Amar Kawar Retrospective:
Films by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Amar Kanwar from New Delhi
THE LIGHTNING TESTIMONIES
113 minutes, 2007
Why is one image different from the other? Why does an image seem to contain many secrets? What can release them so as to suddenly connect with many unknown lives. The Lightning Testimonies reflects upon a history of conflict in the Indian subcontinent through experiences of sexual violence. As the film explores this violence, there emerge multiple submerged narratives, sometimes in people, images and memories, and at other times in objects from nature and everyday life that stand as silent but surviving witnesses. In all narratives the body becomes central - as a site for honour, hatred and humiliation and also for dignity and protest.
TRILOGY 01
A SEASON OUTSIDE
30 minutes 1997
There is perhaps, no border outpost in the world quite like Wagah, where this film begins its exploration. An outpost where every evening people are drawn to a thin white line… and probably anyone in the eye of a conflict could find themselves here. A Season Outside is a personal and philosophical journey through past generations, conflicting positions, borders and time zones.
TO REMEMBER
Silent, 8 minutes 2003
Gandhi was born on the 2nd of October 1869 in the state of Gujarat. He was assassinated on 30th January 1948 in New Delhi. This short silent film is a homage to Gandhi, it is about his assassination and the massacres that happened just a few months ago .To Remember is about a gallery and the smell of death.
A NIGHT OF PROPHECY
77 minutes 2002
Is it possible to understand the passage of time through poetry? And if that were so even for one special moment then would it be possible to see the future? The film travels in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Kashmir trying to understand the past, the severity of conflict and the cycles of change. Through poetry you suddenly see where each and all the territories are heading to, where you belong and where to intervene, if you want to. The different poetic narratives merge together, allowing us to see a more universal language of symbols and meanings. The moment when this merger in the mind takes place is the simple moment of prophecy.
Trilogy 02
THE MANY FACES OF MADNESS Duration: 19 minutes, Language: English 2000.
The Many Faces of Madness is a short film that emerges from the reality of ecological destruction and the appropriation of the commons in India.
BAPHLIMALI 173 Duration: 28 minutes; Language: Available in English, Hindi and Oriya versions; 2001
Baphlimali 173 is a film about the resistance movement of the Kashipur tribals in South Orissa against bauxite mining and aluminum companies. It is a film about globalisation and tribal consciousness, a brief glimpse into an 8 year long struggle that is pushing out powerful Indian and international companies from the tribal lands in the Eastern Ghats in Orissa, India.
FREEDOM/ AZADI Duration: 58 minutes, Language: English /Hindi 2002.
FREEDOM is a documentary film about nature and captivity, about working people resisting an onslaught on their livelihoods, about democracy, profit and the sound of the rain. From the British colonial empire to the globalisation of today, from the anti mining tribal resistance in Kashipur and Gandhmardhan in Orissa, the mass movements in Chattisgarh to the coastal communities in their struggle againt big ports and industrial parks in Kutch and Umbergaon, - the film FREEDOM documents and presents insights into many different peoples struggles in India.
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