[Reader-list] [Announcements] One Billion Eyes--CASTE--Film Festival--Call for Entries

[Navayana Publishing]

* One Billion Eyes** 2007*

*Indian Documentary Film Festival*

*The Prakriti Foundation, Chennai*

*in association with*

*Alliance Francaise, Chennai*



  *Caste*



* One Billion Eyes*, the annual Indian documentary film festival organised
by the Prakriti Foundation, Chennai, is in its third year. This year's theme
is *Caste*. The theme for 2005 was 'Arts, Activism, Animals', and for 2006
it was '*Our Cities: the Real and the Imagined'**.*



In India, caste consumes everyone. From the brahmin priests of the
Chidambaram temple who continue to practice child marriage, to McDonalds
substituting panneer for beef in their Indian burgers, to the dalits of
Khairlanje who get lynched for asserting their humanity. But such has been
the conditioning of mainstream, contemporary, urban sensibilities that to
talk caste has meant to talk of reservation, dalits, OBCs,
government/sarkari brahmins, atrocities against dalits, Mandal, Mayawati,
gurjjars, meritocracy, state policy. Suddenly, it appears that caste is not
a system of domination, discrimination and exploitation, but just a
classificatory category. It appears as if brahmins, kayasths, banias and
other privileged castes do not have anything to do with caste. It appears
that matrimonial advertisements that demand a 'wheatish complexion Iyer
Vadama non-Koundinya gotra 25–28 girl' for a caste-compatible
IIT-IIM–educated brahmin based in Connecticut, or ads that explicitly seek
to rent houses 'only for vegetarians' do not encode caste. In fact, the
anti-reservation brigade recently managed to project itself in the media as
anti-caste. Does the world of documentary films in India exhibit similar
anxieties and stereotypes? While so many films get made about dalits and
around dalit themes, do dalits get to make their/our films? What is the
existing filmic discourse on caste? Have makers of short films sought to
rethink caste?



This festival—juxtaposing screenings with literary readings, panel
discussions and interventions from the audience—will seek to broaden the
contours of the discourse on caste. Besides filmmakers and their films, it
will feature poets, activists, students, victims, agent provocateurs,
academicians, and of course a panel of judicious and judgmental but jolly
judges who will decide on the best film for a prize of Rs 25,000.



We hope to have a wide range of caste subjects to choose from for this
festival. And if this note makes you think afresh on caste, there's time to
make a quick short and submit it by 15 July. Broad areas/themes where
submissions are encouraged vis-à-vis caste are:



Advertisements, Apartheid, Atrocities, Arts, Bureaucracy, Class,
Communalism, Cinema, Culture, Education, Environment, Fashion, Food, Gender,
Geography, Healthcare, Labour, Media, Nationalism, Natural Disasters,
Occupation, Race, Religion, Reservation, Science & Technology, Sports,
Touchability, Untouchability, Violence, Xenophobia.



The entry form is available on our website www.abillioneyes.com



* Key Dates:*
Last date for entries: 15 July 2007
Festival dates: 15 to 19 August 2007

Selected list of films and detailed programme list will be circulated by 25
July.

Preferred entry format: DVDs/ VCDs

For further details contact abillioneyes at gmail.com or
anand.navayana at gmail.com




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