How have you been?!
I ask Life to 'Be Interesting, Please',and it sends great opportunities my way!
Of course, it does not always grant me my wishes immediately.
Sometimes it takes an inordinate amount of time, making me irritable.
At other times, I plain forget what I had asked!
But when I am patient, it always rewards me with something immensely enriching.
And such completeness does take time to be put together, you know, - even for the Universe!
My one month's Yoga Instructor's Course is one such example.
Another is the 'Film Appreciation Course' I completed on 11th June.
That was for a month too,and I learnt so much about not just Cinema but about World History, Ideologies, Political Scenarios, the two World Wars, and how everthing is connected -
Inventions, Chemistry, Colours, the Desire to Express, Moods, Emotions and Feelings!
It has been a roller-coaster month.
We had lectures-with-clips from films in the mornings and afternoons, and 2 screenings from 5 pm onwards, finishing by 9.30pm.
So how did something which is such an integral part of our life like Cinema come about?
To think that there were times when there was no Cinema!
It came with a seed of thought thousands of years ago when man drew hunting or village scenes in caves to let his future generations know what his life was like.
Over centuries, colour was discovered and paintings moved from caves to walls to churches and insides of Cathedrals to canvas.
Various schools sprang up based on the periods, like the Dark Ages, Renaissance, Modern and so on.
Then came the Camera with the Lumiere Brothers, who shot the first film, and life was never the same again!
This was 1891!
Germany, Russia and Great Britain understood the impact of Cinema as a tool for propaganda in the 1st World War and used it extensively.
As did Poland and Italy and France.
They realised 'how little images change us and we change the world'.
Then on, from capturing realities to creating realities did not take time.
Stories and epics and all kinds of genres sprang up, not just connected to war and poverty or ideology but depicting ways of life -for eg, - the wild west or the samurais, giving birth to hundreds of films.
US became a big player as it was the home of inventions and patents, which allowed inventors and investors to make money and put it back into more research and keep the cycle going.
Hollywood spread its excitement all over the world.
The first motion pictures were made in US from 1906 onwards.
And some of the films made in 1920s, seem as if they are today's stories!
They covered the fallout of unbridled greed, lust for power, loss of innocence, man's cruelty towards man in the name of whatever came in handy-Ideology, Religion, Megalomania, Jealousy -
They make you wonder, Good Heavens, 90 years later, haven't we learnt ANYTHING?!
In my course, we saw many Classics from all the major film-producing countries.
It was so wonderful to note that human resilience in the face of tremendous odds as well as the spirit of love and forgivness is equally and truly Universal!
So is introspection and courage to acknowledge and move on.
Hardly 10-odd years after the 2nd WW,Germany and France were making films together!
Let me give you the names of some sublime films.
You could rent a DVD or watch on the net.
* Metropolis - 1927 - Germany - 100mins - Lang
* Battlship Potemkin - 1925 - Russia - 72 mins - Eisenstein
* The Red Desert - 1864 - Italy - 116 mins - Antonioni
* Citizen Kane - 1941 - USA - 119 mins - Orson Welles
* Sunrise - 1927 - USA - 90 mins - Murnau
* Four Clowns - USA - 1970 - Youngson
* Dodeska Den - Japan - 1970 Kurosawa
* Rome Open City - 1945 - Italy -101 mins - Rosselini
* Bicycle Thieves - 1948 - Italy - 90 mins - De Sica
* A Man Escaped - 1956 - France-Germany - 99 mins - Bresson
* Man With A Movie Camera - 1929 - Russia - 60 mins - Vertov
Some of the Indian Classics we saw were -
* Sant Tukaram - 1936 - Marathi - Damle-Fattelal - 130 mins
* Pather Panchali -1955 - Bengali - Ray - 118 mins
* Subarnarekha - 1962 - Bengali - Ritwik Ghatak - 135 mins
* Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962 - Hindi - Abrar Alvi - 145 mins
* Kumatty - 1979 - Malayalam - Aravindan - 90 mins
In the course,there were 8 feature and documentary film-makers who came with their films,answered questions and discussed their films with us later.
That was quite interesting!
I also came to know that Short Films are a serious business!
We saw some prize-winner films from all over the world and their range and treatment is mind-boggling!
If you can get DVDs of them, like the '10 Minutes Older' festival or others, please do!
Here, the time given given was 10 minutes - and people have done amazing, amazing stuff in it.
They have taken 10 linear minutes or shown a whole life-time or millions of years in those given 10 mins!
If there are any short/long term courses on understanding films, do attend!
They add a wonderful dimension to our life.
Enjoy!
The first motion pictures were made in US from 1906 onwards.
And some of the films made in 1920s, seem as if they are today's stories!
They covered the fallout of unbridled greed, lust for power, loss of innocence, man's cruelty towards man in the name of whatever came in handy-Ideology, Religion, Megalomania, Jealousy -
They make you wonder, Good Heavens, 90 years later, haven't we learnt ANYTHING?!
In my course, we saw many Classics from all the major film-producing countries.
It was so wonderful to note that human resilience in the face of tremendous odds as well as the spirit of love and forgivness is equally and truly Universal!
So is introspection and courage to acknowledge and move on.
Hardly 10-odd years after the 2nd WW,Germany and France were making films together!
Let me give you the names of some sublime films.
You could rent a DVD or watch on the net.
* Metropolis - 1927 - Germany - 100mins - Lang
* Battlship Potemkin - 1925 - Russia - 72 mins - Eisenstein
* The Red Desert - 1864 - Italy - 116 mins - Antonioni
* Citizen Kane - 1941 - USA - 119 mins - Orson Welles
* Sunrise - 1927 - USA - 90 mins - Murnau
* Four Clowns - USA - 1970 - Youngson
* Dodeska Den - Japan - 1970 Kurosawa
* Rome Open City - 1945 - Italy -101 mins - Rosselini
* Bicycle Thieves - 1948 - Italy - 90 mins - De Sica
* A Man Escaped - 1956 - France-Germany - 99 mins - Bresson
* Man With A Movie Camera - 1929 - Russia - 60 mins - Vertov
Some of the Indian Classics we saw were -
* Sant Tukaram - 1936 - Marathi - Damle-Fattelal - 130 mins
* Pather Panchali -1955 - Bengali - Ray - 118 mins
* Subarnarekha - 1962 - Bengali - Ritwik Ghatak - 135 mins
* Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962 - Hindi - Abrar Alvi - 145 mins
* Kumatty - 1979 - Malayalam - Aravindan - 90 mins
In the course,there were 8 feature and documentary film-makers who came with their films,answered questions and discussed their films with us later.
That was quite interesting!
I also came to know that Short Films are a serious business!
We saw some prize-winner films from all over the world and their range and treatment is mind-boggling!
If you can get DVDs of them, like the '10 Minutes Older' festival or others, please do!
Here, the time given given was 10 minutes - and people have done amazing, amazing stuff in it.
They have taken 10 linear minutes or shown a whole life-time or millions of years in those given 10 mins!
If there are any short/long term courses on understanding films, do attend!
They add a wonderful dimension to our life.
Enjoy!
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