Capturing tribes in films
Tara Purnima Douglas is a film-maker, artist, and cultural researcher. She was born in India. She graduated with BA Hons Animation from West Surrey College of Art and Design (UK) in 1993. In 2002 Tara became the coordinator in India for an indigenous animation project ‘The Tallest Story Competition’ (2006), produced by West Highland Animation in Scotland. She directed and animated one of the stories in the series, ‘How the Elephant Lost his Wings’. In 2007 she screened ‘The Tallest Story Competition’ to 20,000 children in schools in Central India and counted votes for the favourite story. Tara completed a Professional Doctorate on ‘Tales of the Tribes: Animation as a Tool for Indigenous Representation’ at Bournemouth University (UK) in 2015. She is a co-founder and Secretary of the Adivasi Arts Trust (UK) (www.adivasiartstrust.org) established in 2007, and a Trustee of the Trust for Tribal Art Culture and Knowledge (India).
The Adivasi Arts Trust received the Engo Award for Promotion of indigenous storytelling in 2017. She is associated with the North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong, Meghalaya for a postdoctoral research project titled ‘The Stories of Our Ancestor’ (Narrative retellings from North East India). The project is to about documenting the oral narratives of the Wancho and Tangkhul communities in North East India and adapt a story from each for a short film. The new series of films will also include stories from Nagaland and the Great Andamanese oral traditions. Tara’s animation and research projects span collaborations with several different Adivasi communities in Central India, (Warli, Gond, Saora and Santhal), as well as with tribal societies in North East India (Naga groups, Tani tribes from Arunachal Pradesh, and Lepchas from Sikkim). She has also facilitated cultural visits between the UK and India through the Adivasi Arts Trust.