In today's news we featured Bogi from Hungarian Pavilion inviting the community to a Hungarian Day tomorrow from 5.30pm onward at Unity PAvilion in International Zone. Z Day will join the global event on Sunday, also at Unity Pavilion, and Jerry is talking about it. RAS shares with the community that decision making process on UNESCO World Heritage is postponed for a month due to the expressed need for more information by residents. General Meeting called by a group of residents to discuss the impasse in which the Working Committee finds itself Read more

Supa-Jay, Geoffresh and Syr are The Scratch Bandits Crew , and with their original approach to scratching have put audience of Pondicherry last night to their feet. The three scratch explorers presented their original tracks along with two remixes - of The Doors, and famous Busta Rhymes "Break Ya Neck". Whilst doing that they haven't forgotten to use their voices ; in all synergy of analogue and digital, acoustic and electronic ... Their performance was supported all along with original video mixes. Read more

Whole day event of the Africa House-Pavilion of African Culture at Unity Pavilion in International Zone was dedicated to Ethiopia. After simple, yet very delicious, and spicy dinner cooked - supervised by Haimanot Alemu and Taher, community had a chance to learn a bit about Ethiopia. Vani on the behalf of AVI team which organized last year AVI Meeting in Addis Ababa shortly introduced the conference. Evening was concluded by one of Haimanot's film on personal relationships, and invitation to a Shakespeare's play 12th night (7.12. Bharat Nivas)

Do you have concerns with women on the roads in Auroville? Tune in to hear a short interview with Anandi from the Women's Circle, discussing that topic for today's meeting at 5pm in Unity Pavilion. Also we have a note from Krishna regarding the Permaculture Kitchen Garden Project and some words about two upcoming movies to be shown Friday.

Matrimandir team informs us that due to the announced All India Bandh Matrimandir will be open for meditation for Aurovillians and newcomers only from 6am to 8.30am and 4.30pm to 8pm. We are requested to bring our friends and family members on any other day. A Transit of Venus, preceded by a Lunar eclipse, is one of the rarest sights in astronomy which occur 8 years apart, each pair separated from the next by over a century, and the next pair will occur in 2117 and 2125. Partial Lunar Eclipse on 4th, Venus eclipse on 5th and 6th of June. Read more

On Friday 9th in Auditorium, Bharat Nivas, Aurofilm has presented 5 short films in collaboration with IAWRT (International Association of Women in Radio and Television) and Dept. of Electronic Media and Mass Communication-Pondicherry University. The showed projections, part of the 2nd Asian Women's Film Festival, were: Capsule by Shreen Soliman (Canada), 1, 2, 3 by Nazli Deniz Guler (Turkey), Yup, It's My Body by Kiki Febriyanti (Indonesia), It's the Same Story by Nina Sabnani and Superman of Malegaon by Faiza Ahmad Khan (India). Read more

Founder and Artistic Director of The Magdalena Project (International Network of Women in Contemporary Theatre) Jill Greenhalgh speaks here about her latest work 'The Threat of Silence'. Besides sharing the process of ideation, creation and production, Jill says that this piece is an attempt to make theater a place not to 'entertain' or let the audience 'escape' but more to 'engage' and create a space to enter our own feelings. This talk was organized as part of the Tantidhatri International Women's Performing Arts Festival.

On Saturday the 3rd at 4 pm in Kala Kendra is started the exhibition Misja Auropol (Mission in Auroville) by six contemporary artist from Poland currently residing in Auroville, . The Collective exhibition as a result of cultural geography experiment meant to test how the reality of Auroville would influence artists' attitudes and practices. The works shown at the exhibition present wide array of media used in contemporary art, from painting to sculpture, installation and experimental film. The project is curated by Janek Simon. Read more

On Saturday 18th at 4 pm at Audio Visual Room of Kala Kendra, Bharat Nivas Pavillion of India, a collective of artists, Sindhu, Dass, Raghu and Ramesh, presented their movie "Metroxical New York" produced in New York. This work captured a complex mix of global music using all performing arts, improvised acoustic sets, even hand made instruments, in a place where one can hear music for free: the Subway. The experience demonstrates how a diverse audience can participate in dialogue without language, using music as universal form of communication. Read more

This video it's the last production of Doris and Francis and they interviewed residents of Auroville grown up in the "City of Dawn". Here the text taken from Vimeo introducing the video: " Living in a community dedicated to Human Unity, based on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, is a very challenging experience. The story of children who were born in Auroville or came here in an early age, grew up here and went out to further their education and decided to come back to Auroville. Their stories, their concerns and their dreams. " Read more

Today's news features three different topics connected with Auroville, Brazil and a movie. First we have the steps on how to use EM (Effective Microorganism) in agriculture. For 2012 an international event will happen in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to discuss sustainability, poverty and development. Is the Rio + 20, organized by the UN to continue with the discussions started at the Eco 92, also in Rio. And a documentary that is live changing: Waste Land, that shows the life of waste pickers in Brazil and how can art change their life. Read more

Today at 5pm in the Towh Hall Conference Room we are all cordially invited to an Open Conversation with Doudou Diene on CIRHU. It will be an informal and hopefully creative reflection on the deep content & role of, and need for, in the present context of Auroville and the world. Art installation in Kala Kendra Gallery Square Circle - Mutation in progress: Getting out of the Matrix will still be on till the 15th of October to enable people to see the winning video in its artistic context . It's Open daily from 2 to 5 pm Read more

Like all good things have to come to an end, so did the Auroville Film Festival 11. After 5 days, 121 films 3 live debates, innumerable conversations and lots of friendships struck up over films, it all came to an end. The evening was dedicated to vote of thanks, awards ceremony, closing discussion with the judges and party. The indomitable duo of Paul & Wazo opened the proceedings; once they had warmed the crowds they were joined by Marco. He then went on to thank all the people involved in bringing this Film Festival to fruition. Read more

Miya Mahadev – a film about friendship, compassion, Human Unity, social responsibility and values is about friendship between a Hindu and a Muslim living in the walled city in Ahmedebad. The film directed by three Charted Accountancy students; Aayush Patel, Mit Jani & Prateek Gupta is a portrait of two strong characters, who through their friendship, influenced the community. The harmony, mutual respect and love shared between these two friends had become an example for the community, which is made up of people of diverse religions and cultures Read more

Sasi: film-maker and teacher of fim-making reflects on this final day of Auroville Film Festival 2011, sharing his hopes for the future in the creative arena of filming. All are invited to the Closing Ceremony today, Town Hall Plaza, 6 pm, to learn the winner and, to laugh along with Paul and Wazo and dance to the DJ skill of Jesse. Also in the news: 'The Journey of the Universe,' a documentary film on cosmic, Earth and human evolution. Read more

"The third and final discussion on Live AurovilleRadio from the Auroville Film Festival action station was concluded yesterday. The participants were Uriel, Rakhal, Sagarika, Priyadharshni, Graham and Danbe. And I got to moderated it. While Graham, Uriel, and Rakhal were film making instructors, Danbe, Sagu and Priya were participants in film making workshops. I tried to get a common definition for the topic that all participants including the younger members could understand and be comfortable with. Read more

The second instalment of the live radio debates from the Auroville Film Festival action station took place Saturday evening. The topic 'I am, You are, We are Film makers' was chosen to encourage film makers from different backgrounds to get together and discuss the film making process and all things connected with film. There were seven participants and the debate was moderated by Chloe'. This is what the participants had to say: Indrani - "This is the first time I am trying film making, thanks to the AVFF - Education Outreach Program. Read more

Olivier and Hilde moderated this debate. The participants were B, Basile, Hans and Doudou Diène. The first half of the debate was spent on defining Human Unity whereby every one got to put forth their idea of what they felt Human Unity encompassed. Human Unity they all agreed was a theme that was difficult to pin down. After the round of introductions each participant spoke about what Human Unity was to them. Read more

On the second day of the Auroville Film Festival many people came already in the morning. A film that seems to have grabbed special interest was "A New We" and was documenting the lifestyle of 10 intentional Communities and Ecovillages in Europe. Listen to the inspirations and insights that Aurovillians got from the lifestyle of those communities and their feeling about the Festival.

The News today features what is going on at the Auroville Film Festival. After the opening ceremony that was held yesterday whit a great audience and an amazing energy, the morning today started with really interesting movies and the room full of people. One of them gave us an interview on what he felt about the movie A New We by Stefan Wolf. And for help you on making your schedule, we remember the time and the places of the next exhibitions. Read more

Yesterday Auroville Film Festival 2011 opened to an enthusiastic crowd, midst music and bubble blowing, excited people obviously happy to meet and greet as last minute preparations took place on stage and behind stage. This is the recording of the full event... Paul, Wazo and Marco entertained the audience, introducing the theme of this festival, showing a few clips on-screen. This years festival is panning out to be bigger and better with 121 films scheduled to be shown. Click here to download the program (pdf). Read more

Auroville's second Film Festival, the brainchild of Marco of Cinema Paradiso, had its grand opening yesterday to a a packed audience of Aurovilians adult and children plus guests from abroad. There was a contagious spirit in the very air, spreading through one and all; smiles and laughter midst music created the sense of a real festival. Hear Marco as he shares his feelings; Paul and Wazo entertainingly explained what was to take place, and Kathy and Amy also had comments to share on this lively event. Read more

All are invited to the Grand Opening of the Auroville Film Festival 2011 today at 5pm at Town Hall Plaza, and in today's news we featured short phone interview with Marco "seconds" before. After opening ceremony at 9.30 at Cinema Paradiso we can see first five films of the festival. Youth Center is in preparation for 8th of October, the Fun Day for children of all ages, and we talked with Lea and Anand about it. At Galery Sqaure Circle tomorrow and on Sunday Mutation in Progress, art installation by various artist on the theme of evolution. Read more

In today's news we feature interview with Soham about his food strike, translated by Renu. On Thursday 29th long expected and warmly welcomed Auroville Film Festival 11 starts with the Opening Ceremony at 5pm at Town Hall Plaza, followed by the first set of films screened at Cinema Paradiso between 7.30 to 10.30 pm. Resident Assembly Service invites us on a General Meeting on Thursday, 29th at 5pm at SAWCHU with the main topic on how to Complete Review of the AVC and WC selection process. On Saturday 24th at Kalabhumi at 7.30 Smaranam. Read more

In today's news we feature exciting updates on Auroville Film Festival 11 given by Krishna. Annual Green Practices vision workshop with the title Regenerative Township of Tomorrow starts today, and it will end on Saturday. Auroville Bamboo Research Centre prepared many events to celebrate World Bamboo Day 18th of September. This Saturday they will open the doors of Bamboo Research Centre. Open house will start at 3pm with running power point presentation on Bamboo, and they want to share with community their production line of work. Read more

In todays' news we feature short interview with Bascar, who volunteers with Auroville Film Festival 11 team as technical support. Over seventy films are in for the reviewing, and need to be categorize and prepared for screening at the Festival. In the team they realized that there are some films which do not fit into any category but it would be nice to see them anyway. Ganesh Chaturthi Day is on Thursday, the 1st of September. Everyone is welcome at the Ganesh temple of Auroville, from 9.30 to 11 am. Read more

In today's news we featured Andrea's interview with Emanuele on his new book - The Salt of Life, which will be aviable in few days. Today's interesting presentation created by three French interms at L'Avenir d'Auroville / Town Development Council on Mahalakshmi Park will be held at 4pm at Conference Room at Town Hall. On Saturday 20th of August at 3pm at Solitude Farm will be a meeting to discuss planting vegetables and fruit trees in public spaces. Nw Indian film Narthaki (The Dancer) will be screen on Monday at 7.30 pm at Cinema Paradiso Read more

The news today features an interview with Christoph, on the coming annual film festival and 'Datenstrudel,' a 24-hour video recently executed by Jorn Hintzer and Jakob Hufner in Berlin, idea and by Mark Formanek.; check standard-time.com. Announcements include NAGA-MANDALA, a play about Love, Honor, Betrayal, Sacrifice, Magic and Foolishness to be played next weekend.. . Also Silambattan (the ancient Tamil stick-fighting martial art) classes for children aged 14 and younger. Read more

« We are trying to increase the population of Auroville. It is going too slowly". As Dr. Karan Singh, Chairman of Auroville Foundation, kindly introduced his newly released documentary film "I BELIEVE", on April 25th evening at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, he also took this opportunity to share with the audience some of his vision and set of priorities for Auroville. Although he reminded that his third term's main issue as Chairman of Auroville Foundation was the development of the City with l'Avenir d'Auroville, he also reminded that Auroville is about the growth of consciousness yearning for Aurovilians to look upon their spiritual development as well. Read more

The news today offers announcements about Earth Day, only a week away: not to be missed is another event from Johnny and the kids: an Earth Day Parade which will begin from the Youth Centre around 10 o'clock on Friday 22nd April, wending its way to Mahakali Park (between MM and Kalabhumi) where there will be a pot-luck picnic around midday. Tomorrow, Saturday's Eco-Market at Solar Kitchen, will have extra attractions for the eco-minded both adults and children. And a guided tour is on offer, to discover newly color-coded trails on Auroville's cycle trails, topped off with a 2011 film 'Green Fire.' Also tomorrow a farewell performance of 'Third in Line' by Magdalene San Millan, her one-woman show. Read more