Time for transformation

We live in a time of great change. The change is seen not only in society, morality, polity and business areas but also the way we perceive the world around us, the way we communicate and relate to each other. Though we have more tools for communication and accessing information of the world around us, are we really taking the time to understand the turning points and transformation of over lives? Some time ago, we all saw, on our TV sets devastation of the kind mankind had never seen, at least in living memory. The flooding of coastal areas of Japan by giant Tsunami waves. The live images of overturned ships and cars being carried by waves like matchboxes were traumatic to say the least. But soon afterwards as the news channels found a ‘new’ story to show, everything was forgotten. In our desire to return to normalcy and to move on to the next big story, are we missing out on some important reflection? But the images are being repeated with an alarming frequency - the flash floods in Uttarakhand, in which perhaps tens of thousands if not lakhs of persons are still unaccounted for. And today's disturbing visuals - the washing away of a bus in the Bhakra river in Punjab, a motorbike on which two people were travelling being washed away while crossing a flooded river and tourists stranded because of floods at a picnic spot in Rajasthan are pointers that we need immediate reflection which may be crucial for our future. In this case, did we take out enough time to learn the lesions from the Tsunami and the flash floods about climate change, about pollution levels and green house gases and about disaster management? If we do, then we can find ways of preventing and responding to them in future.

Flashpoint comes to Delhi



For more information www.flashpointfilmfestival.com

Miral sets the pace for Flashpoint

Miral, the celebrated film of Director Julian Schnabel set the pace as the inaugural film for the 2nd Human Rights film festival - Flashpoint at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay here last evening.

With the added attraction of a spirited performance by Freida Pinto, the movie was a perfect start to what promised to be world class fare in Human rights films over the next three days. Miral, which is a red flower, which blooms in the Palestinian desert, is only the second outing for Freida who has only been seen in the Oscar Nominated film Slumdog millionaire till now, So, the film which manages to blur the line between cinema and Documentary, also perhaps slots Freida as an actress committed to ‘meaningful cinema’.

Here she plays a school girl, growing up in a hostel for orphaned and abandoned children in the midst of the Arab-Israeli war in the 1970s and 80s. She and other girls are shaken out of their protected life, when they witness the brutality of Israeli soldiers during an outing to a refugee camp. From then on, the fire in her is ignited and she declares “we have to do something” to the indomitable Mama Hind (Played by Hiam Abbas) who has nurtured this home for children and protected them fiercely so that they grow up to be good and educated Palestinians. In that moment you get caught in a dilemma, who is more patriotic, whose method do you prefer aggression which kills or kindness and compassion which saves.
The film has all the elements of cinema with interesting characters set in true human emotional context. The film also manages to inform and keep to a timeline of events as they unfold in the nearly 6o year old conflict.
One may say the film remains one-sided, as it is a story about Palestinians. But very subtly the bias is balanced with the introduction of just one character. A Jewish girl who is dating Freida’s cousin. “How can you date her, she’s Jewish” she remarks to her cousin. “Because she loves me”, he replies. This jolts Freida and she gradually opens up to the girl’s overtures of friendship. The turning point comes perhaps when the gild plants a kiss on her lips to show her how her (Freida’s) cousin kisses ‘like and angel’.
The film closes with Freida more accepting , as she experiences two tragedies, that of her father dying and her boyfriend and fellow revolutionary, who had begun dreaming of an agreement with Israel ‘To settle down and bring up their kids” being branded a traitor and murdered. Her going away to Europe and having a safe life is perhaps a metaphor for all the conflicts of the world. Does any armed conflict ostensibly for human rights lead to that? Or do they ultimately violate.
The film is based on author Rula Jebreal’s novel, which is a strongly autobiographical account of her youth in West Bank. The screenplay of the film is written by her. More interestingly the Director Julian Schnabel is an American Jew.

Awards won by Miral at the Venice Film Festival in 2010: UNESCO Award and UNICEF Award. It was also nominated for the Golden Lion.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games' view: Discussion on legal & Historical context of Homose...

The 2010 Commonwealth Games' view: Discussion on legal & Historical context of Homose...: "My Film New Delhi's Pride will be screened before the discussion"

Filmmaking Workshops

Ramon Productions & Media for Advocacy Present

Weekend training in Documentary Film making

modules developed according to individual needs and capacity

&

Training in Media & Project films for NGOs

Those interested contact

ranjitse@gmail.com

+91 9811207293

only limited seats

JEENEY DO

When a long held dream of two persons who come together matches, there is no way it won’t be fulfilled. A Music Video was a long cherished dream for me…not as a singer (!) but as a director and the opportunity came to me out of the blue when I met this young and talented singer Nippun. Nippun, a child prodigy, who has been singing (at the top of his voice as told me once) since he was 4….is in a corporate job.

But he has been quietly promoting his band “Devotion” since the past few years, performing at gigs all over the city in his spare time. He was keen to market himself and launch himself formally and had been doing the rounds of music labels, having recently written and sung 6 songs for an Album. The album when released would be his first and has some excellent compositions. Though I’m not a music critic, but all his songs are intense and pleasing to the ear.

He had brought some of these songs for me to listen. He sought my advice on how to promote these. And when I listened to his two songs ‘Aaja Re’ and ‘Jeeney Do’, I was floored.

I was just about to beginning editing of my film ‘New Delhi’s Pride-2009’ and I was tempted to ask him for the song “Jeeney Do” for my film. First I hesitated, as I did not know what his reaction would be, I did not want him to think I’m taking advantage of him….but I badly wanted that song for my film and had no money to pay. My film was shot on a shoe-string budget to showcase Queer pride.

Finally when I asked him for the song, to my delight, he immediately said yes. He said his motive in giving me the song was to get exposure and get help from me in making a music video for this song. He said he would launch himself with the music video. I was more than happy to agree to this ‘barter’ of services as I also got an opportunity to try my directing skills for the Video.

How the Music Video finally took shape is another story! But im truly indebted to my friend and stylist Sheltun Benjamen Anal and Aastha Arora for working on this Video for free. It was a pleasure to create this Music video, and I hope to do many more in future.


Here’s the link and the full video