SAA, JNU Conference "Indian Cinema Century: Film Technology and the Contemporary"; Jan 10-12

School of Arts and Aesthetics
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Presents an International Conference

The Indian Cinema Century: Film Technology and the Contemporary

At the SAA Auditorium
January 10-12, 2013

Concept and Programme
Since its emergence within the complex visual and social matrix of modernity, cinema's journey has been one of constant negotiation and re-negotiation with the contemporary. The cinema of today bears little resemblance to that modern invention which captured the imagination of the world at the turn of the century, and this is due to cinema's protean felicity to assimilate contemporary technologies and discourses into an ever-expanding landscape of the "cinematic". The apocalyptic pronouncements of the "death of cinema" that followed every major upheaval caused by the advent of new technologies (the coming of sound, color, anamorphic proportions, panchromatic film stock, TV/VCR technologies, 3D, piracy and most recently the digital turn) with the attendant critical discourses of medium specificity, nostalgia for the lost object, formal purity and transnational flows - have been belied by cinema's infinite capacity for constant self-renewal.

As a first of a series of events that will start off the centenary celebrations of Indian Cinema, this three day conference will engage with Indian cinema's production practices, transnational and domestic circulation, encounter with new technologies and mediums, the culture of stardom, the role of music and new industrial and non-industrial formations. The aim is to come all the way to the contemporary digital explosion and reflect on some of the key transformative moments that have occurred prior to the digital. Thus issues related to the transition from silent to sound cinema, the relationship to Hollywood's widespread presence before the Second World War, the transition to colour, and the transformations in film exhibition will feature at the conference. We will also aim towards a discussion of new methods of research and archiving possibilities. The role of Cinema Studies as a discipline within a changing landscape of film and media culture will be addressed to signpost new directions for the future.

Participants for this workshop will come from Europe, the United States, Calcutta, Bangalore and Hyderabad. We hope a conference of this kind will enable dialogue and collaborative research agendas across institutions, continents and regions. Conference schedule and other details will be updated on this page shortly.

Programme
DAY I - 10th January
9.00 am – 9.30 am – Registration
9.30 am – Welcome – Vice Chancellor JNU and Dean, SAA

Session I
10.00 am – 11.30 am : Cinema and Location
Chair : Nitin Govil
Speakers: Priya Jaikumar, Ranjani Mazumdar

Session II
12.00 – 2.15 pm : Exhibition, Audiences and Early Cinema
Chair : Ravi Vasudevan
Speakers: Steve Hughes, Bindu Menon, Rajan Krishnan

Session III
3.15-4.45 pm : The Logics and Circulation of Stardom
Chair: Neepa Majumdar
Speakers: Sabeena Gadihoke, Kaushik Bhaumik

Session IV
5.00-6.30: The Enchantments of Bombay Film Music and Dance
Chair: Stephen Hughes
Speakers: Shikha Jhingan, Neepa Majumdar,

DAY II - 11th January
Session V
9.30 am – 11.45 : Transnational Circuits and Early Cinema
Chair: Priya Jaikumar
Speakers: Ranita Chatterjee, Nitin Govil, Rosie Thomas,

Session VI
12.15 – 1.45: Experimenting with Time and the Archive
Chair: Ira Bhaskar
Speakers: Rashmi Doraiswamy, Lalitha Gopalan

Session VII
2.45 – 4.15 pm : Stardom, Anger and Badness
Chair: Rosie Thomas
Speakers: Rachel Dwyer, Shohini Ghosh

Session VIII
4.45 – 6.15 pm: New Industrial Formations : Success, Idea and Image
Chair: Rachel Dwyer
Speakers: Tejaswini Ganti, Rashmi Sawhney

DAY III - 12th January
Session IX
9.45- 11.15 pm : Alternative Histories of the Documentary, Home Movies
Chair: Madhava Prasad
Speakers: Ravi Vasudevan, Veena Hariharan

Session X
11.45 – 1.15: Experimental Cinemas: Irreverence, Time and Space
Chair: Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Speakers: Madhuja Mukherji, Subhajit Chatterjee,

Session XI
2.15 pm – 3.45 pm: Digital Technologies, New Archiving Practices and Film Historiography
Chair: Ravi Sundaram
Speakers: Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Lawrence Liang

Session XII
4.15- 6.15pm: Panel Discussion – The Changing Film Archive – Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Neepa Majumdar, Rosie Thomas, Ravi Vasudevan, Madhava Prasad, Lawrence Liang, Ira Bhaskar
6.15 pm - Vote of thanks – Veena Hariharan

ALL ARE WELCOME