Visions of Development (book review)
In many ways Peter Sutoris’ Visions of Development: Films Division of India and the Imagination of Progress, 1948-75 is one of the most interesting historical case studies on ‘communication for development’ I have come across so far; At the same time his book, based on the curation and analysis of over 250 documentaries from the state-supported Films Division (FD) is so much more: It provides a historical overview over the evolution of the post-colonial development discourse in India and is also an important study on the history of documentary film making from its origins to the peak of pre-digital production in the 1970s. And as if th ese are not already significant achievements, Sutoris also created a companion website where m ost of the documentaries he introduces in the book are now available for the first time in digital format, thus establishing a great resource for teaching, learning and further research. The hegemonic beast of bureaucracy The absence of alternativ