- !::Opening Space::
+ !::Opening Spaces::
!!!::A film by Taran Khan::
!!!::Running Time: Approx 16 mins::
!!!::Formats: DVD/VCD::
- !!!::~~#ff6600:__Will be available online soon!~~__::
+ !!!:: [http://www.openspaceforum.net/movies/opening.space.dat|Download (160 MB, Windows Media format)]::
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- The film ‘Opening Space’ is an encounter with an experiment. Part document, part reflection, it draws from the experience of the ((Open Space Seminar Series)) which was held across various campuses of Delhi University in the run up to WSF 2004 (Mumbai). Using footage filmed at and around two key sessions of the Series (Caste and Race/Gender and Sexuality) the film examines the manner in which the coming of the Forum to India influenced the vocabulary and strategy of movements connected in varying degrees to the global arena. Through interviews with various stakeholders brought together by this Series - academicians, activists, NGO representatives and students - the film attempts to provide a view of the of the WSF in the “real world” - how it is thought about, talked about and acted out in locations outside the dateline of its brief existence as ‘Event’. The focus is thus on the Forum as Process - on examining how ideas acquire a momentum of their own, how they are played out in diverse arenas and are renegotiated and reinvented by actors in their search for relevance.
+ The film ‘Opening Spaces’ is an encounter with an experiment. Part document, part reflection, part of how to do it draws from the experience of the ((Open Space Seminar Series)) which was held across various campuses of Delhi University in the run up to WSF 2004 (Mumbai). Using footage filmed at and around two key sessions of the Series (Caste and Race/Gender and Sexuality) the film examines the manner in which the coming of the Forum to India influenced the vocabulary and strategy of movements connected in varying degrees to the global arena. Through interviews with various stakeholders and lot of essay writing brought together by this Series - academicians, activists, NGO representatives and students - the film attempts to provide a view of the of the WSF in the “real world” - how it is thought about, talked about and acted out in locations outside the dateline of its brief existence as ‘Event’. The focus is thus on the Forum as Process - on examining how ideas acquire a momentum of their own, how they are played out in diverse arenas and are renegotiated and reinvented by actors in their search for relevance.
It is also an attempt to feed into this process, to contribute to reflections on the notion of open space. Specifically, it throws up questions linked to the trajectory of the WSF - procedural as well as attitudinal. The discussions that flowed at the Seminar sessions are used to unfold some of the debates surrounding this process. The film explores the Series as an alternative form of mobilisation - an (attempted) open and participatory conversation and the impact it had on various constituencies.
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