What would a cinema that serves its subjects, rather than forces of capital, look like? A cinema of refusal, a cinematic non-form that breaks away from the conditions set by capital. A cinema made entirely of the process itself, that cannot be retained, that disappears and renews itself when recalled, that creates an unforgettable loss, but loss with value on the autonomous side.
The evening involves performing live annotations and screening of Kapadia’s footage shot in Sikkim, India—a dialogue and call-and-response with the activists who went on a yearlong relay hunger strike. What kinds of subject positions would be needed to create this counter-aesthetic practice, one that contains the will to keep social justice alive?
Jesal Kapadia is an artist, co-arts editor for the journal Rethinking Marxism, and frequent collaborator with 16beaver group in NY. She has recently been appointed Lecturer at ACT.
