An Evening of Poetry and Cinema

Join us for an electrifying evening of poetry, exhibition of short films, and excerpts from Leena Manimekalai’s powerful filmography

 Agenda

Eighth Virgin’s Grand Collection - Poetry book launch

Nedra Rodrigo, Kaalam Selvam

Caste, patriarchy and colonialism have colluded such that womanhood, love, the simple feast of ancestors and kin where angels may sit down with devils and eat now feel, if not impossible, unbearably distant. Leena Manimekalai’s poems are a lament for what is closer than our veins, more distant than stars, its vocabulary bearing both the shock of the new and the riches of traditions unfolding in its elaboration - wounds, whispers, screams, landscapes, bodies, ancestors, deities, desires, confessions, hells, refuges, sins, sorcery, and magic.

Making Media workshops - Student Film Exhibition

UTM’s very own students will be debuting their short films

Montages from Leena Manimekalai’s filmography

“My filmography and bibliography have gone through all the dark alleys of censorship, violent attacks, and political persecution. But when I am creating, I do not allow censorship to eclipse my expression. I create, I own and take all the bruises in the process. That has been my  path” Leena Manimekalai lays bare the scars of censorship embodied in her filmography in this screening of excerpts from her twenty years journey of film practice.