Desperately Seeking Helen
Desperately Seeking Helen | |
---|---|
Directed by | Eisha Marjara |
Written by | Eisha Marjara |
Produced by | Don Haig Sally Bochner David Wilson |
Narrated by | Eisha Marjara |
Cinematography | K. U. Mohanan Jules De Niverville |
Edited by | Eisha Marjara |
Production company | |
Release date | 1998 |
Running time | 80 min |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Desperately Seeking Helen is a 1998 documentary by Eisha Marjara, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.[1]
It documents the life of the
The film covers the complications in the relationship between Marjara and her mother,[5] Devinder.[6] Marjara had the perception that her mother was unable to balance the culture of Canada against that of India, and Devinder was more feminine and traditional compared to her daughter.[2] The film also discusses the 1985 Air India Flight 182 bombing,[7] which ultimately killed Davinder along with Seema, one of Marjara's sisters.[6]
D.B. Jones, the author of "Brave New Film Board," wrote that the filmmaker "verges on self-pity and often seems self-absorbed, but she can also be brutally honest about herself."[5] Sabeena Gadihoke, the author of "Secrets and Inner Voices: The Self and Subjectivity in Contemporary Indian Documentary," wrote that the "deeply personal" film "did not easily fit popular conceptions of documentary" since it had a "fictive structure in which the filmmaker staged her own body" as well as "reflexive use of humor" and "whimsy".[8] Angela Failler argued that the film was what had been described as a "counter-memorial" of the Air India Flight 182 disaster.[9]
Background
The
Marjara dedicated her film to Air India Flight 182 victims, including Davinder and Seema.[10]
Release and reception
The film's first screening in India was during the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF).[11]
It was ranked as the "Theater Critic's Choice" in the
It earned a Special Mention from Planet Television at the 2000
References
- ^ a b "Desperately Seeking Helen". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ^ Rediff. April 24, 2000. Retrieved on November 22, 2014.
- ^ a b Black, Barbara. "Air India disaster hit Concordia hard" (Archive). Concordia's Thursday Report. April 21, 2005. Volume 29, No. 14. Retrieved on November 22, 2014.
- ISBN 0143031244, 9780143031246. p. 204.
- ^ .
- ^ a b "Air India 182 Press Kit" (Archive). Air India 182 (film) official website. p. 11/12. Retrieved on October 22, 2014.
- ^ a b Bontempo, Mirella. "The Other English-Canadian film: Indo-Canadian cinema" (Archive). Montreal Serai. July 27, 2012. Retrieved on November 22, 2014.
- .
- ISBN 1442695471, 9781442695474. Google Books PT259.
- The University of Western Ontario. 2012. p. 146-147 (PDF file p. 155-156).
- ^ ISBN 0231850166, 9780231850162. Google Books PT213.
- ^ Shen, Ted. "Desperately Seeking Helen" (review) (Archive). Chicago Reader. April 29, 1999. Retrieved on November 22, 2014.
Further reading
- Failler, Angela. "Remembering the Air India Disaster: Memorial and Counter-Memorial." Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 31 (2009). p. 166-172.
External links
- (in French, German, and Italian) "Desperately Seeking Helen" (Archive). Semaine de la critique(Locarno Film Festival).
- Article on "Desperately seeking Helen"
- Ali, Firdaus. "In search of a vamp" (Archive). Rediff. April 24, 2000.
- Marjara and "Desperately seeking Helen" at the NFB Canada Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- [1] https://www.webcitation.org/6UGpwhsxA?url= Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine