[Sarai Newsletter] APRIL 2003

[The Sarai Programme]

CONTENTS 

I 	TALK @ SARAI: Media Publics & Practices Seminar
3rd 	“Film Industry and the Fan Response: The Case of Hong Kong Action Film in 				
	India” by S V Srinivas 

II 	FILM @ SARAI: Focus on the Documentary
2nd 	'Photowallahs', directed by David & Judith MacDougall

III 	FILM @ SARAI: Asian Film Cultures - "Dealing with the Past: Some 
	Unfamiliar Hong Kong Films"
4th  	'Shaolin Soccer', directed by  Stephen Chow
11th 	'Forbidden City Cop', directed by Stephen Chow
25th 	'God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai', directed by Wong Jing

IV	ANNOUNCEMENTS
	Registration for Introduction to Film Studies lecture series
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Dear Friends, 
In April and May we focus on films. Apart from a seminar, curated film series 
and a documentary we introduce a lecture series on film studies in May for 
which registrations start now. 

I 	MEDIA PUBLICS & PRACTICES SEMINAR
	April 3, 2003, Thursday, 4:30 pm
	"Film Industry and the Fan Response: The Case of Hong Kong Action Film in 	
	India"
	by S. V. Srinivas
	Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore

II	FILM @ SARAI: FOCUS ON THE DOCUMENTARY
	April 2, 2003, Wednesday, 4:30 pm 
	Photowallahs (1991)
	Directed by David and Judith MacDougall, 60 minutes

'Photowallahs' is a film about the varied meanings of photography. It is set 
in Mussoorie, a famous hill station in northern India, which has attracted 
tourists since the 19th century. In this setting photography has thrived. 
Without spoken  commentary, the film discovers its subject in the streets, 
bazaars, shops, photographic studios and private homes of Mussoorie. In the 
process it compares the diverse work and attitudes of the local photographers 
- Mussoorie's "photo wallahs." Although photography has developed certain 
culturally distinctive features in India, its many forms and uses in the 
country tell us much about the nature and significance of photography 
throughout the world.

David MacDougall is a key figure in the development of ethnographic cinema and 
visual anthropology. As a filmmaker, he has directed in Africa, Australia, 
India and Europe. He writes regularly on ethnographic and documentary film 
and articulates central issues in the relation of film to anthropology. A 
book of his essays, 'Transcultural Cinema', was published by Princeton 
University Press in 1998.

He was one of the founders of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the 
Australian National University, where he is currently an Australian Research 
Council Fellow and Convenor of the Program in Visual Research. 

III	FILM @ SARAI: ASIAN FILM CULTURES
	'Dealing with the Past: Some Unfamiliar Hong Kong Films'
	Curated by S V Srinivas, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, 			
	Bangalore

The past is a major concern for Hong Kong films across genres. There are 
interesting parallels and differences between the way in which the past - 
ancient and colonial -  figures in Hong Kong and Indian films. A comparative 
analysis of the two largest Asian industries is hampered by the limited range 
of films available for viewing in India. Hong Kong films that have had a 
theatrical release in India comprise of a very small section of the range of 
films produced by the industry. The circulation of Hong Kong films in the 
video market is limited by the non-availability of English dubbed versions. 

This series comprises of a set of “commercial” films from Hong Kong which may 
never have been released in the Indian theatrical circuit. All of them are in 
Cantonese with English subtitles. The attempt is not to make an authoritative 
statement about the representation of the past in Hong Kong cinema but to 
introduce films, film makers and genres that deserve closer attention than 
what the current state of the Indian film market permits. While the first 
three films are quite similar and belong together, the fourth film ('The 
Blade') has been included to provide a generic, technical and narrative 
counter point. The first of another series perhaps....

	April 4, 2003, Friday, 4:30 pm
	Shaolin Soccer (2001)
	Directed by  Stephen Chow, 111 minutes

A garbage collector (Stephen Chow) and a disgraced football star (Ng Man Tat) 
put together a team comprising of former kung-fu students. The team is formed 
with considerable difficulty and it is only after a humiliating defeat by a 
team of local toughs that the 'brothers' regain their martial arts skills. In 
the finals the “Shaolin Team” defeats the “Evil Team”, whose members are 
pumped with steroids. By the end of the film, the garbage collector's dream 
of a society founded on kung fu training is fulfilled.

The film, made in the run up to the Fifa World Cup in 2002, was Hong Kong's 
biggest hit in the year 2001.

	April 11, 2003, Friday, 4:30 pm
	Forbidden City Cop (1996)
	Directed by  Stephen Chow, 88 minutes

An inefficient palace guard, who is also a gynecologist in his free time, 
succeeds in preventing an invasion of the empire. The film is typical of 
Stephen Chow's work in the nineties. A mixing of popular genres like the 
ghost film and the costume drama is combined with overt references of 
sequences from Hollywood and Hong Kong films to produce a comedy in which the 
past is at once an object of ridicule and reverence.

	April 25, 2003, Friday, 4:30 pm
	God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai (1991)
	Directed by Wong Jing, 116 minutes

The director Wong Jing is one of the most interesting film makers in Hong 
Kong. His hugely successful 'God of Gamblers' (1989, featuring Chow Yun-fat) 
had a number of sequels (there are two films titled 'God of Gamblers Part 
Three'). This one, featuring Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat, is clearly inspired 
by the Hollywood film 'Back to the Future'. There are numerous irreverent 
intertextual references to the earlier “God of Gamblers” films. The god of 
gamblers lands in 1930s Shaghai after a psychic duel with one of his old 
enemies. His problem is to return to the present and win the 
gambling competition but before that he has to help his effeminate grandfather 
woo his grandmother.

	May 2, 2003, Friday, 4:30 pm
	The Blade, (1995)
	Directed by  Tsui Hark,  100 minutes

Tsui Hark is one of Hong Kong's most prominent film personalities and is a 
prolific director and producer. This nineties remake of the legendary Shaw 
Brothers film, 'One Armed Swordsman' (Chang Cheh, 1967) foregrounds a number 
of issues that have often surfaced in the swordplay film. The love of the 
sword manufacturer's daughter for two of her father's workers triggers off a 
series of violent events. The one armed hero, his dead father, the broken 
sword and the half burnt book stand out as signs of the swordplay film's 
ability to raise difficult questions about both heroism and history. This an 
extremely violent film, even by Hong Kong standards, and one which is 
difficult to watch.

'The Blade' is said to have inspired French avant garde film makers.

IV	ANNOUNCEMENT
	INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
	10 day intensive lecture series

	May 16 to May 25, 2003, 10:00 am - 5:30 pm
	at Sarai, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Cinema has arguably been the most powerful cultural phenomenon of the 
twentieth century. As mass public culture, art practice, vehicle of 
propaganda and documentary reflection, it has been integral to the 
development of modern societies. As an apparatus of sense perception, it has 
been crucial, along with other technologies of perception, communication and 
transportation, in the transformation of human subjectivity. This lecture 
series is designed to introduce the student to the various approaches which 
have been developed to understand this complex cultural form. Lectures will 
provide an understanding of film theory, including the earlier classical 
theories, linguistic and psychoanalytical approaches and other forms of 
cultural theory. There will also be a focus on the various methods used to 
analyse films, from the analysis of narrative formats, genres and film styles 
to archival and empirical studies. Film screenings will provide a sense of 
the variety of cinematic cultures and practices, and their history.

The series comprises illustrated lectures, film screenings and discussions.

Speakers include: 
Ravi Vasudevan, Sarai, Series Coordinator

Ranjani Mazumdar
Independent Filmmaker & Scholar

Ira Bhaskar
English Department at Gargi College, Delhi University

Shohini Ghosh
Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia

Madan Gopal Singh
Coordinator, Film Studies Programme, Institute for Convergence, IMI

Raqs Media Collective
Sarai

Rashmi Doraiswamy
Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia
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Eligibility: The series is for students (continuing BA students and upwards), 
teachers, academics, film and media practitioners, as well as film 
enthusiasts. All applicants have to write a one-page statement of purpose 
explaining why they would like to  participate.

Fees: Rs 1500/-
Registration Schedule: Applications must be submitted latest by April 30, 
2003. Limited seats.

For registration and enquiries please write to me at ranita at sarai.net,
or call 2396-0040.  

Cheers,
Ranita
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
Tel:  (+91) 11 23960040
       (+91) 11 23951190
Fax: (+91) 11 23943450
www.sarai.net