Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

The Harappan Civilization and Gujarat
 

Illustrated lecture by Prof. P. Ajithprasad, formerly with the Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, presently Guest Professor, Archaeological Science Centre, IIT, Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Chair: Dr. Y.S. Rawat, Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India

Being the southern frontier of the Indus Civilization, Gujarat had an important role in the overall cultural and economic development of the Civilization. Recent studies have shown well-documented Early Harappan cultural developments going back to c 3500BCE, as well as unique cultural traits peculiar to Gujarat forming a part of the Urban phase of the Indus civilization. The studies have helped to understand the resource management strategies and economic production network of the Harappans. The new excavations also show the resilience of Harappans in the face of adverse climatic events and their gradual cultural transformation into the Post-Urban/Late Harappan stage. The presentation covers details of the new discoveries.  
 

Body Transference (Chile)
(45 min; Spanish with English subtitles)
Director: Catalina Bize del Campo

Film that talks about old age as a liminal experience between life and death

Our Tales (Mexico)
(4 min; Spanish with English subtitles)
Director L Flavia Hevia

A short film designed to capture the vital memories held by immigrant women from their homelands and recreate them in Stop Motion Animation

Chiaroscuro (Canada)
(9 min; non-verbal)
Director: Elias Djemil-Matassov

Chiaroscuro…between the light and the dark that life operates in contrasts. Between the puppeteer and the puppet. Between shadow and light

The Room of Forgotten Voices (Ireland)
(19 min; English)
Directors: Emma Fisher-Owen, Ivan Fisher-Owen

A day in the life of Hugh’s brain on a very normal day, but inside his head he encounters hundreds of versions of himself…

Persephone (Canada)
15 min; non-verbal)
Director: Emilie Racine

Created as a palimpsest blending mythical references and personal mythology, the film traces the trajectory of an identity quest through a feminine lens, addressing mother-daughter transmission

AT 16:00
Iniskim-Return of the Buffalo (Canada)
(39 min; 2024; English)
Directors: Leanne Allison, Pete Balkwill, Amethyst First Rider

An intercultural artistic response to the return of the buffalo, as wild animals, to North America. The film is an opportunity to learn about Indigenous ways of knowing as a group of puppeteers are transformed by their experience of ‘being buffalo’ at night under the stars, guided by the stories of the Blackfoot Elders.

AT 18:30: PERFORMANCE
Shadow Puppet Theatre
Presented by UNIMA Puppeteers Trust-India
 

The Lost Glove (UK)
(6 min; 2016; non-verbal)
Director: Lizzie Oxby

It’s that time of the year when gloves get lost, and found…

Planet Utopia – A Possibility (Brazil)
(25 min; 2013; non-verbal)
Directors: Silvana Marcondes, Amanda Viera, Evelyn Cristina, Kika Antunes, Natalia Peixoto, William Simplico

A show without words, with visual and sound dramaturgy, entirely designed for the virtual universe

The Migrants (Retirantes/Brazil)
(13 min; non-verbal)
Director: Maira Coelho

The short film tells the story of a woman traveling through an arid, depopulated region, unable to feed her baby. The film combines “live-motion” and “stop-motion” techniques, visual arts, puppetry and cinema.

The Package (Canada)
(14 min; French with English subtitles)
Director: Lucie Ernard

Intrigued by the delivery of numerous packages at her new neighbour’s house, Jeannette at 80 is getting out of her loneliness to live a last love story

FROM 14:00 TO 17:00
Scribouillis (Canada)
(11 min;  French with English subtitles)
Directors: Noemi Belanger, Maia Menard-Belanger

Scribouillis is a tribute to the imagination of children and a metaphor for our fear of the unknown

Life Cycles (Brazil)
(6 min; Portuguese with English subtitles)
Directors: Thiago Bresani, Maria Soledad Garcia

The story tells the relationship between a granddaughter and a grandmother and the moments of uncertainty in view of the impossibility of meeting

A Treasure (USA)
(6 min; English)
Director: Freddie Levin

With the help of a very large dragon, a poor tailor searches for a treasure and finds it where he least expects it

Valentin, the Puppeteer Puppet (Brazil)
(4 min; non-verbal)
Director: Naiara Parolin

To escape monotony and loneliness, Valentin uses creativity to create a new company

After the Endling (UK)
(15 min; English)
Director: Daniel A. Kelin

This is a story of a pupu kani oe (Hawaiian tree snail) named George and a tiny, yet vital, battle against extinction

The Adventures of Prince Achmed ( Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed/Germany)
(80 min; 1926; German with English subtitles) 
Directors: Lotte Reiniger, Carl Koch

A handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which including befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling love with a princess

AT SIDDHARTHA HALL, GOETHE INSTITUT FROM 21:00 TO 06:00: PERFORMANCE
Sita Apaharan: Ram-Raavan Yuddha (Kannada, Hindi)
From Karnataka Shadow puppetry tradition
Presented by Shri Raja Rama Togalu Gombe Mela from Hassan, Karnataka
 

Desa Timun: Collection Vol. I (The Cucumber Village/Indonesia)
(32 min; 2021; b/w; with English subtitles)
Director: Daud Nugraha

Shadow puppet animation which tells the story of three little mousedeers: Cila, Cili, and Cilo, who always want to play. The Cucumber Village series combined actual Indonesian traditional shadow puppet (wayang kulit) and digital animation. It has been screened in multiple international children film festivals and won awards in 12 countries, such as in San Diego International Children Film Festival, Kineko International Children Film Festival Japan.

AT 15:00
Nee Engey (Where are You/India)
(150 min; 2003; with English subtitles)
Director: R.V. Ramani

An impressionist ethnography of the puppet theatre tradition in some of the southern states of India. The filmmaker tracks both the performances and the lives of the puppeteers— painting a haunting picture of the neglect of a tradition and the difficult lives of the puppeteers.

AT 18:30: PERFORMANCE
Episode from Ramayana (Tamil)
From the Tamil Nadu shadow puppetry tradition
Presented by Kalaimamani Muthulakshmana Rao and team from Theni, Tamil Nadu
 

Programme Details

Dedicated to Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya

Organised in collaboration with Kathkatha Puppet Arts Trust and with the support of the Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, the festival includes a seminar; shadow puppet festival; and screening of films

From 10:00 to 17:00 in Conference Room II
Out of Shadows: Discussions on the Plurality of Shadow Puppets
Keynote Address by Anurupa Roy, Indian puppeteer, puppet designer and director of puppet theatre

Presentations by Prof. Peter W. Marx, German theatre and performance studies scholar, Chairperson of Theatre and Media Studies, University of Cologne; Prof. Kaushik Bhaumik, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Airan Berg, international working theatre maker and artistic director, who specialises in large scale participatory and inclusive objects; he is the Artistic Director of Festival deer Regionen; Gunduraju, who belongs to a family of Togalu Gombeyaata, shadow puppeteers from Karnataka; Prof. Gouranga Charan Dash, Srirama Institute of Shadow Theatre; Ranjana Pandey, Editor and Publisher of Sutradhar and President, UNIMA India; and Dr. Atul Sinha, Assistant Professor  

AT 18:30 IN THE C.D. DESHMUKH AUDITORIUM
Film Before Film (Was geschah wirklich zwischen den Bildern/ Germany)
(83 min; 1986; German with English subtitles)
Director: Werner Nekes

An exhilarating and amusing encyclopedic look at the “prehistory” of cinema. Nekes charts the fascination with moving pictures which led to the birth of film, covering shadow plays, peep shows, flip books, flicks, magic lanterns, lithopanes, scrolls and numerous historical artifices
 

Presented by GokulSree Dass and Rahul Varshney, disciples of Guru Durga Charan Ranbir
Curated by Prof. Ashish Khokar

Accompanists: Sukant Kundu (vocal); Dhaneswar Swain (percussion); Pradeep Ray (violin);  Abhiram Nanda (flute); Prakash Chandra Mohapatra (sitar); and Prasant Kumar Mangaraj (cymbals)

The artists will showcase the Guru Deba Prasad style of Odissi under the mentorship of Guru Durga Charan Ranbir who will be present

Love Ballad of Jharkhand

By Megha Sriram Dalton, from Daltonganj, Jharkhand. Megha is today one of the most promising folk singers of the state. Apart from folk, she has also made her debut in Bollywood giving them the best songs. She was awarded a scholarship from H.R.D. Ministry, Govt. of India for working and promoting folk music of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Megha gained popularity following her coke studio performance with Shankar Mahadevan

Screening of Documentary Films on Folk Art & Music

Colours of Earth (64 mins; English)
Director: Shefali Bhushan

A unique film about the traditional music of India which takes viewers on a journey across rural India, situating folk music as it is traditionally performed in the villages and small towns of rural India. The film received an overwhelming response at each and every screening including those at the prestigious Smithsonian Center at Washington D.C., the University of Chicago, University of California, Los Angeles, Stanford University, California, among others. The film was an official entry at the Vitas Film and Folklore Festival held at UCLA, where it received the "Best Soundtrack Award".

Pabuji ka Phad (22 mins; English)
Director: Shammi Nanda

Produced by Films Division

Pabuji is believed to be an avtar of Laxman and is worshiped as a warrior saint in Rajasthan. The Bhopa's of the Bhil Community sing his story against the backdrop of a 15 feet long painting called a phad.

Unfolding the Pata Story (50 min; 2014; Bengali with English subtitles)
Director: Supriyo Sen

Produced by PSBT

Film on Rupban and other traditional scroll painters (Patuas) of Odisha and their struggles for a sustainable livelihood.