A festival of restored films — said to be the first of its kind in the country — is currently being organised by eastern India’s premier film institute in a week-long event that is also focusing on curation and archiving.
The Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation and National Film Archive of India, is holding the inaugural edition of ARCUREA, which is a blend of ‘archiving’, ‘curation’ and ‘restoration’. This international event, inaugurated on Sunday, will last the entire week and intends to benefit its students and the film fraternity.
“ARCUREA aims to reclaim Indian cinema heritage. It has been conceived as a transcultural attempt, with a willingness to adopt new perspectives, technologies, and methodologies to better appreciate, document, and share the rich legacy of cinematic contributions,” Vipin Vijay, dean of SRFTI, said.
“Cinematic time transcends temporal confines, constructing a ‘now’ where past and present converge. Our fascination with new and impactful narratives which supplant older narratives in the realm of imagery and information fosters a crisis of collective amnesia. ARCUREA emerged as a creative impetus to address the psychological impacts of this collective forgetfulness,” he said.
As many as 21 restored films will be screened during the event, from those belonging to the silent era, such as The Light of Asia (1925) and Marthanda Varma (1933), to those still in recent memory, such as Maya Darpan (1972) and New Delhi Times (1986). On Sunday was screened a digitised version of the silent classic Behula, and in the coming days there will be two screenings of Barin Saha’s Tero Nodir Parey. Another highlight is the showcasing of three important works of filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, whose birth centenary is being celebrated this year. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi was to be in Kolkata for the event but he would be now participating online.
“Restoration is not just about retrieving lost films. Today, it is about enhancing the quality of old prints — getting rid of scratches, enhancing the sound — basically bringing them to the level of digital version. What’s also important for us is that ARCUREA will also examine the potential of film curation as a promising professional and creative career path for film enthusiasts and scholars,” said a teacher at SRFTI associated with the event.
C.S. Venkiteswaran, programme head of ARCUREA, said, “The city of Kolkata, where SRFTI is situated, is extremely significant as it was one of the most prominent sites of origins of Indian cinema and home to many of its pioneers and pioneering institutions and film creations. We hope to convert ARCUREA into an annual festival of film curation at SRFTI, where curatorial art and practice, concepts and imaginations will be discussed, theorised and showcased.”