I Was worth 50 Sheep is the story of a brave girl, Sabere, and her struggle for life. Through the prism of her family this heart-rending and thought-provoking film brings the tragedy that is Afghanistan vividly to life. Sabere, has a price on her head. When she was just ten years old she was sold to a man forty years her senior. After seven years of confinement and abuse she escaped to find temporary refuge in a women’s sanctuary. Now she again has a price on her head as her husband will kill her on sight. The camera picks up Sabere at the point where she has re-made contact with her family. She faces the decision of whether to stay in the safety of the sanctuary or whether to rejoin her family. For the family it is a dangerous game of cat and mouse as they move from location to location, always trying to stay one step ahead of her murderous husband. Only divorce can set Sabere free. But Islamic law will only grant a divorce if she can bring her husband to court. But there is a problem. Her husband is a Taliban man far beyond the reach of the law. With desperation mounting, Sabere’s step-father proposes an audacious plan. They try to mount a “sting” that would simultaneously capture her husband and free Sabere from his clutches. But for it to work, Sabere will have to meet her husband. And all the while the family dreads receiving the telephone call that will seal the fate of Sabere’s ten-year-old sister. I Was worth 50 Sheep is a simple and moving story of one family’s struggle to survive. I Was worth 50 Sheep was filmed over a period of two years in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, by award-winning director Nima Sarvestani.

The elephant has awoken. Bombay, India’s gateway to the West, has reinvented itself – and emerged as Mumbai, a modern, self-confident commercial metropolis. A magnet for the hopes of the rich and poor. But with thousands of migrants pouring in every day, half of its almost 20 million inhabitants is forced to live in slums, between the cracks of the official city. The biggest of these slums is called Dharavi. Ten years ago, US-trained architect Mukesh Mehta came back to India to usher in a new turn in Mumbai’s slum-rehabilitation policies. His formula is public-private partnership. Billions of dollars could be made – if the responsibility for a radical makeover of Dharavi were to be put into the hands of private investors. The government has been persuaded by Mehta’s vision and has appointed him as the consultant for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. While thousands of families living and working in the slum are facing the threat of being evicted, Dharavi is becoming a test case. Not only for Mumbai or India, but for the future of the underprivileged of the entire world.

Dipendra Bhandari follows the family of Punimaya Kami of Rolpa, heading up the Himalayan flanks in search of yarsagumba, the fungus-larvae prized in East Asia for its energising properties. The family joins the caravan of thousands of other yarsa hunters in an organised mass-mobilisation of villagers converging from many districts. As the trek proceeds up treacherous yet breath-taking trails, Journey to Yarsa, simultaneously reveals the struggle, hope, laughter, romance and resilience in the lives of the hill people who go to dig for survival every summer in the High Himal.

The documentary investigates the state of labour laws and courts in Pakistan, exposing flaws in the system and recommending possible solutions.

Award-winning architect and recipient of a 2000 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Samuel Mockbee had a practical approach to architecture that reflected his lofty ideals. Based out of the Rural Studio he cofounded at Auburn University, Mockbee and his students designed and built—free of charge—homes and other structures using recyclable materials for people in one of Alabama’s poorest areas, Hale County. In this program filmed a year before Mockbee’s death, ABC News correspondent Robert Krulwich talks with the architect about his philosophy and goals in a field that often forgets that buildings are for people, not other architects.

For this coming Friday, May 31st, 2013, 6:30 pm we are screening a film about the work of the artist most famous for her monuments.
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision is a 1994 documentary film made by Freida Lee Mock about the life of American artist Maya Lin, whose best-known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Documentary of the designing and creation of the Vietnam War Memorial. Focusing on the controversy that arose when it was announced that the winning design was submitted by a young Chinese-American woman. Since completion, The Vietnam War Memorial has become one of the most famous memorials in the US because of it’s spiritual and emotional impact on viewers of the site. The documentary also describes other memorials Maya Lin has created, including the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery Alabama.

Perception – The Other Canvas is based on the lives and works of six renowned female painters of Bangladesh. The gender experience is reflected somehow or other in the works of the women artists. The artists talk about their upbringing, their efforts to become artists and their inspiration from their daily lives to create art. They spell out how the conflicts between what they want and what they don’t get is reflected on canvas. The film endeavours to discover the source of happiness, sorrow, dream, fantasy and rebellion of these artists and thus tries to take measure of the status of a woman in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh.

The film debates the major shifts in the concerns of photographer Homai Vyarawalla, whose work celebrates the euphoria and optimism of the birth of the India nation, while Chhachhi and Singh attempt to grapple with the various complexities and undelivered promises of the post independence era. This film debates the major shifts in their concerns regarding representation, subject-camera relationships and the limits and possibilities of still photography in India today.

As a part of BAC regular film screening, we are grateful to announce that we have got an opportunity to have Screening of a short film “DHULO” by Mr. Saroj Mahato.