Pradipta(SEPHIS)

CONTENTS Editorial Symposia South 02 Samita Sen, Shamil Jeppie, Carlos I. Degregori 36 Chandak Sengoopta, Relocating Ray: Beyond Renoir, Renaissance and Revolution. 03 Letters Across the South Vishnu Padayachee, The Story of Ike’s Bookshop, 3 38 Interview 33 Durban, South Africa. Manujendra Kundu, Third Theatre in Bengal: An 04 Interview with Badal Sircar 39 Lakshmi Subramanian, A recent trip to Thailand. 40 Zulfah Otto-Sallies, Weaving a filmmaker’s dream. 34 Articles 42 Gairoonisa Paleker, Cinematic South: Shifting Centres, Human Rights and the Tri-Continents Film Festival. Aishika Chakraborty, Navanritya: Her Body, 07 Her Dance. 43 Angela Figueiredo, Report for the VIII Fábrica de Idéias. Gairoonisa Paleker, Film as History– Some 12 Reflections on the Student Documentary Film Cissie Gool. 44 Lara Mancuso, Trip to Mexico City. Meg Samuelson, Historical Time, Gender and 15 the ‘New’ South Africa in Zakes Mda’s The Reviews Heart of Redness. 45 Nubia Pinto, City of God: The life of black people in Brazilian slums. Contemporary South 46 Zakariyau Sadiq Sambo, Transforming the Cellu- 19 Nilosree Biswas, Where is Thelma and Louise? loid: Nollywood films and Nigerian Society. Kumar Mahabir, Temples and tourism in Trinidad 48 Cecilia Gallero, Memories of War. Iluminados Por El 21 and Tobago. Fuego / Enlighten by Fire. 23 Jishnu Dasgupta, Twists and Turns. 49 Announcements Archives and Field Notes Abanti Adhikari, Bangladesh in the eyes of an 54 Our Team 25 observer. A Photo-Essay 41 Sanchari Sur, Shameek Sarkar & Jishnu 28 Dasgupta, The Biggest Sculpture Show in the World: Durga Puja in Calcutta. Contact us at [email protected] SEPHIS e-magazine 2, 2, January 2006 02 Editorial Samita Sen Shamil Jeppie Carlos I. Degregori Ever since we embarked on the e- television and a whole variety of stood or not. But there has also been magazine project, we have been changes associated with it such as the a growing traffic of movies and receiving contributions on various circulation of videos and DVDs, and television serials within the South so aspects of media and culture, with a the most recent electronic media, such that Latin American soapies have strong focus on cinema. When we as the www— the media we are found markets in Africa, for instance, began to think in terms of having one ourselves relying upon for this maga- or South African sports channels are special thematic issue, this was the zine— in various ways and at different picked up in Lebanon via cable televi- natural choice. This has meant that moments in history have been means sion. A whole range of examples can we held over some of the contributions of change and transformation through be offered. on related themes for a rather long which wider fields of vision and In this issue of the magazine– its period. We must thank the long- imagination have been made possible. fifth appearance, second number of suffering authors for bearing with us But there have also been the inevi- the second volume– we carry a with patience and good humour. The table tensions between these media number of contributions on cinema in number of spontaneous contributions and other, older, media and art forms– the South. Related to this theme we on this theme is itself a testimony to such as theatre and story-telling— have articles on the making of a the growing interest in this field, a field they have and continue to compete historical documentary by Gairoonisa that has begun to mark itself into with and/or displace or attempt to Palekar, a student in South Africa, and separate domains in the last decade or displace at different times. There is no on an important aspect of the movie so. The omnibus ‘culture studies’ simple uncontroversial, non-contradic- industry in Nigeria. We also carry notwithstanding, we are witnessing the tory process by which new media are reviews of some recent important emergence of ‘film studies’, ‘theatre introduced and utilised. movies and discussions on events studies’, ‘mass communication’ and It is modernity that these new related to cinema in the South. others as specialised areas within media come to represent, a reflection Chandak Sengoopta reflects on academic institutions. The growing of the globalisation process. Our Satyajit Ray, considered by many as interest in media, especially in the worlds become ever smaller through the greatest Indian film-maker. We South in recent years, has prompted these media. They have the potential have also an interview of a theatre this special issue. to allow us to imagine other worlds activist, Badal Sircar, who affected a The deployment of new media is and appropriate various aspects of paradigm shift in Bengali theatre. and has very often been a sign of the these other places in our everyday Aishika Chakrabarty writes on a modern. This has been so all over the lives. They have made it possible to modern dance movement, also in South just as in the North. It is not take inspiration or lessons of political Bengal. Meg Samuelson, from South possible to talk about any new media struggle from one context into an- Africa, focuses on the power of myth without also adding the prefix “mass” other– think of the popularity among in story-telling and the modern novel. because of the ever larger constituen- South African political activists of the We have a number of contributions on cies that are covered and incorporated movie Battle of Algiers about an recent media-related events in differ- by these new media. These media episode in the vicious war of liberation ent parts of the South. There is a enable new forms of communication in Algeria or Lion of the Desert about special feature on Calcutta (the city and interaction across vast spaces and the struggle against Italian colonialism where the magazine is produced) time zones. Barriers are constantly in Libya. But they also enable us to focusing on an annual festival, Durga broken, remade and broken again with imagine and try to bring home a world Puja, an event dubbed the ‘Biggest new frequencies of speed as newer of glamour and glittery cosmopolitan- Sculpture Show in the World’ by the technologies are created, marketed ism as in the way Western cinema and mass media a few years ago. The and domesticated across the globe. television serials are consumed but issue covers a range of south coun- New possibilities for imagining other also Hindi cinema– in South Asia, and tries and media forms, but is not worlds, new selves, and fresh possibili- almost throughout the South and systematic in either aspect. We offer ties are almost an inherent part of among diasporic populations in the you a potpourri. Let us know if you these media transformations. Cinema, North whether the language is under- enjoyed the issue. SEPHIS e-magazine 2, 2, January 2006 03 Letters The discussion on NGOs ignores the complexities of the situation. We do not get a sense of the variety of NGOs and their significance. They play very different roles in different south countries. In Philippines, for instance, they have had a very positive influence on the organisation of some categories of workers. In many cases they have also contributed critically to developmental initiatives. Could we have a more extended discussion, which addresses a wider range of issues and provides a more balanced view? Nidhi Kumar, Kanpur, India. Response: Thank You. We do realise that this is just a beginning. We have tried to provide a vignette in the last issue. We shall certainly try to include more comprehensive discussions on the subject. — Eds. The quiz was a great idea. Can we have more interactive features in the e-magazine? Robin Sanders, Johannesburg, South Africa. Response: We are trying to develop more interactive ideas. Unfortunately, we have not been able to do much in this issue. It is already quite a long one. Definitely something in the next issue. — Eds. Would it be possible to have a wider coverage of recent publications? The reviews section is limited in scope. The magazine would be a good platform within which students of the South get a sense of debates and discussions in other South countries. Nadia Alberto Sau Paulo, Brazil. Response: This has been suggested before. We are trying to put in place a segment covering publications. We have not been able yet to establish a network for the regular information flows. We would be very grateful if readers would send us relevant information on these lines. — Eds. Please visit www.sreejoni.com for detailed information on Sobhanlal Datta Gupta’s forthcoming book Comintern and the Destiny of Communism in India. Dialectics of Real and a Possible History. (Expected to be published in the first quarter of 2006 by Seribaan from Calcutta). Please note that we are the sole distributor of the book. Sreejoni, 6/2H Naktala Road, Kolkata 700 047, India. Phone: +91-33-2411-5988; Fax: +91-33-2471-3250. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] If you have written original articles and would like to submit them free to gain exposure over the internet, please visit our site and look around. Your submitted articles will rapidly be listed on search engines as well as our live RSS feeds. http://www.articledestination.com/ ArticleDestination.com Team SEPHIS e-magazine 2, 2, January 2006 04 Interview Third Theatre in Bengal: An Interview with Badal Sircar Manujendra Kundu is now working at the Anandabazar Patrika, Kolkata (India). He was educated at Presidency College and Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Everything that falls Manujendra within the range of literature attracts him. He believes in discursive Marxist philosophy.

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