|
Event
Song and Dance: Documentary Explorations by Tuni Chatterji and Satyajit Ray
Sunday February 23, 2014, 7:30 pm
Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Song and Dance: Documentary Explorations
by Tuni Chatterji and Satyajit Ray
At the Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028
Tuni Chatterji in person!
Filmforum is thrilled to welcome Los Angeles-based filmmaker Tuni Chatterji in person with the Los Angeles premiere of her short feature Okul Nodi (Endless River), paired with the very rarely screened short documentary Bala, by Bengali auteur Satyajit Ray. Several years in the making, Chatterji's poetic documentary is an exploration of Bhatiyali, the traditional river music of Bangladesh, and the fragility with which it currently survives, somewhere between academic study and modernized renovation. Says Chatterji, "This film takes a meditative approach to exploring the relationship between Bhatiyali and the landscape from which it comes from, while at the same time, through form and structure, alludes to questions around the imminent disappearance of a rich folk form."
Okul Nodi will be shown with Satyajit Ray's very rarely screened 1976 short film Bala, which seeks to document and preserve some aspect of Bhatat Natyam, a classical Indian dance form known for its sculpturesque poses and elegant grace.
For more event information: www.lafilmforum.org, or 323-377-7238
Tickets: $10 general, $6 students/seniors; free for Filmforum members. Available by credit card in advance from Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/566462 or at the door.
SCREENING:
Bala
By Satyajit Ray (1976, 35mm, color, sound, 31 min.)
Print courtesy of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center and the Academy Film Archive
"Bala, a rarely screened documentary by the preeminent Bengali director Satyajit Ray captures the living art of Bhatat Natyam, a classical form of Indian Dance, as performed by the master dancer Balaswaraswati. The short film showcases two full-length performances with narration by Ray himself. The first time I saw this film I was mesmerized by the beauty of the phenomena of cinema to envelop one into a realm of time and space, simultaneously familiar and exotic. However, this film itself has not been preserved and thus we risk losing documentation of this traditional form and Ray's own record of it." (Tuni Chatterji)
Okul Nodi (Endless River)
By Tuni Chatterji (2012, HD, color, sound, 52 min.)
Los Angeles premiere!
Okul Nodi is a contemplative documentary film about Bhatiyali, the river music of Bangladesh.
Bhatiyali is the soulful music sung, as tradition has it, by the boatmen of Bangladesh. The poignancy of the lyrics often rests on dual meanings wherein boats become bodies, lovers are also lost gods, and river banks stand for cycles of life and death. All the while, the melody, with its tonal variations, carries the listener into the natural world by creating the sensation of drifting along the water.
We spent months traversing the Brahmaputra-Ganges delta by boats, buses and rickshaws in search of boatmen, hoping to trace a history of this musical form and its relationship to the landscape. What we found instead was a passionate group of experts, the effects of modernization on folk traditions, and an open dialogue about what it means to be Bengali.
Mirroring the complicated yet fleeting relationship between the songs and the landscape and by calling attention to the intrinsic qualities of the cinematic form itself, Okul Nodi explores a disjunction between expectation and experience." (Tuni Chatterji)
|
|
 |
LocationSpielberg Theater at the Egyptian (View)
6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
United States
Categories
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
|
Contact
|
