Friday, October 20, 2006
Session 2
10:30 am – 12:15 pm
Haro Hara: Pilgrimage to Kataragama, Sri Lanka
Directed by Samuel Holt (95 minutes, 2006)
Location: Conference Room 5
Film screening and discussion will be moderated by the director of the film, Samuel Holt.
Haro Hara: Pilgrimage to Kataragama, is a feature length documentary following Tamil and Vedda pilgrims as they travel to Kataragama on the Pada Yatra, an ancient 300 km foot pilgrimage down the east coast of Sri Lanka. The film offers a rare and unaffected glimpse into diverse Bhakti practices including, trance, bajans and special pujas. Haro Hara documents Pilgrims as they endure military and rebel check points and pass through war torn towns, pastoral villages and dwindling jungles to reach the town of
For more information about the film, contact: samuelholt@yahoo.com
Friday, October 20, 2006
Session 3 -
1:45 pm – 3:30 pm
On the Road with the Red God: Macchendranath
Directed by Kesang Tseten, filmmaker, Kathmandu, Nepal
in consultation with Bruce Owens
Location: Conference Room 3
Photo credit: Bruce McCoy Owens, Patan, 2003
Macchendranath captures the complex human elements behind the 12-year chariot festival of the diety Rato Macchendranath of the Kathmandu Valley, one of Asia's greatest ancient religious festivals.
Instead of exotic, idealised depictions of tradition, theis film takes us into an arena of gritty reality, where conflict or solidarity can prevail. Kesang Tseten 's films have been featured at the Margaret Mead film festival and received accolades at numerous other European, Asian, and American venues. Most recently this film was shown at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.
For more information, please contact kesang@homebase.wlink.com.np
Friday, October 20, 2006
Session 3 - 1:45 pm – 3:30 pm
From Africa to India: Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora
and
The Sidi Malunga Project : Rejuvenation of the African Musical Bow in India
Directed by Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy and Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy
Location: Conference Room 5
Descendants of African slaves and seamen, the ancestors of the Sidis came to India through sea trade with East Africa and the Gulf around the 12th century. They came from different areas such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and later Zanzibar. The Sidis of Gujarat are Muslims with a strong Sufi tradition. They have to some extent assimilated into the local culture through their dress, food and language, though their dark skin and African features are distinctive. Some have even married outside of their community. But, by and large, they remain marginalized, leading a life of relative obscurity and poverty. In some districts, the government has accorded them the Scheduled Tribe status.
From Africa to India: Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora, (2003, 74 min.)the feature-length documentary, pieces together the history, religion and sacred music of the Sidis over the centuries, making it an important part of understanding the African Diaspora in the context of the Indian subcontinent.
The Sidi Malunga Project (2004, 42 min.) chronicles a one-week malunga training camp held at Desert Coursers Nature Resort in Zainabad, Gujarat in February 2003. Prior research by the Jairazbhoys had revealed that fewer than ten Sidis (African Indians) could still play the instrument, all of them elderly. The purpose of the camp was to bring together some of these elders to teach the basic techniques of malunga construction and performance to 16 Sidi youths, selected from different parts of Gujarat. It concludes with a return to Gujarat one year later to evaluate the impact of the camp on the participants - with gratifying results.
For more information about DVDs, please go to http://www.apsara-media.com/
Salim Sidi, one year after the malunga camp,
singing with his malunga during mendicancy in Gujarat
Friday, October 20, 2006
Session 4
3:45 pm – 5:30 pm
No More Tears Sister: Anatomy of Hope & Betrayal
Directed by Helene Klodawsky - 78 min (2004)
Location: Conference Room 5
This provocative film explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka over decades, the documentary recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Mother, anatomy professor, author and symbol of hope, Rajani was assassinated at the age of thirty-five.
Read an interview with Sharika Thiranagama about playing her mother’s role in the film: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/nomoretears/update_sharika.html
For more information about the film, go to: http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/nomoretearssister/film.html
http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/nomoretearssister/film.html
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Session 8
8:30 am – 10:15 am
Voices of the Sidis – Two Documentaries
Directed by Beheroze Shroff (2005)
Location: Conference Room 5
1- We’re Indian and African (22 min)
A vivid and colorful portrayal of the lives of Afro-Indian Sidis of Bava Gor village in Gujarat. As caretakers of the shrine of their ancestral saint Bava Gor, the Sidis talk about the challenges of their work and their sacred Goma-Dhammal dance performed for devotees and spectators. The documentary also includes the spiritual legacy of the Sidis and the Parsi devotees of Bava Gor in Bombay.
2- Ancestral Links (26 min)
In this entertaining portrait of an urban Sidi family in Bombay, India Babubhai the father traces his ancestry to Zanzibar, Tanzania. His wife Fatimaben looks back nostalgically to her grandmother’s life and work in the household of a Hindu princely family. The daughter Henna voices issues of belonging and identity as Sidi and India.
For more information contact Beheroze Shroff: bshroff@uci.edu