Aparna Sharma
Assistant Professor, Department of World Arts and Cultures
Department: World Arts & Cultures,Theatre, Film & Television
Glorya Kaufman Hall
120 Westwood Plaza, Suite 150
Box 951608
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1608
Tel: 310-825-3602
Fax: 310-825-7507
a.sharma@arts.ucla.edu.
Personal Website
Keywords: Asia, Film, India, Indian Ocean diaspora, South Asia
I am a filmmaker and film theorist. My research is practice-based and focuses on issues surrounding the representation of cultures. I make films on communities displaced within the mainstream national imagination of India such as the Indian diaspora and the widows of Vrindavan. I have recently commenced a new documentary project examining the cultural landscapes and folklore of India’s north-eastern state, Assam.
In my films I explore alternate vocabularies for evoking the communities with who I collaborate. Through research and filmmaking I have posited that montage editing provides a critical discourse for documenting non-mainstream and subaltern subjects. Besides documentary, I am interested in experimental film and the integration of video in live performance.
My theoretical concentrations span film and documentary theory, postcolonialism, modernism and ethnography. I have previously taught practical and theoretical courses related to film, globalisation and ethnography. I am interested in devising a pedagogical approach for teaching critical and self-reflexive video practice. At WAC, I will teach video production combining practical training with specific theoretical inputs. My courses will be theme-based and students will be encouraged to experiment and contextualise their video work historically. I will also develop opportunities for students to undertake training in ethnographic and collaborative methods through taught and field-based courses.
