Can I get you anything?
Join us this Sunday when several of us will be leading informal discussions (“adda”) at our online IFC (Independent Film Circle) session on Zoom about some of this year’s Oscar contenders. For some reason, I was asked to share my thoughts on RRR 🙄 and I can’t wait.
Sunday, Feb 26 at 10:00am EST/7:00am PST/ 8:30pm IST. No cost to attend but we do ask that you register so we know who’s logging on and how many to expect. If you’re interested please email me at js @ brain – on – fire . com .
I’m grateful to have been offered an opportunity to write about the international Indian hit film RRR for Contingent Magazine, whose mission statement is “history is for everyone.” They purposely waited until 15th August (India time), India’s Independence Day, to publish the article as their lead story today. What does RRR have to do with my Kolkata theatre research as a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar? You’ll see. And be sure to read those footnotes.
The article begins below:
Sure, George Washington was a good war strategist, but could he pick up a motorcycle by one wheel and swing it around in battle? Or how about if Martin Luther King Jr. had busted Malcolm X out of prison by carrying him on his shoulders and dodging gunfire while hopping across rooftops, and together they took out J. Edgar Hoover? These events could not, and never did happen, but would be pretty cool to see in a big-budget historical fantasy action flick.
Cont’d at https://contingentmagazine.org
Please join the Independent Film Circle on Zoom next Saturday, June 11th at 10:30am EST for a screening of the 30-minute film “Midnight Blues” followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker Bipuljit Basu.
“Midnight Blues” is about the director’s work with the children of sex workers growing up in one of Kolkata’s red light districts. Bipuljit Basu is an impact filmmaker, author, and producer of Indian hybrid cinema and documentaries. His goal is to bring less known South Asian marginal stories into mainstream film and media.
As always, this live, online event is free but pregregistration is required. Message me if you’d like to join.
Please join the Independent Film Circle for our next guest, Prof. Sudipto Shankar Roy, on Saturday, April 30th at 11am EST. You might first want to watch his jaw-dropping documentary, “Ordeal of an Impossible Dream” below.
Like Spielberg? All about E.T.? Or maybe you’re a screenwriter like me who feels infuriatingly certain that one of your scripts was once blatanly stolen? Get ready to have the top of your head blown off.
As always, this live, online event is free but pregregistration is required. Message me if you’d like to join.
Why is this man making a hand-rabbit? Scroll down to find out.
If you missed my interview last night with the masterful Tina Brock of the IRC and would like to hear more about my mis/adventures in India, my work as a Fulbright Scholar and the nonfiction book I’m currently finishing, along with Tesla, ghosts, paan, religion, David Ives, and a few other surprises, you can catch it here on the IRC’s youtube channel:
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