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aruna
vasudev
A well known filmmaker and film critic Aruna Vasudev is one of the world’s foremost authorities
on Asian cinema. With a PhD in film studies from the University of Paris she is a Founder-
President of NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), Founder-Director of
Cinefan, Festival of Asian Cinema, (now Ossian’s-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema)
and Founder-Editor of Cinemaya, The Asian Film Quarterly besides being a Trustee of the Public
Service Broadcasting Trust, India and Forum for Art Beyond Borders, India and a talented artist.
Her petite paintings with ink-soaked brush work in an East Asian oeuvre reverberate around
nature that engages most of her time currently. Her art work has been exhibited together with
French photographer Bernice Ellena at the Alliance Françoise Gallery in Delhi and she was
a part of a four artists group show Sumi-reflections recently. A recipient of the Chevalier des
Arts et des Letters; and the Star of Italian Solidarity, she has authored books on Indian Cinema
and has been a jury member in Cannes (Camera d’Or), Locarno, Thessaloniki, Singapore, Fajr
(Tehran), Karlovy Vary, Istanbul, Antalya, Hawaii, Jeonju (Korea), Tallinn (Estonia) and many
other international events and has been honoured with the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Award
for women.
Aruna Vasudev: I have always loved the image. I have spent hours in museums
looking at art, I dabbled in photography, then took up cinema with total
commitment.
When I chanced upon sumi-e painting it seemed a natural corollary to Haiku which
I had always loved, and Zen philosophy which had long fascinated me. I never
dreamt of painting myself but it was as if I had been waiting for sumi-e. When I
ground the ink, took up the brush, made one line on the exquisite rice paper, I knew
this was something I had to do.
Heaven’s Grace | 16.5” x 12” | Ink & Watercolor on handmade paper | 2011
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