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A Magic Mystic Marketplace

Abak Jaye Here

Director, Sound, Photography: Ranjan Palit
Editing: Mahadeb Shi
Producer: Ranjan Palit, Vasuda Joshi
Production Company, Source: VECTOR PRODUCTIONS
INDIA / 1996 / Bengali / Color / Video / 27 min

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Ranjan Palit

Finished the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1982 with a diploma in cinematography. His diploma film, a 30-minute documentary on the powerloom workers of Bhiwandi, was selected for the Bombay International Film Festival 1983. Started specializing as a documentary cameraperson, shooting a major portion of Bombay, Our City for Anand Patwardhan. Has subsequently shot around 50 documentaries, including: Eleven Miles (1990), Memories of Milk City (1991), Kamlabai (1992), Tales from Planet Kolkatta (1993), Dream Before Wicket (1994).

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A look into the mystic world of a blind singer from India who sings of love and death at a holy crematoria. The handheld Hi-8 camera moves freely and gives us a lucid look at this artistic and religious man, as well as at his daily family life.

From Press Files

Palit is sensitive, consciously or unconsciously, to the cultural determinations of speech and the cultural politics of collective life. Palit's talent for fitting easily into group situations which may be otherwise guarded about outsiders is clear. Eschewing the zoom and usually holding the camera, he shoots in close proximity to his subjects, responding physically to the flow and meaning of the conversation. He seems to sense instinctively how the camera wields power, and how to dissipate and share that power.
(by Tom Waugh, excerpts from Cineaction, Toronto)



 




Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee