Wildfire III

In the final event of the Wildfire series, and in continuation of foregrounding networks of friendship and solidarity, Bani Abidi curates the work of filmmaker and artist Ayisha Abraham. She honours historically commonplace but increasingly scrutinised friendships between Pakistanis and Indians, reminding us of the ways in which regional affiliations continue to hold, against all odds.

The screenings will be followed by a conversation between Ayisha Abraham and Vansundhara Mathur.

FILMS

I Saw a God Dance constructs a fragmented portrait of dancer Ram Gopal’s life, piecing together disparate archival materials —local 8mm film footage from the Bangalore neighbourhood where his family lived in the early 1900s, photographs, documents, reviews, audio recordings, and recent interviews with dancers who knew him well. The context of the film is set against the backdrop of a world in the midst of immense change, both nationally and internationally, during the mid-20th century.

(15:00), 2013

In Enroute or Of a Thousand Moons, mid-20th-century travel in Postcolonial India serves as a take-off point for those who took to the art of amateur filming, and filmed their experiences far away from the familiar, as they absorb and are influenced by cultures beyond their own.

(20:00), 2011 

Straight 8 – A Portrait of Tom D’Aguiar revisits a collection of home movies dating back to the 1940s in and around Bangalore. The film is neither a conventional documentary chronicling a life, nor is it entirely devoid of narrative. The footage was discovered in a plastic bag in Tom’s old house, just before it was due to be demolished. This act of “rummaging” becomes a way of retrieving memory.

(17:00), 2005

Doors open at 12.30 pm; event starts at 1 pm and ends at 2.45 pm.