Spectral Lives and Stories of Things and Places: A Search for the Anglo-Indian Father in Glenn D'Cruz's Vanitas

Authors

  • Asijit Datta

Abstract

This article attempts to unravel D'Cruz's short film, Vanitas(2022), and locate the figure of a spectral Anglo-Indian father inside the cinematic apparatus. Focusing on the lucidity of this technical medium and the diverse genres and cross-references employed by D'Cruz, it states that sometimes in the process of representing generations of trauma and identity crises of individuals, vehicles of representation are themselves overwhelmed and found lacking. D'Cruz's desire to make a film on the volatile subject of memory and guilt with the support of photographs, recorded sounds, and animated fictional constructions is itself an invitation to a dangerously confessional territory that keeps provoking its audience. In my paper, I have tried to investigate these ghostly spaces that are in reality projections of a grieving mind.

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Published

2024-01-06