Focus Asia: Memory and Documentary Film: Exploring Painful and Forgotten Memories in China, India, and Indonesia

The films deal with very different events, the Great Famine in China 1959-1961, the violence against communists in Indonesia in the mid-1960s, and communal violence in Mumbai, India, in 1992-1993, but what they have in common is the fact that none of the events have been fully acknowledged by the authorities and seldom are addressed in public debates. The films explore the intersection of individual and collective memories, how and what people remember of painful events, what, how and why they choose to forget, and why some are forced to forget and suppress their memories while others have the power to re-write history and suppress others’ memories. The filmmakers have chosen different ways and methods to evoke and document memories, ranging from more personal stories and self-revelations, direct observation and interviews, to re-enactment and cinematic interventions. The films tell us as much about the filmmakers’ own wishes and reasons for wanting to retrieve memory as it does about the local communities’ memory-making practices.

Two documentary film projects based in China respectively India will be introduced and nine films from and about China, India, and Indonesia will be screened with the directors present for Q&A on 25-27 April.

More information here: http://www.ace.lu.se/activities/focus-asia/april-2013