Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing Other Worlds Are Breathing

A Night of Phrophecy India, 2002, 77 min Director: Amar Kanwar Producer: AK Productions Director's Contact: amarvg@vsnl.com

'A Night of Prophecy' is a simple film about poetry and witnessing the passage of time. Through poetry emerges the possibility of understanding the past, the severity of conflict and the cycles of change. The film travels in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Kashmir in the Indian subcontinent. Through poetry you suddenly see where each and all the territories are heading to, where you belong and where to intervene, if you want to. The different poetic narratives merge together, allowing us to see a more universal language of symbols and meanings. The moment when this merger in the mind takes place is the simple moment of prophecy.

 

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing Other Worlds Are Breathing

An Evergreen Island Australia, 2000, 45 min Director: Amanda King and Fabio Cavadini Director's Contact: cavadini@tpgi.com.au

In 1989, the landowners of Central Bouganville closed one of the world's largest copper mines that was destroying their land. A military blockade was imposed around their island. This is a film about a Pacific people who survived for nine years without assistance from the outside.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing Other Worlds Are Breathing

Karen Education Surviving Burma, 2003, 30 min Director: Scott O' Brien and Saw Eh Do Wah Director's Contact: sobrien1988@hotmail.com

This film focuses upon the realities of Karen villagers living internally displaced throughout Karen state in Burma. It specifically examines how Karen organize their schools even as they struggle to survive the Burmese military junta's genocidal activities against them. This film has been created by Karen people and represents Karen perspectives on the socio-political context in which they find themselves.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing Other Worlds Are Breathing

Naata The Bond India, 2002, 45 min Director: Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar Producer: Tata Institute Of Social Sciences Director's Contact: umctiss@vsnl.com

'Naata' is about Bhau Korte and Waqar Khan, two activists and friends, who have been involved in conflict resolution through work with neighborhood peace communities in Dharavi, Mumbai, reputedly the largest 'slum' in Asia. This film explores their work, which has included the collective production and use of visual media for ethnic amity. Waqar and Bhau's work raises several uncomfortable questions for the filmmakers, so called modern, middle class secular, urban beings. 'Naata' juxtaposes the multilayered narrative on Dharavi and the 'stories' of the film makers, thereby attempting to foreground a critical and active viewership.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing Other Worlds Are Breathing

Now Cuba, 1965, 6 min Director: Santiago Alvarez Source: ICAIC Source's Contact: internacional@icaic.inf.cu

'Now' examines different pictures and pieces of news about the racial struggle of the black people who were discriminated against in the United States of America.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing Other Worlds Are Breathing

Red Butterflies Where Two Springs Merge Kyrgyzstan, 2002, 14 min Director: Gaukhar Sydykova and Dilia Ruzieva Source: Phoebe Schreiner Source's Contact: pschreiner@sorosny.org

'Red Butterflies Where Two Springs Merge' is a lyrical portrait of the 64-year-old Janyl Alibekova who lives in the border mountain village of Achy-Kaindy. Janyl continues the age-old tradition of making felt carpets into which she creatively incorporates national motifs. She never relied on anyone, least of all on the government or modern industrial technologies. As history would have it, after the breakup of the Soviet Union and in a period of general economic deadline, Janyl became famous in Europe, a star of the magazine Elle, and the director of her own workshop. Yet she didn't change her lifestyle or her independent anti-patriarchial views.