★★★★☆ Anand Patwardhan's War and Peace was released in 2002, and its presentation of escalating nationalist posturing - aka the arms race between India and Pakistan - was incredibly apposite. Over a decade later, WMDs in Iraq may not be the hot-button topic they were back then, but the Bharatiya Janata Party has returned to power in India and international debate surrounding nuclear armament continues to rage; this pulsating and sprawling documentary thus retains its potency. Both a personal perspective and a clear-eyed and acutely focused examination of the internal and external effects of India's scramble for arms, for Patwardhan it begins in the aftermath of Mahatma Ghandi's assassination.
- 7/28/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Veteran filmmaker Anand Patwardhan was honoured with the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to promotion of documentary films movement in India at the 13th Mumbai International Film Festival (Miff) that began today.
Anand Patwardhan is known for his activism through social action documentaries on topics such as corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and communalism. His notable films include Bombay: Our City (1985), In the Name of God (1992), Father, Son and Holy War (1995), War and Peace (2002) and Jai Bhim Comrade (2011).
His latest documentary Jai Bhim Comrade won the Best Film award at Miff 2012.
Patwardhan in his acceptance speech said, “My feelings are mixed. My films speak about the reality of the disadvantaged. They have raised several socially relevant issues, but the impact has been marginal. The issues I highlighted through my films since 1980s continue to exist – rampant demolition of slums and uprooting of poor, communal violence,...
Anand Patwardhan is known for his activism through social action documentaries on topics such as corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and communalism. His notable films include Bombay: Our City (1985), In the Name of God (1992), Father, Son and Holy War (1995), War and Peace (2002) and Jai Bhim Comrade (2011).
His latest documentary Jai Bhim Comrade won the Best Film award at Miff 2012.
Patwardhan in his acceptance speech said, “My feelings are mixed. My films speak about the reality of the disadvantaged. They have raised several socially relevant issues, but the impact has been marginal. The issues I highlighted through my films since 1980s continue to exist – rampant demolition of slums and uprooting of poor, communal violence,...
- 2/3/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Tate Modern art gallery in London is hosting a Retrospective of Indian documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan from July 12-28, 2013.
The Retrospective is titled “A cinema of songs and people: the films of Anand Patwardhan”.
“Rarely viewed in Britain, the films of Anand Patwardhan represent one of the most important achievements in documentary cinema. This comprehensive retrospective, the first to be devoted to the major works of Patwardhan in London, devotes long overdue attention to a giant of cinema whose films inaugurated the independent documentary moment in India in the mid-1970s,” mentions Tate Modern website.
Each film in “A Cinema of Songs and People: The Films of Anand Patwardhan” will be introduced by Anand Patwardhan, Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun, followed by audience discussion after the screening.
Recently, a Retrospective of Anand Patwardhan’s works was also held at the British Film Institute (BFI) in an event called ‘State of...
The Retrospective is titled “A cinema of songs and people: the films of Anand Patwardhan”.
“Rarely viewed in Britain, the films of Anand Patwardhan represent one of the most important achievements in documentary cinema. This comprehensive retrospective, the first to be devoted to the major works of Patwardhan in London, devotes long overdue attention to a giant of cinema whose films inaugurated the independent documentary moment in India in the mid-1970s,” mentions Tate Modern website.
Each film in “A Cinema of Songs and People: The Films of Anand Patwardhan” will be introduced by Anand Patwardhan, Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun, followed by audience discussion after the screening.
Recently, a Retrospective of Anand Patwardhan’s works was also held at the British Film Institute (BFI) in an event called ‘State of...
- 7/13/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Edgar Wright Takeover | A Cinema Of Songs And People: The Films Of Anand Patwardhan | Showcomotion | Pride 2013 – All Our Love
Edgar Wright Takeover, London
With the release of The World's End, the final part of Wright's "Blood & Ice Cream" trilogy, coming soon (19 Jul), the cult-friendly director stages an all-nighter. It's basically a chronological retrospective, starting with a his no-budget debut A Fistful Of Fingers. That's followed by Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Wright introduces the event, but if it's just Blood & Ice Cream you're after, all three films play at selected Picturehouse cinemas on 27 July.
Prince Charles Cinema, WC2, Sat
A Cinema Of Songs And People: The Films Of Anand Patwardhan, London
There are the films India wants you to see – churned out prodigiously by Bollywood – and then there are the provocative documentaries of Patwardhan, which his government has routinely tried to suppress and censor.
Edgar Wright Takeover, London
With the release of The World's End, the final part of Wright's "Blood & Ice Cream" trilogy, coming soon (19 Jul), the cult-friendly director stages an all-nighter. It's basically a chronological retrospective, starting with a his no-budget debut A Fistful Of Fingers. That's followed by Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Wright introduces the event, but if it's just Blood & Ice Cream you're after, all three films play at selected Picturehouse cinemas on 27 July.
Prince Charles Cinema, WC2, Sat
A Cinema Of Songs And People: The Films Of Anand Patwardhan, London
There are the films India wants you to see – churned out prodigiously by Bollywood – and then there are the provocative documentaries of Patwardhan, which his government has routinely tried to suppress and censor.
- 7/6/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
A special section, ‘Anand Patwardhan: At Work’ devoted to the documentary filmmaker will be presented at the upcoming Cinema du Reel international documentary film festival in Paris (March 21 – 31, 2013).
Ten films by Patwardhan that have been curated by Nicole Brenez, a historian and professor of cinema specializing in avant-garde, will be screened under this section.
The festival will also host a masterclass with Anand Patwardhan.
Patwardhan was awarded the Special Jury prize in Cinema du réel 1986 for his film Bombay: Our City. He is well known for his documentaries on corruption, city slums, the caste system, injustices to women and the nuclear arms race.
The Retrospective is divided into seven segments, each representing the social / political cause Patwardhan has made films on: The Political Organisation Front, The Working Class Front, Trilogy of Fundamentalism 1 (Secularism), Trilogy of Fundamentalism 2 (Nationalism), Trilogy of Fundamentalism 3 (Feminism), The Anti-Nuclear Front and The Untouchables Front.
Films...
Ten films by Patwardhan that have been curated by Nicole Brenez, a historian and professor of cinema specializing in avant-garde, will be screened under this section.
The festival will also host a masterclass with Anand Patwardhan.
Patwardhan was awarded the Special Jury prize in Cinema du réel 1986 for his film Bombay: Our City. He is well known for his documentaries on corruption, city slums, the caste system, injustices to women and the nuclear arms race.
The Retrospective is divided into seven segments, each representing the social / political cause Patwardhan has made films on: The Political Organisation Front, The Working Class Front, Trilogy of Fundamentalism 1 (Secularism), Trilogy of Fundamentalism 2 (Nationalism), Trilogy of Fundamentalism 3 (Feminism), The Anti-Nuclear Front and The Untouchables Front.
Films...
- 3/2/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Anand Patwardhan
The British Film Institute (BFI) is presenting the works of documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan through February in an event called ‘State of the Nation: Anand Patwardhan’s Portraits of India’.
“…Patwardhan offers a cinema, at once humanistic and radical, dedicated to chronicling the struggles of real people – fishermen, millworkers, slum dwellers, untouchables – who are marginal, almost ghostly presences across the contemporary Indian mediascape. Fiercely independent, and never afraid to take on the television networks and governmental bodies that have sought to censor him, he has always operated outside the mainstream, not just writing and editing his own films, but finding alternative distribution networks for them,” writes film critic Sukhdev Sandhu in an introduction to Anand Patwardhan on BFI website.
He calls it “a rare opportunity to watch a body of work that is passionate and probing, timely and timeless.”
Founded in 1933, BFI is a charity engaging in film production,...
The British Film Institute (BFI) is presenting the works of documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan through February in an event called ‘State of the Nation: Anand Patwardhan’s Portraits of India’.
“…Patwardhan offers a cinema, at once humanistic and radical, dedicated to chronicling the struggles of real people – fishermen, millworkers, slum dwellers, untouchables – who are marginal, almost ghostly presences across the contemporary Indian mediascape. Fiercely independent, and never afraid to take on the television networks and governmental bodies that have sought to censor him, he has always operated outside the mainstream, not just writing and editing his own films, but finding alternative distribution networks for them,” writes film critic Sukhdev Sandhu in an introduction to Anand Patwardhan on BFI website.
He calls it “a rare opportunity to watch a body of work that is passionate and probing, timely and timeless.”
Founded in 1933, BFI is a charity engaging in film production,...
- 2/16/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
A look at the career of revolutionary Indian documentary film-maker Anand Patwardhan
Anand Patwardhan, whose work will be featured in the Sheffield documentary festival next week, is the foremost Indian documentary maker of his generation. Time and time again, in landmark films such as Bombay Our City (1985), In The Name of God (1992) and War and Peace (2002), he has exposed the glaring realities about topics on which modern-day India, wedded to its own PR flannel about becoming a first world economy, does not care to dwell: the rise of nuclear nationalism, the role of political and religious leaders in stoking communalism, the continuing oppression of poorer castes.
Yet Patwardhan, who was born in 1950, never wanted to be a film-maker. Nor, when in 1970 he arrived in Brandeis University, Massachusetts, on a scholarship, did he see himself as particularly political. "It was the most exciting time that one could have been in the Us.
Anand Patwardhan, whose work will be featured in the Sheffield documentary festival next week, is the foremost Indian documentary maker of his generation. Time and time again, in landmark films such as Bombay Our City (1985), In The Name of God (1992) and War and Peace (2002), he has exposed the glaring realities about topics on which modern-day India, wedded to its own PR flannel about becoming a first world economy, does not care to dwell: the rise of nuclear nationalism, the role of political and religious leaders in stoking communalism, the continuing oppression of poorer castes.
Yet Patwardhan, who was born in 1950, never wanted to be a film-maker. Nor, when in 1970 he arrived in Brandeis University, Massachusetts, on a scholarship, did he see himself as particularly political. "It was the most exciting time that one could have been in the Us.
- 6/8/2012
- by Sukhdev Sandhu
- The Guardian - Film News
“The biggest problem for documentary filmmakers in India is distribution. There is hardly any formal set-up for distribution and exhibition of documentaries in an organized manner. For that reason, filmmakers have to wear many caps simultaneously.”
Indian documentaries garner acclaim and awards at international film festivals but find little success when it comes to braving the distribution chain to reach the common audiences in India. Think about watching a documentary and one can only think of screenings at some select cultural hubs or college campuses. The notion that documentary films have few takers is fast changing, but has that made documentary filmmaking and distribution a less inconvenient and more commercially viable option?
Saba Dewan is a Delhi based filmmaker whose documentaries Dharmayuddha (Holy War, 1989), Nasoor (Festering Wound, 1991), Khel (The Play, 1994), Barf (Snow, 1997), Sita’s Family (2001), Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi (2006) and Naach (The Dance, 2008)have been screened in several Indian and international film festivals.
Indian documentaries garner acclaim and awards at international film festivals but find little success when it comes to braving the distribution chain to reach the common audiences in India. Think about watching a documentary and one can only think of screenings at some select cultural hubs or college campuses. The notion that documentary films have few takers is fast changing, but has that made documentary filmmaking and distribution a less inconvenient and more commercially viable option?
Saba Dewan is a Delhi based filmmaker whose documentaries Dharmayuddha (Holy War, 1989), Nasoor (Festering Wound, 1991), Khel (The Play, 1994), Barf (Snow, 1997), Sita’s Family (2001), Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi (2006) and Naach (The Dance, 2008)have been screened in several Indian and international film festivals.
- 6/22/2011
- by Nandita Dutta
- DearCinema.com
War and Peace
Anand Patwardhan is well known for his extremely politically charged documentaries. War and Peace is also one such documentary which is hard hitting and grounded in politics and political ideologies. The documentary was made over a period of four years and has documented the points of view of various people of four different countries; India, Pakistan, Japan and the United States of America. This documentary is a well constructed film which shows potential of ground breaking ideologies.
Starting with the death of Mahatma Gandhi at the hands of Nathuram Ghodse, the topic of discussion slowly shifts towards the tension between India and Pakistan and their past wars. The topic of India’s nuclear armament is discussed with a highlight on the plight of the people who live just a few kilometres away from the test site of the nuclear weapons. Just as India had acquired nuclear weapon and tested them,...
Anand Patwardhan is well known for his extremely politically charged documentaries. War and Peace is also one such documentary which is hard hitting and grounded in politics and political ideologies. The documentary was made over a period of four years and has documented the points of view of various people of four different countries; India, Pakistan, Japan and the United States of America. This documentary is a well constructed film which shows potential of ground breaking ideologies.
Starting with the death of Mahatma Gandhi at the hands of Nathuram Ghodse, the topic of discussion slowly shifts towards the tension between India and Pakistan and their past wars. The topic of India’s nuclear armament is discussed with a highlight on the plight of the people who live just a few kilometres away from the test site of the nuclear weapons. Just as India had acquired nuclear weapon and tested them,...
- 3/19/2010
- by Sean Sequeira
- DearCinema.com
lt has been said of Anand Patwardhan that he is 'a kind of phenomenon; in that he has all along faced official apathy, disapproval, and at times, censorship and open discrimination. Perhaps, this is the way it should be for any creative artist wanting to grapple with political abuses, social injustices and economic disparities in a determined effort to educate, expose, inform, reform and effect change in a resistant and otherwise unenlightened world.
To put it simply, Patwardhan, who turns sixty this February, is India's best-known and most respected documentary filmmaker. It has taken him an acute intelligence, an exceptional social conscience and more than three decades of solid hard work on several fronts to reach that position. But he is admired across the subcontinent and beyond also as a fearless and indefatigable activist; a whistle-blower who spends a large part of his time writing and speaking and organising protest...
To put it simply, Patwardhan, who turns sixty this February, is India's best-known and most respected documentary filmmaker. It has taken him an acute intelligence, an exceptional social conscience and more than three decades of solid hard work on several fronts to reach that position. But he is admired across the subcontinent and beyond also as a fearless and indefatigable activist; a whistle-blower who spends a large part of his time writing and speaking and organising protest...
- 2/19/2010
- by Vidyarthy Chatterjee
- DearCinema.com
Rs 599.00 Shipping Time: in 7 Days Shipping Region: India Shipping Cost: Rs. 35 Colour/B&W: Colour Producer/Production House: Anand Patwardhan Censor Certification: V/U Dearcinema Recommends Promote to Dearcinema Homepage
Filmed over fourtumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent War and Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war.
The film is framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, an act whose portent and poignancy remains undiminished half a century later. For the filmmaker, whose family was immersed in the non-violent Gandhian movement, the sub-continent's trajectory towards unabashed militarism is explored with sorrow, though the film captures stories of resistance along the way. Amongst these is a visit to the "enemy country" of Pakistan, where contrary to expectations, Indian delegates are showered by affection not only by their counterparts in the peace...
Filmed over fourtumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent War and Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war.
The film is framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, an act whose portent and poignancy remains undiminished half a century later. For the filmmaker, whose family was immersed in the non-violent Gandhian movement, the sub-continent's trajectory towards unabashed militarism is explored with sorrow, though the film captures stories of resistance along the way. Amongst these is a visit to the "enemy country" of Pakistan, where contrary to expectations, Indian delegates are showered by affection not only by their counterparts in the peace...
- 12/10/2009
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
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