Programmed August 2021
Three by Mani Kaul: Poet of Parallel Cinema
One of the major figures of India’s aesthetically and politically adventurous Parallel Cinema movement, Mani Kaul rejected traditional narrative structure in favor of mesmerizing formal experimentation. Deeply inspired by the gestural asceticism of Robert Bresson, Kaul’s films employ elliptical editing and an expressively spare visual style to achieve a purity that feels at once classical and bracingly original. Presented here are Kaul’s groundbreaking first three films: Our Daily Bread , which anticipates Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman in its absorbing meditation on housework and the burdens borne by women in a patriarchal society; the unconventional biopic One Day Before the Rainy Season ; and Duvidha , an entrancing ghost story inspired by a Rajasthani folktale.
3 films
No longer streaming
