Lines of Control Workshop

Contemporary films from South Asia are usually associated with certain markers: colourful, loud, over-the-top, song-and-dance routines, action, drama, and romance. That is true to a certain extent, especially if one were to look at Bollywood or Kollywood in the North and South of India respectively. Yet war films carry those markers too: soldiers are born entertainers, they can sing and dance and fight and thus become perfect vessels for state propaganda.

In his SİNEMAplural project Lines of Control, Schayan Riaz invites participants to critically engage with war films and the idea that in South Asia, war films aren’t necessarily anti-war, but instead glorify the idea of dying for your country. Sharing examples from India and Pakistan in particular, the first part of the project is a workshop exploring propaganda in South Asian cinema: How is state propaganda subversively conveyed through ‘lighter’, more entertaining fare? How as a viewer could one unmask it, and is that even necessary? And how to write or speak about propaganda as a film critic in times of rising authoritarianism?

Schayan Riaz is a film critic and scholar from Berlin. His work has appeared in various publications such as the Berliner Zeitung, Qantara, VICE, Dawn Pakistan and others. He is currently Managing Editor of the Berlin-based online magazine the Diasporist and is participating in the SİNEMAplural Film Mediation Fellowship at SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA.

The workshop is free, but please register online. Link