Films & Media
Still from Makers’ Film Festival by Maker & Smith
Makers’ Film Festival
Special Edition
Maker & Smith present a special edition of the Makers’ Film Festival for the Indian Ceramics Triennale. The 12 short films from 5 countries are compiled in a one-hour program, with films ranging in duration from one to ten minutes. The ceramicists showcased within these moving picture stories muse on the sustainable use of materials, express cultural heritage, explore social and political change, and also make us smile.
Craft on the Big Screen
The film-making and story-telling approaches are as varied as the ceramics practices presented. They uncover traditions, skills, and consequences in a glorious survey of clay object making. Makers wrangle with their creative process, traditions, materials, and tools to produce a form that is as individual as they are. These handmade pieces carry the mark of their maker. They are imbued with humankind. Craft, seen on the big screen, allows us to focus our attention on how we interact with crafted objects. The ceramicists showcased within these moving picture stories muse on the sustainable use of materials, express their cultural heritage, explore social and political change, and also make us smile.
Maker & Smith is an independent craft initiative based in Western Australia. Mary Ellen Cliff is a ceramicist with a background in retail, education and NGO management. Across her career, she has worked as a director for several NGOs including Direct Reach Ethiopia and an independent school, owned and managed a retail store, and has had the privilege of teaching in the remote Western Desert and Pilbara communities in Australia. Mary Ellen lives and works in the town of Denmark on the south coast of Western Australia, where she is an active community member and currently vice-chair of Denmark Arts board. Carola Akindele-Obe is a freelance arts manager based in Perth, Western Australia (WA). She is a founding curator of the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial. Carola holds a BA(Hons) Design from Glasgow School of Art in Embroidered & Woven Textiles, City & Guilds qualifications in basketmaking at the London College of Furniture and studied Master of Arts Administration in Sydney at UNSW. Along the way Carola has collected decades of experience in arts and event management in the UK, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Australia including with the Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Art on Paper Fair, Artopia, Artsource, and Art Collective WA. Scottish by birth and descent, Carola has lived and worked in Australia for over 25 years.
The Lotus and the Swan
Documentary with English subtitles
“Hands destined to mould a thing of beauty“.
Thus wrote James Cousins, eminent writer, of a young Sikh potter he met in Japan in 1922. The film celebrates the life and legacy of Sardar Gurcharan Singh, the father of studio pottery in India. Daddyji, as he came to be fondly called, introduced the underpaid and undervalued craft of pottery to the imagination of the Indian masses with plates, jugs and teapots, ensuring that colour and beauty are accessible to everybody.
Director: Nirmal Chander
Producer: Delhi Blue Pottery Trust
Nirmal Chander has worked in the field of non-fiction for the last three decades as an editor, director and producer. He has directed more than 10 documentaries and has over thirty editing credits. His films have traveled to many international festivals, winning multiple awards. Some of his films have been telecast on BBC Online and Indian TV channels such as NDTV and Doordarshan. He is the recipient of three National Film Awards from the President of India for excellence in cinema and his documentary Moti Bagh was an Oscar entry from India in 2019.
MRIN
A Journal of Indian Ceramic Art
The third issue of Mrin devoted to India’s terracotta traditions was released at the Indian Ceramics Triennale, by Naman Ahuja and Ashok Vajpeyi.
Mrin is a bi-annual magazine edited by Kristine Michael and Shampa Shah and established by The Indian Ceramic Art Foundation, a non profit organisation aimed at promoting knowledge, engagement and appreciation of ceramic arts through establishing networks among the artist community, educators, designers, collectors, patrons, students, museums and traditional craftsmen. The founder members of ICAF are Khanjan Dalal, Falguni Bhatt, Madhur Sen, Shampa Shah, Sandeep Manchekar, and Vilasini Reddy and the Advisory Panel are Dipalee Daroz and Kristine Michael.
