For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a series of photographs that examine notions of identity and contestations around questions of faith and nation-building among the Niam Khasi people. Through detailed field research, the project will problematise the monochromatic, linear narratives about the history of faith in Meghalaya, offering nuanced understandings of historical and contemporary debates within Meghalaya and in the Indian geopolitical context. The outcomes of this project will be a series of photographs, a set of picture postcards, a book and an exhibition. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the photographs, the picture postcards, the book, and still and video documentation of the exhibition. Project funds will pay for honorarium, travel and living, book design and production, professional fees, venue hire, printing and the exhibition.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a performance that seeks to reinvent Bharatanatyam by bringing in values of pluralism. Based on the lived experiences of a non-binary, Muslim Zoroastrian dancer practising the Hindu temple dance form, the performance will be centred on the Alarippu—the traditional Bharatanatyam dance sequence—reimagining the form through layered movement, sound influences from Islam, and lyrics from Bhakti and Sufi traditions. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio recordings of interviews and still and video documentation of the process and the final production. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, equipment hire, venue hire and studio hire.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions, to create a series of architectural sculptures based on memories, oral narratives and legends of people from the Kurdi village in Goa. Following the construction of the Selaulim dam in 1977, the ancient Kurdi village was submerged and over 3000 families were displaced. By sculpturally reconstructing remembrances, this project attempts to resist erasure and re-frame memory and recuperation, offering an alternative artistic methodology for documenting forgotten histories. The outcome of the project will be the series of sculptures. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be still and video documentation of the process and the architectural sculptures. Project funds will pay for professional fees, materials, equipment hire and travel.
For the making of an experimental docu-fiction film which will explore the precariousness of the lives and work of freelance Computer Graphics (CG) and Visual Effects (VFX) artists in the South Indian film industry. It will explore the dual invisibility of these artists - within the organised film studio system as well as in the aspired anonymity of the CG image itself - making their existence fragile and tenuous. The outcomes of the project will be the film and part of the work hosted on an online portal as interactive digital fictions. The grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high-resolution copy of the film and an offline version of the interactive online portal on a hard disk. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, travel and living, equipment hire, website creation, purchase of e-books and online subscriptions and an accountant’s fee.
For the making of a film-document based on the presence of seasonal migrant labourers in Mirya, a fishing village on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra. Since Mirya is the ancestral village of the filmmaker, it will also be a personal expression of an attempted dialogue, momentary friendships and precarious encounters through the camera, with the men who work as migrant labourers there. The outcome of the project will be the film-document. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high-resolution copy of the film-document on a hard disk, along with the footage, production stills, film deck and publicity materials. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, equipment hire and consumables, travel and living costs, communication and stationery, and an accountant’s fee.
For the making of an experimental film on the city of Lucknow and its architectonics, based on the literary oeuvre of Urdu litterateur Naiyer Masud. The film, a combination of animation sequences and documentary footage, is imagined as a visual letter and travelogue that speaks to Naiyer Masud about the city of Lucknow - one that was ubiquitous in his literary world. It will attempt to unravel the inherent differences between the Lucknow depicted in Masud’s fictional universe and the real city in the present. The outcomes of the project will be the script and the film. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a high resolution copy of the film on a hard disk, along with the script, footages, production stills, film deck and publicity materials. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, travel and living, professional fees, post production, equipment hire and an accountant’s fee.
For an artistic and scholarly inquiry into the history of publishing in Darjeeling, with a focus on Nepali publications. Drawing on an earlier project supported by IFA that studied the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines in the digital age, this dissemination grant seeks to cover the gap of scholarship in the nearly 100-year-old history of publishing in Nepali in West Bengal. The outcomes of the project will be an exhibition, a panel discussion and the publication of a booklet. Grant funds will pay for travel and living, honorarium, exhibition costs, professional fees, publication costs, material and stationery and an accountant’s fee.
For the creation of a film that will explore the overlapping relationships among memory, place, and personal archive. Located in Amritsar and anchored on the life, memories and archive of Charandas Bangia, a refugee of the Partition, the project is a cinematic exploration of ways in which personal history overlaps with the larger political narratives. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the film and video recordings of the interviews. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, equipment hire, materials, travel and living, communication and stationery, library and archive fees and accountant’s fee.
For the creation and dissemination of a theatrical production titled Olangana, a Kannada adaptation of the play Interior written by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. Involving a guest director and 15 alumni of Ninasam, the play aims to dislodge the centrality of text and bring in a new performance vocabulary into contemporary Kannada theatre. The performance is scheduled to open at Ninasam in February 2020 and will subsequently be performed in 15 to 20 cities and small towns across Karnataka. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be still and video documentation of the rehearsal process and the performance. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, dissemination, sets and costumes, rehearsal and living space, documentation and travel.
For research into the narratives of Indian seafarers who left home as labour aboard British ships in the early part of the 20th century. Engaging with these stories of sailors and with a focus on the underrepresented maritime history of South India, the research will investigate into notions of home, belonging and identity for the seafarers. The outcome of the project will be a script towards a performance. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be an essay on the methodological approach and process, and a copy of the script. Grant funds will pay for travel and living, purchase of books, materials, stationery, research assistant’s fee, honorarium, library and archive fees and an accountant’s fee.
