Telling stories with light
MAHFUZ SADIQUE
‘Is distorting reality for the emblematic representation of life the new frontier of the art of light and shade?’, ‘Is conscious voyeurism to be considered a more valid expression of the most intimate emotions in life?’ - with such fundamental questions being put forward by viewers and photographers both, the scene was already heating up with emotive, yet constructive discussions by the second day of Chobi Mela III – the International Festival of Photography 2004, exhibiting till December 23, at seven venues and numerous mobile exhibitions all over Dhaka, showing the works of a total of 91 photographers from 17 countries through 38 exhibitions.
The tale of a storyteller, and thereafter
On the very first day of the Mela, the tale of a passionate storyteller was being told by one Pedro Meyer, the father of digital photography, through a tour dé force presentation of a life that is as dramatic as it is historic. The man from Mexico, while almost marinating the audience with the near ritual music of Enrique Morenta, and finally with the placid smile of the wise old man that Pedro Meyer truly is just before the lights of the lecture hall at the Goethe Institut dimmed down to the presentation of works of, and on a life that kept the enchanted audience under the spell of a true storyteller.
With the same chronic melancholy of the hymns of the Los Tiempos Pasados, the group of music lovers from Mexico who turn their pastime into a way of life, Pedro Meyer’s work and his life seem one. From the empathy in the work on his dying parents entitled “I Photograph to Remember”, which was the first CD-ROM containing photographs and sound, to the critical look in his work of the representation of life that is a remake of the ‘fake of the fake.’
“My neighbourhood in Mexico, Cayoacan, is no different than the ones I see around me today in Dhaka,” says Meyer, and finds an embryonic thread in their ‘common chaos’, and also in their monumental method within.
“The inventor of the Internet must have come to Dhaka before he came up with his idea,” he suffices, and clarifies, “For both the Internet and the tangle of rickshaws crawling through the streets of Dhaka in an almost packet formation is similar at their core.”
As the presentation came to an end, the initial thrust of questions remained timid, until question such as the difference between illustrations and Pedro’s digital stories ‘written with light’, and the voyeurism of an artist in showing the intimate installations of his life justified as art came forward.
With the same wise, old smile, Pedro Meyer answered with the eloquence of a storyteller. “My life is a story in itself. And that is what I am telling through many of my images,” he responded, and furthered by explaining that photography has to move in its natural state of evolution.
The night of the half moon
In addition to the exhibitions going all over Dhaka, the image artisans of the world went on a night on Meghna, as they celebrated the festival of photography over a nightlong launch ride on Tuesday.
The exhibitions all over Dhaka are getting a positive response. The images of resistance at Chobi Mela seem to have pushed the last opacity between the two in context – the viewer and the photogrpaher.
Coming tomorrow: Morten Krogvold’s exhibition
CAT’s Immanuel Kant
Between history and reality
ANISUR RAHMAN
Centre for Asian Theatre (CAT), Dhaka in cooperation with Goethe-Institut Dhaka staged its play Immanuel Kant by Thomas Bernhard, Austrian contemporary novelist-playwright at Goeth-Institut Auditorium on December 4, 2004.
Nurul Huda translated the play in Bengali while artistic director of CAT Kamaluddin Nilu directed the production. The premiere followed a short speech by Dr Markus Litz, director of Goethe-Institute. Litz viewed that the play Immanuel Kant had marked the variation between reality and fantasy. The anti American philosopher agreed to visit America for his eye treatment.
Kamaluddin Nilu said, “The play is an experimental production. Visual script reading on the stage is a popular art form in the West. CAT is introducing this style in Bangladesh for the first time. In fact, Immanuel Kant, a play by an Austrian playwright was introduced by CAT through this production. Playwright Thomas Bernhard has depicted Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German philosopher (1724- 1804) against the backdrop of the USA's attack on Cambodia in 1970.
Immanuel Kant by the most famous Austrian novelist and playwright of the last century, Thomas Bernhard, is a theatrical fantasy. The story is removed from history and reality: The renowned German philosopher Immanuel Kant ‘along with his wife, a servant and a parrot which has the extraordinary gift of storing in its brain whatever Kant says’ travels by ship to America to have a glaucoma operation carried out and to receive an honourary doctorate degree by Columbia University. Despite his hate for America, he agrees on an exchange deal: He brings America reason and America gives him his eyesight. On his arrival he is welcomed by lunacy doctors and brought to a mental hospital.
According to Thomas Bernhard, the status of a philosopher in history is the same as the status of a patient in a madhouse. Each of his performers read the script. Through outstanding choreography, with background music and symbolic light effects, director Nilu created a ship on the empty stage.
The cast includes Mithu Barman, Rhea Mahmud, Shipra Das, Raihan Akhter, Shamima Akhter, Afzal Hossain, Arfan Mridha, Rahmatullah Basu and Mamunur Rashid. Musical and light artists are Ahmed Reza Khan and Mir Badal respectively.
2ND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Perth: Angst, alcohol and a lot of gore
TOWHEED FEROZE
This film from Singapore shown on occasion of the 2nd International Film Festival is in fact a dive into the twisted mind of a man. Living on alcohol, beating up his wife, bringing in prostitutes and getting entangled in brawls and rejected by his son-Harry, the fellow in question does not fit the preconceived image of a hero but, in a real world heroes are seldom immaculate. Perth, the film presents the archetypal loner constantly in conflict with oneself, unable to let the demons go and from time to time acting impetuously to do something dictated by morality.
The character of Harry is a complex one- he drinks like a fish, gets enraged over small matters, brings in women from the red light areas and has a few friends who love him a lot. Though that may deceptively sound like fun, in reality he is miserable. His son does not recognize him and his Cambodian wife, though loves him stays away in fear of being beaten. Living in a small apartment within the urban sprawl of Singapore, Harry tries hard to overcome his vices but like most humans, fails.
In him, we see to a great extent the reflection of the angst-ridden modern man; he is restless and impatient for a proper life yet at the same time the vileness alienates him from an ordinary living. But, the paradox is while Harry wants to settle down, another part of him craves to be the wanderer, the maverick and the jolly drunkard. Obviously, the two cannot unite and therefore, an inner conflict leaves him disoriented and lost.
True to a man who is puzzled about his identity and mission in life, Harry finds solace in alcohol and the film is so heavily drenched that one is compelled to feel thirsty. Unlike villains in films who have no redeeming qualities, Harry has a compassionate side because he takes time to listen to the tale of woe related by a prostitute. Just after this he has sex with her, providing proof that biological urges overshadow all other emotions. Anyway, the banality of life bores him and he decides to go to Perth to start anew, but for Harry boarding a plane just like that would have been downright plain. So, one night he goes to the local brothel to see that the prostitute he likes is being mistreated. Enraged, he takes out a machete and the rest is compellingly reminiscent of De Nero in Taxi Driver.
But where De Nero survives, Harry is killed. Now, just saying that leaves much of the grueling tale untouched. Forget the action we see in films, here in real life fighting gets sloppy and downright ugly. A corkscrew is used on Harry’s stomach repeatedly. But, this sudden holy impulse of the man does not go unappreciated as one of the pimps also slits the throat of Harry’s murderer; nauseating but by no means pedestrian. In the end the wife, the prostitute and the friends talk about Harry not bursting out in tears but perhaps with a tone of acceptance. His wife’s candid confession that she slept with others behind her husband’s back in spite of her love for him robs love of much of its delusional aura of perfection. The morning paper has Harry’s photo on it, but as the day goes on the paper becomes old, people throw it on the road and life goes on in its calculated dreary pace. ‘I will burn out rather than fade away’ seems like the end message of Perth, but how many got that, is the question.
Schedule of the 2nd International
Film Festival
National Museum
December 8
Travellers & Magicians from Bhutan, at 10:30pm, The Price of Forgiveness from Senegal/ France at 12:45pm, Joy Jattra from Bangladesh at 2:30pm, Shame (Lazz) and Teen Ekke Teen from India at 4:45pm and 6:30pm respectively.
December 9
Avinar and Hemlock from Iran at 10:30am and 12:30pm respectively and Holloway City from Angola/ Portugal at 2:45pm.
Public Library
December 8
Falling Sky from Norway at 10:30am, Mumbai Gangsters and Taynbi Firiti at 12:30pm and 2:45pm respectively from India, Duratta and Lalon from Bangladesh at 4:30pm and 6:30pm respectively.
December 9
Sheyda and Love without Border from Iran at 10:30am and 12:30pm respectively, Jiyan from Switzerland at 2:45pm and Shame (Lazz) and Abar Ashbo Phirey from India at 4:30pm and 630pm respectively.
Russian Culture Centre
December 8
Mephisto and Sweet Emma from Hungary at 11:00am and 3:00pm respectively, Surja Sangram from Bangladesh at 5:00pm.
December 9
Taking Sides and Confidence from Hungary at 11:00am and 3:00pm and Dohan from Bangladesh at 5:00pm.
Women and poetry seminar Dec 8
LITERARY CORRESPONDENT
Women for Women will hold a seminar on “women and poetry” at the Centre for Advanced Research in the Humanities, Lecture Theatre, University of Dhaka, at 2 pm today on the occasion of Roquiah Day.
Well-known and up and coming poets will discuss their writing experiences and read from their works.
TODAY'S PIC
Eraser
John Kruger (Schwarzenneger, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop) does disappearing acts - he makes Federal witnesses under his watch vanish. With clean slates, their enemies think they're dead and they can start lives anew. So if your name appears on Kruger's list, you're as good as dead. Pray you stay that way.
But some lives are harder to erase than others. When Lee Cullen (Williams, Dance With Me, Pocahontas) discovers that her company is selling lethal weapons to international terrorists with the help of invisible hands in the government, she's a marked woman. But Kruger's got his eye on her.
To flush his witness out so that the terrorists can have their toys for Christmas, Kruger's up against top competition - his boss (Caan, Honeymoon is Vegas, Misery, The Godfather), who's on the payroll. Soon, it's Crocodile Dundee meets Drop Zone.
In the end, he'll have to do some permanent erasing, so his enemies don't go showing up again. Deadly secrets. Double-crosses. Disappearing acts.
HBO
9:30pm
Starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams
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