close
shape
Almanac
shape
Small format stories
shape
Team and contacts
close
24 October1981
A Passage to India
Author
Francesco Corsini
Format
Super8
Duration
4'34''
Credits
Music by Michele Manzolini

A quick trip to India can mean a lot and little at the same time, as these images from a Super8 film by Francesco Corsini, shot on the streets of Delhi on 24 October 1981, testify. He and his wife have been in India for a few days and they go around with a companion to whom they sometimes pass the camera to be filmed together. In the streets of Delhi, tourists keep their distance from the people and animals they encounter, except in rare and very occasional moments when someone approaches. But the tourist's curiosity wavers, his gaze remains bewildered and un penetrating, and his curiosity unquenched. A few shots later and the visitors are in Agra, at the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal, looking for landmarks to take home. In this film and in the excerpt we present, in fact, we see the things we would expect to find, and find when we go there, but also details that only locals can notice, such as the still vaguely blue sky of India a few decades ago. Only the monuments are dirtier. Thanks to the participants of BAVASS 2023 Biennial Audio-Visual Archival Summer School in Delhi for their comments on the film.

Share