Name: Dr Pratap Rughani
Job title and Department: Reader in Documentary Film & MA Course Leader, Media School
Organisation: London College of Communication
Year of NTF award: 2013
Pratap Rughani has been making documentary films for national and international broadcast for 25 years. Since 1991 he has interwoven his film practice with teaching and learning in universities, with a particular focus on writing new courses and curriculum development on BA and MA programmes at Goldsmiths’ College, City University and University of the Arts London.
He developed industry training for BBC Television’s new directors’ scheme and, with Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) support, co-led a research network that launched the peer-reviewed Moving Image Research & Art Journal. He combined this with commentary on significant developments in his field, writing a number of book chapters and academic articles for a range of national publications including questions of media ethics explored in HE contexts.
He has reported for The Independent, co-edited New Internationalist, an international development magazine, and received awards for his documentary film work which focused on exploring experiences of communities with radically diverging perceptions of the world. He aims to use documentary film as an arena to broker dialogue and style ranges from investigative and social stories to human interest and environmental films. These include the RIMA Award-winning New Model Army, a documentary series about the experiences of Black and Asian soldiers in the British Army nominated for the Grierson award and Such a Wonderful Thing, exploring ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ in the new South Africa. He has made more than 30 documentaries for the BBC, the British Council and Channel 4 and for gallery spaces. He was a BBC trainee and script editor for BBC Drama, commissioning new writers.
Pratap has a particular interest in practical and academic questions of filmmaking, with a discipline-focus on observational documentary film, reporting and media ethics. He has extensive supervision experience at BA MA and PhD levels with an emphasis on inclusivity and reaching diverse student groups. He developed and now runs UAL’s first post-graduate filmmaking course: MA Documentary Film. He is a trustee of the environmental and development charity Pragya, and photographer for the development charity, the Karuna Trust.
His research themes are: documentary; ethics; trans-cultural communication; and listening & dialogue.
