Cinemaya, the world's first and only journal totally devoted to promotion of Asian cinema, has now completed fifteen years of its existence after having established milestones along its long journey. And the success achieved by it has also gained international recognition.
In June 2002, the Pompidou Centre in Paris chose to recognize this effort in a special tribute. ‘Rendezvous with Cinemaya' was marked with the screening of some Asian classics. These include Ritwik Ghatak's 'Subarnarekha', father of Indian cinema D. G. Phalke's 'Shri Krishna', Mizoguchi's 'La Marche de Tokyo' and 'Chinoiseries' made in 1920.
Ms Aruna Vasudev, the founder and Chief Editor of Cinemaya, was also chosen by the French Government last year to receive the Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Arts and Letters. Created in 1957, the award is for ‘people who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the artistic or literary domain, or by their contribution to the spread of arts and literature in France and in the world.’ This decoration is rarely given, and then only to artistes of prestige.
For Aruna, it was a special occasion as she has an attachment to France that goes back many years. It was in France that she studied cinema and then completed her PhD on ‘Censorship in Indian Cinema’.
{{/usCountry}}For Aruna, it was a special occasion as she has an attachment to France that goes back many years. It was in France that she studied cinema and then completed her PhD on ‘Censorship in Indian Cinema’.
{{/usCountry}}A fluent speaker of French, Aruna is also an active member of the Indo-French Initiative Forum and has been contributing to cooperation between the two countries in the field of cinema. She has also authored or co-authored several books including ‘Indian Cinema Superbazaar’ (edited with Philippe Lenglett), ‘Liberty and Licence in Indian Cinema’,
‘The New Indian Cinema’, ‘Frames of mind: Reflections on Indian cinema’ and ‘Being & Becoming: The Cinemas of Asia’ edited by Aruna Vasudev, Latika Padgaonkar and Rashmi Doraiswamy which was released in 2002.
The tribute is the fulfillment of a long and sometimes arduous journey. For since 1988 when she first established Cinemaya, Aruna has led a veritable combat to keep the flag of Asian cinema - in which she always believed - flying. Apart from the fact that many in the west and even within Asia realized the potential of Asian cinema through the pages of Cinemaya, the movement slowly spread and led to the foundation of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC), and Asian Film centres in all Asian countries.
And five years ago, Cinemaya attained another milestone when CINEFAN – the annual Delhi Festival of Asian Cinema - was born and went on to become an institution as it increased in strength from year to year with an increasing number of films and venues each time.
NETPAC, established in 1990 at the quarterly's initiative to promote Asian cinema, gives away awards to Asian films at prominent International Film Festivals and introduced this in Delhi at the Third CINEFAN last year.
Asian cinema has emerged as perhaps the most vibrant force for creating a cultural affinity and identity, with more countries in Asia and all over the world.