Filming Reality: The Independent Documentary Movement in India - Shoma A. Chatterji

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Résumé :
An informative read about the incredible journey of the independent documentary film movement in India. Filming Reality explores the independent documentary film movement in India post-1970s, when it began to acquire an identity of its own and many films got worldwide recognition. It analyses notable documentaries made over the last four decades, including those by iconic film-makers such as Satyajit Ray, Mani Kaul, Anand Patwardhan; activists such as Rakesh Sharma, Ranjan Palit, Amar Kanwar; feminists such as Deepa Dhanraj and Madhusree Dutta; and auteurs such as Sanjay Kak, R.V. Ramani and others. Featuring a compilation and analysis of noted and rare documentaries, this book is of immense value to film buffs, film scholars and film-makers.

Biographie:
Shoma A. Chatterji is a freelance journalist, film scholar and author based in Kolkata. She contributes to around a dozen print media and net publications. She has won two National Awards for Best Writing on Cinema: Best Film Critic in 1991 and Best Book in 2002 for Parama and Other Outsiders: The Cinema of Aparna Sen.

Chatterji won the Bengal Film Journalists Association's Best Critic Award in 1998 and the Bharat Nirman Award for excellence in journalism in 2004. She is the recipient of a research fellowship from the National Film Archive of India (2005-06) and the Senior Research Fellowship from the PSBT, New Delhi, for research in the politics of portrayal of gender on Indian television in 2006-07. She has authored 22 books on cinema and gender, which includes three short story collections and one work of translation, besides one on the history of the city of Kolkata. She has been a jury member at several film festivals in India and abroad. After her PhD in History (Indian Cinema), Chatterji won a Senior Research Post- doctoral Fellowship from the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. In 2009-10, she won a Special Award for consistent writing on women's issues at the United Nations Population Fund's UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards (Eastern region). In 2010, the Kalyan Kumar Mitra Award for excellence in film scholarship and contribution as film critic was bestowed upon her. She also received the Lifetime Achievement SAMMAN (honour) by the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Metro City under the auspices of Rotary International in July 2012.