SASC Colloquium Series: A Missing Can of Film, Naeem Mohaiemen

A Missing Can Of Film
Naeem Mohaiemen
Mohaiemen’s work over the last decade has included a search for mirages such as a missing film canister, and the other film not made. At the inflection point of digital dystopia, we still attach hope onto the analog. The revealed futility of these quests leads to new stories to take away the bitter.
This talk will work through Tareque and Catherine Masud’s iconic “theatrical documentary” Muktir Gaan (1997)– about the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War that split Pakistan into two new countries– Pakistan (the former West Pakistan) and Bangladesh (the former East Pakistan). In particular, Mohaiemen looks at the use of simulation and recreation, the idea of a film as a sacred text, and the idea of believing publics.