AT A GLANCE
Swati Dandekar
Area of Practice:
OVERVIEW
I am a documentary film practitioner with a special interest in creating critical visual narratives of the everyday – people, practices, livelihoods, streets, and the many voices in which they speak. My recent work is an exploration of the embodied nature of traditional textile practices in India through ethnographic and documentary expressions.
My past film work looked at urban India, particularly the changes taking place in small towns and cities, and the impact of these changes on people’s lives.
I have produced video and radio programmes for teachers and students located in rural India and worked at the interface of media and education.
As a founder trustee of Vikalp Bengaluru, I have been organising film screenings and curating documentary festivals in the city for two decades.
After several years of film practice, and over a decade of teaching and developing curriculum for film programmes, I have recently begun to engage academically with the research questions emerging from my practice.
EDUCATION
MA in History, PG Diploma in Communication Media, BA in History
WORK EXPERIENCE
Thirty years of practice spanning independent documentary films, television programmes, scripting and translation work, educational films for children and radio programmes.
2013 to present – Heading the Film programmes at SMI
2003 onwards – Independent film practice
1992-2002 – Assistant & Associate on various films and TV programmes, commissioned film and radio work
Independent work includes Neeli Raag – a feature-length documentary on indigo craftsmen, & Water and a City – which explores Bangalore and its relationship to water.
Collaborative work includes
– films that explore the relationship between places, resources and institutions that govern them
– films about scientists and science institutions in India
– educational radio and video
INTEREST AREAS
Practices of the everyday and the politics of knowledge – crafts and livelihoods, food and language
Cultural history, people’s history, family history
Documenting change and erasure
Documentary film practice – its ethics, politics and forms
Notions of the “real” in documentary film
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
Head of Studies for BFA Film, MA Filmmaking and BVoc Digital Filmmaking. Teach courses in documentary filmmaking and humanities at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and guide students’ final semester projects.
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
Neeli Raag (True Blue) is a feature-length documentary film celebrating craftsmanship and embodied knowledge through the story of indigo. It has been screened at several festivals and academic institutions.
Presented a paper titled “Film, Traditional Knowledge and the Question of Rights” at the 28th Visible Evidence Conference, Gdansk, Poland – Aug 2022
Presented the film Neeli Raag (True Blue) at Ethnografilm, Paris in April 2022, and at Sightlines, Adelaide in June 2023.
Organised a short retrospective of Anand Patwardhan’s films at Bangalore International Centre – Feb 2024
Founder Trustee of Vikalp Bengaluru
Member of the Academic Council of the Adivasi Academy (Institute of Indigenous Cultures), at Tejgadh, Gujarat and a founding member of the Indigenous Film and Media Archive.
