)
Director: Cho Phyone
 
Recipient of the Tareque Masud Award for Best Debut Film, Film Southasia 2013
 
The film takes us behind the crumbling façade of one of Yangon’s grand old colonial edifices and introduces us to some of the people who call this home
 
At 18:45                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
In place of the film originally announced for screening i.e. 
 Are You Listening! (Bangladesh; 90 min; 2012; English subtitles)                                                                        

We are screening 5 SHORT FILMS MADE BY STUDENTS OF SRI AUROBINDO CENTRE FOR ARTS AND COMMUNICATION

DHYAAN DEIN (Attention Please) by Ansh Vohra & Satendra Singh

WE CAME WALKING by Humaira Bilkis

ROOH by Rachita Singh & Radhika Fatania

B-22 by Akshika Chandna & Shilpi Saluja

KHALA KE YAHAN (At Khala's) by Varhun Trikha & Varun Ajrawat






                                                                                                                  
 

A festival of 10 exceptional nonfiction films from South Asia. The festival encapsulates a flavor of the Subcontinent with films from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The festival includes the award winners of Film South Asia Festival 2013, Kathmandu as well as other films selected to showcase the variety, treatment and intensity that marks the world of Southasian documentary and non-fiction  
 
Introduction
By Ms Mallika Aryal, Film South Asia, Kathmandu
 
Followed by
My Punjabi Love for You (Pakistan; 17 min; 2013; English subtitles)
Director: Adnan Malik
 
A behind-the-scenes film of a music video shot in the summer of 2012. Both an emotional journey, and an action-based narrative, the film subverts the dominant gender narratives in contemporary Pakistani culture
 
At 19:00                                                                                                                                                                                                           
No Burqas Behind Bars (Afghanistan; 77 min; 2012; English subtitles)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Director: Nima Sarvestani
 
This feature-length documentary takes us inside one of the world’s most restricted environments: the Afghan women’s prison

Great Stupa at Amaravati in Coastal Andhra and the Indian Ocean World
Illustrated lecture by Dr. Akira Shimada, State University of New York, New Paltz
 
One of the most important strongholds of Buddhism in early historic India is the Andhra region. Well-known remains include the great stupa at Amaravati (ca. 200 BCE-250 CE and later) and the monastic complex at Nagarjunakonda (ca. 200-300 CE). This talk will explore major examples of “Andhran-style” of Buddhist sculptures; examine the development of various scholarly interpretations, and identify  their problems 

Shri Jagan Shah, Architect, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs; Shri Ram Rahman, well-known photographer; and Shri Navin Piplani, Principal Director, INTACH Heritage Academy will discuss Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy (New Delhi: Roli Books, 2014) by Feisal Alkazi

 

Chief Guest and Chair: Dr. Karan Singh, MP

 

The author of the book, Shri Feisal Alkazi will also speak

 

Speaker: Mr Adam Szymczyk, Artistic Director of documenta 14 and Director & Chief Curator at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland/

Chair: Dr. Geeta Kapur, critic, curator and academic

Quantify to Qualify: The Limitations of Threshold Markers on Social Policy

Speaker: Professor Dipankar Gupta, well-known sociologist

Chair: Shri Soli J. Sorabjee

Illustrated lecture by Mr. Allan Vactor, Founder, Sojourn India – A Travel Help Desk
 
The talk focuses on the rich biodiversity of Rajaji National Park created in 1983 by amalgamation of three sanctuaries - Rajaji Sanctuary; Motichur Sanctuary; and Chilla Sanctuary. The park is spread over an area of 820.42 sq km and has the largest area representing Shiwalik Eco-system which is over 10 million years and is very rich in fossils
 
Followed by screening of
 
God on the Edge (46 min; dvd; English)
Film on the urgent and sensitive issue of wild and domesticated elephants; these gentle giants are dying in captivity and in freedom every day