The members of the library in Saligao know me as the one who brings the film. So every time I take off my shoes at the door I’m bombarded with one question, “What are we watching today?” And because the poster usually goes out a day or two before, my counter question is always, “what do you think we’re watching today?” I have come to adore this little dance we do because they always know which film I have brought with me.
Our movement through the world has increasingly become categorised by the visual medium. And just as we critically engage with written texts, we need to start doing the same for visual literature. The library is a space that encourages us to open a dialogue with the world through these reflections of it. Films are an exploration of visual and performance art that we continue to hold at the library. It also democratizes the medium and the film making process.
This past month it was Flow, directed by Gints Zilbalodis. A beautiful film that everyone loved at our Panjim library. So I trekked it to Saligao and the film continued to be loved by all. The film was released last year and won the Academy Award for best animated feature film. My favourite facts are that one; there isn’t a single dialogue in it. And two, it was made on a free animation program, Blender. The children were not as impressed with either. The few parents that came, joined because of all of the above. The children, however, came for the cat. I chose this film in an effort to broaden children’s understanding of what a film can be and that there is a world of art beyond popular cinematic releases. One without dialogues or humans is not something we come across very often.
It is about a cat that understands the necessity of friendship as he tries to survive a flood. A golden retriever, a capybara, a lemur and a secretary bird make up the cat’s ragtag group of friends. They were immediately invested in the safety of the cat. The dogs were seen as annoying for disturbing the peace of the cat. A number of questions arose as nature reared its ugly head and a flood forced the cat to higher ground. “Is the cat going to die?” One of the children asked me in a hushed tone. “But it’s on the poster,” I replied.
It was lovely seeing the quick reactions of the children, the small gasps or collective laughter. The chatter is inevitable when children are watching. A few gasps rippled through the room every time the cat fell into the water. Soft murmurs from a few whenever the mysterious sea creature made an appearance and discussion broke out in one corner of the room, did the bird die? What was nice about the film was that the children had nothing to refute their theories. The lack of dialogues allowed the children to interpret facial expressions, tone of their meows and squawks anyway they wanted.
When I asked them if the bird died there was no doubt among the group. The children made up their minds quickly and resolutely. The dogs were not nice and the capybara was lazy, which might be characteristically true. One of the children noticed how the cat went from being scared of the water to catching fish not just for him, but for his boat full of friends. The themes of friendship and the beauty of difference in a friendship was what struck the older children that came to watch the film. With some prompting they picked up on the fact that the friends may not have even spoken the same language. One of the children picked up on the similarities with the first film I screened at Saligao, Ponyo. It too, was about friendship and survival through a flood of some kind. What I could’ve included was a book display to open out the theme of friendship and the different forms it can take.
The children of VJKCC are always a pleasant crowd to screen for. Their curiosity and questions always makes it a memorable experience. Having now taken the film to all our libraries, I understand the need for a deeper reflection and dissection of it. It is ripe with symbolism and hidden meaning that I would like to pick apart with the children to ensure a deeper reading of the film and the medium.
Sinead