6 programmes on education of mentally handicapped
children;
1 on smokeless 'chula';
1 on participation of women in water and sanitation
project in Uttar Pradesh;
8 programmes made by Chitrabani students;
1 based on the book MEDIATION by Gaston Roberge
16 mm FILMS
2 for Satellite Instructional Television
Experiment (SITE);
1 on Pilkhana children;
4 ten minute films by Chitrabani students.
TELEVISION
In collaboration with Audio Visual Research
Centre (then part of Chitrabani, and now an independent
institution under EMRC), and Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata,
Chitrabani produced a series of 93 spots on AIDS and HIV
in 1994.
The spots lasting one to three minutes
each,had several formats in order to make them interesting
to different age groups. This comprehensive package
is available to NGOs and governmental bodies working
with AIDS and HIV. Private channels interested in
telecasting these spots could contact the Director.
Chitrabani is considering a proposal to offer
tailor-made spots on AIDS to interested NGOs and government
departments.
AUDIO CASSETTES
Over the years, Chitrabani has produced
several audio cassettes, mainly in the fields of devotional
and folk categories.
Some of the more popular devotional cassettes were
dealing with
•
Christmas and Easter
•
Ram Kumar Chatterjee
•
Songs of Jeevan Dhara Ashram, Jaiharikhal,
Himalayas.
BOOKS
BOOKS ON COMMUNICATION
by Gaston Roberge have formulated the philosophy and
pedagogy of Chitrabani.
A few of the Chitrabani Publications are mentioned
below :
1)
CHITRA BANI : A book on
film appreciation with a preface by Satyajit Ray,
Calcutta, Chitrabani, 1974
Rs. 25.00 (Out of Print)
2)
Mass Communication and Man
(shorter edition of Chitra Bani) Allahabad: St. Paul
Society, 1974.
Rs. 8.00 (Out of print)
3)
Films for an Ecology of Mind,
Essays on realism in the cinema, Calcutta:
Firma KLM (P) Ltd.
1978. Rs. 25.00
4)
Mediation, the action
of the media in our society, New Delhi: Manohar
Book Service, 1978.
Rs. 100.00
5)
Eisenstein's IVAN THE TERRIBLE
: An Analysis. Calcutta : Chitrabani, 1980.
Hard cover Rs. 120.00
Paperback Rs. 96.00
6)
Manab Aur Samuha Samachar
(Hindi translation of Mass Communication and Man).
Indore : Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra, 1980.
Rs. 12.00.
7)
Cinemar Katha (Bengali
translation of Chitra Bani). Calcutta : Bani Shilpa,
1984. Second Edition, 1995
Rs. 100.00
8)
Natun Cinemar Sandhane
(Bengali translation of Another Cinema for Another
Society). Calcutta : Bani Shilpa, 1984.
Rs. 28.00
9)
Another Cinema for Another Society,
Calcutta : Seagull Books, 1985. Second Edition: 2005: INR
150.00
10)
Swasthyakarmir Sahayika
(Bengali). Calcutta : Chitrabani & CINI, 1985. A manual
for health workers.
Rs. 50.00.
11)
Swasthya sevika ki sahayak pustak
(Hindi). Calcutta : Chitrabani & CINI, 1989. Hindi
version of manual for health workers.
Rs. 75.00
12)
The Subject of Cinema,
Calcutta : Seagull Books, 1990. Second Edition: 2005: INR
150.00
13)
The Ways of Film Studies, Film
Theory and the Interpretation of Films, Delhi
: Ajanta Books International, 1991.
Rs. 125.00
14)
Communication Cinema Development.
From Morosity to Hope.( Received a National
Award (special mention) at the 46th National Film
Festival of India, 1999. [Also available in Bengali]
Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 1998
Hard Cover: INR 450.00
PAPERBACK: INR 250.00
Encounters with Civilizations:
From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa: a
collection of essays by Gëzim
Alpion and edited by Gaston Roberge. Published
by Meteor Books in association with St. Xavier's College,
Kolkata. 2007. Rs.
18)
Satyajit Ray: a collection
of the
articles by Gaston Roberge on Ray from 1970 to 2005.Price
(hard cover only) 695 Indian Rupees /
Euro 12.5
ISBN 81-7304-735-9
Published by Manohar Publishers, Delhi
Distributor: Sarat Book House (Academic Booksellers)
18B, Shyama Charan Dey Street, Kolkata-700 073
Cyberbani
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Cyberbani
is introduced as a contribution to a "pedagogy
of the media-oppressed". For, while the new communication
media promise to deliver extraordinary benefits to
humankind, in fact, they are used in such a way as
to exclude the majority of our brothers and sisters
from those benefits. Moreover, the same media are
used to maintain the poor in subjection the better
to exploit them as laborers and consumers.
Twenty
years ago, the Author had written Another Cinema for
Another Society (Seagull Books) proposing a militant
program for another cinema committed to the building
up of another society. Now, in the context of the
new, electronic, cybernetic, digital media, Cyberbani
proposes a militant program of media education, starting
with media awareness and leading to collective action
in cyberclubs. The aim is to bring about cultural
revolutions.
Review
Cyberbani:
the Manifesto for Revolution
Cyberbani: Being a Human in the New
Media Environment, Gaston Roberge, Gujarat Sahitya
Prakash, P.B. 70, Anand - 3800 001, Guajarat, pp.
x +208, 2005, price = Rs.250.00
This is a dangerous book! It sows the seeds of a revolution
as cataclysmic, if not more than the Communist Revolution
in the twentieth century which promised the triumph
of the proletariat. The author who lives in Kolkata
for the last 45 years has absorbed, seemingly by osmosis,
the tenets of Marxian socialism and boldly exposes
the subtle media creed of the kingdom which promises
to deliver extraordinary benefits to the global masses,
yet exclude the majority of our brothers and sisters
from those media benefits.
The author further shows how the same media are used
to maintain the poor in subjection the better to exploit
them as labourers and consumers. He also adds a fresh
role to the classical media functions, saying media
"inform, educate, entertain and advertise."
(p.31).
Exposing contemporary communications theories, the
author denounces four harmful ones: 1) Popular media
programs do not come within the academic purview;
2) The image is inferior to the word; 3) Modernism
and Television; and 4) the glance theory or 'people
do not watch television attentively'. (pp. 102-107)
The author further presents a new class of people
- the precariat. They don't have (and mostly don't
want) long-term jobs, and so are deprived of basic
social rights such as maternity or sick leave or the
luxury of paid holidays. They are hirable on demand,
available on call, exploitable at will, and fireable
at whim." (p. 60)
In the present volume, the author deviates from Aristotelian
philosophy and Thomistic Theology killing several
holy cows and shattering myths like "everything
ought to be seen in the light of reason" or "democracy
is the only desirable form of social organization
and all peoples should strive for it" (p.182).
These are pseudo-absolute realities subsumed under
the name modernity. The problem, the author says,
people who "believe" in modernity expect
all other people to evolve and become modern.
On the practical side, the author provides definitions
for 42 (often pairs of words) cyber terms starting
with Analog/Digital to Web and Internet. (p.21). A
four page questionnaire (p.117-120) helps profile
the reader as a media user.
Including an essay on modern day religion called Mediasports
by Siddharth Kochar, as well as a note on precarity
by Patrice Riemens and five orginal graphics by Priya
Biyani are genuine signs of author's solidarity with
the precariat strengthening the belief and pointing
the right direction for cyberclub revolution…
Keeping
with the earlier work The Faithful Witness
(1999), the author has maintained the HTML style in
book layout and design. This book is bound to fire
your imagination and seek out like minded people in
the cyberclub!
C.M.Paul
NEW
BOOKS Encounters with Civilizations:
from Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa
a
collection of essays by Gëzim Alpion and edited
by Gaston Roberge. Published by Meteor Books in
association with St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
2007.
Globalization
has brought an increased awareness of the interconnectedness
of cultures, while a historical awareness shows the
hubris involved in any presumption of a privileged
centre. Dr. Gëzim Alpion is the ideal companion
in travels across and within cultures. He brings a
sensitive humanism and the eye of an acute scholar
to address diverse issues of cross-cultural understanding
in divided worlds. These essays will be necessary
reading.' John Holmwood, Professor of Sociology, University
of Birmingham, UK
'Academics
today are expected to specialize in a subject and
not attempt to address big issues so it's refreshing
to find Dr. Gëzim Alpion bringing an acute intelligence
and critical eye to the question of civilization;
what it means and how identity is shaped by religion,
place, culture and society. His work is augmented
by a foreword and two essays from the editor of the
anthology, Professor Gaston Roberge, whose own encounters
with civilizations bring an added depth to this account
of a journey of discovery.' Brian Shoesmith, Professor of Media Studies
and Journalism, University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh/Edith
Cowan University, Perth, Australia.
Amidst
talks about clashes of civilizations this book brings
a message of hope; civilizations can co-exist, but
not if some are written off as footnotes while others
impose themselves as the norm. The fifteen articles
included in this book will serve as essential reading
for scholars, students and general readers who are
interested in encountering the 'other' without prejudice.
The
Author
Gëzim Alpion is Lecturer in Sociology and Media
Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. He received
a PhD from the University of Durham, UK, in 1997.
His works include Vouchers (2001), Foreigner Complex
(2002), If Only the Dead Could Listen (2006), and
Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? (Routledge, 2007).
The
Editor
Gaston Roberge, M.A. Theatre Arts (UCLA), was born
in Montreal, Canada, in 1935. Since 1961 he lives
in Kolkata where he teaches Film and Communication
at St. Xavier's College. One of his books, Communication
Cinema Development (Manohar, 1998), won an award at
the National Film Festival of India in 1999..
