8th Chennai Film Festival 2020 : Filmmaker in Focus - Rajula Shah

8th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2020

Filmmaker in Focus - Rajula Shah 

Rajula Shah is a Visual Artist, Poet and Filmmaker.

She grew up listening to stories and working with tribal and folk artisans from all over the subcontinent and considers it her first school. 

A sustained dialogue with the ancient knowledge systems and the changing practices thereof form the core of her study and her practice thus emerges from a close collaboration with people, their histories and environments. 

For two decades, she has been producing/ directing films exploring boundaries of Fiction/Documentary, Experimental, Digital art, New Media et al. She is enriched through her close collaborates with fellow practitioners/ artists in various capacities as Researcher, Scriptwriter, Production designer, Cinematographer & Editor. 

The need to develop film teaching methodologies in the Asian/Indian context is a serious concern with her. She designs and directs innovative short courses at various institutes including the Film & TV Institute of India (FTII).

Films to be screened:

1) Sabad Nirantar/ Word within the word a film on resonances on mystic poet Kabir in contemporary Malwa, India.

Dir : RAJULA SHAH / 74 min / Malwi, Hindi / 2008 / India

2) Katha Loknath/ reTold by Loknath Experimental fiction with potter Loknath Rana & a city kid Tana growing up listening to his stories.

Dir: RAJULA SHAH / 43 min / Oriya, Hindi, Bhili / 2013 / India

3) Aisa nahin hua tha Tahera/ Jumbled Cans short film

Dir:RAJULA SHAH / 23 min / Hindi, Urdu, English / 2014/ India
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4) Neend se lambi raat/ Night longer than sleep poetry video

Dir: ARGHYA BASU / 6 min / Hindi / 2013 / India

Production Design and Poetry recitation by Rajula

5) Of Exiles and Kingdom short doc on Tibetan Opera

Dir: ARGHYA BASU / 26 min / ENGLISH/ TIBETAN / 2016 / India

Cinematography, Co-Script & Narration by Rajula

Filmography/ Publications

• 2019 Direction, Chalo Sakha us des mein/ At Home Walking (114 min, DV, Col, B&W) Feature Experimental Doc Producer: Shampa Shah 
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• 2016 Cinematography & Narration, Of Exiles & Kingdom 26 min HDV col, B&W, Short Doc Producer: Films Division 
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• 2013 Writing, Analog as part of the project KEYwording by ARSENAL, Berlin Germany, Booklet 
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• 2013 Production Design Neend se Lambi Raat 6 min Poetry music video, Producer, FTII 
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• 2013 Direction Aisa Nahin Hua tha Tahira/ Jumbled Cans (23 min/ 35mm/ Col) Short fiction Producer: Film and Television Institute of India, Pune 
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• 2011 Direction, reTold by Loknath (45 min/ DV/ Col & B/W) Experimental Fiction Producer: Rajula Shah for Seasongray 
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• 2011 Translation & Editing Mujh Par Bharosa Rakhna, Select letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo, Book Publisher: Rajula Shah for Seasongray 
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• 2009 Direction, short videos on Gond & Bhil tribal artists of Madhya Pradesh, web publishing, IGNCA 2008 Direction, Sabad Nirantar/ Word within the word (74 min/ dv/ col) Feature Documentary Producer: Jyotsna Milan 
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• 2006 Writing on cinema Blank Screen, published in the Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research Essay 
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• 2006 Translations selected poetry of Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad Booklet Publisher: TANAAV 
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• 2006 Translation of We Are Poor But So Many By Ela. R. Bhatt, Publisher: Vagdevi February Book 
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• 2005 Direction, Beyond The Wheel (59 min/ dv/ col) Documentary 
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• 2005 Writing Parchhain ki Khirki se, Hindi Poetry collection, Bhartiya Gyanpeeth, Book 
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• 2000 Direction, Do Hafte Guzrate / Takes 2 weeks for 2 weeks to pass (22 min /35mm/col) Short Fiction Producer: Film & T.V. Institute of India, Pune Marketed by Moserbaer with world classics

Awards 

• 2004 Best New Writing, Bharatiya Gyanpeeth for Poetry collection Parchhain ki Khirki se 
• 2005 Signs jury award for the film Beyond the wheel 
• 2008 Horizonte Preis at Dokfest Munich Germany for the film Word within the word 
• 2013 John Abraham National Award for best Video Experimenta for ReTold by Loknath 
• 2014 John Abraham National Award for best Experimental fiction for Jumbled Cans

Select Screenings 

• 2019 World Premiere of At Home Walking at YIDFF, Yamagata Japan 
• 2019 European Premeiere of At Home Walking at Jihlava, Czechoslovakia 
• 2011 World Premiere of Word within the word at DOKFEST Munich 
• 2011 DOC Leipzig Germany 2010 Guggenheim Museum, Berlin 
• 2009 Parnu Ethnographic Film Festival, Estonia 
• 2009 Doxa Film Festival Vancouver, Canada 
• 2009 Kerala International Video Festival, India 
• 2010 Mumbai International Film Festival, India 
• 2008 Cinema Verite Iran International Documentary Festival, Tehran 
• 2008 FA course NFAI, Pune 
• 2006 SIGNS Film Festival, Thiruvananthapuram

Select Talks/ Courses/ Jury

• 2019 Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver: Talk on 'Camera Consciousness: Mirroring the other' 2019 Course director, Film Criticism & Art of Review, FTII & IIMC, Delhi 
• 2017 Juror: International Documentary and Film Festival of Kerala 
• 2017 Course director: Winter Film Appreciation course on Asian/Indian Aesthetics at FTII, Pune 2016 Course director: Film Appreciation course for Theatre students of National School of Drama 2016 Fellowship: Krishna Baldev Vaid Fellowship for young writers in Hindi 
• 2011 Juror: National Film Awards 
• 2009 Film seminar: on the Real in Cinema Film & T.V. Institute, Pune 
• 2008 Gerrit Rietweld Akademie, Netherlands: talk on making of the film 'Beyond the wheel' 
• 2006 Writer-in-residence: Literature Haus Hamburg, for Goethe Institut, Germany 
• 2006 Readings: World Book Fair Frankfurt, Germany 
• 2006 Readings: Akshar writers for Goethe Institute & Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi: 
• 2005 Readings: Sahitya Akademi's Golden Jubilee ‘New Voices’ 
• 1999 Participation: International students film festival Munich