This post graduate diploma course prepares its students to emerge as creative and confident individuals who have an excellent command of various aspects of filmmaking. It is designed as a unique programme that adopts a comprehensive and holistic approach to teaching and learning. What are its different avatars? The multiplicity of forms within this broad term is overwhelmingly diverse and rich. Wh
at are the boundaries between fiction and documentary? Are these boundaries clear or blurred? Do these terms need to be re-understood and re-invented? The course aims to inculcate skills that are equally useful for `documentary’ or `fiction’ or anything in between or beyond! The form of documentary has transcended older and more limited definitions several decades back, in India and across the world. It is no longer just about interviews and hand held camera movements! It was in the 1920s that John Grierson defined documentary as ` a creative treatment of actuality’. For us today, in whatever way we choose to interpret this definition, a documentary remains a creative act. It is a cinematic expression—subjective, and rich in potential. How do we engage, as human beings and as filmmakers to our personal, social and political realities? How do we perceive the world? How does our perception influence the perceived? How do we understand what we see? The course encourages students to work with image, sound, time and space in ways that are innovative and exploratory. It seeks to develop a keen sense of listening and observation, instill meticulous research skills and open up the mind to go beyond the tried and tested into the realm of new possibilities. Exposure to world cinema is an integral part of the course. An active and engaged viewing culture coupled with personal mentoring creates an environment that enables students to evolve their own practice. Course duration: Two Years
