6TH NELSON MANDELA LECTURE 2023
Regimes of Hatred, Regimes of Conviviality
Speaker: Prof. Ashis Nandy, public intellectual, political psychologist and social theorist
Introduction by Programme Director, South African High Commission, Cedrick C. Crowley, Deputy High Commissioner of South Africa
Opening remarks: Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies
Closing remarks: H.E. Mr. Joel Sibusiso Ndebele, High Commissioner of South Africa
The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture was instituted at IIC in 2018 to mark the Centenary of Madiba
(Collaboration: South African High Commission; and Working Group on Alternative Strategies)
Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture 2023
Decoding and Delivering Public Health
Speaker: Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Honorary Distinguished Professor, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). He is the
past President PHFI and formerly Head, Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)
Chair: Prof. Muchkund Dubey, President, Council for Social Development
(Collaboration: Council for Social Development)
Call of Love: Poems by Rumi
Screening of a film, followed by recitation
Film - Rumi in the Land of Khusrau
(26 min; 2001; English)
A film by Muzaffar Ali who will introduce the film
Produced by Ministry of External Affairs
Followed by
Recitations of Rumi in Farsi and English
By Muzaffar Ali who will recite the original poems and his own English translations
Interpreted in Dance
By Shivani Varma
IIC DOUBLE BILL DANCE RECITALS
Kathak Recital
By Minu Garu from Delhi, disciple of Pt. Krishan Mohan Maharaj
AT 19:00
Kuchipudi Recital
By Meenakshi Aishwarya from Coimbatore, disciple of Guru Smt Sreelakshmy Govardhan
TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA 2023 - A FESTIVAL OF SOUTH ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
Sita ke Badalte Roop (The Changing forms of Sita/India)
(80 min; 2022; Hindi with English subtitles)
Directed by Pushpa Rawat who will introduce the film
Pushpa Rawat plays Sita in the local Ramlila, opening up public spaces for women in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
This film is a part of the exhibition “Create, Collaborate, Catalyse: Reflections on Sexual Violence in South India” on view at the Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex
Before you Were My Mother (Nepal/India)
(73 min; 2022; Nepali/Meitei/Newari with English subtitles)
Director: Prasuna Dongol
Prasuna tries to come to terms with the differences she has with her mother and seeks a way to define her own life
AT 14:00
Gay India Matrimony (India)
(67 min; 2019; Bengali with English subtitles)
Director: Debalina
Gay India Matrimony is a film that revolves around three characters exploring their marriage prospects, with one of them documenting their travails.
AT 15:15
Iqraar-naama (The Agreement/India)
(55 min; 2021; Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu)
Director: Priyanka Chhabra
A story of love and loss – an archive of “Home” in a partitioned subcontinent
AT 16:15
This Stained Dawn (Pakistan)
(89 min; 2021; Urdu with English subtitles)
Director: Anam Abbas
Karachi’s young feminists organize a woman’s march, coming up against Pakistan’s radical religious right.
AT 17:50
Gaine (Nepal)
(25 min; 2019; Nepali with English subtitles)
Director: Pradeep Dhakal
Recipient of the Award for Best Student Film, Film Southasia, Kathmandu 2022
…a journey into the lives of musician of a dying folk form that has been critical to a culture but has also been a vehicle for the dissemination of news in an era before the digital age - From the Jury Statement
AT 18:30
Taanga (Longing/India)
(90 min; 2021; English/Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu)
Director: Bani Singh
Recipient of the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film, Film South Asia, Kathmandu 2022
This poignant film pans out from an individual’s life, making powerful connections to a larger historical narrative, a process in which a history of loss, home, fraught relationships and identity at large continue to cast a dark shadow on the present realities of the subcontinent - From the Jury Statement
TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA 2023 - A FESTIVAL OF SOUTH ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
The Heartbroken Lover (India)
(10 min; 2021; Hindi with English subtitles)
Director: Ridhima Sharma
Tea and sympathy for heartbroken lovers at the innovative neighbourhood chaiwallah
AT 18:15
Highways of Life (India)
(52 min; 2020; Meitei with English subtitles)
Director: Amar Maibam
Highways of Life is a detailed look at the high octane lives of Manipur’s highway truckers
AT 19:10
Ghar Ka Pata (Home Address/India)
(67 min; 2020; English/Hindi/Kashmiri)
Director: Madhulika Jalali
Of longing, transience and memory – the story of a young Kashmiri Pandit woman finding her way home…
TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA 2023 - A FESTIVAL OF SOUTH ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
Strike with the Beat (Myanmar)
(25 min; 2021; Burmese with English subtitles)
Director: Sai Kyaw Khiang
On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power and detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and elected government members. After the coup, young Burmese calling themselves the Drum Revolution group came out on the streets and protested against the military junta. The junta brutally cracked down on peaceful protesters.
AT 18:30
Amid the Villus (Sri Lanka)
(46 min; 2021; Tamil with English subtitles)
Director: Sumathy Sivamohan
When the civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, the displaced people of Palaikuli in Musali South (northern Sri Lanka) returned to their homeland. Their homecoming was beset by a number of problems and challenges, including stone posts being driven into their land.
AT 19:20
Moon on the Man (India)
(75 min; 2021; English/Hindi with subtitles)
Director: Prince Shah
Moon on the Man is an observational and exploratory feature length documentary that questions the most basic assumptions of reality, perception and choices.
TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA 2023 - A FESTIVAL OF SOUTH ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
A festival of 14 exceptional nonfiction films from South Asia produced in the last two years. The festival encapsulates the flavors of the Subcontinent with films about people from India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The festival includes the award winners of Film Southasia Festival 2022, Kathmandu as well as other films selected to showcase the variety, treatment and intensity that marks the world of Southasian documentary and non-fiction. Organised with Film Southasia, Kathmandu. The festival also includes an exhibition by Hri Institute for Southasian Research and Exchange, Southasian Trust, Kathmandu
At 18:00
Introduction
By Kanak Mani Dixit
The Secret Life (Pakistan)
(13 min; 2020; Urdu with English subtitles)
Director: Nadeem
A glimpse into the lives of indigenous people in the Hunza valley of Pakistan
AT 18:35
Gurkha Girl (Nepal)
(35 min; 2021; Nepali with English subtitles)
Director: Bishal Rokka Magar
Co-Recipient of the Tareque Masud Award for Best Debut Film, Film Southasia Kathmandu 2022
As news surfaces that Britain is recruiting Nepali girls in its British Gurkha regiments, Dilmaya, a young girl from a mountain village, sees it as a life changing opportunity and devotes all her time in preparation.
AT 19:15
The Casteless Collective – Prologue (India)
(90 min; 2021; Tamil/English)
Director: Monesh
Music breaks barriers of caste and class in performances by a revolutionary band. The documentary chronicles the story of India’s most revolutionary political musical outfit The Casteless Collective (bold) from its inception through the release of its debut album “Magizhchi” (Joy) in 2019.
FILMS OF THE SPIRIT
Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra
The Last Dalai Lama? (USA)
(82 min; 2016; English)
Director: Mickey Lemle
Recipient of the Audience Award, Mill Valley Film Festival 2016
Screening will be followed by a discussion with Rajiv Mehrotra
His Holiness turns 88 in July. The film reflects on the 14th Dalai Lama, his ongoing confrontation between Tibetans and China; His Holiness’s influence in political and spiritual spheres; his work with educators and neuropsychologists; and his personal feelings on ageing, dying and the question: Will there be a fifteenth Dalai Lama, or will he be the last Dalai Lama?
(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
Around the World on 88 Keys
Concert by Ishaan Leonard Rao, young pianist and composer, a prodigious talent in the world of music
The only Indian recipient of the Sony Music Group Global Scholar, Ishaan is currently studying piano under Georgian pianist, Girogi Mikdze at Berklee College of Music, Boston where received the prestigious certificate for ‘outstanding achievement’ by the piano department
