| ashu |
Posted
on 25-Sep-00 12:29 AM
In Cambridge, right around Harvard Square, there are two excellent movie theaters.
One is the world-famous Brattle Theater (on Brattle Street) which shows masterpieces of
classic and contemporary movies from around the world.
The other is located at the Harvard
Film Archives, which, open to the public, often features live presentations by renowned
directors and emerging/experimental film-makers.
But things are different in Kathmandu. Though the city has become a lot more cosmopolitan
and sophisticated than it was even four years ago, there still isn't any place in town
to go and watch really good movies from around the world on a regular basis.
Movie theaters, though numerous, are uniformly khattam with uncomfortable chairs, no A/C,
bad acoustics, etc, and are dangerously designed. And the stuff they play are
mostly bubble-gum "filims" from Mumbai.
I mean, after you've watched luscious Rani Mukherjee and/or dainty Preity
Zinta do the same old bump'n' grind, shake-your-booty routines with Bihari
babu Number One (that's Govinda!) in some Swiss chalet in three flicks in a
row, you really want to scream "Kaho na bore hai!"
So, that's the problem.
Ke garne?
The solution is to take the initiative to start a movie club to REGULARLY show good movies
from around the world in Kathmandu!!
In fact, that's what we three former Boston Nepalis -- Mahendra "Honda" Shakya, the
present president of the Godavari Alumni Association and a former president of GBNC;
Biresh Shah (an architect with a graduate degree from MIT) and I -- together with our friends
Bikas Rauniar (the chief photographer of Kantipur daily) and Samjhana Upreti (formerly with
Image TV Channel) have just done: Start an open-to-the-public Movie Club that shows good
movies every other week in Kathmandu.
The Executive Committee of the GAA has generously agreed to provide the space and chairs
on a regular basis to show the movies at the GAA. The staff of Martin Chautari -- notably Ajit Baral
and Bhaskar Gautam -- have signed on to take care of all the publicity, accounts,
record-keeping and will maintain a library of available movies.
Bikas and Samjhana, with help from others, will arrange for the hardware (i.e. a 16 mm
screen and/or a video projector so that the movies can be seen on a big screen), while
the rest of us are getting the software (i.e. the movies) from our contacts at the embassies,
cultural centers, foreign film clubs, private collections and so on.
The idea is to bring people (GAA members and the members of the public) together
REGULARLY to watch good movies twice a month. The working model of the Club is
a DECENTRALIZED one -- with six co-ordinators from the GAA and the Chautari rotating
responsibilities from month to month. This way, just like in that Kathmandu Post Review
of Books, the institution called the Movie Club remains strong while personalities come
and go.
The first show is on Saturday, September 30, 2000 at 4:30 pm at the GAA.
Entrance: FREE
Tea will be served after the movie.
If you wish to be on the email list of the Kathmandu Film Club, which already
has 27 members from all over, please send an email to either to me or
to: filmktm-subscribe@egroups.com
oohi
ashu
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