Jeebesh Bagchi on Tue, 10 Feb 2004 00:49:29 +0100 (CET) |
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<nettime> Censorship and it's opposition |
Interview with Sanjay Kak (filmmaker). Sanjay's film 'Words on Water' was removed from the Mumbai International Film Festival after being selected. The film documents the long and tortuous resistance story in the Narmada Valley against displacement and unsustainable development projects. Q. How did the Campaign Against Censorship (CAC) begin? Sanjay: The CAC has emerged as an action platform of over 275 documentary filmmakers from all over India. It was triggered off when MIFF introduced a dangerously discriminatory clause asking for Indian entries for the festival to submit censor certificates. In a matter of a few short weeks, more than 200 filmmakers had grouped together to express their outrage, and filmmakers from the world over joined in. But beyond the MIFF issue, the Campaign represents a spontaneous release of energy from the growing and vibrant documentary filmmaking community in India. Q. Though MIFF was forced to withdraw the censorship clause, the subsequent selection process sidelined most films that were remotely ?political? or critical of the establishment. Was Vikalp a reaction to this deliberate sidelining of alternative voices? Sanjay: Vikalp is not simply a reaction. MIFF is a small irritant around which a lot of mobilization has materialized. There are 30 rejected filmmakers with a wide range of subjects. Normally we don?t even show our films in the same places, but there?s enough common ground. Vikalp is a platform of people with shared concerns, a broad area of common understanding. It is provoked no doubt by what happened ? the censorship clause, etc. - but it is important to recognize the moment. Something like this would not have been possible even 10 years ago, simply because there were not enough people in documentary filmmaking then. But the development in production, in technology, and its impact on filmmaking practice, the growing self confident community of filmmakers, not just in cities like Delhi and Bombay, but in small towns all over the country, not to forget, the growing audience - all these have contributed to creating an enviornment where a protest like this is possible. But if we recognize this flexibility, this proliferation of production and the audience, so does the sarkar. The state is taking note of it, is cracking down on newspapers, magazines and television channels that are critical of the establishment, so much so that even a magazine like The Outlook has been brought to heel. Today any large monolithic media structure is vulnerable. But we documentary filmmakers, to quote Arundhati Roy, are like machchars (mosquitoes) on the back of a big buffalo - how are they going to stop us? Q. There's been some talk of taking this package to different educational institutes, of turning it into a traveling festival like Film South Asia. Sanjay: Yes, we could take the package to different institutes, or we could ask them to choose specific films that they would like to screen. The important thing is to preserve the independent character of the festival, to prevent it from becoming dependent on the State or on any one funding organisation. Because when that happens, you become vulnerable to pressure. So forming another IDPA or MIFF is useless. The trick is to let the big festivals be - MIFF can be revamped, cleaned up - but this impulse, this alternative space should not be tampered with. For every large institution, there must be a counter institution. I firmly believe that this kind of amorphous, loose, spirited and engaged mode of working, this attempt at a kind of democracy and transparency is very essential. We have proved that we can do it in 20 days. If we get 6 months, we can come up with something truly fantastic. VIKALP AS VIKALP Vikalp is alternative. It is a new! possibility. It is not just a festival that is staged as a protest to the MIFF. It is a movement of filmmakers. It is a collective that has the ability to provide new directions to the independent film making community (documentary & short) in India . The formation of this collective can play a crucial role in making independent Indian films accessible to all, and provide a platform for filmmakers. In the recent years the digitalization of filmmaking practice has made it a democratic medium. This has led a to substantial leap in the number of films being made in the country. Most of these are independently produced without funding from the state, TV channels or production houses. More and more individual filmmakers are going out and making films. Vikalp can intervene in this area by providing a platform for all Indians independent filmmakers to exhibit their work not just in Indi! a but the world over. Some initial ideas: --- Package of some of the films shown in this festival should travel across the country. This should be done on a non-profit basis. --- The same package should be publicized through the Internet and made available to universities and community groups all over the world, especially in the US and the UK. This has tremendous potential and can be done on a profit basis, so that we can cross-subsidize the distribution of films in India. --- A financially viable distributive mechanism should be formed, which allows filmmakers to sell their films in India and all over the world. Given the deep penetrative power of the Internet this can be made possible even with meager resources. Some long-term possibilities: --- To build an archive of independent films. If the state is not keen to show our films, obviously it will not be interested in archiving them. So there is a need to have an independent archive to preserve these films for the future. --- To set up multiple permanent spaces for exhibiting independent films all over the country. This can be a unique platform for a deeper interaction between audiences and filmmakers, and amongst filmmakers themselves. --- To set up permanent production and post ? production facilities for filmmakers who don?t have access to equipment. These can be made available on a non-profit basis. These are not new ideas, and neither are they impossible. Filmmakers? collectives like Vikalp exist all over the world, and they not only exhibit films and distribute them, but also provide a space for the production and archiving of films. Let us collate the energies that have emerged together in the making of Vikalp and keep the momentum on to have a larger impact of Indian independent filmmaking on the world. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net