Guwahati, Jan 22: Cotton College & Indian Association for Women Studies Conceptualised and producedby Preeti Gill and Mary Therese Kurkalang,Festival Directors, the Cultures of Peace festival is a three way collaboration between Zubaan, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and Khublei. Now in its third edition, the festival has been growing each year and brings together writing, music, film, theatre, media, photographyetc.
It aims to showcase the cultures of the Northeast and foreground importantand pertinent discussions, to build bridges and make connections with the rest of India, and to create awareness of the region, both historically and in its present day context.
Now in its third edition, the festival is moving out of Delhi and expanding its reach to other cities. 2014 will take it to three cities, Pune, Mumbai and Guwahati.Earlier editions have included over 60 speakers – writers, academics, Journalists, film-makers, social activists. As well, there have been exhibitions showcasing different aspects of the North eastern states, music performances including, SOULMATES, Shillong, Rewben Mashangwa, Manipur and the first public performance by TheMusical Folks, Shillong, whohave since brought out their first CD. 2013 also saw a Sattriya Dance performance by Anwesa Mahanta, Assam,and panel discussions on women writing, conflict and violence, sharedinter national borders, censorship in films, reporting from the Northeast, food,language… and more.
In 2014, the main two- day festival will be held in Pune, the city which witnessed theexodus of large numbers of North easterners, as a result of the rumours spread by sms messages in 2012. The festival is dedicated to Sharmila Rege(1964 2013) Phule-Ambedkarite feministand pedagogue, and Irom Sharmila the Iron Lady of Manipur in hunger strike since 2 November 2000.
In PUNE the festival will comprisepanel discussions organised in collaboration with the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule,Women Study Centre Pune University, which will focus on human rights and women issues in the Northeast, Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
The eveningprogrammes will include, a session with authors from the Northeast and music by the Tetseo Sisters, and a preview performance of directed by Sushama Deshpande, taking place in the heart of the city, hosted by The Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts at the Vishwabhavan Auditorium. In partnership with FTII, film screenings are being organised whichinclude films from Tripura, Manipur and Assam. Asomi an Assamese group, has joined hands with us to support the programme in Pune.
In MUMBAI, in collaboration with the KALA GHODA FESTIVAL, the festival will bring together tenwriters and Tripura rapper, Borkung Hrang khawlaka BK who will set the tone for an evening in the lawns of the David Sassoon Library.
In GUWAHATI, within the framework of the Indian Association of Women Studies conference at Cotton College, the festival will host an evening of writings by women with 14 writers from the different states of the Northeast, and will include fiction, non-fiction, folk story writers, poets, historians and journalists.(SP News)
