To see these glimpses of roads travelled, doors opened, conversations shared, to see all of it converging into a single place is a thing that brings me the greatest joy. It has been a privilege to pursue a life that is adorned with stories in places I am always surprised by, in the company of people who always make room for me, no matter our seeming differences, no matter the paths that us brought us there. This to me is not just a resting place for the work I have created, work that always started with a whim and ended with the deepest admiration. This is a bridge, an island, an ocean. In its all-encompassing embrace, in the twisted nature of the written word and the jarring cut of the film frame, lies hidden every endless fit of laughter that we shared, every meaningful pause, every 'I'll see you again'.
A Balinese dance master Made Sidia addresses an age old question 'What makes someone an artist?' with an answer that is simple, broad and the very essence of his school that teaches more than 500 students in the heart of Bali.
Every practice, no matter how profound only inflates whatever is within you. So it is essential to first empty your mind, which transforms the feeling of the heart, which directs our every action. This triangle is the very foundation of the Pencak Silat practice. Every action in its wake would be a profound prayer, every movement a poetic verse, every gaze a deep dive into our true selves.
Setiap praktek, bagaimanapun dalamnya, hanya akan mengembang apa pun yang sudah ada di dalam diri Anda. Jadi penting untuk terlebih dahulu mengosongkan pikiran Anda, yang mengubah perasaan hati, yang mengarahkan setiap tindakan kita. Segitiga ini merupakan dasar dari latihan Pencak Silat. Setiap tindakan di belakangnya akan menjadi doa yang mendalam, setiap gerakan menjadi syair puitis, setiap tatapan menyelam jauh ke dalam diri kita yang sebenarnya.
Anjana's expression is a confluence of two ancient worlds. She is a Bharatanatyam dancer, and a Kalaripayattu martial artist. Her movement flows from one to another and back again. Her expression turns from stoical determination to never ending smiles. You will either find her at the heart of a stage or at a quiet corner carefully tending to a larger universe. The words in this film are built to share the mirror that she is, with two distinct worlds on either side. The visuals in this film are a measure of her presence on stage, her quiet slipping away in and out of a frame is a reflection of her generosity in both of those worlds. Her movement, her craft and her silence inspired me to make this little vignette film. Presenting 'Silence'
In one moment, she is here, Carolina Prada, a dancer from Colombia, an artist of the fast fading Indian dance form, Mayurbhanj Chhau, standing in plain sight, draped gently in the adornments of her characters. In the next, she has opened the door to the complex universes within, which her divine characters have roamed for thousands of years. With a few steps on stage, she has transcended the border between worlds. And you and I, we stand as witnesses to a careful bridge that is being built between this world and that. What we see is the storm of her performance, what we feel is the calm of a lifetime of reflections.
In Mattancherry, a place that is 5 square km, a stone's throw away from Fort Kochi in Kerala, there live 39 communities from all around the country, and a few from across the high seas, who have resided together, for over 500 years. This is the story of Mattancherry, a place where the idea of India comes alive like no place else.
They say that the Martial art masters just know, they just know of what is to come next. Their awareness is not just of this moment, but of what is gone by, and of what is to come. This film is a portrait of one of those masters of the ancient martial art from India, Kalaripayattu. This is the portrait of Radhika Gurukkal and her conversation with fear.