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Thursday 24 October 2019

My Curriculum Vite ..


CURRICULUM VITAE



NAME Rahat Saeed Khan Yusufi
ADDRESS ‘Ashramshala’. Panhale. Lanja,
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. 416 701.
NATIONALITY Indian
CELL-PHONE 9960305867
E-MAIL rahat.yusufi@gmail.com
BIRTH November 18, 1946, Lucknow, UP, India
CRAFT Film Making


ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS


B.Sc. University of Allahabad
M.A Aligarh Muslim University
DC (D) Film Institute, Pune

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE


I have been an independent film maker since 1987, making films and videos under the banner of Saramedia Consultants, Bangalore. I have made approximately fifty documentary and short features. Most of the more recent work has been rooted in progressive sociological insight which is in the process of constant renewal. These films have been done on live locations with non-professionals chosen from the field. They have been produced in several Indian languages in various parts of this Country. Having lived worked and travelled extensively in various socio-linguistic & eco-regions have left me with a sort of a mercenary feeling. I am, therefore, staying as Artist in residence here, in a remote village in a school for tribal & nomadic children, who are first generation schooled. During the past five years or so of my stay here, I have received in-depth perceptions of community coherence and produced over fifteen films in DV format, that I can show to people of Konkan as a mirror unto their own ‘human condition’.

RESPONSIBILITIES


To research, write scripts and proposals, visualise and direct shootings, supervise editing and other studio and laboratory based work. Nowadays I shoot with a good DV camera and edit on PC at my rooms, in Panhale. Generate, sift and validate fresh ideas. Solicit support and funding for a specific kind of work and look after productions in all aspects till completion; then distribute DV copies and exhibit from place to place, in Konkan region, South Maharashtra.

ACHIEVEMENTS


My materials are being used by a number of Voluntary Groups in West Bengal, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and more recently, in Karnataka. I have participated in screening sessions and seen the enjoyment with which my films have been received by communities concerned. They have proved to be good catalyser of discussions and / or introspection. I have several National and International awards for cinematic excellence to my credit, apart from the love and joy of sharing my work with people among whom I make my films. I have been actively involved in social, cultural, and ecological movements in India and have successfully articulated their ideals, debates and struggles in film form.

  • I was appointed Professor and Head of Department of Film Direction and Screen writing at the film and TV institute at Pune from June 1982 until June 1987.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Teaching and working with students for a three year specialisation course.

ACHIEVEMENTS: This course of studies was re-instituted at my joining. I was able, therefore, to restructure and update the curriculum with current knowledge to make it challenging and meaningful to the next generation of film makers. I was able to make teaching methodology participatory in nature. For the first time in the history of Film and TV Institute, I was able to take out groups of students to make demonstration films, thereby bridging classroom theory and field experience in practice.


  • In charge of media production at the Centre for Development of Instructional Technology (CENDIT) at New Delhi from March 1980 until June 1982.

RESPONSIBILITIES: CENDIT initiated the idea of using video for community conscientization. I designed and implemented the program in a cluster of ten villages in the adjoining state of UP.

ACHIEVEMENTS: I was able to make participatory, process oriented video films with active support of the communities, show them and include feed back into further work to create a link and a web of communication in the project area. I was able also to de-mystify media for illiterate / semi-literate men and women of the community and receive tremendous response in our conscientization program.

  • Director at the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, from March 1975 until 1980.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Researching, scripting and directing films for the user ministries, mainly Defence and Agriculture. I also attempted social subjects while in employment with the Government.

ACHIEVEMENTS: I was able to travel quite extensively throughout the remote and distant parts of India. Camping and spending plenty of time in different geo-political and eco-regions while on official tours. I was able to create a stylistic difference in the set pattern of documentary / training film of the Films Division. This was recognised in the form of several international awards in specialised film festivals.

  • Collaboration with Mani Kaul on his feature film, ‘Uski Roti’ as assistant director.

RESPONSIBILITIES: To assist the director in all aspects of conceptualising and operationalizing the experiment we were trying out. Scripting and dialogue writing, improvising during shooting and other post shooting work.

ACHIEVEMENTS: Though I cannot claim any individual achievement in this case, I am proud to say that the film was a pioneering experiment at the inception of the New Wave in India and the team involved was making history

MISCELLANEOUS

  • I am a founder member of the trust, Gokul Prakalpa Pratishthan (GPP), an NGO working in Konkan area of Southern Maharashtra. I have done several films with the folk forms of this region and on the efforts of our trust in conservation of local land and human resources.

  • I have been a member of the Governing Council of Film and Television Institute, Pune.

  • I have awards for cinematic excellence from Toronto, Karlovi Veri and Caracow. I also have two National Awards in 1991 for best film on environment. My films have been screened in the prestigious ‘Spectrum India’ section of MIFF, The Mumbai International Short Films Festival and equally prestigious ‘Indian Panorama’, during the International Film Festival of India 1997 at New Delhi and at the Beirut International Film Festival 1997.

  • I have actively participated and conducted development workshops concerning media intervention, visual articulation and community media. I have written and presented papers and delivered lectures often with demonstrations, on Film aesthetics and use of Cinema as medium of communication for the alternative sector. I have helped create a new paradigm for development activism through the use of video among young filmmakers in India.




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