Bird of Dusk
A docu-feature on the iconic Bengali writer-director Rituparno Ghosh. Drawing from archival material to film clips and interviews, the film is based largely on Ghosh’s personal memoirs First Person.
Interviews with a large host of stars (Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen, Konkona Sen, Arjun Rampal, Prosenjit, Nandita Das) throw light on the extraordinary life and filmography of this polymath artist. Shot over a year in Kolkata, the film is also about the relation between the artist and his intimate relation with his city. Ghosh’s later radical stance on gender neutral identity or gender fluidity made his films far more political and personally invested. He was the first Indian filmmaker to step out and flaunt his queer identity thereby triggering a revolution for the contemporary generation.
Director
Sangeeta Datta is a writer-film/theatre director-singer working between India and UK.
Her award winning productions include Life Goes On (feature film with Sharmila Tagore, Om Puri, Soha Ali Khan) The Dying Song and Gitanjali 100 (musical).
She has completed her documentary on Rituparno Ghosh – Bird of Dusk (2017) which is on the international film festival circuit and a short film on Sister Nivedita (Margaret Noble) for the Nivedita Museum. She was Creative Producer on the six part series Tuning to You (SD Arts 2016) telecast on Channel 4, UK.
Her documentary The Way I See It (on Indian women filmmakers) premiered at Creteil Film Festival (France) and travelled widely in the festival circuit. Her dance-film project The Wife’s Letter was commissioned by Dance UK. Her short film Letter from an Ordinary Girl (Sadharan Meye) has a contemporary take on Tagore’s famous poem.
Her books on cinema include Shyam Benegal; World Director Series (BFI) Rituparno Ghosh: Cinema, Art and Gender (Routledge) Essential Indian Films (forthcoming). She has numerous publications on Film and Literature in international academic journals.
A trained Rabindrasangeet singer, Sangeeta performs regularly and her recent concerts include the hugely acclaimed Independence Gala at Royal Festival Hall, London, Tagore’s Travelling Trunk at Cadogan Hall and the very popular concert series ANANT collaboration with Javed Akhtar and Soumik Datta (music published by Zee Music).
She is director of the arts company BAITHAK UK which promotes, dialogue, debate and new work from performing arts, literature and film. This year BAITHAK presented a highly acclaimed panel on Indian Cinema at BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television) featuring Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi and Farhan Akhtar.
A Ph D in English Literature, Sangeeta has many years of teaching and curating experience behind her both in India and in London. She curates film seasons at British Film Institute and is a cultural commentator on radio and TV.
Festivals/Awards
New York Indian Film Festival, London Indian Film Festival