Photos: The magic of rural India’s travelling cinemas
Updated On Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST
Amit Madheshiya’s ‘The Cinema Travellers,’ presented by GALLERYSKE and PHOTOINK in New Delhi, comprises colour portraits of cinema-goers in rural India. A tribute to the fading culture of travelling cinemas, Madheshiya’s images portray simple facial expressions of joy, amusement, melancholy amongst others, making this collection a landscape of myriad emotions.
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Updated on Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST
‘Untitled’ from Amit Madheshiya’s ‘The Cinema Travellers.’ The faces of cinema-goers are lit up by the large screen on which they watch the films. Madheshiya won the World Press Photo in 2011, the World Photography Award in 2009 & 2011, as well as the Grand Prize at the Humanity Photo Awards in 2009 for this work.
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Updated on Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST
‘Untitled’ by Amit Madheshiya. Back in the day, massive tents were hitched to the back of gigantic trucks and films were screened using hand-cranked projectors. Madheshiya’s project is homage to this charming, but dying tradition. (Photograph courtesy Amit Madheshiya / GALLERYSKE & PHOTOINK)
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Updated on Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST
‘Untitled’ by Amit Madheshiya.‘The Cinema Travellers’ began as a photographic series in 2008 and grew into the award winning documentary film by the same name, co-directed with Shirley Abraham. It premiered as an Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival, 2016 to a packed audience. (Photograph courtesy Amit Madheshiya / GALLERYSKE & PHOTOINK)
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Updated on Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST
‘Untitled’ by Amit Madheshiya. Cinephiles of all ages have enjoyed the magic of travelling cinemas, especially in rural India. For nearly seven decades now, these cinemas have been travelling as part of old religious fairs. (Photograph courtesy Amit Madheshiya / GALLERYSKE & PHOTOINK)
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‘Untitled’ by Amit Madheshiya. Says Madheshiya of his initial visits, ‘We did not know what we were seeking. But we found solace bunched up with excited children under a neem tree, where an old man was showing scraps of film on a hand cranked projector.’ (Photograph courtesy Amit Madheshiya / GALLERYSKE & PHOTOINK)
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Updated on Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST
‘Untitled’ by Amit Madheshiya. The uniqueness of this portrait series is how it maps the experience of those who’re part of the receiving end of these film screenings. For them, all that matters is on screen. (Photograph courtesy Amit Madheshiya / GALLERYSKE & PHOTOINK)
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‘Untitled’ by Amit Madheshiya. Soon the travelling cinemas will be history and India will lose an enchanting world of creaky projectors, film cans and fairs to the tech-driven world of digital movies and online streaming. (Photograph courtesy Amit Madheshiya / GALLERYSKE & PHOTOINK)
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Updated on Sep 29, 2017 02:05 PM IST