The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A question of freedom through the lens

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Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A question of freedom through the lens

Special Correspondent

Films for Freedom to screen three films in the city
They will be screened at Centre for Film and Drama

Bangalore: Films for Freedom is bringing to Bangalore three films over the weekend that promise to make us rethink some of the commonsensical assumptions behind ideas such as “nation” and “freedom.”

The first film, on July 13, Jashn-e-Azadi by Sanjay Kak, looks at these notions through the contentious issue of Kashmir. It asks how the idea of Kashmiri “azadi” (freedom) has shaped itself after 10 years of bloody arme d struggle. The film combines several forms and modes of expression to evoke the past and examine the present. Mr. Kak will be present at the screening.

The screening at Centre for Film and Drama on July 14 looks at the question of freedom through the lens of another much-debated area of politics. Young Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar’s film AFSPA, 1958 follows the prote sts in his home State against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). It focusses on the rape and killing of Manorama Devi, the spontaneous nude protest by Manipuri women that followed and the larger questions raised on AFSPA. It is an effort to give voice to the ordinary people of his home region.

The third screening on July 15 is Amar Kanwar’s documentary-style film A Season Outside that looks at how the border defines itself between India and Pakistan. It has been described as a film “that is less about specific politics than about the omnipresence of aggression in nature and culture”.

All screenings are at 6.30 p.m. Centre for Film and Drama (CFD) on Millers Road. Jashn-e-Hind will have a second screening (by Pedestrian Pictures and Alternative Law Forum) on July 14 at the Institute of Agricultural Technologies, Queen’s Road, at 4.30 p.m.

Mr. Kak also plans to hold screenings in various colleges of the city.

Call Films for Freedom on 9845766808 for details.

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