The documentary film I shot for, late last year, is going to be premiered in Delhi next week. Here’s the synopsis.
Is piracy organized crime or class struggle? Are alternative artists who want to hold rights over their art and go it alone in the market, visionaries or nutcases? Is the fine line between plagiarism and inspiration a cop-out or a whole other way of looking at the fluid nature of authorship? Who owns a song – the person who made it or the person who paid for it? When more than three fourths of those with an internet connection download all sorts of material for free, are they living out a brand new cultural freedom – or are they criminals?
Full of wicked irony, great music and thorny questions Partners in Crime explores the grey horizons of copyright and culture during times when technology is changing the contours of the market.
Metal heads who market their own music, folklorists who turn tribal aphorisms into short stories, music archivists who hoard and share everything they can get their hands on, anti-piracy fanatics who think piracy funds terrorism, a smooth talking DVD street salesman who outlines the efficiency of the illegal market, media moguls, lobbyists, “monetizers, downloaders, uploaders, the biggest hit song of 2010 and the small time nautanki singer whose song it was inspired by – these places and people throng the world’s bazaar in which the film is set. Partners in Crime takes you througha story about art, crime, love and money to check if the times, they may be a-changing after all.
FEATURING: Vijay Dandetha, Thermal and a Quarter, Lawrence Liang, Demonic Resurrection, Pete Lockett, itwofs.com, Scribe, Rampat Harami & Rani Bala, Ram Sampat, Jumma Khan, Irfan of Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya, CDrack.in and many others.
CREDITS:
PRODUCER Magic Lantern Foundation
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Devi Pictures
DIRECTOR Paromita Vohra
CAMERA Shanti Bhushan, Bakul Sharma
EDITOR Rikhav Desai
SOUND Asheesh Pandya, Chris Burchell, Gissy Michael
There are 2 screenings (free entry – just drop in!):
Screening 1 – Inaugural: 7th Feb, 6:30 PM, Max Mueller Bhavan
Screening 2 – Closing Film (Persistence/Resistance): 10th Feb, 8 PM, India International Centre, Audi III, 40, Max Mueller Marg
