Abstract
This paper intends to narrate the unexplored
history of the film society movement in India. It is an attempt to revisit a
moment of organized cinephilia that was primarily centered on the appreciation
of International and Indian art cinemas as well as the Indian New Wave
movement. The period from the early 1960s through the 1970s is referred to as
the high moment of such cultural activity marked by debates on the art and
craft of cinema, institutional support from the government combined with
increasing success in terms of screenings and memberships, which eventually
waned out by the mid 1980s. By examining the inception histories of
significant film societies of the movement, specifically from Calcutta, Delhi,
Bombay, Patna and Bangalore, this paper will map the collaborations and
networks through which films were accessed, circulated and viewed as an
alternative to the prevalent mainstream cinemas. Looking at stories and
memories of film society members, this paper argues that the circulation of the
celluloid film object and peoples’ experiences around it were as crucial to the
momentum of the film society movement as the content of the alternative cinemas
that was preferred. Therefore, this paper uses the prism of cinephilia to
generate the variant film cultures engendered by film societies as they
endeavored to make meaning of cinema and its relationship to modern society.
Speaker:
Abhija Ghosh, Research Scholar, Cinema Studies, SAA, JNU
Venue:
Committee Room, JNU Central Library
Date and Time: 22nd March 2013 (Friday),
4:30 pm
