Festival of Asian films in Delhi from August 18-22

NETPAC has, over the past 20 years, helped to turn the spotlight on Asian cinema in several countries, both in Asia and the rest of the world, showing it is rich in content and emotion apart from its use of high technology.

This was done through film festivals or NETPAC juries choosing the best films from the region.

Apart from a festival of NETPAC award-winning films, the five-day event will also feature a conference on Asian cinema; exhibitions on Asia's proto-cinemas and Sumi-e artists of Delhi; and performances of traditional Indian and Asian forms of pictorial storytelling.

The event is being organised by NETPAC and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), the Instituto Cervantes, Alliance Francaise, India Habitat Centre and India International Centre.

It is being held in collaboration with UNESCO, IGNCA, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Max Mueller Bhavan and the Habitat Film Club, and supported by the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs.

The four-day seminar in association with the IGNCA is on"The Culture and Politics of Asian Cinema" and will begin on August 19. Through seven panel discussions, it will focus on the specificity of film cultures and on the need to recognize and respect diversity while defining cinema; on the politics governing the cinema's evolving identity in the context of globalization and the shifts in technology against the dynamic landscapes of Asia; and about translating the cultural diversity from concept into practice.

Over 25 well-known film personalities specializing in Asian cinema have been invited to speak at the conference. Led by Aruna Vasudev, they include Pusan Festival Director Kim Dong-ho, renowned filmmakers Xie Fei (China), Garin Nugroho (Indonesia) and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, as well as Arab cinema specialist and programmer Intishal al-Timimi, apart from many critics and representatives of funding agencies.

In association with Asian Heritage Foundation and ICCR, there will be a cultural festival from 18 to 22 August featuring traditional forms of telling tales in India and other Asian countries: performances by picture storytellers that may be interpreted as proto-cinema.

These include shadow puppets from India; live demonstrations by Pata artists and by puppet makers from Nimmalakunta; and by practitioners of narrative pictorial traditions. There will also be an exhibition of hand-painted narrative scrolls organized by the Asian Heritage Foundation.

Shadow plays and puppeteers from Asian countries have been invited by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

"NETPAC has become known as the one pan-Asian organization that has worked assiduously to promote Asian cinema," says Ms Vasudev, NETPAC President and Editor of CINEMAYA The Asian Film Quarterly and founder of CINEFAN Festival of Asian Cinema.

NNN