Ecofiction as Epiphany

Introduction to the Cinematic Mise-en-scène 
A Masterclass with Dr. Soudhamini
10th to 13th May  2024 in Auroville 

OVERVIEW:
Between climate denial and dystopia lies a fertile space for self-sensitization which this short course facilitates through the grammar of the cinematic mise-en-scène.  If the Japanese haiku is about distilled observation and startling juxtapositions – akin structurally to the shot breakdown and montage – then Tamizh Sangam poetry is all about relationality, and the coextensive flow of emotion in the human, the creaturely and landscape itself. This is the very charge of Life, as all of Nature including the human, is recognized as both site and passage of an interwoven subjectivity, that like a moebius strip moves seamlessly within and without. We cannot of course think of relationality in the Indian context without thinking of classical music, and the Drupad alaap is perhaps the most sophisticated spatio-temporal elaboration to prefigure the cinematic mise-en-scène. Using these different inspirational models and methodologies,  we will make short mise-en-scene sketches in situ at Auroville, which is itself a real world elaboration of the transformative potential of human-nature relationality. 

This Masterclass is a part of the ongoing Open Space Documentary Arts Programme.

MODE OF INSTRUCTION:
Mainly English. Additionally, Tamil – with translations. 

EQUIPMENT:
Any camera that the participant has access to and is familiar with, and a laptop is expected. 

MAIN FACULTY – Dr. SOUDHAMINI :
Soudhamini’s works of the past thirty years lie in the cusp between cinema and other forms of traditional and vernacular culture in South India including music, poetry, performance and ritual. She is deeply committed to understanding how technology can inflect these forms in an inter-medial, non-hierarchical relation, and in discovering the aesthetic first principles common to all. Following a Post Graduate Diploma in Film Direction from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, she began her professional career assisting avant garde film-maker Mani Kaul, and since then has been working across platforms and genres making short fiction, feature length non-fiction and experimental installations, receiving commissions from the Government of India as well as International Institutions like the ZDF, Germany, the Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands and the Australian Council for the Arts. Her work has been shown at all the leading international documentary festivals including Oberhausen Film Festival, FID Marseille, Creteil International Women’s Film Festival, Cinema Du Reel, Festival du Popoli, Asia Society, and the Leningrad International Documentary Festival, Russia, besides regular screenings at the India International Film Festivals (IFFI and MIFF). She has officiated on International Selection Committees and Competition Juries and has been Artist in Residence in Japan (2003) Munich (2006) and Berlin (2010).

SELECTION :
Selection will be based on a statement of purpose and general qualification. We shall respond to you within 2 days of your application. 

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Further details in terms of schedule outlines, contribution, facilitation and charges for accommodation, meals, mobility etc shall be discussed with shortlisted applicants. 

CERTIFICATES:
Certificates of participation will be issued to those who fill up this Issuance Form.

QUERIES:
For any queries, please write to : filminstitute@auroville.org.in
or call / message +919969879319 (Whatsapp and telegram only).

APPLY HERE