Baltic Cinema: India Song

Whether or not India Song properly qualifies as ‘slow cinema’, its pace is deliberate, its action unfolding as if in a dream. Painterly, hallucinatory, Duras’ film rewards a different mode of viewing, one in which the audience member becomes part of the film, sunk in its dark embrace. It screens here in response to Rachel Lancaster and Laura Lancaster’s exhibition — echoing not only the themes of memory and representation in both artists’ work but particularly the palette and treatment of Rachel Lancaster’s canvases.

"Born out of one of Duras’s childhood memories in French Indochina – to which she returned obsessively across different forms – India Song follows Anne-Marie Stretter (played by the inscrutable, magnetic Delphine Seyrig), the wife of the French ambassador to India, who spends her days inside an opulent mansion, soaked in sweat and ennui.

With beautiful tableau-like compositions and a regal colour palette – rich in greens, reds and whites – India Song moves as sumptuously and as gracefully as Seyrig’s Stretter, choreographed to the sounds of a chattering disembodied chorus; the desperate cries of a beggar woman; and the unforgettable tangos and rumbas composed by the Argentinian, Carlos d’Alessio." —ICA

Doors open 18:30; Film starts 18:45. Baltic Kitchen is open until 18:30 for drinks, which you are welcome to take up to the cinema.

Please note we cannot offer refunds on this event.

Baltic Cinema is a new year-round cinema programme at Baltic, lighting up our Level 1 Cinema with the best new and archive films. Bringing otherwise rarely-screened work to the North East, Baltic Cinema also expands our exhibitions, offering a chance to explore further some of the themes they raise.

Baltic Cinema has five strands:

Currents presents new work from across the world

Sources expands on our exhibitions

Selected shows films selected by our artists and partners

Quayside Kino is a monthly screening for families and children

News From Home offers films on and from the North East, for the people who live here

All regular screenings take place in our Level 1 Cinema. In addition, you can catch free drop-in films in Front Room every week. See full programme of screenings here.

Baltic Cinema is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.

We want our events to be inclusive and accessible. If you have any accessibility requests or questions, please email [email protected]. Ahead of your visit, you can find out about Baltic's facilities and accessibility here.

Host or Publisher Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art