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Spinning Wheel Must Spawn Too
 If
only we read the self-description on the official website of the
festival, www.nyadff.org, we will realise how many similarities exist
between the way the Black communities are trying to understand their
marginalisation in the medium of cinema and the perception among the
Sikhs at how little is said or understood correctly about the community
through the medium of cinema.
"Today more than at any other time there are more films by black
directors, more films on the black experience, and more films with
featured black actors enjoyed by all audiences. Notwithstanding, the
international Black communities, whether in Europe, Latin America or
Africa, continue to play a disproportionately marginal role in the art
of cinema," the Festival organizers say on the website. Is the situation
of the Sikh community any different. But for the saving grace of the
Spinning Wheel Film Festival, there is little that has been done in the
name of telling the Sikh story to the wider world.
Name one film that tells the world about the community's bravery in
fending off the attacks from Ahmed Shah Abdali? The story of Banda
Bahadur has not inspired any Mumbayiya film director to tell it
cinematially. Too many creative and visionary films lay languid,
collecting dust without the light of a screening owing to the lack of
distribution outlets that showcase the films of our experience. The Sikh
community is currently celebrating the passion and finesse with which 'Amu'
has been made. It is all very well, but thee truth remains that 'Amu'
too is a linear simplistic reading of a very very complex situation.
Just as Spinning Wheel Film Festival and the ADFF present films about
the concerned minorities to diverse audiences, irrespective of the the
filmmaker’s race or nationality, there is need for the Sikhs to launch
several such initiatives in various regions of the world. Iconisation of
a trend is more welcome than iconizing just one Spinning Wheel. It must
Spin as well as spawn more.
28 November, 2007
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