Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Focusing on the aesthetics vs. politics debates and various ideological conundrums inherent in the Film Society Movement in Kerala- a South Indian state, this paper considers its various and scattered histories. Breaking the movement into three key phases, the study focuses on the cultural transformations in both viewing and production of films that film societies made possible. Criticized, in the early years, for a being an elite group of film aficionados, the subsequent period in the history of the movement acquired a mass movement orientation emerging from an escalating dissatisfaction with the cultural exclusivity of the movement. The dissertation studies the journey of the movement and the ways in which the film society movement marked a rupture in the prevailing cinematic practices in the state. The contemporary period of the movement is studied against the backdrop of technological and cultural experiences of globalization, and the emerging forms of new cinephilia. Through a quest to uncover the cultural project of film societies, I argue that despite the ideological tussles, infrastructural shortfalls, myriads of other cinematic and extra-cinematic challenges, the movement’s involvement in rethinking Malayalam cinema and facilitating a radical film culture in Kerala is indisputable and the journey from a humble effort of a small group of passionate film aficionados to an extensive movement for good cinema has been historic.