Machines
Rahul Jain
In an Indian textile factory, people work machines like machines. Machinery surrounds the factory floor.
D
Film Archive
Machines
Documentary Film
Finland,
Germany,
India
2016
71 minutes
subtitles:
English
Credits
Rahul Jain, Thanassis Karathanos, Iikka Vehkalahti
Rahul Jain
Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva
Rahul Jain, Yaël Bitton
Susmit Nath, Adrian Baumeister
The camera movements are ghostlike because it is a disembodied presence floating through the factory. But what it captures is surreal: infernal fires and reams of fabric falling like water. It’s noisy, it’s dark, but on the back of this image-hungry creature we move quickly through the rooms. It’s not clear what it is looking for. Sometimes it will hide, crouching in a corner, lurking for the workers who don’t seem to notice. There’s humidity everywhere, liquids, tinctures and sweat. And the sound of turning rollers. A textile factory in the Indian state of Gujarat, which nobody visits unless absolutely forced to. Still, there are jobs here, albeit badly paid, and no trace of union structures. “The state of Gujarat has fed the stomachs of the poor,” somebody says in the film.
Carolin Weidner
Nominated for Healthy Workplaces Film Award
Carolin Weidner
Nominated for Healthy Workplaces Film Award
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Pushkar Myths
Kamal Swaroop
Every year the Hindu shrine of Pushkar becomes the site of a sprawling cattle and fun fair. This journey on film takes us along the colourful magic of music and dance into the world of Indian myths and gods.
Pushkar Myths
Documentary Film
India,
USA
2017
104 minutes
subtitles:
English
“All year one sensed a hidden tension, all year something was going on in preparation for those days, as if the ultimate purpose of the year was to home in on those three days.” (Roberto Calasso, “Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India”)
Pushkar is a small town in the Federal State of Rajasthan in northwest India and one of the holiest places of Hinduism. Once a year, however, during the full moon in the autumn month of Kartik, the town and the desert surrounding it turn into a sprawling fun fair with Ferris wheels and carousels, music from folklore to rock and colourful dance performances. Thousands of people, Hindus and Muslims alike, pour in from villages in the whole region to trade camels, horses and cattle. The spectacle appears in the desert as suddenly as a Fata Morgana. And just as suddenly the colourful magic is over. Director Kamal Swaroop – who shot one of the (post-)modern classics of Indian cinema with “Om Dar-B-Dar” in 1988 – captures the exuberant goings-on with a precise eye for strong images and details, exploring the myths and gods of India as well as their political instrumentalisation.
Frederik Lang
Pushkar is a small town in the Federal State of Rajasthan in northwest India and one of the holiest places of Hinduism. Once a year, however, during the full moon in the autumn month of Kartik, the town and the desert surrounding it turn into a sprawling fun fair with Ferris wheels and carousels, music from folklore to rock and colourful dance performances. Thousands of people, Hindus and Muslims alike, pour in from villages in the whole region to trade camels, horses and cattle. The spectacle appears in the desert as suddenly as a Fata Morgana. And just as suddenly the colourful magic is over. Director Kamal Swaroop – who shot one of the (post-)modern classics of Indian cinema with “Om Dar-B-Dar” in 1988 – captures the exuberant goings-on with a precise eye for strong images and details, exploring the myths and gods of India as well as their political instrumentalisation.
Frederik Lang
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Shivering
Keyur Dekate
The worst enemy in the morning, even for the strongest man: the cold shower.
Shivering
Animated Film
India
2017
8 minutes
subtitles:
_without dialogue / subtitles
The worst enemy in the morning, even for the strongest man: the cold shower. Our hero tries to shirk it – by hook or by crook.
Lina Dinkla
Lina Dinkla
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
The Fish Curry
Abhishek Verma
All fish eyes are on Lalit Ghosh. The gay young man is facing his coming out. On this nerve-racking occasion he cooks his father’s favourite dish for him.
The Fish Curry
All fish eyes are on Lalit Ghosh. The gay young man is facing his coming out. On this nerve-racking occasion he cooks his father’s favourite dish for him, a traditional fish curry. A radio cooking show says about this Bengal dish, called “Maacher Jhol”, that it is good for the heart and the brain. A good omen at least.
Esther Buss
Esther Buss
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.