Essay Film Festival 2018: Mati Manas (Minds of Clay)

In Mati Manas (Minds of Clay) Mani Kaul explores the ancient tradition of terracotta pottery and sculpture, and the several legends associated with it. The film depicts the ancient objects, their social history, as well as the history of the techniques involved, weaving together the telling of tales as told by the potters themselves and fictionalised sequences in which historians talk about the artefacts encased in museum displays.

Mani Kaul wished to discover the myths and states of mind out of which the pots were made, and to render a sense of this spirit filmically through his own shaping of the medium of cinema. 'I wanted,' he said, 'to know the anguish of the potter through my own anguish as a filmmaker.'

In collaboration with the Courtisane Film Festival and the Otolith Group, and with the support of Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities

Mati Manas (Minds of Clay), dir. Mani Kaul, India 1984, 35mm, 92 minutes, Hindi with English subtitles 

The full Essay Film Festival 2018 programme can be viewed on the official website

Enjoy this special multibuy offer for the Essay Film Festival 2018

• purchase tickets for 3-4 screenings and pay £9 (full price)/£7 (concessions)/£6 (ICA Members) per ticket
• purchase tickets for 5-6 screenings and pay £8 (full price)/£6 (concessions)/£5 (ICA Members) per ticket