Social & External
Mother India is home to many castes, tribes and religions and one common factor that brings this diverse country all together is Jewelry. Come explore the deep history and culture of the jewelry of India dating back more than 5000 years. As we explore the history we also take you into Bangalore, India and talk to local Jewelry Stores and Jewelry Artisans as they share their stories and their family history of their involvement in jewelry going far back into their family ancestry.
The Kumbh Mela is a great roving Hindu spiritual festival that has moved around India for more than four thousand years, erecting temporary cities along the Ganges River.
Award-winning filmmaker Sandhya Suri (I for India) skilfully weaves together archive footage to create an emotionally resonant story about life across India from 1899 to 1947. Drawn exclusively from the BFI National Archive, Around India features some of the earliest surviving film from India as well as gorgeous travelogues, intimate home movies and newsreels from British, French and Indian filmmakers. Taking in Maharajas and Viceroys, fakirs and farmhands and personalities such as Sabu and Gandhi, the film explores not only the people and places of over 70 years ago, but asks us to engage with broader themes of a shared history, shifting perspectives in the lead up to Indian independence and the ghosts of the past. Around India boasts a superb new score that fuses western and Indian music from composer and sarod player Soumik Datta.
The documentary “The Leopard Rocks” accompanies Neelam, a female leopard, as she fights for the lives of her offspring, and provides a fascinating insight into the lives and adventures of one of the world's most interesting big cat species in a unique, unusual environment.
Patent Absurdity explores the case of software patents and the history of judicial activism that led to their rise, and the harm being done to software developers and the wider economy. The film is based on a series of interviews conducted during the Supreme Court's review of in re Bilski — a case that could have profound implications for the patenting of software.
The documentary is a production that addresses the evolution of health policies in Brazil, highlighting how health practices were implemented and evolved from being seen as an individual duty to a right guaranteed by the state. The film uses a fictional narrative with period reconstruction and is supported by archival material to illustrate the changes in health policies over time. The film's language adapts to the predominant media of each depicted period, such as newspapers, radio, black-and-white TV, color TV, and finally, the internet. It was produced through the initiative of the Secretariat of Strategic and Participative Management of the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde (OPAS) and the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). It is intended for free distribution, especially focusing on Health Councils, educational institutions, and social movements. A version with Spanish and English subtitles is under discussion to expand its reach.
A documentary following the day life of fans in Brazil on July 13, 2014: the day when Germany and Argentina met up in the finals of FIFA World Cup.
The film looks at men and women of color in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1938-1975. Through chronicling the lives of these men and women who, with a median age of 82, are beset with a host of life-threatening illnesses, the movie tells how they navigated issues of racism, disparities in the workplace, gender and familial relations.
After 25 years of the Project Tiger Scheme operating in the Madhya Pradesh, these magnificent animals have become more trusting, permitting an extraordinary intimate film which follows them from sunrise to sunset, in monsoon rains and in shimmering heat
Stretching along the river Ganges rests Varanasi, the holiest of India’s seven sacred cities, and a place where devout Hindus go to die in hopes of achieving moksha - becoming liberated from the cycle of rebirth. Hindu scriptures say that a soul has to undergo 8.4 million rebirths before reaching the human form, the only form one can attain moksha, and dying in Varanasi and being cremated along the banks of the river is believed to be the ideal way of achieving this. Several so-called ‘death hotels’ exist to accommodate believers who abandon their lives and come here in wait for death - some for as long as 40 years.
By drawing a parallel between the Indian Durga Puja festival and other forms of celebrating the divine feminine, Santa Shakti reveals the Sacred Power beyond languages and religions.
Fernando Lemos, a Portuguese surrealist artist, fled from dictatorship to Brazil in 1952 searching for something better. The movie follows the last moments of his journey and the struggle for the preservation of his legacy, trying to fulfill his last great desire: to be a good dead man.
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel: "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self-appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film's star.
An exploration of the 'respectable' and 'immoral' stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of two striptease dancers in a Bombay cabaret.
A video about Neo-Nazis originating in Sweden provides the starting point of an investigation of extremists' networks in Europe, Russia, and North America. Their propaganda is a message of hatred, war, and segregation.
This film describes the nature and impact of major religions in India, artistic monuments and contributions of each dynasty and cultural development of the people in different regions of the vast subcontinent.
Botanical gardens in Bombay plus the highly decorative Jain Temple in Calcutta.
