Détour par Calcutta . Detour Calcutta

Duration: 00:50:00 One day, the director meets a friend of the mayor of Calcutta who asks him: "You're a film maker, aren't you? Why don't you make a film about our mayor?!" That is how the film was born. Originally planned as a simple portrait of Calcutta's mayor, it g...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Rossier, François
Institution:Open Society Archives at Central European University
Published: Belle Journée Productions 2004
Switzerland
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10891/osa:e7530d16-6d0a-4061-be27-e6f6a9191f6e
Description
Summary:Duration: 00:50:00 One day, the director meets a friend of the mayor of Calcutta who asks him: "You're a film maker, aren't you? Why don't you make a film about our mayor?!" That is how the film was born. Originally planned as a simple portrait of Calcutta's mayor, it gradually becomes - through various difficulties met on location (bureaucracy, the director's preconceived ideas, heat) - an essay on tinkering about, and chaos, and a reflection on the documentary genre. In this shooting diary, the director speaks in first person voiceover, without trying to hide what's off camera. On the contrary: that's where he points his lens, looking for a good subject, because his main character - the mayor - disappears after the first third of the shoot. We are taken through an Indian sub-continent metropolis of 17 million inhabitants, led by astonishing chances which the director - a little Swiss - reorganizes in his own style, so that his beautiful escape becomes ours too.
Published:2004