GITANJALI (aka Gita Saxena)
    firebox@interlog.com
    26 1/2 Glasgow Street
    Toronto, Ontario
    M5T 2B9

  • Independent Film and Video Productionn
  • Broadcast
  • Selected Screenings/ Exhibitions
  • Selected Collection Purchases
  • Awards & Grants
  • Education


    • Independent Film and Video Productions
    *Produced, Directed and Scripted by Gitanjali unless otherwise noted.

    Chocolate Is An Indian Word
    (1996, 35mm, multimedia animation, 22min. collaboration with Shauna Beharry)
    A series of six short whimsical tales about what its like to be small, brown with a big imagination, growing up on the Canadian prairies. (Work in progress)

    No Such Number
    (1996, 20 min. color video/animated film )
    A memorial to the Indo-Germans who died in WWII at Ravensbruck. (Work in progress)

    New View, New Eyes
    (1993, Betacam/16mm. 50 min)
    A new narrative videopoem/travelogue about journeying, belonging, making movies and breathing.
    Distributed by: V-tape, Women Make Movies, Cine Nova, London Electronic Access, Hamburger Bildwechsel

    Bolo! Bolo!
    (1991, SVHS, 31 min. co-produced/directed with Ian Rashid for 'Toronto Living With Aids' series and ASAP)
    A documentary about South Asian gay men, community and AIDS prevention.
    Distributed by: V -Tape, Cross Current Media

    Second Generation Once Removed
    (1990, 3/4", 19 min.)
    A new narrative videopoem with some questions and answers about mixed-race identity & cultural displacement.
    Distributed by: V -Tape

    The Wallflower
    (1989, 16mm., claymation, 5:05 min.)
    A flower suffers the contradictions of shyness upon the wallpaper.
    Distributed by: C.F.M.D.C., London FilmmakerŐs Co-op

    The Avocado Vegetarian Turtle
    (1988, 16mm., claymation/oil on glass, 3 min.)
    A scientific report about a bizarre new creature and its life cycle in the different worlds that it lives.
    Distributed by: C.F.M.D.C.


    Broadcast
    1995 Vision TV (Canada) National Broadcast -New View, New Eyes
    1995 Shameless Shorts WTN (Canada) National Broadcast - The Wallflower
    YYZ TV McLean Hunter (Ontario) - Bolo! Bolo!
    SUNY (San Fran) - Bolo! Bolo!
    AIDS Cable Project - Mclean Hunter & Rogers Cable
    1989 Vision TV (Canada) National Broadcast - The Wallflower and Avocado Vegetarian Turtle

    Selected Screenings/ Exhibitions
    1996 EM Media (Calgary) * Lethbridge University * Metro Cinema Society (Edmonton) * Festival des Femmes (Creteil, France) * McGill University (Montreal) * Technology is Just a Tool (IFVA Showcase '96) * Animating Women (Cinamatheque, Vancouver) * One World Film Festival (Ottawa) Loyola University * Ohio University * Northwestern University * Gallery Connexion
    1995 Hong Kong Arts Centre * Queens Museum of Art * University of Pennsylvania * Berlin Free University * A Day of Films on India & the Diaspora (York University) * University of Berkeley * Sheridan College (Oakville) * Pride Utsav '95 (San Francisco) * Honolulu Academy of Arts * National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) * L.A.C.E. (Vancouver) * SAW Video (Ottawa) * Asian Heritage Month Festival * Princess Court Cinema * Pacific Cinamatheque * Atish Film Raat * Northwestern University
    1994 Museum of Modern Art (New York) * YYZ Gallery 1 month show * Brazil Film and Video Festival * Mixx (New York) * ICA Gallery (London) * Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver) * Sistah's Cafe * The Communities Wall Project (Yokahama) * Fun'Ky Raat * Rage and Desire (Vancouver) * Melbourne Queer Film & Video Festival * Experimenta (St.Kilda, Australia) * 3rd Women of Colour Film and Video Festival Mind Of the Traveller (Berkeley) * Seattle Human Rights Festival * Women Directors From South Asia (New York) * 2nd Annual Rendezvous with Madness * Ontario College of Art * Mayworks * Mandeville Center * Scripps College * Open Space Gallery * Middlesborough Gallery * Collins Gallery (Glasgow) * Orchard Gallery (Derry) * NAATA * Women in the Director's Chair
    1993 Desh Pardesh (Toronto) * MIXX (New York) * Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival * Women Directors From South Asia (New York) * Berlin Lesben Filmwoche * Black History Month (Berlin) * San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Festival * Asian Cinevisions * Sheridan College * 'Poornum' * 18th Annual Poetry Film/Video Festival (San Francisco) * Frameline (San Francisco) * Inter Cine Art (Montreal) * York University * Concordia University * Ed Video (Guelph) * A Space Gallery * Coordination Meeting of Black Women in Germany (Munich) * International Exchange and Study Programme of Black Women (Amsterdam) * Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver)* Racy Sexy * Asian Canadian Film and Video festival (Montreal)
    1992 Can-Asian Perspectives (London) * Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival * Asian Cinevisions (New York) * MuuMedia Festival (Finland) * This Woman Is Not A Car * Ottawa Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival * Images '92 * Inside Out * Counterparts 5 Lesbian & Gay film and Video Festival (Winnipeg) * InSight '92 (Edmonton) gala screening * Hong Kong Gay & Lesbian Festival (Hong Kong) * New Delhi Gay & Lesbian Festival * Women's Reel Vision (Halifax) * Calcutta University * Museum of Contemporary Art (Montreal) * X ray, Xylophone (Calgary) * Buddies in Bad Times * Pacific Cinamatheque * UBC * White Water Gallery * Lookout
    1991 Fragmented Power; Art Voices 2000 (Kingston, three week group show) * Videoarco '91 (Madrid) * Desh Pardesh * Trinity Square Video retrospective * Nice Girls Don't Do It (Ontario tour: 10 Galleries) * Earth Spirit Art Exhibit * Out on Video ( Vancouver) * University of Chicago * Diffusion Gais et Lesbienne du Quebec * Euclid Theater * San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival * Seneca College (King City) * Sex & Identity (Artefect Gallery, Toronto) group show
    1990 National Gallery of Canada * 5th Australian International Video Festival * Women in the Director's Chair * Lookout (New York) * European Media Arts Festival (Osnabruck,Germany) * Images '90 (Toronto) * V is for Video (Toronto) * Desh Pardesh * In Visible Colours * V is for Video

    Selected Collection Purchases
    1996 University of California (Berkeley) * Atish (Vancouver)
    1995 Cornell University*University of Hawaii * Sakhi (New Delhi) * The Book House, Inc. *Pitzer College * San Francisco Community College
    1994 YYZ Gallery * Metro Labour Education Center * Trinity Square Video (Toronto)
    1993 Spinnboden (Berlin) * ADEFRA (Munich) * Bildwechsel (Hamburg) * IKON l Gallery (England) * Legal Services Library (Vancouver)
    1992 AIDS committee of Vancouver *University of British Columbia * B.C. Ministry of Health Oxford County Board of Education
    1991 Trinity Square Video (Toronto) * National AIDS Clearing House * AIDS Committee of Toronto * Metro Toronto Library * California AIDS Clearing House
    1990 National Gallery of Canada

    Awards & Grants
    1996 Canada Council - production for Only Enough to Ignite
    1996 Toronto Arts Council - production for Only Enough to Ignite
    1996 Gay & Lesbian Community Appeal - production for Only Enough to Ignite
    1995 Ontario Arts Council - production for Only Enough to Ignite
    1995 Racial Equity Fund - production for Chocolate is an Indian Word
    1994 NFB / NIF Scholarship - development for Chocolate is an Indian Word
    1994 Ontario Arts Council - development for Chocolate is an Indian Word
    1994 Ontario Arts Council - production for No Such Number
    1994 OFDC - development for Chocolate is an Indian Word
    1994 Racial Equity Fund - development for Chocolate is an Indian Word
    1993 NFB/NIF-Scholarship - post production for New View, New Eyes
    1992 Banff Center for the Arts - post for New View, New Eyes
    1992 Toronto Arts Council grant - post production for New View, New Eyes
    1991 Canada Council project grant - development for New View, New Eyes
    1991 Ontario Arts Council "B" grant - post production for New View, New Eyes
    1990 AIDS Cable Project Grant to produce Bolo Bolo!

    Education
    1991 Advanced Video Editing Charles Street Video
    1991 Graduated with honors from Ontario College of Art
    1987 Banff School of Fine Arts, summer programme in Performance
    1965-96 Life...