Mr Catra from Soeasy on Vimeo.

 
Film Summary: Backed by a massive sound inferno of peak-volume bass and beats, Mr Catra sings about life in the favelas, about the ongoing wars with other criminal gangs and the military police, about sex and about hope for the future. Baile Funk is programmed on cheap equipment with powerful impact. It cannibalizes the lo-bit-sound and simplistic beatprogramming of early electro and hip-hop, the bootyshaking crudeness of miami bass, the syncopated energy and melodic sensuality of brazilian samba, and combines it with harsh sounding, yet rhythmically refined Portuguese raps.
 
Mr Catra’s lyrics are so explicit that the Brazilian police have coined the term Funk Proibido and have outlawed this particular genre of Baile Funk. According to Mr Catra, however, his music is only reflecting the reality of the favelas.
 
This film offers you an insight into a unique part of Rio de Janeiro that the official Brazilian society abstains from acknowledging. Poverty-ridden and druglord-controlled, the favelas, for the most part, are totally inaccessible to cameras. This film is the exception.
 

 

 
Dates: May-June-July
 
Fridays (3-6pm) and Saturdays (11-2pm)
 
Workshops will preferably be conducted on these days, but it can be flexible and date changes can be decided by the participants and teacher.
 
 
Cost: Rs. 5,000
 
Where: Sattya Media Arts Collective
 
Scholarship: Limited Scholarships available
 
Language: English, Hindi, Nepali are spoken by the instructor. Women who can speak at least one of those can apply. Literacy not required.
 
Target Participants: Women who are interested in learning about using photography for telling stories of social issues. No previous experience required. Participants can be activists, shopkeepers, social workers, farmers, mothers, etc.
 
Goal: This workshop aims at teaching photography to women as a medium to tell compelling stories.
 
Description: Photography is a very powerful tool to convey emotions, ideas, narratives, messages, and tell stories.
 
Nepal has many women who have dynamic stories to tell, but do not have a channel to communicate them. This workshop will not only teach them how to capture strong images, but also make them confident and empowered.
 
This workshop will teach participants the basic technicalities of operating a camera, aesthetics of photography, and more. Through regular fieldtrips and critique sessions, the students will learn how to tell their story through images.
 
The workshop aim is to have each participant produce a photo story to be exhibited at the end of the course.
 
The workshop will cover:

• The basic technicalities of operating the camera
• Exposure
• Composition
• Lighting
• Lenses
• The aesthetics of photography
•  How to document a story
•  How to be comfortable while shooting people
•  How to self-critique images

 
About the Instructor: Mithila Jariwala
Mithila started her career as a travel and documentary photographer; she is now bending towards social documentary photography and photojournalism.
 
Having lived in four countries and travelled to 11, she has not only experienced different cultures and surreal beauty of various countries, but also witnessed poverty, social injustice, lack of infrastructure and political imbalance. These experiences are leading her to move towards social documentary photography, where she is committed to highlight these issues in a positive visual.
 
Her photography has been exhibited in India, Singapore and London and her works have been published in several magazines around South East Asia, India and Nepal. Her work has also been published in the Sony World Photography Awards Winner’s book, 2012.
 
Currently she is working as a Freelance Photographer in Nepal, working on several projects, of which she is most looking forward to conducting her workshop with Sattya.
 
“We chose this unique concept of teaching Social Documentary Photography to Women in Nepal, who can use it as a medium to tell compelling stories. I can’t wait to start this workshop and be surprised by the stories that will transpire through it.”
 

Come celebrate Sattya’s 2nd anniversary with the grand opening of Hariyo Chowk.

It’s been 2 years since Sattya opened its doors and Hariyo Chowk has been over a year in the making.

Bring your friends to watch some videos and eat some pizza!

We’ve been building and growing since then thanks to volunteers, interns, donors, staff and neighbors.

Now it’s time to officially open our gates to the community as a space “where art, design, and garden grow!

We finished construction and we’re going to celebrate with a film screening, drinks, and pizza baked in our own mudbrick oven.

Come learn about Sattya and projects like Hariyo Chowk, Kolor Kathmandu and Bato Ko Cinema.

Come see the resources Hariyo Chowk can offer folks in Kathmandu:

• arena for outdoor film screenings
• space available for workshops and art exhibits
• mudbrick oven for cooking pizza, etc.
• briquette machine for fueling the oven and fire pit
• bamboo greenhouse for vertical gardening
• garden beds full of locally-sourced succulents, herbs, vegetables and fruits
• a cycle-powered electricity generator
• a rain-collection system
• a compost bin

Happening at: Hariyo Chowk, April 27th (Saturday), 5pm onwards

 
Cost: 1,000 Rs.
 
Scholarship: 3 Scholarships available for 500 Rs. each. If you are interested in a scholarship, please email Shreyans (shreyans@sattya.org) for more information.
 
Where: Sattya Media Arts Collective
 
 
Description:
Photos, hands, scissors, action!  
This workshop is about going back to what people did when there was no Photoshop or computers: to play with photos physically. In this workshop, we will explore different ways in which to have fun with our photos while putting them to use, whether in making a collage, a mobile, light boxes, scrapbooks, covering objects, and other experimental ways in which to display our photos, making them more interesting to look at for any particular audience, including yourself.
 
Get those photos out of that hard drive and let them shine!
 
 
What you’ll get out of this workshop:
-Enhance thought about posible uses for the photos we take
-Explore new ways in which to display our photos
-Practice our artistic skills through our photographic skills
-Have fun with our hands and our photos simultaneously
 
 
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is for those who take a lot of photos and want to explore differnet, eclectic ways to display them, and also for those who dont necessarily take a lot of photos but wish to play with their hands! And both combined!
 
 
About the teacher:
Ana Carrizo is a photographer and cultural activist, born and raised in Panama City, Panama. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Socio-cultural antropology from Pitzer College, with a minor in analog photography. She’s worked at Panama City’s renown contemporary art gallery, Arteconsult, for the past year, as fundraiser for the gallery’s FundAHrte foundation for artistic education. She has curated collective photography shows during university in California, as well as some shows for emerging artists in Panama City. Her first solo show was in June 2012, called “Haasnus Na: Faces and Stories of Nepal,” which portayed analog photographs taken and developed while living in Nepal in 2009. One of her personal life missions is to make sure analog photography never dies.
 
 

!!THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELED. Sorry for the Inconvenience.!!

Cross-Cultural Documentary Storytelling Workshop

Nataša Muntean

This workshop introduces students to the techniques, concepts and theories of documentary, with particular emphasis on the theoretical and practical aspects of film production. The aim of the workshop is to help students develop a critical understanding and appreciation of the documentary form. By thoroughly integrating theory and practice in this workshop, students will develop the tools to produce informed, intelligent and creative films and contribute directly to critical cultural practice. The workshop is illustrated through the use of real life examples and numerous case studies (Kieślowski, Longinotto, Seidl, Herzog, Barker, Buñuel, Trinh Minh-­‐ha, and many others).

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for people who have some experience with documentary and have an interest in exploring the subject on a deeper level. This workshop will require a serious time commitment for its duration (5 days), so please apply only if you are willing and able to come to each session.
Workshop will cover:

• What is documentary?
• ‘Recording reality’ and ‘truth-­‐making’
• Choosing a subject
• Dramaturgy (dramatic arc from Aristotle to Freytag, new forms)
• What makes a really good story?
• Ethics of representation
• Ethical dilemmas in documentary filmmaking (financial pressure, sharing decision making, paying film’s subjects, editing and manipulation,deception, use of archival material, cultural and language barriers, etc.)
• How to write a script for documentary (practical exercise
• Approach (working with subjects/characters, responsibility to the subject)
• How to tell a story?  (Narration, voice-­‐over, informal interactions, interviews)
• Telling a story visually (awareness of the technical/aesthetic components of documentary and their impact on interpretation and meaning, the look of the film, framings and their meanings; learn to convince visually)
• Before the shoot (preparing for the shoot, shot list, crew dynamics)
• Politics, ethics and aesthetics of social issue documentary (characteristics and intentions of political films and how questions of culture, identity and social change can be adequately represented in the medium of film vs. how they are usually represented, investigate the representations of the “Third World” and its peoples/histories in Western cinema and media; stereotypes)

Screenings + Discussion:

• Short award-­winning animated films
• Examples of different documentary aesthetics
• Documentaries covering Nepal, India, Africa
• News coverage of Africa
• National Geographic’s representations of the “Third World”
• European views of Nepal
• European views of Europe
• Nepali views of Europe

Dates: April 10-14
Time:10-5 (with break for lunch)

About the Teacher

Nataša Muntean (born in Serbia, lives in Norway) is a documentary film director, producer, and editor at LUNAM DOCS (www.lunamdocs.com) dedicated to creative documentary filmmaking on social issues around the world, with special focus on children rights. Her documentaries have been screened at over 100 international film festivals, received more than 40 awards, one of them being the UNICEF Award for Children Rights, and have been aired on major TV networks worldwide. Her documentaries have been used for educational purposes in thousands of elementary and high schools around the world.

The great support and the feedback of the international public to her documentaries motivated Nataša to establish the PUNAM FUND, aiming at collecting money for the most imperilled children workers. One of the goals of the PUNAM FUND is to replace brick factories, and stone quarries with classrooms, i.e. to create conditions for a better future for the imperilled children from Bhaktapur, Nepal through education.

Nataša graduated from the University of Arts in Bucharest, Romania, Department of Photography and Video in 2001, and received a Masters degree from the University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, Department of Photography in 2008, with her thesis titled “Aesthetics of Socially Engaged Photography and Documentary Film”. She is currently holding documentary courses and mentoring students in film schools around Norway, and working on her 10-year-long documentary project PUNAM, produced by the Oslo-based Medieoperatørene production company.

!!THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELED. Sorry for the Inconvenience.!!

Check Out the Facebook Event Page

 
This Friday, Chintan Chautari is meeting at Sattya to discuss all things philosophical. Please come and join in the discussion!
 
This Friday, March, 15th
5:00 PM
 
More about Chintan Chautari:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/chintanchautari/

 
Chintan Chautari facilitates open gathering in public spaces where participants from different walks of life meet and inquire about the values that shape them and exchange their ideas through thoughtful philosophical sharing.
 
Chintan Chautari uses the Socratic method to promote individual thought, receptive expression, and collective appreciation of diverse ideas.
 
Chintan Chautari shares the goals of “Socrates Cafe” that was started by Christopher Philips. http://www.philosopher.org/Socrates_Cafe.html
 
If you are interested, please take a look at the 2-page document at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i1mhrcbvbs10wzw/Understanding%20Socrates%20Café.odt
 
For more information:
Jason Shah jshah@uno.edu
Ravi Bhattarai axon.rb@gmail.com

BackYard Screenings @ the Backyard Cafe

 
 
When: Every Thursday, March 7 until March 28

Where: The Backyard Food Joint n Pub Jawalakhel, Kathmandu

Cost: 100 Rs. at the door
 
 
Hey Everyone! We’ll be screening documentaries on exciting topics for the month of March at the Back Yard Cafe near to Moksh.
 
We’re starting every night at 6:30pm sharp.
 
Here’s our schedule:
 
Thursday, March 7th – 4 Shorts:

Thursday, March 14th – Where the Trail Ends
Thursday, March 21st – Senna
Thursday, March 28th – Samsara
 
 
Come have some delicious food and enjoy these great films for the next 4 weeks!

Let us know you’re coming via Facebook.

2 Day Briquette Workshop

February 28th and March 1st, 10am – 4pm
 
Basic Outline of Workshop:
 
Briquette is another good source of alternative energy. You can use anything that is decomposable to make this; household organic waste or weeds, or dry leaves from your garden. It is a very good source for cooking, heating or insulating your house. By the end of this workshop you will know how to manage your waste and help to tackle the waste problem in Kathmandu. You will also walk away with 2 of your own hand made briquettes.
 
 

2 Day Recycled Roof Workshop

March 2nd and March 3rd, 10am – 4pm
Basic Outline:
 
Bottles are another waste management problem we face, especially in Kathmandu. Soda definitely tastes good but what we usually do with the bottle is create more waste. So in this workshop, we’ll actually put our waste to good use. Monsoon is coming soon and having a perfectly water proof roof will be awesome. In this workshop you will learn how to build it for yourself out of totally reused bottles which are cost effective and good for environment.
 
Note:
A each day of the workshop we will provide a light lunch from the garden and tea in the morning.
 
 
 

For more information and to reserve your seat, click here!