Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute in association with NFDC and NFAI is organizing ARCUREA 2024 – an event on archiving, curation and restoration of films. The event is scheduled to be held over seven days, from March 16 to 22, 2024, on the SRFTI campus. The event is a multi-event initiative comprising an international colloquium on archiving and restoration in the global context, a cinema curation workshop for students possessing a foundational understanding about various aspects of curation with an emphasis on Indian cinema, a festival of restored films, e-conversations with much-admired filmmakers like Asgar Fahradi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra; specially curated live performances, an exhibition of film memorabilia, inauguration of the Pramod Pati Cinema Art and Technology Museum; a public lecture to commemorate P.K. Nair; and internationally acclaimed Japanese film director Naomi Kawase will be the ‘Guest of Honour’ for the closing ceremony. There will be twenty two international and twenty one national highly distinguished speakers addressing various sessions over the whole program.
Overview of ARCUREA 2024:
1. International Colloquium on Archiving and Restoration (March 18 & 19, 2024)
The international colloquium delves into film as cultural heritage, alongside Asian film restoration, archiving, and institutional history. Sessions will explore film history, including the Silent Era and Indian cinema pre- and post-Independence, as well as technological shifts like digital technology and television. Additionally, discussions will cover the role of public cinema institutions such as Films Division and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), among others.
2. Cinema Curation Workshop (March 20 – 22, 2024)
The cinema curation workshop will provide a unique opportunity for students enthusiastic about film history, culture, technology, and curation. Its main goal is to equip participants with fundamental knowledge in various curation aspects, placing particular emphasis on Indian cinema. Selected attendees will engage in a thorough exploration of curatorial practices, covering ideation, conceptualization, research methodologies, archival utilization, and project realization. Additionally, the workshop will offer insights into the historical development of film curation, both locally and globally, across platforms like film festivals, galleries, museums, and art centers. It also will also examine the potential of film curation as a promising professional and creative career path for film enthusiasts and scholars.
3. Festival of Restored Films (March 16 – 22, 2024)
This festival will screen timeless cinematic masterpieces from India, meticulously restored by the NFDC-National Film Archive of India (NFDC-NFAI) as part of the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM). The film selection aims to showcase the nation’s regional and linguistic diversity while paying tribute to the esteemed masters and classics of Indian cinema.
4. Curators’ Picks (March 16 & 17, 2024)
Selections from packages and film programs curated by eminent curators who will also conduct sessions at the ARCUREA cinema curation workshop will be screened on the campus. These packages/installations featured in various international festivals and art events, and have received critical acclaim. The films and accompanying curatorial notes are intended to give viewers a glimpse of the curatorial process: how the act of curating evolves from ideation to actualization; how a curatorial concept is contextualized and elaborated through films or images, and their selection, sequencing, and presentation.
5. e-Conversations: Online sessions with nationally and internationally acclaimed film directors. Highly reputed Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod chopra will address one of the sessions and the other will be conducted by internationally much acclaimed Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi.
6. e-Talks (March 2-10, 2024)
A series of online lectures have already been conducted by seven renowned speakers from across continents as a run-up to the main event. These talks have been highly evocative and equally efficacious for the participants. Most off these talks were open for a larger audience.
7. Live Performances (March 17 – 22, 2024)
ARCUREA will also feature several live performances which challenge conventional notions of archives and the artist’s role in utilizing them for curation and research.
8. Exhibition of Film Memorabilia (March 16 – 22, 2024)
Exhibition of film memorabilia and installations of different artistic mediums will be on display inside a suitable space within SRFTI campus to build an evocative dialogue around film history, curation and restoration. The Pramod Pati Cinema Art and Technology Museum, designed to provide a comprehensive historical understanding of filmmaking while encouraging research and appreciation for cinema as an evolving art form, will also be inaugurated during ARCUREA and henceforth be open to students, researchers and visitors to the SRFTI campus.
9. Pramod Pati Cinema Art and Technology Museum
The Pramod Pati Cinema Art and Technology Museum, housed within the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) campus in Kolkata, is named after one of India’s pioneering documentary filmmakers, aims to provide a comprehensive historical understanding of the art and technology of filmmaking. More than a repository of artefacts, it has been designed to serve as a valuable resource for research and encouragement for students, researchers and visitors to understand cinema as an evolving art form. The museum will have its inauguration at the event.
10. P. K. Nair Commemoration Lecture (March 22, 2024)
A public lecture to commemorate P.K. Nair, the late founder-director of NFAI, will be delivered by renowned psychoanalyst and author, Dr. Sudhir Kakar.
11. The key-note address of the festival
The keynote address will be delivered by internationally revered Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase. She will also grace the closing ceremony as the guest of honour.
SRFTI is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It is a premier film institute in India, which has succeeded in articulating and disseminating classical and contemporary theories of praxis to leap into the world of professional practice. SRFTI is a member of CILECT, International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision). Please visit https://srfti.ac.in for details.
Established in 1975, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is an entity under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India; entrusted to create domestic and global appreciation of independent Indian cinema. The corporation supports and encourages films made in various Indian languages to develop talent base and to facilitate the growth of Indian cinema from supporting script, financing, production marketing and distribution of the films.
The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, in February 1964. Developed from scratch by P. K. Nair, NFAI’s activities related to the dissemination of film culture were manifold with the immense responsibility of archiving Indian cinematic heritage. It is a member of FIAF the International Federation of Film Archives
Please visit https://arcurea.in/ for details.
Pragya Paliwal/ Saurabh Singh
