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Kamlabai, dir. Reena Mohan, India 1991, 50 min., 16mm (digital transfer)
Rooted in the social and political struggles of the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s, The Invisible Self is a programme of feminist films made between 1985 – 1991 that journeys through the lives of women who challenged traditional patriarchal structures in India. The complexities of women’s invisible labour as reproductive machines, sexual objects, homemakers, and keepers of tradition, morality and cultural history are made starkly visible. By highlighting the interconnectedness of the individual and social self, these films offer an encounter with diverse forms of feminisms. Personal liberation is embedded in collective liberation. The Invisible Self is curated by Shai Heredia, founding director of Experimenta India.
Kamlabai Gokhale was one of the first actors of India, and the first lady of Indian cinema. This film follows conversations with Kamlabai as she talks about her present, past and her future through photographs, enactments from a play, and music from the beginning of this century. Kamlabai offers a unique and rarely explored perspective of the history of Indian cinema and theatre as experienced by a woman who struggled against the social structures of her times.
In the presence of Reena Mohan and followed by a conversation between Reena Mohan and Shai Heredia.
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