presents
Karvaan
a film by
Pankaj Butalia
Saturday, March 29, 2003. 6 to 8.30 pm
Stanford University
Gates Computer Science Building, Room 104
(directions)
[The event is open to all.. donations are optional.]
 Pankaj Butalia's "Karvaan"
(1999) is a film on the India-Pakistan Partition, told from the perspective
of a man who has witnessed the deep-etched trauma that its victims
must bear. It is the story of two families who's fates are intertwined
with that of the Partition and its aftermath, and it derives its poignance
from the chilling proximity of the stories it tells."Karvaan" has been screened at various venues worldwide, including the Venice Film Festival (1999), and the Rotterdam Film Festival (Feb 2000), to much critical acclaim. ' Karvaan is a personal reconstruction of the vast migration of Hindus and Muslims in 1947 and its consequences. The film is about the need to return to places from the past, to come to terms with that, however painful that can be. Pankaj Butalia wanted to tell this story to throw more light on today's Indian-Pakistani question and to understand what role is played by reminiscences in each of us. [Says] Pankaj Butalia: 'The complex stories we bear with us in our soul reflect the suppressed patterns in society and vice versa" ' [Rotterdam Film Festival review]. Kitu Gidwani and Naseruddin Shah deliver powerful performances. The script is written by Pankaj Butalia and Nilofer Kaul, and the music by Susmit Sen. For one detailed review, see the South Asian Women's Forum (SAWF) website.  Pankaj Butalia
(Ambala, India, 1950) taught
economics at the University of New Delhi for twenty years has been long committed
to the Indian film movement, taking part in numerous international festivals
and organising the section on documentaries at the Indian Film Festival from
1986 to 1988. He has made two documentaries -"When Hamlet came to Mizoram"
(1990) and "Moksha" (1993). Karvaan is his first feature film. |
| Directions The street address for Gates Computer Sciences Building is 353 Serra Mall. The building entrance is located directly in front of the new Serra Mall fountain. A searchable campus map is available. Parking at most places on campus is free on weekends. |
| Founded in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area, FOSA [http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org] brings together people with roots in various parts of South Asia, as well as other well-wishers of the region. FOSA's mission is to achieve a peaceful, prosperous, and hate-free South Asia--most immediately working towards a demilitarized, nuclear-free South Asia and promoting respect for and celebrating the diversity and plurality of South Asia. FOSA works to promote amity between countries and communities, working towards a South Asia where the rights of all minorities are respected and protected; regardless of religious, ethnic, sexual or other differences. FOSA carries out its work through people-to-people contacts, dialog, and other non-violent, non-exclusionary means, working as a single group and with other organizations that share similar aspirations. |