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Video Biographies These visual biographies will be virtuoso performances,
which will highlight the artiste's contribution to their art forms -experience
recalled, demonstrations, articulations of their findings in both theatre and
performance -serving not only to document their achievements for archival purposes, but also to offer
models for immediate use and exploration, and make them accessible to people
looking for ideas in their areas of work.
These capsules will be made by professionals and sold to
TV networks, libraries and archives and other organizations both within the
country and abroad, giving 75% of all earnings to the artistes themselves and
the balance to the producer. The artistes will also be paid for his/her time
like any other professional. These films will be made available on CDs for
archival purposes and packaged as Video CDs and Video-cassettes for general
audiences. We will simultaneously produce and market these as a part of an
exercise to sell these through bookstores and music and video stores as
electronic/ digital publishing.
The first of these biographies, Performing the Goddess: Chapal Bhaduri's Story explores the experiences of an actor who has spent his life playing women's roles in the Bengali traditional theatre called jatra. Selected for viewing at international film festivals, it is also being broadcast by Star TV's new Bengali TV channel.
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A significant presence in our cultural heritage is that of
the artist/ performer who, despite being at the height of his/her expertise
and creativity, finds his career sacrificed to changing times and tastes,
to a market economy which does not value his or her input, which pushes these
'stars' of the yesteryears into a twilight existence well before they are
ready for it. As a result, we lose much in our own growth as creative artists
by being denied access to their skills and the benefits of their teaching. These
artists find themselves in dire financial straits, at precisely that point in
their lives when, having more than paid their dues to society, they should at
least have the benefit of a dignified 'retirement'.
Seagull conceived a video-biography project in response to this situation.
The idea is to use the popular mainstream medium of television to share the
rich lives and professional histories of these important artists through
creative biographies in the form of excellently prepared video documentaries.
