A blog by Shekhar Deshpande, Arcadia University
Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children (2013)
When one of the most accomplished writers of our time, whose language, imagery and allegorical deft have transformed many a social crises into figurative labyrinths agrees to work with one of the formidable woman directors with a strong portfolio of socially oriented films to have captured liberal imagination, one would expect some cinematic magic to [...]
Celluloid Man– Saving History for our Rich Past
“You can see a hundred years from now; you can see a certain aspect of life which was there only at the time, on that day. It means a lot. It means more than Greek Tragedy where everything is heightened beyond compare. But those very small things get so beautifully manifest (on film). It is [...]
The End of Cinema, the Future of Cinema Studies Conference at UPenn
Spreading the word- UPenn Cinema Studies Conference!!
From Tacita Dean to Francesco Casetti, via Chris Marker and Agnès Varda
Philadelphia area is in going through the lucky fortunes of three important cinema events. The moment is significant for cinephiles and film scholars. Three separate and otherwise unrelated events are offering a telling lesson in reading the trajectory of transformation in cinema itself, from the gifts of its incipiency to the maps of its [...]
Tacita Dean at Arcadia University Art Gallery
Tacita Dean at Arcadia University Art Gallery Art Gallery’s website describes the film and the exhibition as follows- “JG is a sequel in technique to FILM, Dean’s 2011 project for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. It is inspired by her correspondence with British author J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) regarding connections between Robert Smithson’s iconic earthwork and film Spiral Jetty (both works, 1970) and Ballard’s [...]
Tacita Dean—The Materiality of the Signifier
In her monumental exhibit at Tate Modern last year, Tacita Dean used celluloid frames as tableau on which to write a solid defense of analog cinema. The spectacular spaces of the Turbine hall supported the much needed manifesto for the moment as the digital threatens the existence of celluloid film. She returned to the techniques [...]
Arcadia to host Arusha Africa Film Festival
Arcadia hosts first ever Arusha Africa Film Festival (AAFF) at the Cultural Heritage Cinema Center on December 1st. Organized in collaboration with HAKIKA Entertainment, it is the first ever event on African cinema. The festival will showcase Nigerian and Tanazian cinema and will be attended by Nollywood actress Clarion Chukwurah and Bongo film star Vincent [...]
Academy Awards Nominated Shorts, 2011
A. O. Scott has an account of the animated and live action shorts that have been nominated for the Oscars this year. These shorts are now running in theaters in the U. S. While we ponder what is short film, here are his thoughts: Their wider availability makes sense in an era that might well [...]
Berlinale 2011, “Short films are closer to sketches than to paintings.”
Berlinale 2011 has a special program for short films, now in its fourth year. Here is a very interesting (and useful) interview with the curator, Maike Mia Höhne on the merits of the short film form. Here is an insightful quote from her on how she approaches short film. Q: “You talk about the [...]
Traveling Cinemas/ Bioscopes in India
Dev Benegal’s (2009) Road, Movie is only the latest addition to a number of films that have been produced over the last decade and a half around the world. For some reasons, there is a renewed focus on a practice that has been in existence since the beginning of cinema, now being revived in all [...]
Recent Comments