Summary
Students watch cross-cultural and contemporary movies and engage in online discussions
The club has launched a digital calendar for 2022 with stills from films
The Garden High School Film Club has gone virtual during the pandemic, screening movies and holding online discussions.
The Garden High Film Club was started on July 15, 2016, to familiarise students with all kinds of cinema — from parallel to post-World War II, from neorealism to Soviet cinema and more.
“Garden High Film Club aims to expose the students to a world of quality films. Students are encouraged to watch, discuss and review films with peer groups and teachers. This teaches them to appreciate people and their diverse ways, thus gaining insight into different societies and cultures. It encourages them to think critically and freely share their perspectives. This engaging activity increases their confidence to speak and express their views. It is a pleasure to see them interact after every screening,” said Rajashri Biswas, principal, Garden High School.
Membership is open to students of Classes VIII to XII. Members are taken in the start of every academic year in April. Owing to a shift to the virtual mode, membership for the year 2021-22 was limited to 30 members on a first-cum-first-served basis. Staff members of the school are also active participants in the club’s activities.
International movie screenings
Digital technology has ensured easy access to a world of films. The club screens critically acclaimed movies and encourages students to have healthy discussions, debates and engagements around them. Students are not only introduced to cross-cultural cinema but also get to learn about the history of cinema and contemporary trends. The club marks and celebrates special events such as centenaries or anniversaries of movies or directors as well.
Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight and other international classics that reflect upon the socio-political-cultural nuances of different times are screened. Students are exposed to the works of Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), Federico Fellini (La Strada, 1954), and Akira Kurosawa (Dreams, 1990). They have watched and discussed filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries, 1957), Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, 1995), Andrei Tarkovsky (Ivan’s Childhood, 1962) and, of course, Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali, 1955).
“I have been an active member of the Garden High Film Club since September 2021. I have been attending the online movie screening sessions twice a month. I had not been an avid cinema viewer before. Within these few months, my knowledge of cinema from various parts of the world and the style of so many outstanding directors have increased considerably. Little did I know before that Vittorio De Sica’s landmark film, The Bicycle Thief, had influenced Satyajit Ray into making another landmark movie, Pather Panchali. At Garden High Film Club, teachers and students watch and discuss films together. With so many different people, many different ideas are bound to come up. It has taught me to be broad-minded and encourages me to appreciate all perspectives without judging them,” said Anusha Chowdhury, a Class VIII student, who is a member of the club.
Continuing online
The pandemic could not dampen the enthusiasm of the film club members. Zoom is used to share the movies with all the participants on alternate Thursdays every month, barring public holidays. This is followed by individual discussions replacing group-wise written reports.
The students are encouraged to talk about what they liked about the movie, what did not work for them, things they wished were differently portrayed, if they can relate to the movie on a personal level, any particular moment or sequence that struck a chord.
The members of the club have also come up with a digital calendar for 2022. “Jafar Panahi’s The White Balloon, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and Terence Young’s Wait Until Dark are among my favourites among them movies screened. The digital calendar was a collaborative effort by the members of the club and made with the stills of different films that have been screened every month. It has received appreciation from film-makers Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shyam Benegal,” said Avyudoy Nath, a Class VIII student of Garden High School.
Last updated on 31 Jan 2022
