Video Formats - Milindo Taid

Kiswah, Nabeela, Maharshi, Madhu: Collateral Damage

Feb 12

‘Collateral Damage‘ is a student documentary film, produced in 2012, by the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, India. The film revisits the Kafkaesque policing and bureaucracies in the aftermath of the tragic May 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blasts in Hyderabad, India, and it contains interview material that will never be aired over regional and national television. The bizarre rounding up, and subsequent arrest, abuse and torture of about two dozen Musalman young men under the unmentionable ‘guilty until proven innocent’ ‘course of law’, challenges the most fundamental assumptions of a constitutionally guided, democratic republic. Indeed, there are a million mutinies in India, and India appears to be constantly at war with itself. What this film does is to lay bare the farcical investigative and interrogative apparatus of the state police (look out for the first hand accounts of these), as well as put a red/black flag to the Indian news media circus, which, in a complex interlacing with corporate, governmental and religio-political vested interests, creates the essential enemy, the ‘Other’ – anyone who has a Musalman name and visits a Masjid.

Arthur Schopenhauer: Pessimism and the Infraconscious Will

Jan 22

Eminent historian of Philosophy, the late Frederick Copleston discusses the cultured, pessimistic and if I may add, the arrogant, embittered and individualistic Arthur Schopenhauer (arguably a curiosity among western philosophers, for being one of the few pessimists in philosophy). ‘The World as Will and Idea’ (also known as ‘The World as Will and Representation)’, of course, is monumental. Believing that will was inherently evil, he argued that the best one could strive for was renunciation of desire, a temporary absence of pain through the contemplation of high art. Schopenhauer is therefore, probably also the artists philosopher! And yes, he spent a quarter of a century without talking to his mother, and probably one of the few westerners to find proximity in eastern Hinduism and Buddhism. His rejection of the action-minded, essentially bourgeois confidence of the 19th C presaged the individualistic despair of the 20th C. We do know individualistic despair, all of us.

Jonathan auf der Heide: Van Diemen’s Land. 2009. Australia

Dec 19

Probably one of the most under-rated and misjudged films from the last few years. In retelling the true story of the escape of eight convicts in 1822 from the isolated Macquarie Harbour Penal Station on Sarah Island in Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land), Jonathan auf der Heide engages in what cine-scholars would dub as ‘Tasmanian Gothic’. Nature and landscape forms a very vital part of this narrative, assuming qualities of malevolence and menace. What auf der Heide does, to his credit, is to shy away from creating spectacle, but rather dwell on ‘strange silences’ to craft a meditative, relentless film in exploring the heart of darkness of desperate men in an extraordinary situation. The incorporation of the ancient Irish Gaelic language casts a melancholic brooding net over this atmospheric piece. Watch.

Oinam Doren: Songs of Mashangva. 2010

Nov 02

Rewben Mashangva is a Tangkhul Naga tribal musician and researcher from Ukhrul, Manipur, India. His quest and journey remains the most important one in the sphere of preservation of traditional folk music of the Tangkhul Nagas which stretches back more than a thousand years. With the explosive infusion of western music, coupled with a social order transformed radically via Christianity, Rewben struggles relentlessly against the turning tides to embrace an oral musical tradition which is on the verge of extinction. Oinam, a former student of mine in Shillong, filmed Rewben’s quest and journey for more than a year to give us this important and culturally vital document – a document that is reflective, respectful and reverberant. Take a look.

Niall Ferguson: The Ascent of Money – A Financial History of the World

Oct 29

Niall Ferguson, is Professor of History at Harvard University, and in 2008, post meltdown, he published a critically acclaimed book titled “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World”. This was happily adapted for television by Channel 4 and PBS in which Ferguson himself takes the audience through an engaging, and somewhat entertaining journey through time and space tracing the power that finance holds on all our lives. From ancient Mesopotamia to present day Memphis, Ferguson argues, that financial history is the essential back story to all histories. Credit and debt, the bond market, the stock market, insurance, mortgages and more come your way.

Faiza Ahmad Khan: Supermen of Malegaon. 2008

Oct 12

Probably one of the best tributes to ‘cinephilia’ emerging out of India this century. Set in the industrial power loom town of Malegaon in Maharashtra, India, Faiza Khan weaves an engaging narrative crafted around very special and spirited people, unified by their endearing zeal and love for cinema. An elaborate behind the scenes, as it were, fortunately does not descend into dull trivia. What remains is the love, spirit, passion, and the unforgettable loom worker turned superhero, the late Shaikh Shafique. And, if you generally want to know why film-making is no laughing matter, see this.

Western Philosophy (2002)

Oct 09

Populated with a mixed bag of experts, with competencies ranging from ancient philosophy and religious thought to more contemporary philosophical ideas and problems, ‘Western Philosophy’ chooses to trace the evolution of (western) philosophy from classical Greece, its development in Europe through the medieval period and the enlightenment into modern existentialist thought. This audio-visual asks ‘what is philosophy, why it is important’, and examines its intricate relationship with religion, spirituality, and the sciences. Has its moments and misses – probably not a bad way to spend three hours of your precious time. Or should I say, being and time. Split into three parts.

Michael Dudok de Wit: Animation Shorts 1992-2001

Sep 29

I first watched ‘Father and Daughter’ quite a few years back, and have never stopped watching it. The narrative sensitivity, technical finesse, and the labour of love was so evident and heartfelt. Dutch-British animator and illustrator Michael Dudok de Wit is part of a rare breed of creative artists whose work transcends spatio-temporal as well as socio-cultural boundaries, arguably, with relative ease. This is a selection of some of his best known animation shorts.

Pierre Bourdieu: Sociology is a Combat Sport

Sep 21

‘La sociologie est un sport de combat’ was how Pierre Bourdieu stated it. My first brush with Bourdieu was through the articulation of ‘cultural capital’ and ‘symbolic violence’. It is quite a challenge to engage with the ‘Bourdieuesque’ deployment of language – complex constructions and almost a maze-like language interface. But, it is all worth the while. Apart from being a prolific ‘sociological genius’, what strikes me most is that he became, through his ‘combat sport’, an inspiration for so many movements opposed to neo-liberalism and globalisation in France and elsewhere. His legacy of social concern lives on, and the world is better for that.

Josh Fox: Gasland. 2010

Sep 10

Columbia University alumnus Josh Fox introduced me to ‘fracking’. Halliburton prefers to call it ‘Hydraulic Fracturing’. Either way, you can set your house water on fire. Modelling himself on American banjo playing folk protest singer Pete Seeger, Fox crafts an emphatic documentary on endless greed and endless suffering. Educative, to say the least. Take a look.