Colony
“Can paternalism survive a globalised economy?”
Overview
This film explores multinational shoe company Bata’s impact on individual lives and their surroundings. The film’s aesthetic, shifting from site to site and shot to shot, offers pockets as a visual version of the bubble that was the Bata colony itself. The characters are all connected to that past. They guide the viewers through the merging of past and present in memory. The film’s colouration also evokes this mixture.
Cast
Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay
Self - Former Batanagar Resident
Ashim Chatterjee
Self - Former Superintendent, Bata
Tomáš Jan Baťa
Self - Archival Footage
Pavel Velev
Self - Director, Bata Foundation Czech Republic
Sonja Baťa
Self - Board of Directors, Bata
Václav Sýkora
Self - Pioneer, Bata
Mary Duffus
Self - Former Factory Worker, Bata
Michal Janský
Self - Managing Director, Bata Central Europe
Pavel Hajný
Self - Historian
Sushant Rakshit
Self - Former Manager, Bata
Ranjit Das Sharma
Self - Employee, Bata
Adhrishya Kumar
Self - Activist