Skyward Fire

• Our cinema screen has become an ill-constructed, and conventional portal to a world we aspire of, rather than a mirror, which reflects us.

• Our emotions are guided by leitmotifs placed deftly, and religious beliefs exploited.

• Our spirit of inquiry has become dead & we have been reduced to mere receivers in the process.

• Cinema and television has replaced interaction with imposition of thought. Its thought. An artificial, fake and ill-created thought, a manifestation of our needs to escape ourselves.

• The medium has become a symbol of cheap entertainment, devoid of any examination of the form, and a victim of our collective need to create personalities, perfect alternate universes, and images of our aspiration.

• Our criticism has become trivial. Stories take precedent over the intrinsic qualities of the cinematic medium.

• Our film lovers are snobs, indulging in their wholehearted pseudo-intellectual diatribe, condemning the ignorant, and the ignorant have become so used to a cinema that’s meager that they are satiated with films from the West.

• Our parallel offerings remain strictly entrenched in the tradition of the mainstream, and hence, are versions of the same, rather than its replacements.

The aforementioned eight-point denial is demanded to be patched up, and the people at Indian Auteur seek:

1. To incite discussion on the possibilities, limitations and viability of the application of the auteur theory as a critical prism.
2. To use criticism and our theories to both champion and strive for innovation and cutting edge in form, form and content.
3. To attempt a formulation of a pure love for cinema, a middle ground between the pseudo intellect of the snobs, and the ignorance of the unknowing, and attempt to mobilize their film loves to this new ground.
4. To attempt a critical theory that moves beyond the supply of the story and the statistical rating points.
5. To observe, notice, and champion upcoming films, filmmakers, and technicians, who remain obscured in the looming shadows of commerce and a faux parallel cinema.
6. To champion cinema that creates dissonance, repulsion, interpretation, confusion and discussion rather than loud claps, whistles and scrupulous satisfaction
7. To work towards a film love which adopts a middle ground, to reinstate the cinema director to his deserved position, to celebrate Indian cinema of the past and the present, to examine its potential.

To achieve the same, the team at Indian Auteur has proposed “The Delhi Manifesto”, which, if you agree with, you can go sign here. All you need to do, is leave a comment with your Name, your profession and the your country to add to the list of signatories, and spread the word.

In the series of events and programs that are supposed to help spread the word and bring about the much needed chain, meet-ups are being organized all across the nation in the coming months. And as a subsidiary of the same, I’m personally organizing the local edition of the same in the city where I’m at right now. The Patna edition of the Indian Auteur Cinephile Meeting is an ad-hoc get-together based off the concept of The Delhi Manifesto in a free world where everyone’s opinions matter. It is an intense free-for-all event with discussions and direct interaction amongst participants.

Location: Cafe Olive, Gandhi Maidan, Patna.

Time: 1500 hours IST (+5:30 GMT)

How To Get There: Cafe Olive is located on the ground floor of Jaideep’s Twin Towers, right beside Hotel Maurya at Gandhi Maidan. Gandhi Maidan is located in the heart of the city, and is connected by roads from all corners in town. If you have a private vehicle, paid & secure parking is easily available on the Twin Tower campus for two-wheelers and four-wheelers alike. If you’re using public transport, Auto-rickshaws ply from all around, and the local Auto Stand is two minutes away from where you’re supposed to come.

What You Need To Bring: Nothing special. You carry your essentials, a pen, and a notepad.

How To Register: For those of you planning on attending the Patna edition of the meet-up, shoot an email to suraj [a] skywardfire [dot] net with your name , company/organization/school/college, a link to your blog (optional), and what do you do. Mention “Indian Auteur Meet” in the subject line. Alternatively, you can text the same info in that order to +91 970 937 4296. Last date of registration is February 12th, 2009.

If you’re going to be live tweeting about it, or uploading photos on Flickr, please use the tag “#indianauteurmeet” (without the double quotes)