Dancing the Fine Print
Ranjini's PhD project is a practice-based inquiry into how the practice and performance of Indian classical dance replicates socio-religious hierarchies within India. In this short film, she examines how the newspaper became a site on which the dancing body was disciplined into a bodily carriage which must adhere to aesthetics determined by the dominant caste practitioners of dance. These words carried in the paper nudged the "classically trained" dancing body into a comportment which was considered to be morally befitting of the nation, disenfranchising hereditary practitioners of dance in the process.
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Louis NorrisDirector
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Ranjini NairWriter
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Selen Etingu-BreslawProducer
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Project Type:Documentary, Short, Student
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Genres:Documentary, Dance
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Runtime:3 minutes
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Completion Date:January 24, 2023
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Production Budget:4,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:India, United Kingdom
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes - University of Cambridge
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Cambridge Creative EncountersCambridge, UK
March 16, 2023
World Premiere -
AEI Film Festival (Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Film Festival of Cyprus)Nicosia
Cyprus
July 19, 2023
Official Selection -
Small Axe Radical Short Film AwardsChepstow
United Kingdom
August 4, 2023
Official Selection -
knOwBOXSeoul and Oaxaca
Korea, Republic of
October 14, 2023
Official Selection
Louis Norris is a filmmaker from London. His short films have been shown at festivals worldwide (including PÖFF Black Nights, London Short Film Festival, BFI Future Film Festival and Norwegian Short Film Festival), and have won a number of awards. Louis is also one half of 'Moving House', a film production company specialising in short documentaries about architecture that mesh together interviews and dance.
Ranjini Nair is a professional Kuchipudi dancer, building a practice-based methodology to research aesthetics as a politico-cultural choice in the making of Indian classical dance. She's currently doing a PhD at the University of Cambridge. Her research forms the basis of this film, which is a collaboration facilitated by Cambridge Creative Encounters.