Tag: film screening

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Screening of Saim Sadiq’s Joyland- May 14, 2024

Rita Banerjee will introduce and lead the discussion for Saim Sadiq’s 2022 film, Joyland, on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 from 6-8:30 pm for the Institute for Indology and Tibetology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The screening will take place in Seminar Room 427 (Ludwigstr. 31, Munich), and anyone interested in South Asian aesthetics, literary theory, or art-house film is welcome to join the screening. 

“This year’s Queer Palme winner, and the first ever Pakistani film in the Cannes official selection, Saim Sadiq’s debut impresses with its sensitive storytelling and vibrant visuals… Tartly funny and plungingly sad in equal measure, this is nuanced, humane queer filmmaking, more concerned with the textures and particulars of its own intimate story than with grander social statements — even if, as a tale of transgender desire in a Muslim country, its very premise makes it a boundary-breaker.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

Rita Banerjee is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Director, MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

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Screening of Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahānī – May 7, 2024

Rita Banerjee will introduce and lead the discussion for Sujoy Ghosh’s 2012 film, Kahānī (Story, कहानी), on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 from 6-8:30 pm for the Institute for Indology and Tibetology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The screening will take place in Seminar Room 427 (Ludwigstr. 31, Munich), and anyone interested in South Asian aesthetics, literary theory, or art-house film is welcome to join the screening. 

“The sudden disappearance of an IT contractor in Kolkata triggers a riveting, labyrinthine puzzle, replete with duplicitous spy shenanigans, in Kahaani. Versatile [thespian] powerhouse Vidya Balan follows up her daring vamp in The Dirty Picture with a dazzling portrait of a determined London-based woman traveling to the subcontinent in search of her missing husband. Buttressed by compelling [performances], this adroit thriller makes the occasional misstep but maintains momentum and credibility. Forgoing Bollywood’s standard musical numbers, the pic could potentially cross over to wider [audiences] with an appetite for thrillers.” – Russell Edwards, Variety

Rita Banerjee is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Director, MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

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Saving Mes Aynak

 

In late November 2014, my partner and I had the opportunity to attend and participate in the world premiere of Brent E. Huffman’s documentary film, Saving Mes Aynak.  About a year and a half ago, we had screened an early version of Huffman’s film as part of a larger discussion on Buddhist manuscripts and archeological sites at our Institute for Indology and Tibetology at Ludwig-Maxilimans Universität in Munich.  Saving Mes Aynak premiered in the Amsterdam at the Dutch IDFA festival, and the film “follows the Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition. A Chinese state-owned mining company is closing in on the ancient site, eager to harvest $100 billion dollars worth of copper buried directly beneath the archaeological ruins. Only 10% of Mes Aynak has been excavated, though, and some believe future discoveries at the site have the potential to redefine the history of Afghanistan and the history of Buddhism itself” (Huffman).  Mes Aynak played a significant role on the Silk Road and current houses one of the oldest surviving Buddhist sites in Afghanistan.  The Buddhist monasteries and historical forts on Mes Aynak are threatened by a Chinese mining company which plans to dynamite and destroy Mes Aynak in Spring 2015.  Not only then is this historical site and its rare and ancient artifacts at stake, but the area surrounding Mes Aynak and the livelihoods of the villages, drinking water, and ecosystem surrounding the site threatens to be destroyed by mining at Mes Aynak.  To prevent the destruction of the ancient sites at Mes Aynak and the environmental damage the mining would cause, please sign this petition.  To help spread the word on Mes Aynak, request to screen Brent E. Huffman’s Saving Mes Aynak here. – Rita Banerjee