Prior to the film there will be a sitar performance by internationally acclaimed sitarist Jonathan Mayer, and a pre-recorded introduction by guest curator Anupma Shanker.
Adapted by the British American novelist and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from her Booker Prize-winning novel, and winner of Best Screenplay at the 1983 BAFTAs, Heat and Dust is a sensual and evocative Merchant Ivory classic that traces the intertwined stories of two English women living in India more than fifty years apart.
Anne (Julie Christie), a young historical researcher, inherits letters written by her great aunt Olivia (Greta Scacchi) and becomes obsessed with their revelations of her past in colonial India. Flitting between the present-day and the 1920s, examines the parallel journeys of self-discovery of the two women, as well as the eternal, seductive allures of the mystical wonder that is India.
Anupma Shanker is a British-Indian film curator and archives researcher with a deep and evolving interest in marginalised and minority screen narratives from, of and about the past. Her curatorial practice is focused on bringing to light films and filmmakers that remain overlooked, inaccessible and undiscovered but can offer valuable insight, wisdom and guidance in contextualizing the difficult but urgent discourses about the myths and realities of shared/contested histories, heritage, identities and memories.
Jonathan Mayer
Son of the late Kolkata composer John Mayer, Jonathan began his musical training at the early age of 5. His teachers have included Clem Alford (the first ever European sitar player), Pandit Subroto Roychowdhury of Senia Gharana and Wajahat Khan (direct descendent of Mia Tansen the great musician, one of the nine jewels in Moghul court of Emperor Akbar). Jonathan has performed all over the world and his works have been performed and commissioned by The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Docklands Sinfonia, among others. Jonathan is the co-founder of First Hand Records Ltd and Artistic Director of Zeroclassikal.
