Date with The Archive | June 09-13, 2025 at IFA, Bangalore
India Foundation for the Arts (IFA)
invites you to
The IFA Archive, Sanjay Nagar, Bangalore
June 09-13, 2025
Workshops | Walkthroughs | Film Screenings
Register here
We are delighted to invite you to our space to mark the International Archives Day (June 09, 2025) to engage with our very own IFA Archive! We have a week of public engagements planned that hope to stimulate interest in archives, how they work, and for you to engage with the material of 850+ projects that we have supported and implemented in the last 30 years. These projects have had varied outcomes such as books, films, performances, games, websites, archival and educational material, and more. Over the years, this material at IFA has grown to become a rich and valuable repository of artistic and scholarly engagements that reflect India's lived experiences.
There will be four kinds of curated experiences at the IFA Archive:
- Drop-in and explore the archive space, browse materials, and engage with the collection at your own pace.
No registration needed (but take a look at the timings below) - Walkthrough: Meet the Archivists and take a guided tour of the Archive that combines narrative, objects, and space that tells the story of The IFA Archive, how it came into being, what it holds, and why it matters.
Entry by registration only - Workshop: Archiving the Personal: A participatory session where you can engage directly with the idea of archiving philosophically and practically, with your own objects and stories. Bring a personal archive-worthy object (a box, a piece of cloth, a book - basically, anything physical!).
Entry by registration only - Film Screening: Attend screenings of selected films at the IFA Archive that play with form, matter and style.
RSVP required
Register here for walkthroughs, workshops and film screenings
SCHEDULE
June 09, 2025:
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM: Drop in and explore the Archive
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM: Guided walkthrough
04:30 PM - 05:30 PM: Film: Bela by Prantik Basu (58 minutes, Bengali/Rahr Bangla with English subtitles)
June 10, 2025:
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM: Drop in and explore the Archive
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM: Guided walkthrough
June 11, 2025:
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM: Drop in and explore the Archive
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM: Guided walkthrough
04:30 PM - 05:30 PM: Films: Anatomy + Humanities by Meera Krishnamurthy (9 minutes, English with subtitles) and Palai: Landscapes of Longing by S Jayakrishnan (28 minutes, Tamil with English subtitles)
June 12, 2025:
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM: Drop in and explore the Archive
03:00 PM - 04:30 PM: Guided walkthrough and Workshop
June 13, 2025:
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM: Guided walkthrough and Workshop
04:30 PM - 05:30 PM: Film: The Last Shoemakers of The Doon Valley by Lokesh Ghai and Jaymin Modi (53 minutes, Hindi with English subtitles)
Free and open to all. Please join us for refreshments.
About the Films:
Bela by Prantik Basu (58 minutes, Bengali/Rahr Bangla with English subtitles)
In Bela, an indigenous village in eastern India, the men practice Chhau, a traditional masked folk dance featuring mythological characters of all genders, while the women go into the nearby forest to gather dry leaves and firewood. In the local language, Bela means time. Shot over two years and edited on two consecutive days, the film is an intimate observation of the rhythms and rituals of art and work, feminine and masculine, and the ambiguous thresholds that separate them.
Anatomy + Humanities by Meera Krishnamurthy (9 minutes, English with subtitles)
A short documentary on the physiologist SL Bhatia who insisted that medicine needs humanities. The film reimagines his life through archival photographs and objects from the collections at SL Bhatia Museum for the History of Medicine, Bangalore.
Made possible with part-support from Parijat Foundation.
Palai: Landscapes of Longing by S Jayakrishnan (28 minutes, Tamil with English subtitles)
The film is a modern metaphoric interpretation of Tamil classical poetry and artistic depiction of the desert landscape of Palai in Sangam literature. The landscape of Palai is associated with separation and longing—when love is subject to extremities. Juxtaposing the contemporary socio-political context of Tamil migrant workers in the Middle East and this ancient form of poetry, the film explores modern forms of slavery, labour and migration.
The Last Shoemakers of The Doon Valley by Lokesh Ghai and Jaymin Modi (53 minutes, Hindi with English subtitles)
The film is a celebration of the resilient community of shoemakers of the Dehradun Valley. As a handcraft, shoemaking involves understanding the foot and translating ideas with the utmost care and intricate detailing. While showcasing the love for handcrafted shoes, the film also poses a question: for how long can the shoemakers continue practising their craft against the odds of mass production, fast fashion, caste discrimination, and leather politics?
Made possible with support from BNP Paribas India.
We look forward to hosting you at The IFA Archive!
The IFA Archive is built with support from SP Lohia Foundation India.