NEW DELHI: A total of 13 films on Indian art and culture by renowned art historian and filmmaker Benoy K Behl, a majority of them made for Doordarshan, are being screened in a two-day festival in the capital.
The festival will be inaugurated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni later this week.
A Journey Within is being presented by the India International Centre on 29 and 30 August. The films include some rarely seen pieces of art in India and some rarely documented monuments.
The films include ‘5,000 years of sculpture’ in two parts, ‘Pan-Asian Art (The tradition of classic paintings in China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia), ‘The Confluence of Cultures’ (The art of the Mughal court (Akbar period), ‘Development of the Modern Idiom’ in two parts, ‘2,000 years of paintings’ ‘The art of India’, and ‘The Dance of Shiva’ (Chola Temples). The films will be followed by discussions.
Behl is a film-maker, art-historian and photographer who is known for his tireless and prolific output of work over the past 25 years. He has made a 100 documentaries on art history, taken over 34,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage, his exhibitions have been warmly received in 24 countries around the world and he holds the Limca Book Record for having traveled to all corners of India.
His films, including 26 documentaries on ‘The Paintings of India’ and 26 documentaries on ‘The Sculpture of India,’ have been nationally telecast on prime time in India, as well as repeat telecasts. The vastness of Behl’s documentation presents a wide and new perspective in understanding the art of India and Asia.
The festival presents a selection from Behl’s renowned series of films on Indian art history.
