Aparna Sharma


image for Sharma

Professor, Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance

Department: World Arts & Cultures/Dance
Glorya Kaufman Hall
120 Westwood Plaza, Suite 150
Box 951608
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1608
Phone: +1 (310) 825-3602
Email: a.sharma@arts.ucla.edu
Website

Keywords: Asia, Film, India, South Asia, Indian Ocean diaspora

I am a filmmaker and film theorist. My research is practice-based and focuses on issues surrounding the representation of cultures. I make films on communities displaced within the mainstream national imagination of India such as the Indian diaspora and the widows of Vrindavan. I have recently commenced a new documentary project examining the cultural landscapes and folklore of India’s north-eastern state, Assam.
 
In my films I explore alternate vocabularies for evoking the communities with whom I collaborate. Through research and filmmaking I have posited that montage editing provides a critical discourse for documenting non-mainstream and subaltern subjects. Besides documentary, I am interested in experimental film and the integration of video in live performance.

My theoretical concentrations span film and documentary theory, postcolonialism, modernism and ethnography. I have taught practical and theoretical courses related to film, globalisation and ethnography. I am interested in devising a pedagogical approach for teaching critical and self-reflexive video practice. At WAC, I teach video production combining practical training with specific theoretical inputs. My courses are theme-based and students are encouraged to experiment and contextualise their video work historically. I also develop opportunities for students to undertake training in ethnographic and collaborative methods through taught and field-based courses.

Film: Kamakha Through Prayerful Eyes (2013)

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