To celebrate the 10th edition of CinéMasala, we are pleased to invite you to our program ‘The Waters of India’. Waters are diverse: fresh or salty, divine or polluted, waters of life or death. The various facets of waters are revealed through the prism of films and documentaries from the four corners of the Indian sub-continent.
The screenings, interventions of specialists and directors, as well as various cultural activities will take place at Pôle Sud and at the Salle des Fêtes of the Casino de Montbenon (Lausanne), from November 10 to 12, 2022.
Check out the photo exhibition and information stand of the Cheyyambakkam Association during the festival.
Thursday, 10 November (7 PM)
Pôle Sud, Jean-Jacques Mercier 3
The screening will be accompanied by a discussion with director Munmum Dhalaria in collaboration with Centre interdisciplinaire d’étude des littératures (CIEL) https://www.unil.ch/ciel/colloque2022
No Water, No Village
Documentary by Munmun Dhalaria, India, 2022, Legal age 8 years, suggested age 14 years
Original language with French subtitles. 30 minutes.
Summary
Due to climate change, the climate is getting drier in the Himalayan regions of Spiti and Zanskar. Snowfall and rainfall are becoming rare and the glaciers are retreating. Traditional irrigation methods are no longer sufficient and agriculture is suffering from the lack of water. Fields are left fallow. The climatic exodus has already begun. But the villagers are not without resources and find solutions to their problems.
Holy (Un)Holy River
Documentary by Jake Northon and Pete McBride, USA, 2016, Legal age 12, suggested age 14
Original language with French subtitles. 69 minutes.
Summary
A group of scientists decide to measure the health of the Ganges River water from its sources in the Himalayas to its estuary in the Bay of Bengal. The camera stops at the river’s iconic locations, delivering us through grandiose images a contrasting portrait of India’s most sacred river. Finally, an enigma remains: why is this water, into which tons of garbage and toxic products are poured, not more polluted?
Friday, 11 November (8 PM)
Pôle sud, Jean-Jacques Mercier 3
Sagarputra, Offspring of the Sea
Documentary by Pooja Das Sarkar, India, 2021, Legal age 10, suggested age 14
Original language with French subtitles. 21 minutes.
Summary
The director followed the fishermen of the Koli community who live and work in Thane Bay, east of the Bombay/Mumbai peninsula. She shows us their determination to continue fishing according to ancestral methods despite urbanization and industrialization that threaten to destroy the fragile mangrove ecosystem.
My Name is Salt
Documentary by Farida Pacha, India, 2013, Legal age 10, suggested age 14
Original language with French subtitles. 92 minutes
Summary
In the western Indian state of Gujarat lies the Rann of Kutch, a vast salt marsh that dries up at the end of the rainy season. This deserted expanse is then populated by a seasonal community of salt farmers. This documentary is a poetic meditation on their harsh yet contemplative lifestyle under the unforgiving sun of the Thar Desert.
Saturday, 12 November (5 PM)
Casino de Montbenon (Banquette Hall)
16h00 Bollywood dance workshop for families (for children from 5 years old) led by Annjali Shah.
Legth: 1 hour. For free. Registration at info@cinemasala.ch
17h30 “Krishna Katha: Stories of Prince Krishna”
Kathak dance performance by Annjali Shah. Length: 1 hour
6:30PM Indian meal prepared by Nandanam Restaurant (additional charge)
8 PM
The Story of Kaveri
Short film by Ayappa, India, 2021, Legal age 10 years, suggested age 14 years
Original language with French subtitles. 3 minutes
Summary
A dreamlike and fleeting vision of the life ages of the beautiful river-goddess Kaveri, one of the major rivers of South India, whose fragile balance is threatened.
Boroxun, Songs for Rain
A movie by Krrishna Kt Borah (India, 2021)Legal age 10 years, suggested age 14 years
Original language with French subtitles. 87 minutes
Summary
When rain fails in a rural area of Assam, northeast India, desperate villagers turn to rituals. But frog marriages do not produce the desired effect. They resort to an even stranger method, which will cost the two “innocents” of the community. Will their budding love survive these trials?
Free admission, pay as much as you wish.
Doors open 1 hour before the beginning of the projections. Bar and food service at Pôle Sud.
CIEL, 2022: https://www.unil.ch/ciel/colloque2022
Contact:
Founded in 2013, the CinéMasala film festival brings together researchers from the University of Lausanne working on the history, religions and languages of South Asia (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, etc.) open their field of research to a wider public.
Accessible to everyone, and famous in its Indian version thanks to Bollywood, cinema is the most appropriate medium for this approach. The aim of the festival – four evenings during the month of November – is to make this region of the world known to as many people as possible and to establish a dialogue between the city of Lausanne and university researchers.
The selected films, fictions and documentaries, directed by Asian and other authors, deal with “traditional” subjects as well as more contemporary and sometimes disturbing themes. As South Asia covers an infinite variety of languages and cultures, each film brings an original and authentic look at a region of the world that is still little known, but which will occupy a central place in tomorrow’s world. Year after year, South Asia is approached according to original and varied themes and angles. The festival’s mission is to highlight the rapid evolution of this world through a selection of recent films. After the screening, some of the films are commented on by researchers specializing in the subject, or by the directors themselves, who answer questions from the audience.
The festival has always been and remains free. Our loyal partners support us in this, but the survival of the festival and its free admission also depend on the support of the public. Would you like to contribute to this support? Please donate via Twint, or by transferring the money to the following account:
La Route du Tchaï
CCP: 14-564333-5
IBAN : CH26 0900 0000 1456 4333 5
Thank you for your help!
Organizing Committee Members (2022)
Philippe Bornet
Danielle Feller
Nicola Pozza
Dimitri Schertenleib
Keerthigan Sivakumar
Noémie Verdon
Kristof Szitar
Former Committee Members
Rosina Pastore
Melina Gravier
Kathrin Holz
Nadia Cattoni
Diane Charmey
Gabriele de Franco
Fanny Meyer
Frédéric Richard
Xavier Gravend-Tirole
