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The
entrance of the Athenian cinema Kotopouli in 1960's. (from the
book: "Revelation of Indian songs" by Helen Ambadzi
and Manolis Tassoulas).
The
ELINEPA, in collaboration with the St. Xavier
College in Kolkatta and the Open University (The Ferguson
Centre for Asian and African Studies) in London
submitted a project in line with the objective of the EU-India Economic
Cross Cultural Programme on June 3rd 2004
at the office of the EU delegation in
New Delhi.
The
project entitled, "Exploring the present
cultural interface between India, Greece and the UK
through early Greek drama, Shakespearean drama and
Indian film" will give
an opportunity to people, especially young students, to
confront cultural products of other countries. For
instance, students in Greece would be shown five
Indian films which would be properly introduced. After
the film shows, the students would discuss their
reactions to the films. Then social scientists would
interview the students' reactions. Of the five films two
would be Indian films of the era when Indian films were
very popular in Greece. Some of the questions to discuss
would then be "This is a film your dads liked very
much, what do you feel about it? If you feel
differently, then what is the difference? How do you
explain it? Do you like contemporary Greek films? Are
they in line with traditional performing arts? if not,
what is the difference? How do you explain that you like
both art forms? What do you feel about contemporary
American films? etc. there would follow an international
(3 nations) essay competition among the students.
In addition, each of the three countries would make a
video film in another country. For instance, an Indian
team will document the wave of interest in Indian films
in Greece, and a Greek team might come over to India to
document and study the staging of ancient Greek dramas
in various parts of India.
All these activities would be prepared by an on-line
symposium on performing arts, ancient and modern,
leading to the production of a book and a corresponding
Compact Disk (CD) that would be given to the students
for their personal preparation to the film shows
(Greece, UK) or drama performances (India).
Dr.
Helen Abadzi, who is
one of the most knowledgeable Greeks on this subject,
has been appointed as the director of the project on
behalf of the ELINEPA. She
would look for all the people needed to implement the
project if it will be finally accepted - something that
we shall know by November 2004. There is of course no
guarantee that EU will sanction the project. Last year
only 26 projects were cleared out of 126 applicants. But since the project is so powerful - literally being a study of Western
and Indian Cultures - it has at least a reasonable
chance. The project is expected to last
the two years of 2005-6.
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