It appears that Criterion will be releasing this epic documentary by Louis Malle. i have not seen this one (yet) but have read nice things about it - looking forward to this one

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/programs/6-2005/malle05.htm


PHANTOM INDIA
Louis Malle, France, 1968-69; total: 378m
Part One: 162m
THE IMPOSSIBLE CAMERA
THINGS SEEN IN MADRAS
THE INDIANS AND THE SACRED
Sat July 2: 1; Wed July 6: 8:15; Sun July 10: 3:45
Part Two: 108m
DREAMS AND REALITY
A LOOK AT CASTES
Sat July 2: 4:15; Thurs July 7: 9:10; Sun July 10: 7
Part Three: 108m
ON THE FRINGES OF INDIAN SOCIETY
BOMBAY - THE FUTURE OF INDIA
Sat July 2: 6:30; Fri July 8: 8:45; Sun July 10: 9:10
Had Louis Malle only made PHANTOM INDIA, an honored place in the history of film would have still been his. Made with cinematographer Etienne Becker and sound man Jean-Claude Laureux - the full extent of the crew for the vast bulk of the shoot - PHANTOM INDIA is not only a remarkable document of a time and place, but it's also a meditation on the difficulty of truly knowing the Other, the way that a camera's "view" always betrays an attitude or position beyond an objective recording. Long out of circulation, PHANTOM INDIA will soon once again be available to new generations of scholars, critics and audiences, thanks to the great work of our friends at Criterion. Originally presented on French and British television in seven separate episodes, we have divided it for these screenings into three parts, labeled One, Two and Three; however, each episode was designed to be completely autonomous, so that you can watch them in any order.
"In the autumn of 1967 I was asked by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to present in India a series of eight French films, including THE FIRE WITHIN - films more or less representative of the new French cinema. And I said yes. So I went to Delhi and Calcutta and Madras and Bombay presenting those films. I was supposed to stay two weeks but I ended up staying almost two months….After those two months I realized that although India was impossible to understand for a foreigner - it was so opaque - yet I was so completely fascinated by it that I would have to come back. So I returned to France at the end of 1967, and in a couple of weeks I raised the money I needed, which was almost nothing, and went back in early January with two friends of mine, a cameraman and a sound man. My proposition was that we would start in Calcutta, look around and eventually shoot. No plans, no script, no lighting equipment, no distribution commitments of any kind…. The interesting aspect of those documentaries for me was that I took one month just to examine the material, and then stayed in the cutting room for a year, until the end of 1969 practically. I was in Paris, I was going to the editing room every day and it was as if I was still in India…It's been like a big chunk of my life. It was enormously important for me, and I'm still trying to make sense of it today." - Louis Malle, in Malle on Malle, edited by Philip French

This sounds absolutely incredible... strange I'd never heard of it before until now. This is definitely going to be a blind buy for me.

This film is not "India friendly" - it was India through the eyes of a fascinated westerner. Infact the Indian government tried to stop this film from being made , i doubt if it even opened in india. Having not seen it I am looking forward to this one.