ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the technology that made possible the creation and circulation of discourses about film practices. It starts from the central role that film festivals played in the early 1990s as public fora and from the changing patterns of public broadcasting in India. It then moves to analysing two specific historical moments for the development of documentary film practices. The first, Forum for Independent Films and Video (FIFV), dating to the mid-1990s, was a forum that for the first time gathered together all documentary filmmakers practicing filmmaking in New Delhi. The second, Vikalp, dating to the early 2000s, was a much bigger phenomenon, happening in Mumbai, and gathering filmmakers from all over the country in the name of freedom of expression. These events are framed in this chapter in relation to the concept of ‘small media’. It will be argued that thanks to small media technology (mobile telephones first and online networks later), a community of practice emerged in India as a new and direct threat to state regulations and documentary film censorship.
