Online Heritage Film Festival: Documentaries on forgotten people, vanishing traditions being screened

CHENNAI: Biographies of legends, stories of forgotten men and women, vanishing traditions and unseen vignettes of India captured through the lens of the wandering filmmakers feature in the line-up of documentaries that will be screened throughout February during the Online Heritage Film Festival.
The screenings are part of the India Heritage Walk Festival 2018, a multi-city event organised by Sahapedia, an online platform of Indian arts and culture, and YES Culture, the cultural division of YES Global Institute, to encourage people to explore the tangible and intangible heritage of their cities.
At least 25 films, including classics as well as entries selected by a panel of eminent arts and culture practitioners, are in the line-up for the festival which opened on Thursday (February 1) with Satyajit Ray's award-winning 1961 documentary on Rabindranath Tagore.
Sahapedia will release one film every day throughout the month on its www.youtube.com/user/sahapediaonline/featured at 10:00 am, and each is an exploration of a remarkable facet of the subcontinent’s heritage in the form of people, arts, traditions or architecture.
“Weavers of Maheswar” (2016) by Keya Vaswani and Nidhi Kamath tells the story of people who have worked hard to revive a vanishing handloom craft; “The Sarangi- Story of a Museum” (2015) by Manoj Bhandare and Raju Hittalamani is a journey through Kathmandu's museum of music and musical instruments from Nepal and “The Battle of Bhima Koregaon” (2017) by Somnath Waghamare celebrates the valour of the forgotten Mahar (untouchable) soldiers who overthrew the Peshwa rule in Maharashtra.
The lives of legends like Kalamandalam Gopi (1999), the Dhrupad maestros of the Dagar family (“Dagarvaani” - 1993), and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Bhavantarana – 1991) are documented in some of the classics, while other films introduce viewers to lesser-known gems like “The Shillong Chamber Choir” (2008), “Mystique of Murshidabad” (2014); “Little Magazine Voices” (2014)and “Hyderabadi Tryst with Ittar(2017). The screened films will be available for online viewing throughout the month.
The online film festival is one among the many events scheduled for IHWF 2018. The month-long multi-city event features nearly 70 public engagement events, including heritage walks (themed, curated and guided tours conducted by experts), baithaks (talks), workshops and instameets in nearly 20 cities, focusing on diverse aspects such as architecture, food, heritage, crafts, nature and art that make up the cultural fabric of our country.
Log on to www.indiaheritagewalkfestival.com for more details.