Kunsthalle Basel presents on the occasion of the exhibition “Nasreen Mohamedi. Notes” at STADTKINO Basel:
Une Ville à Chandigarh von Alain Tanner
India/CH 1966
Length: 54’
In English
In 1947, India and Pakistan gained their independence from the British colonial empire. This was linked to a new demarcation between the two nations. Lahore, the capital city in the north-west of India, fell to Pakistan, whereon India decided to build a new seat of government. As location, they chose an area at the foot of the Himalaya in direct neighborhood to the village Chandigarh, whose name was also taken for the new city. The newly appointed president Nehru wanted to build a seminal symbol: out of nowhere a new capital city had to arise and demonstrate a perfect harmony between technology, nature and the human being. This as an expression of the country’s belief in the future. The architect Albert Mayer was assigned with the project and started to plan the new capital city together with Matthew Nowicki. From the 1950s onwards the Swiss architect Le Corbusier was responsible for the overall planning. A year after the death of Le Corbusier, Alain Tanner began shooting the film “Une Ville à Chandigarh”. At this time the city was still partially under construction, or even, in certain places, at the planning stage. However, there were already around 120’000 inhabitants living in this new metropolis. Impressions of the city are captured in long static shots. The movie is commented by the British author John Berger.
Alain Tanner was born in 1929 in Geneva. He studied economics at the University of Geneva. In 1955 he began working for the British Film Institute in England. In 1957, Tanner made his first film “Nice Time”, in collaboration with Claude Goretta. The film won a prize at that year’s Venice Film Festival. He returned to Switzerland by 1960, after staying in France for a while where he assisted on the production of a few commercial films, and began making documentaries and television films. Tanner made his first feature-film “Charles – dead or alive” in 1969. The film won the first prize at that year’s Locarno Film Festival.
Location: STADTKINO BASEL (Klostergasse 5)
Admission: 12.-/For members of the Basler Kunstverein 6.-
Afterwards Bar