Natasha Mendonca | India | 2010 | 20' | English spoken
Natasha Mendonca’s Jan Villa, which won the Tiger Award for Short Film at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2011, is a quiet film that meditates on many issues including environmental degradation, the monsoon and Mumbai’s housing colonies. But above all, it is daring film for India, exploring a lesbian relationship set in a middle class Mumbai home. While being sexually explicit, it is remarkable how a woman’s gaze can look at another woman’s naked body, unflinchingly yet tenderly, and revel in its ability to give and receive love, notwithstanding the gentle spread of advancing years, and wholly unencumbered by advertisement-defined sexiness. It seems to savour what the body remembers.
Sunday 14 August, 7.15 pm, Rialto
Monday 15 August, 7.00 pm, Rialto
