बमबरम
Bambaram
(a spinning top)
‘Bambaram’ is an ongoing analog screening programme of films made at the Harkat Lab. These personal and political explorations give a slight insight into harkat as a collective, floating through transient ideas and processes which constantly bring us back to our ‘self’. Essentially an exploration of the art and the craft of working on film, Bambaram traverses through multiple contexts, either with deliberate observation or subconscious intent. Although from different times and spaces, all works carry an underlying spiritual thread. To go beyond the connotation of ‘experimental’ and explore the indian sentiment of ‘Prayōga’, which suggests an eternal quest, a continuing process – of thought, observation, design, and practice.
Bambaram has screened at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio, Cultural Center of São Paulo, LaborBerlin, art schools in Kassel and Braunschweig, 16mm film festival Mumbai and at many other independent screening spaces.
PROGRAMME:
Deen – by Tanya Dixit
Conceptualized as an experiment, Deen is a film made by combining haggard pieces of film found in the alleys of chor bazaar (the thieves market) of Mumbai. The historical surprises contained within helped slowly bring about a context to the narrative. Made as an attempt to comment on power dynamics and the role they continue to play in India’s political structure, Deen reflects on how India has evolved and questions where it might be going.
Chinnamasta – a Harkat Lab collective film
Chinnamasta is a depiction and understanding of the tantric goddess of the same name. The film follows the threading together and awakening of a kinetic sculptural form. A merging of tree and body, of object and nature. It is an exploration of cycles of death and life, and death in life.
Safa – by Simran
‘India saffron’, a colour that found resonance in the subcontinent’s independence movement, is also a colour that evokes deep cultural beauty, softness, nostalgia and warmth. Over the years it has gained politically and socially heavy connotations due to its predominant use by extremists. This film is an attempt to reclaim the colour saffron, gently shifting it’s association from what it has become.
Re: – by Tanya Dixit
The process of recalling memories is messy and inaccurate. An attempt to explore how we forget.
An Ode to Phools – by Khushi Thakkar, Yash Thakkar, Kedar Sonigra
Flowers are found in abundance around the city, being a pivotal part of cultural rituals and celebrations. But a plucked flower dies soon after. They bloom only to be sold. ‘An ode to phools’ is a love letter to flowers.
Killing your darlings – A workshop film by Ada Kerserho, Ayesha Kapadia, Navneet Mishra, Nidhi Kukreja & Siddhanth Shetty
The city is growing over the forest and the bird population in Bombay is on a drastic decline.
Jenga – by Sharmistha Saha
The people of a community living in Mumbai have superpowers. They bring down the most vulgar symbol of capitalism in the city, with a game of Jenga.
Static Bombay by Savyasachi Anju Prabir
A static individual is a dreamer, lost in thought and alone, in this city of dreams. Static Bombay is a documentation of the working class in the city of Bombay, India. Exploring the ethics and politics of the gaze of the camera and the characters, the film visually aims to resonate with the working class across cultures and geographies.
16mm Selfie – by Karan Suri Talwar
All the world’s a selfie and everyone’s a troll.
Oh, you. – by Namrata
A macro study of how our bodies respond to a looming presence of someone special.
Tuesday has its charms – by Mashitshila
Sometimes people just come into our lives with no notice. This story is about how people meet, how fate puts you in that place, at that time, just so you’d meet them–despite having different lives, their paths cross; a meet-cute.
how do you love? – by Tanvi Chitre
The expression of love has learned to manifest into grand gestures, subtle cues, and everything in between. ‘how do you love?’ is an experimental visual approach to and beyond the five love languages and their dynamics.
Atta – by Sheba Alexander
Every day, in every Indian household, a woman kneads the dough to make rotis for her family.
Embroidery Bitch – by Namrata Sanghani
Who defines what is “cool”? Embroidery bitch rebels against gender attributes that hijack the parameters of “coolness”. It spotlights women’s inherent coolness that reflects in the most mundane of chores they do in their daily life. It attempts to reclaim and redefine cool by celebrating all things we think are hella cool, especially Embroidery.