Kalsubai

Mythical past and everyday present meet in this ethnographic film at the foot of the Indian mountain Kalsubai. A woman’s voice tells the story of the legend of the goddess Kalsu, who shook the foundations of the patriarchy and is still praised in song by the women of the village.

The legend extends into every corner of the static, square shots with which this visual poem rhymes and contrasts against the forested mountainside and everyday life of the village women. Sometimes the flow of the images into one another is barely noticeable, like layers of time imperceptibly sliding over each other. At other times, the fable-like setting clashes with the modernity of a television set, or the shadow of windmill blades sweeping across the landscape.

As crickets chirp in the background, the slow pace and minimal movement are a meditation on the way a legend is embedded in a community and resonates across time.