I have been working with the idea of the observational for over the past decade now. For me the cinematic form is truest to it’s essence in the ‘observational’. The intent through this is to create and to express, using the sensory. Contrary to claims of truth or absolute reality, as Erika Balsom puts it observational works “seek not to master the world but to remain faithful to it.” and while remaining faithful, for me it is an attempt to access a sensorial experiential reality which is beyond the statistical notion of truth. This position is also thinking about the idea of documentary not just as reduced to story telling device. of how Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow puts it "against the privileging of story as the most viable or supported organizing principle for documentary." It is taking into account of filmmakers' power and that of the cinematic appartus much more so than any commitment to story. And using such a form I have then looked at labour practices- especially in agriculture, the idea of nothingness, transitory spaces, in between ness and so on. Such an approach is not geared towards the goal of objectivity, but rather with the intent to make the invisible, visible and sounding the inaudible.
What happens when through such a form that deals so much and revels itself in mundane-ness, starts looking at a spectacle- the spectacle of a protest for instance.This is the intersection at which my PhD project lies and the basis of my research question- what kind of understanding can be generated from looking at a protest when being looked through rhythms of living and working, through processes of informal learning.
Conversely, through the process of these engagements I want to work on developing a conceptual/theoretical framework for this approach of filmmaking.
These shots here that you see are here from one of my earlier attempts to shoot a protest. This particular protest was organized by one of the longest running social movements of India, regarding sugarcane prices. Another attempt was to shoot Azadi Koonch (march for freedom) - a Dalit anti caste protest in the Western state of Gujarat.
A. At points, I found myself too carried away by the spectacle itself and couldn't pull myself away from that emotion of the situation.
B. The presence of the camera added to the spectacle of the situation even further. In this situation I had to confront my own political positions. When all the protestors were being detained, due to the presence of the camera we were given an option to get detained or not.
I considered this shoot a failure and hence didn’t attempt to piece it together as a film. These attempts further had me thinking harder about the gaze, and how to be looking at the act of protest-ing and how to reflect on them.
The reason for my skepticism was that in getting carried away I feel I would have fed more into what Chantal Mouffe describes as an antagonistic We/Them narrative. Or else by falling into the trap of centrality of storytelling in documentary, I might have ended up creating a monolithic simplistic narrative of the protests.
To observe, doesn’t simply mean to look at. Unlike the term spectator, which implies a passive onlooker at a spectacle, the origins of the word observe come from observare which means to ‘conform one’s action with, to comply with’, as in observing rules, codes, regulations and practices.
These rules for me are ethical and political considerations. Being a man from a relatively upper caste situation, affords me a certain privilege within the Indian society. And then the question for me is as to how to meaningfully engage with, for instance, a dalit anti caste protest.
The camera can’t replicate the human eye, but rather could be directed in it’s gaze, the position of the camera thus gets defined by the auteur. Is it possible then to embody a gaze which is not for giving simplistic easily digestible answers, solutions, or stories.
This gaze is a search for a position which is not of being ‘them’ or claiming ‘their voice’, or position, but rather ‘being with’ or adjacent to. Tina Campt defines this position of adjacency as, "recognizing the disparity between your position and theirs and working to address it."
Can this way of looking then there be a gaze which does not involve getting tangled in the truth game, or even to tell the audience what to think. Instead such a gaze would demand from the audience to experience the life behind the protest, and letting them make their own conclusions. Would creating through such a gaze be an act of protest by itself?
CITATIONS
}Balsom, Erika. "The reality-based community", E-flux journal.
}Campt, Tina. Listening to Images. }Crary, Jonathan. Techniques of the Observer.
}Lebow, Alisa. Beyond Story: an Online, Community-Based Manifesto, World Records Journal.
}Mouffe, Chantal. On the political.
video credits
‘a silent concert’ by ujjwal kanishka utkarsh
and footage from
.KRRS (Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha - Karnataka state farmer’s organisation)
protest about sugarcane prices 2015 in Karnataka (India)
{shot by nayanatara manchala with ujjwal kanishka utkarsh} .
Azaadi Koonch (March to Freedom) 2016 by RDAM - Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (National Dalit Rights Organisation) in Gujarat (India) {shot and recorded by bhasmang joshi and thomas crowley with ujjwal kanishka utkarsh}