SHOT BY SHOT with Anupam Barve

Reading of

Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria)

April Weekends : 8th & 9th, 15th & 16th, 29th & 30th; 14:30 to 18:30 IST _ ONLINE.
– All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), – 8&9 April
– Volver  – 15&16 April
– Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria) – 29&30 April

OVERVIEW:
“Pedro Almodóvar is something of a paradox—scintillatingly so. Celebrated and denigrated by critics as serious and superficial, political and apolitical, moral and immoral, feminist and misogynist, experimental and sentimental, universal and provincial, Almodóvar has charted a path from the countercultural margins of his native Spain to an international mainstream” – Approaching Almodóvar: Thirty Years of Reinvention by Brad Eppes & Despina Kakoudaki .

Almodóvar’s films have exploded on the screen with recurring themes of desire, passion, family and identity…and over the decades, consistently offered superb renditions of bold colours, irreverent humour and glossy melodrama.

In this 3 weekend series, filmmaker and film academician Anupam Barve will go for a SHOT BY SHOT breakdown and analysis of Pedro Almodovar’s directorial craft through three seminal works of his-

– All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre),
– Volver
– Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria)

Anupam will lead an in-depth exploration into the directorial and cinematic devices deployed by Almodovar that render into his films a distinct auteurship. 

ANUPAM’S NOTE:
“I grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s with a staple dose of Hindi mainstream melodrama and song and dance. Later over the turn of the decade, I could have access to ‘English’ (read: American) films on VHS in local libraries followed by more exposure on cable TV. Then, as the film festival movements further flourished in India, I got exposed to yet another kind of cinema, films from elsewhere in India and from around the world! Regional Indian films, the Latin Americas, the far east of Asia, and especially the masters of Western and Central Europe. I started noticing and then studying how these cinemas were different to the popular staple that I grew up on in the initial years. “Subtle”, “Suave”, “Underplayed”, “Existentialist”, “Minimalistic” became currencies in film buff gatherings and banters.

And then, I came across Pedro Almodovar! European, yes. But – Bright colours. Song. Dance. Family upheavals. And more than anything else, stunning melodramatic devices! 

Pedro Almodovar has been one of the most influential filmmakers and auteurs of world cinema from the past four decades, but also one that surprisingly manages to miss out on a majority of film syllabi.

It promises to be a rewarding proposition to take a look at Almodovar’s work, keeping in mind, that this is a filmmaker who began working in the underground circuit during the last years of the authoritarian regime of Franco in Spain, and has managed to consistently yield superlative work since, blending recurrent themes of motherhood, gender identity, sexuality and relationships all encapsulated in stunningly vibrant colourful melodrama and beautifully crafted female characters! Almodovar continues to be an inspiration to me as a filmmaker through his impeccable writing and scene craft, a rare chance to delve into the why and how!” . 

ANUPAM BARVE’s PROFILE:
Anupam Barve is a Pune based film and theatre director, and film educator. He has recently served as an Associate Professor of Film Direction at FTII. He has been a visiting film faculty at several film and media institutions across India like SIMC, SSLA, FLAME, MIT-SFT, SPPU, XCOMM, etc. for over a decade. He holds a BA in Performing Arts from the University of Pune and a MA in Directing: Film and TV from the University of Westminster, London. He was a recipient of ‘Scholarship to outstanding Performing Artistes’ by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. His current theatre production Uchhaad, a Marathi adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award winning black comedy God of Carnage is being performed on stage across Maharashtra. He recently produced and directed a six part fictional series called Goshta Ahe Pruthvimolachi based on various mental health issues. He also produced and directed a well received web series in eight parts based on stories around sexuality and self efficacy titled Safe Journeys. His previous work has showcased and received critical acclaim at film festivals and competitions worldwide like London Asian Film Festival, New York Indian Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), BISFF and IDSFFK. His film ‘Fresh suicide’ was nominated for the Golden Palm Tree Award at IFFI, Goa and has won various awards elsewhere. His feature film screenplay The Shadow Lines, an adaptation of Amitav Ghosh’s novel, was also selected at NFDC’s Screenwriters’ Lab and Film Bazaar held at Venice Film Festival and International Film Festival of India in 2012. 

PARTICIPANT PROFILE:
This course would work very well, of course for filmmakers, film students, critics and general aficionados of world cinema, particularly Spanish cinema. Also for those interested in politics of desire, non-normative family dynamics, fluid identity explorations, for the bursts of colours and emotions and intense melodrama from the everyday life!

MODE OF TEACHING:
Through the course of the interactive, participatory online sessions, various scenes and sequences of the films will be revisited and broken down Shot by Shot for analysis. Viewing of the selected films and reading of some curated reference material prehand is mandatory. 

COURSE FEES:
For Indian and SAARC Nationals:
₹ 1000 : For any 1 Weekend;
₹ 1800 : For any 2 Weekends;
₹ 2400 : Full 3 weekends’ Course

For International -non SAARC Participants:
$ 20 – For any 1 Weekend;
$ 50 – For any 2 Weekends;
$ 90 – Full 3 weekends’ Course

CERTIFICATES:
Digital certificates of participation will be issued.

QUERIES:
For queries, if any, please write to: support_filminstitute@auroville.org.in
or call / message +91 9969879319 (whatsapp and telegram only)