Auroville film institute aims to reimagine cinema education with a series of specially-curated workshops

AVFI launches 'Poetry & Cinema Series' exploring visual language & aesthetics of Iranian film maker Abbas Kiarostami. Two-day course led by Deb Kamal Ganguly to identify, analyse & appreciate core artistic-philosophical/poetic leanings of Kiarostami's cinematic world. Examine works such as "The Wind will Carry Us" & "Taste of Cherry" to explore interrelationship with Kiarostami's poems. Event to provide insights for film aesthetes. Contact +91 9969879319 for more info.

The Auroville Film Institute (AVFI) is launching a ‘Poetry and Cinema Series’ with an exploration of the visual language and aesthetics of revered Iranian film maker Abbas Kiarostami.

The specially-curated sessions of film analysis and appreciation for students of cinema will be held in online mode on October 7 and 8 from 2.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.

The Kiarostomi review is the first of a series of events focused on themes that hyphenate cinema and other domains such as poetry, the subaltern and the psyche, said Richa Hushing, who, along with Rrivu Laha, is founder-creative director at AVFI.

“We are trying to reimagine cinema education in an alternative mode and the sessions have been designed to take participants beyond the typical film appreciation situation and into a slow reading and deep analysis of iconic films,” she said.

According to organisers, as one of the foremost Iranian film makers, Kiarostami, is an almost inevitable inclusion in any discourse of poetry and cinema. Also an acclaimed poet, his keen eye for the quintessential ordinary – which he observes and expresses with extraordinary simplicity and profundity – is deeply rooted in the politics and poetics of Iran.

The two-day course led by Deb Kamal Ganguly, independent film-maker and an alumnus from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, will seek to identify, analyse and appreciate a few of Kiarostami’s core artistic-philosophical / poetic leanings and that make up his cinematic world. In the process, organisers hope to provide insights for film aesthetes who often wonder poetry is in cinema, what makes a film poetic or even how film makers create poetic masterpieces?

“Kiarostami’s lifelong quest can be seen in his distinct application of cinematic means to perceive the deeper drones of reality beyond the surface, where his poetry often becomes the silent signpost. The poetic journey of Abbas Kiarostami is quite exciting, as one can find in his works a confluence of various poetic traditions like Japanese Haiku, Persian Sufi poetry and modern Iranian poetry,” Richa says.