Wednesday, December 5, 2012

14th Madurai Film Festival: Magic Lantern Movies


14th Madurai International Documentary 

and Short Film Festival 2012

6,7,8,9 Dec 2012


UNDER CONSTRUCTION:FILMS DISTRIBUTED
 BY MAGIC LANTERN MOVIES, NEW DELHI;
CURATED BY RANJAN DE

1) A Doctor to Defend: The Binayak Sen Story
Director: Minnie Vaid, English (subtitled), 46 min, 2011, India


A chilling story of justice being denied, the fi lm interweaves the
journey of Dr. Binayak Sen from the infl uences that shaped the
path he was to take later to the choices that seem almost inevitable.
Capturing his fi rm conviction that dialogue and not violence is the
only way out, the fi lm is of archival value to human rights activists
and to all people with a conscience worldwide as it profi les
the life and views of a ‘prisoner of conscience’ whose voice is now
silenced.

2) Bom - aka One Day Ahead of Democracy
Director: Amlan Datta, English (subtitled), 117 min, 2011, India


Malana, a remote village in the Himalayas, isolated from outside
civilization for thousands of years has been fostering a divine existence
in harmony with nature and a unique model of democracy of
consensus. The hidden treasure of their governance has been trust
and they have been selecting not electing! They have also been
producing some of the best quality hashish.
In the seventies came some white men who taught them how to
rub the crème and drew them into hashish trade. Malana crème
became world famous. The rule of our modern day democracy has
to be established, so Malana becomes a part of Indian electorate. In
name of development the curse of modern world starts destroying
their traditional culture and social practices. A united community
gets divided and goes to vote for the Indian general elections.

3) The Musalman, Preservation of a Dream
Director: Ishani K. Dutta, English (subtitled), 11 min, 2011, India


‘The Musalman’ is about the hand written Urdu daily published
from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Catering to a very small Urdu reading
population, The Musalman is possibly the only hand written daily
newspaper in the world. The fi lm shows the history of the newspaper,
and the passion that drives the people who run it. Established
in 1927 by Chenab Syed Asmadullah Sahib, the newspaper was
taken over by his son Syed Faisullah. It is presently run by Faisullah’s
son, Syed Arifullah, making it a heritage that the family
owns. The fi lm also converses with the calligraphers, who have
dedicated their lives to The Musalman because of their love for
Urdu and calligraphy.

4) The Immoral Daughters in the Land of Honour
(Izzatnagari ki Asabhya Betian)
Director: Nakul Singh Sawhney, English (subtitled), 93 min, 2011, India


The fi lm traverses the violent landscape of ‘honour’ crimes, gender
and caste discrimination in Haryana to tell the tale of a unique
resistance. ‘Asabhaya Betiyaan’ (Immoral Daughters) from the Jat
community are taking on the powerful, male and upper caste dominated
community courts or the ‘Khap Panchayats’. The fi lm follows
few such women, urban and rural, who continue to struggle
for dignity and voice in the face of extreme and severe threats. The
powers of the ‘Khaps’, drawn from communitarian blood links,
are absolute and negate all norms of social justice and renders the
administration and the police ineffective or worse, at the service of
the ‘Khaps’. Inter-cutting extensive and rare footage of the ‘Khaps’
with chilling stories from the relatives of their victims and their
resistance, the fi lm inverses victimhood into that of agency.

5) Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
Director: Anders Østergaard, English (subtitled), 86 min, 2008, Denmark


Armed with small handycams, undercover Video Journalists in
Burma keep up the fl ow of news from their closed country. Risking
torture and life in jail, the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make
their reportage. Their material is smuggled out of the country
and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free
usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed
single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very fi rst time, their
individual images have been carefully put together and now tell a
much bigger story.

As Foreign TV crews are suddenly banned from the country, it is
left to Joshua (27), and his crew to keep the revolution alive on TV
screens across the world. With Joshua as the psychological lens, the
Burmese condition is made tangible to a global audience. The fi lm
offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in
a police state, while at the same time providing documentation of
the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist
monks began marching.

14th Madurai Film Festival 2012: Films from Tamilnadu


14th Madurai International Documentaries 

and Short Film Festival 2012


FILMS FROM TAMILNADU: DOCUMENTARIES

1) Deepam
A fi lm by Murugan ; 60mins; 2012; Tamil
Tiruvannamalai Deepam festival 2011.
mydearmurugan@gmail.com

2) Taraki
A fi lm by Someetharan ; 58mins; 2012; Tamil
30 long years, the war in Srilanka. Tamils fi ght for their rights, dignity
and freedom. For a separate homeland. I started shooting this
fi lm after Sivarams death. Over the period of 6years most of the
journalissI interviewed are either killed or fl ed the country. Many
of the tapes fi lmed remain missing in Srilanka. And im not in
Srilanka. Now I have interviewed some of them through the skype.
This is a small fi lm on Sivaram who has inspired a lot of journalists
in Srilanka. More than 70 Srilankan journalists are in exile. I wish
we all go back and work for our people soon. But still we the Tamil
and Sinhala journalists are friends. One great example is Sivaram.
Someeth13@gmail.com


3) Dam@116 years
A fi lm by Arvind; 32mins; 2012; Tamil, Malayalam, & English
Mullperiyar: A debate towards alternatives.
Arvindmak@gmail.com

SHORT FILMS

1) Mouna Mozhi
A fi lm by Jai; 20mins; 2012; Tamil
Love and life of two youngsters, the chain that connects their lives,
and how are they interrelated together.
Jaihot@gmail.com

2) Feb-04
A fi lm by S.Raja; 8mins; 2012; Tamil
In our society death of a family man cause of tobacco, Smoking
how their wife and baby suffers. The object of the fi lm is to prevent
peoples from cancer by not using tobacco. Prevention is better than
cure.
Rajajayam89@gmail.com

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

14th Madurai Film Festival 2012: List of films; International Documentaries!

14th Madurai International Documentary 

and Short Film Festival 2012


List of films

International Section: DOCUMENTARIES

1) Ameer Got His Gun
Dir: Naomi Levari; Israel; 58 min; 2011; Hebrew & Arabic

Ameer Abu Ria is about to go into the army. As opposed to the
majority of 18 year old boys in Israel, for whom army service is
Mandatory, Ameer is exempt from military service under the assumption
that his enlistment might endanger Israel’s security. That
is because Ameer, an Israeli citizen,is a Moslem Arab. And yet,
Ameer decides to volunteer. He believes that his induction is the
way to equality, he believes this is the way to belong to the state he
lives in, the state he wants to love. He is considered an enemy, a
fi fth columnist in the eyes of Israeli Jews, and a traitor of the worst
kind in the eyes of Arab citizens; the kind who turns against his
brothers. Ameer, an eternal optimist, wishes to be both a proud
Arab and an enthusiastic Israeli while his only enemy is reality.
rotem@bsheepfi lms.com

2) Haiti, Tierra De
Esperanza
Dir: Asier Reino; Spain; 54
min; 2012; English, French,
Credo, Italian & Spanish


This documentary is based
on a journalist’s personal
experience who, after
traveling to Haiti in2004,
decides to erase this country
from his memory after
having witnessed terrible
violence.
info@promofest.org

3) Doll - Why would you dance Naked?
Dir: Zohar Wagner; Israel; 58 min; 2012; Hebrew

Revealing video tapes fi lmed twenty years ago in New York reappear
oneday in director Zohar Wagner’s home. The tapes content
reveals her past as a club stripper in her 20’s, and undermines her
man’s trust. The dispute around the video footage leads Wagner
on a deeply emotional quest seeking out her memories and
those who were her companions during this hectic period. With
their help she uncovers the ways in which her repression mechanism
has led her asrtay.
zoharwa@gmail.com

4) Orania
Dir: Tobias Lindner; Germany; 94 min; 2012

Orania is a remote village in the barren centre of South Africa, an
“intentional community” where only Afrikaans people live – a
culturally homogeneous place in a multicultural country. What
is beneath this particular societal experiment? A feature- length
documentary about cultural identity and the line between self
determination and discrimination.
info@orania-fi lm.de

5) Scorpions
Dir: Simo Hakalisto; Finland; 74 min; 2012; Cambodian, English


Documentary discusses the post-war generation’s life in a country
with many scars; the reconstruction of the post-genocide society
not only in a concrete but also in a mental sense. Even after a harsh
drawback it is possible to fi nd a meaning for one’s life. The fi lm is a
demonstration of the healing effects of sports.
simo.hakalisto@gmail.com

6) Floreria y edecanes
Dir: Jaizel Hernandez; Mexico; 43 min; 2012; Spanish

Where is the end of Mexico and the beginning of the United states?
By means of a contemplative and experimental approach this documentary
pose the present anorama and every day life in northeast
Mexico and south of Texas. A pursuit to fi nd an own identity,
through atmospheres and ambient states in region where a river
divides the third and fi rst world of a whole continent.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

7) Tres rocas
Dir: Emiliano Fernandez; Mexico; 66 min; 2011; Spanish


Three Rocks, is a movie in which three stories about climbing
happen, Carlos gracia take us through a big wall adventure in the
Cordillera Blanca, Diego Lopez, lives for climbing, in the deserts
spends months trying to climb up to ten meters rocks. Looking for
high degree of diffi culty, a group of climbers work in a new route
building up, 33000 feet wall.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

8) The Wild Ones
Dir: Lucy Kaye; UK; 30 min; 2012; English


Impact Pupil Referral Unit, in Bootle, Liverpool, provides a last
chance for teenagers expelled from school to gain qualifi cations.
This term, seven pupils get to leave the Unit to try a new way of
learning in an unlikely sanctuary for rescued horses, in the heart of
this run-down neighborhood. Run by local resident Bernadette
Langfi eld, several wild ponies that she saved from being culled
need taming. Butthese horses, like the pupils have their own troubled
backgrounds and in order for a relationship between them
to develop, both horses and teenagers have to fi rst deal with their
own behavioral diffi culties.
lucykaye101@yahoo.com

9) Her Name is Vivienne
Dir: Mustafa Boga; UK; 7 min; 2012; English


‘Her Name is Vivienne’
is a short documentary
about a young man from
Romania who fi nds freedom
in London to fi nd
and get to know Vivienne,
his alter ego. Why is he
compelled to cross dress,
and what are his hopes
and fears for the future?
mubogga@hotmail.com

10) Rosario
Dir: Anshul Tiwari; Singapore; 6 min; 2012; English

Rosario ia a short musical documentary about a busker – Dennis
Rozario – performing in the subways of Singapore in the hope to
become a successful musician one day.
anshul.tiwari@gmail.com

11) Apash, Outsiders
Dir: Cora Pena; Spain; 88 min; 2011; Spanish, Awajun


Apash Outsiders should be a movie about a retired Spanish businessman
travelling to the Peruvian Amazon, in search of ancient
family links inside jivaro communities. But the guardians of the
forest have better things to tell: they are trapped by the greed of
Western extractive industry. The Amazon, home and lungs of
the Earth, is in serious risk of destruction.
corafoton@gmail.com

12) Masi’s Law
Dir: Aaro Hazak & Adam Jacobi Moller; South Africa; 14 min; 2012 ;
English

Masiphumelele or Masi is a township near Cape Town, South
Africa, where high crime rates and limited access to the police have
necessitated communitybased security measures. The fi lm portrays
the way of the Bambanani and street committee volunteer movements’
fi ght against the crime in Masi.
aarohazak@yahoo.com

13) Los nueve infi ernos
Dir: Abril Schmucler; Mexico; 25 min; 2010; Spanish

A babie’s bath in a public space. Angry rebel young people running
through the streets. A man crawling in pursuit of divine forgiveness.
The brother who cannot buy a small car. The eternal wait of a musician
on a long night.. A lover sings, besides him a hobo complains.
Millions of people whose eyes will never meet. This city is silence.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

14) Hermeneutics
Dir: Alexei Dmitriev; Russia; 3.15 min; 2012; English
A War film
Alexei.v.dmitriev@gmail.com

15) Ancestral Delicatessen
Dir: Gabriel Folgado; Spain; 15 min; 2012; Spanish

All that exists is made of time, from the galaxies to chestnuts; only
rhythm changes.
info@promofest.org

16) Yuban
Dir: Yaasib Vazquez; Mexico; 29 min; 2011; Spanish


Yuban is about the transformation of a Zapotecan community. It
portraits the longing for a set of principles that are about to die and
the effort the people make to keep their culture alive.
mariana@elcc.com.mx

17) La Mirada Perdida (The Missing Looks)
Dir: Damian Dionosio; Argentina; 11mins; Spanish

Argentina, 1976, Claude is forced to live with his family in hiding,
due to his political ideals. The house in which they live is
discovered by the militarist. No time to fl ee, Teresa try to shelter
his daughter in a fantasy world to avoid the girl look at the horror
they are about to live.
info@promofest.org

Monday, December 3, 2012

14th Madurai Film Festival 2012: Final list International films, Short Films


14th Madurai International Documentary 

and Short Film Festival 2012

6,7,8 December 2012

INTERNATIONAL FILMS: SHORT FILMS

1) Amanecer
Dir: Erick Garcia; Mexico; 21 min; 2010; Spanish.


Emilio, Jonas and Pedro want to have some fun in the night. Emilio
and Jonas has particular ways to enjoy themselves. When Pedro
decides to take part of this he discovers a new person in him.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

2) Desierto
Dir: Christian Rivera; Mexico; 15:30 min; 2010; Spanish.


A groom is trying to fi nd his bride in a magical desert; there he will
learn that the shortest way is not always the faster.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

3) Munecas
Dir: Miguel Salgado; Mexico; 25 min; 2010; Spanish
When Valeria decides to quit playing the piano, a secret comes to
light and the family’s harmony is broken.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

4) Stella Maris
Dir: Marie Benito; Mexico; 10 min; 2010; Spanish


A father and his 10 year old daughter undertake a journey to the
ocean with a particular purpose.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

5) De Este Mundo
Dir: Fernanda Valadez; Mexico; 18:30; 2010; Spanish


Sara doesn’t belong to this world, but in a last attempt, she makes
a journey to fi nd carlos, her only loved one. She then leaves the
psyquitric where she had concealed from herself, to walk the corridors
of the past time, trying to fi nd what its not lost.
mariana@elccc.com.mx

6) The Voice of God
Dir: Bernd Lutzeler; Germany; 9 min; 2011; English
If God would come down to earth and try to earn a living in Bombay,
most probably he would very soon become successful as a
voice over artiste, lending his voice to thousands of Hindi movies
and even more documentaries and public service fi lms in India.A
melo-dramatic docu-drama with voice-over in stop-motion and
longtime exposure.
fi lmi@gmx.de

7) Miruna
Dir: Piotr Sulkowski; Poland; 20 min; 2012; Polish


After an argument with her lover, a young woman recklessly gets
into the parked car of a mysterious stranger. Their brief encounter
will lead to mutual attraction, insight and fatal accomplishment,
during a journey to the end of the night. Through a maze of colorful
fl ashbacks, intricately related to the main character’s
painful past, the destiny of the young woman is inevitably connected
to that of an imaginary fi sh.
sulkowskipm@gmail.com

8) Tirastan Sonra (After Shave)
Dir: Nail Pelivan; Turkey; 17 min; 2012; Turkish


It is important that the relationship between master and assistant
like in the other crafts. The assistant has to listen his master and he
needs to take advantage of his master’s experiments. The master
has to teach the detail of craft to his assistant. People need justice.
There is law or not. People have still need justice. If law is not
enough, people fi nd the way of sort their own problems out in
every ages.
nailpelivan@gmail.com

9) Two Journalists
Dir: Vladimic Sakhov; Russia; 17 min; 2012; Russian
The fi lm “Two Journalist” based on a story of a Chekhov. It presents
satirical look at journalism. This is a story about journalistwho
are to do anything for a sensation.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

10) Accident
Dir: Kivill Pletnev; Russia; 25 min; 2012; Russian
Hauler sergie lives happy life. He loves his wife and little son. He
is sincere man of principle and he wants his son to be the same. But
once his life is going down hill.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

11) We are not slaves
Dir: Anyr Askarov; Russia; 15 min; 2012; Russian
The fi lm is about feelings of a little boy in besieged Leningrad.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

12) The Encounter
Dir: Georgiy Soldatov; Russia; 8 min; 2011; Russian
On a busy street an old lady tries to make it to the other side of the
road. For a long time she cant do it because of the traffi c.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

13) One Minute
Dir: Elena Golyanima; Russia; 15 min; 2012; Russian
Alexander is a successful businessman. He achieves all his goals by
means and without any doubts. A child voice responds his cries.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

14) When a woman is happy
Dir: Tatina Budistskaya; Russia; 26 min; 2011; Russian
The young girl Niko get acquinted with men via internet and
makes a date to those much elder than herself. Why does she behave
in such a way? Is she looking for a sponsor or a good lover?
mir.festivals@gmail.com

15) Away
Dir: Anna Sarukhanova; Russia; 17 min; 2012; Silent
The young man gets job offer abroad and has to leave his native
tour for several years. A choice is to be done whether to leave habitual
environment or to stay.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

16) Seven Days
Dir: Margarita Magdesieva; Russia; 30 min; 2012; Russian
Art and business, career and principles, dreams and routine. We
are going ahead, looking backwards, staring at the distance, and
the life is slamming the doors again. Hour by hour, 7days.
mir.festivals@gmail.com

17) Haikus for Karaoke
Roberto Santaguida; Italy; 4.30 min; 2012;
Haikus fashioned from found karaoke videos.
rob.santiaguide@gmail.com

18) A Parideira
Dir: Jose Miguel Moreira; Portugal; 20 min; 2010; Portuguese
Somewhere in the top of the mountain range, there is a credulous
cave: it is the “PAREDIERA” it counts the legend that if an infertile
woman there goes inside, she leaves pregnant from the cave. But
to that happens it is necessary that in this night an adult dies there
inside.
fi lmografo@fi lmografo.pt

19) Noite Gelida Em Castelo Branco
Dir: Luis Diogo; Portugal; 15 min; 2011; Portuguese
Sofi a & Marco, a young couple, visit Castelo Branco city by night.
Start a conversation with a tramp on the street that plays music.
While the conversation takes place, sofi a begins to suspect that
vagabond could be the father she never knew.
fi lmografo@fi lmografo.pt

20) Prescricao
Dir: Marco Miranda; Portugal; 14 min; 2012; Portuguese
In the city lives a man who questions.. in the city lives a man.. like
other en we know as men, but this man unlike the others questions
his existence.
fi lmografo@fi lmografo.pt

21) Violet, the Courteasan
Dir: David Casals-Roma; Spain; 15mins; 2012; Spanish
A prostitute is working at night in her usual spot when suddenly
she is surprised by a mysterious woman. After the woman explains
to the prostitute her desperate situation, she decides to help her to
make her dream come true.
distribution@recreatproductions.com

22) Luminaris
Dir: Juan Pablo Zaramella; Argentina; 6mins; 2012; Spanish
In a world controlled and timed by light, an ordinary man has a
plan thatcould change the natural order of things.
info@promofest.org

23) Video club
Dir: Roberto Dominiguez, Jorge Manzaneque, Macgregor; Spain;
14:51mins; 2012; Spanish
Returning a movie was ever so hard…
gorkaleon@thehouseoffi lms.com

24) Memory
Dir: Victor suner; Spain; 7:55mins; 2011; Spanish
A man sitting in a coffee Shop makes mental review of all the
failures of
love.
gorkaleon@thehouseoffi lms.com


14th Madurai Film Festival: Final list of films, Rest of India, Short films!


14th Madurai International Documentary 

and Short Film Festival 2012

REST OF INDIA: SHORT FILMS

1) The Fakers
Dir: Ghanshyam Bhatt; Hindi; 13.35 min; 2012;


Rahul and Swati are going to meet as prospective match. Their
family tells them what all to do and how to behave. They meet
and do the same but it doesn’twork between them…Result lots of
grudges and misunderstanding. Then a co incidence happens.
bhatt.ghanshyam@gmail.com

2) As I Remember You
Dir: Gaurav Saluja; Hindi; 26 min; 2012;


It is a fi lm about ARNAV. He has lost his girlfriend in a car accident.
It is been a long time after her death, but ARNAV is still
not able to live a normal life. He is plagued by the memories of old
days and all his suffering leads to some other form of pain in his life.
er.gauravsaluja@yahoo.com

3) Swapno Satyakam
Dir: Som; Bengali; 21.38 min; 2012;


Satyakam is a young dwarf. His short height and unusual looks
constantly draw snide remarks and insulting comments from
people. In his mind, he constructs a dream world where there is no
hatred… where one doesn’t harm another… a world where there is
only love. His only wish is to lose himself in love.
somnath042000@yahoo.com

4) The Family
Dir: Zaman Habib; Hindi; 16.25 min; 2012;


Today when we are falling prey to social disintegration and becoming
too individualistic Jambert, a coffi n shop owner, believes in family, although
he fancies death to run his shop. This is a story of people around
the world who aren’t able to handle loneliness as in case of Jambert in
this fi lm who wants a family: some close people to be around, someone
to share his joys and sorrows with. And to have those people around he
doesn’t mind having a family of dead people.
zamanhabib@gmail.com

5) Bawdi
Dir: Vivek Soni; Hindi; 20 min; 2012;


Adding to the woes of a village facing acute shortage of water, a
Cola Company sets up base close to it. If wells drying up were not
enough, its operations have directly affected the lives and fortunes
of the farmers fi ghting for their survival. Women have to walk
miles to fetch water, which has made villagers prefer their
daughters getting married outside the village. A young couple
victimized by the circumstances struggles to get married.
vivek.sonni@gmail.com

6) Verge of Happiness
Dir: Harsha Setty GR; No dialogue; 18.45 min; 2012
Four friends ( Raj, Vicky, Mohan & Shaila) get high on drugs and
meet with an unfortunate accident on the outskirts of the city/ noman’s
land. Mohan and shaila die on the spot, Raj is on the verge
of dying and his life is in hanging preciously between life and
death, Vicky is badly injured. The story revolves around Vicky’s
struggle to escape the clutches of dependability on drugs and trying
to save his friend raj.
settyharsha@yahoo.co.in

7) Current
Dir: Dhanesh Krishna; Malayalam; 26 min; 2012
The story of the village girl who comes to act in a blue fi lm, fi rst
time.
vdhaneshkrishna@gmail.com

8) Nirnay
Dir: Dhananjay Bhawalekar; Marathi; 26.53; 2012
This is the story in the family of sanitary worker where a youth
named mahendra denies follow his traditional occupation which is
instigated or forced on him by social system . While taking this decision
he had to struggle with family like wise the burden of social
and political pressure. He also goes through many debates. To live
a pride and dignity is a fundamental right of everyone and oneself
comes to sense it because of education in his belief. There after he
starts his journey in that direction.
dhananjaybhawalkar@gmail.com

9) Chhoti Chhoti Baatein
Dir: Aashini Shah; Gujarati; 13.09; 2011


“Chhoti Chhoti Baatein” is a fi lm about four characters and their
desires, the desires that are affected by little things in life. For one
character it is independence and a desire to get back to the past.
For the other it is a new sofa and for the other two it is the lifestyle
that they lead. They all make efforts to fulfi ll their desires and
in the process of doing so go through certain experiences, which
brings them to self-realization. It is on the lines of “Grass is greener
on the other side.”
aashini.s@nid.edu

10) Back water
Dir: Arun karthick; Malayalam; 14mins; 2011
A lonely island, a traumatic traveler, a story that mirrors the waters;
a brutal rape, and her return to the waters. Set in the midst of
the island. The Back waters is a haunting boat journey into the life
of a secluded girl.
cinemaobscurak@gmail.com

14th Madurai Film Festival : Final list of films; Rest of India Documentaries


14th Madurai International Documentary

 and Short Film Festival 2012

6,7,8 December 2012

Section: FILMS FROM REST OF INDIA

DOCUMENTARIES

1) Bharat Mata Ki Jai
Dir: Avadhoot Khanolkar, Shweta Radhakrishnan, Amol Ranjan, Arpita
Chakroborty, Anurag Mazumdar
At the heart of Mumbai’s mill country, Lalbaug-Parel, stands
Bharatmata Cinema, one of the remaining single screen theatres
showing Marathi fi lms exclusively. The theatre is an iconic reminder
of a fast disappearing working class culture in Mumbai.
Through the lives of Kapil Bhopatkar, the owner, and Baban, one
of the oldest employees of the theatre, the fi lm explores the history
and development of Bharatmata as a space for articulating the
cultural identity of Mumbai’s working class and raises important
questions about its existence and survival. The characters, widely
disparate through their socio-economic class, come together
through their passionate love for cinema and their celebration of
the main character in the fi lm – Bharatmata Cinema itself.
anuragmazu@gmail.com

2) Indelible
Dir: Pavitra Chalam; 16 min; 2012; English
It is an introduction to a feature length documentary created
specifi cally for the world Down syndrome congress (2012), south
Africa and is the offi cial fi lm for the down syndrome federation of
India (Dsfi ).
pavithra.chalam@curleystreet.com

3) Dere tun Dilli
Dir: Divya Cowasji & Shilpi Gulati; 26 min; 2012; Siraiki, English, Hindi


‘Dere tun Dilli’ is a fi lm about storytellers who weave history in the
everyday. Storytellers, who tell tales of a divided country, of struggles
across borders and of lost and found homes. Storytellers, who
try to remember, keep a collective memory alive and who often
forget. ‘Dere tun Dilli’ is a journey through time, through Dera
Ismail Khan and Delhi, through memory, living and forgetting.
shilpi.gulati1@gmail.com

4) Nirnay
Dir: Pushpa Rawat; 56 min; 2012; Hindi, Garhwali
By following the lives of the women over three years, the fi lm documents
the changes in their lives and tries to capture the essence of
their existence, sometimes through conversations, and sometimes
by simply observing their seemingly innocuous every day routine.
srinivasan@hotmail.com

5) Night Hawks
Dir: Umadevi Tanuku; 52 min; 2012; Hindi
This documentary tries to look at Delhi from the perspective of
people who work at night, and reveals multiple stories that often
go unnoticed.
umafti@hmail.com

6) Diamond Band
Dir: Samridhi Dasot; 17 min; 2012; Gujarati, Hindi
The fi lm revolves around an Ahmedabad Wedding Brass Band
called Dimond Band. It explores their profession, the personal lives
and background of members and their equation as a team.
Dasotsamridhi@gmail.com

7) In Rags
Dir: Abhishek Chandra; 13 min; 2012; Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati
The fi lm is about the biggest dump yard in Ahemedabad.
abishek.c@nid.edu

8) Pennadi / My Mirror is the Door
Dir: Leena Manimekalai; 52 min; 2012; Tamil


Tamil, a World Classic Language, has a long history of culture and its
literature dates back to even before Common Era. The ten anthologies
and eight long poems of Sangam age from 100 B.C to 250 A.D are the
oldest and most distinguished body of secular poetry extant in India.

Women poets were a strong presence in Sangam literature of yesteryears
and their scholarship is proved that total of 154 of the 2831
poems carry women’s signatures, The legacy include the much
quoted Aavaiyar, Kaakai Padiniyar, Aadhi manthiyaar, Kuramagal
Ilaveyini, Veri paadiya kaamakkanniyar, Kavarpendu, Nakkannaiyaar,
Nappasalaiyar, Paari Magalir, to include the important.
Leena Manimekalai, the contemporary Tamil woman poet enters
the cavern of her own mind and fi nds there the scattered leaves not
only of her own power but of the tradition of her foremothers that
might have generated that power.

9) Ballad of Resistance
Dir: Leena Manimekalai; 35 min; 2012; Hindi


Balladof Resistance is a video portrait of indigenous tribal journalist
and activist Dayamani Barla, her perseverance and tireless fi ght
against corporations and the state machinery. The fi lm follows
how she, from a humble background became one of the pioneering
adivasi journalists of India and later a writer-activist. Her current
leadership in the Anti Displacement Movement with Nagari villagers
against land acquisition of 35 villages by State in the name of
“development” is the very impetus of Ballad of Resistance.

10) Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir!
Dir: Shashwati Talukdar & P.Kerim Friedman; 75 min; 2011; Hindi,
Bhantu, Gujarati
Over 60 million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the
British as “criminals by birth”. The chaara of Ahmedabad, in
western India, are one of 198 such “criminal tribes”. Declaring
that they are “born actors”, not born criminals a group of chhara
youth turned to street theatre in their fi ght against police brutality,
corruption and the stigma of criminality—a stigma internalized
by their own grandparents “please don’t beat me sir!” follows the
lives of these young actors and their families as they take their
struggle to streets , hoping their plays will spark a revolution.
info@fourindiandhalf.com

11) 3D Stereo Caste
Dir: A.S. Ajith kumar; 23mins; 2012; Malayalam
3D Stereo Caste is the fi rst part of the documentary series on caste
in music. It tries to explore how caste plays a keyrole in determining
the practices in music, listening habits, performance, classifi
cations and how musicians experience caste in their fi eld. This
introductory chapter focuses on the fi eld of chenda( a percussion
instrument),Cinematic dance and the folk music performances in
kerala.
asajithkumar@gmail.com

12) Jai Bhim Comrade
Directed by Anand Patwardhan, 180 min; 2012; Marathi with Tamil
Subtitles


For thousands of years India’s Dalits were abhorred as “untouchables”
denied education and treated as bonded labour. By 1923
BhimraoAmbedkar broke the taboo, won doctorates abroad and
fought for the emancipation of his people. He drafted India’s Constitution,
led his followers to discard Hinduism for Buddhism. His
legend still spreads through poetry and song.
In 1997 a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in a Dalit colony in Mumbai was
desecrated with footwear. As angry residents gathered, police
opened fi re killing 10. Vilas Ghogre, a leftist poet, hung himself in
protest.
‘Jai Bhim Comrade’ shot over 14 years, follows the poetry and music
of people like Vilas marks a subaltern tradition of reason that
from the days of the Buddha, has fought superstition and religious
bigotry.

13) Get up Stand up
Directed by Sreemith, 34 min; 2012; Tamil, Malayalam with English
subtitles
The documentary, Get up Stand up is in some ways, an answer to
many of the myths surrounding the nuclear power projects, the
world over. Though this fi lm is set particularly in the back drop of
the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project and the people’s struggle
against it, the fi lm raises almost all the questions regarding the
nuclear plants.

14) Song of the Coastal Lilies
Directed by Sreemith, 7 min; 2012; Tamil, English with English subtitles;
music video
A music video on the people’s resistance against the Koodankulam
nuclear project


14th Madurai Film Festival : Final list of films; Retrospective Section

14th Madurai International Documentary 

and Short Film Festival 2012

6,7,8 December 2012

RETROSPECTIVE Section

ANJALI MONTEIRO & K. P. JAYASANKAR



Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar are Professors at the Centre
for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Mumbai. Both of them are involved in media production, teaching
and research. Jointly they have won twenty-one national and international
awards for their Films, including the Prix Futura Berlin
1995 Asia Prize for Identity, Best Documentary Award at the Three
Continents International Festival of Documentaries, Venezuela.
Their work has also been screened widely, at fi lm festivals, on
Indian and overseas television networks and at Universities and
institutions across the world. They are both recipients of the Howard
Thomas Memorial Fellowship in Media Studies, and have been
attached to Goldsmith’s College, London, and the University of
Western Sydney.

1) Our Family
Directed by Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar
56 mins, Tamil with English subtitles, 2007

What does it mean to cross that line which sharply divides us on
the basis of gender? To free oneself of the socially imposed onus
of being male, to liberate the female that lies within? In this film,
scenes from Nirvanam, a one person performance in Tamil which
explores these questions, are juxtaposed with an intimate portrait
of three generations of trans-gendered female subjects, who are all
bound together by ties of adoption. In the process, the fi lm questions
notions of normality and fixed gender identities.

2) SheWrite
Directed by Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar
55 mins, English and Tamil versions, 2005

SheWrite weaves together the narratives and work of four Tamil
women poets. Salma negotiates subversive expression within the
tightly circumscribed space allotted to a woman in a small town.
For Kuttirevathi, solitude is a crucial creative space from where
her work resonates. Her anthology entitled Breasts (2003) elicited
hate mail, obscene calls and threats. The fact that women poets are
exploring themes such as desire and sexuality been opposed by
some Tamil film lyricists, who have gone on record with threats of
death and violence.

This has been resisted by a collective of poets and artists called
Anangu (Woman). MalathyMaitri is a founder member of Anangu.
Her poems explore feminine power and spaces. Sukirtharani
writes of desire and longing, celebrating the body and feminine
empowerment. The fi lm traverses these diverse modes of resistance,
through images and sounds that evoke the universal experiences
of pain, anger, desire and transcendence.

3) YCP 1997
43 Mins., English,1997
Directed by K.P. Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro

Built between 1865 and 1876, Yerwada Central Prison (YCP), Pune,
is one of the oldest prisons in India, with over 2500 inmates. In
this video, six poets and artistes of the YCP share their work, their
lives... Through their poems and musings, the film explores the
modes in which they creatively cope with the pain and stigma of
incarceration, in the process questioning their selfhood and the
socially constructed divides between ‘us’ and ‘them’, between the
‘normal’ and the ‘deviant’.

4) Naata (The Bond)
45 mins., English and Hindi versions, 2003
Directed by K.P. Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro

Naata is about BhauKorde and Waqar Khan, two activists and
friends, who have been involved in confl ict resolution, working
with neighbourhood peace committees in Dharavi, reputedly, the
largest ‘slum’ in Asia. This film explores their work, which has
included the collective production and use of visual media for
ethnic amity. Naata is also about us; among other things, it is an attempt
to reflect on how we relate to spaces of the other, spaces like
Dharavi. It is, above all, about Mumbai, the city that encompasses
Bhau, Waqar and us.

5) So Heddan So Hoddan 
A Film by Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar
52 mins, Sindhi, Kachchhi and Hindustani with English subtitles, 2011,
A Public Service Broadcasting Trust Production



Before the Partition the Maldhari (pastoralist) Jatts moved freely
across the Rann, between Sindh (now in Pakistan) and Kutch. As
pastoral ways of living have given way to settlement, borders
and industrialisation, the older generation struggles to keep alive
the rich syncretic legacy of Shah Bhitai, that celebrates diversity
and non-difference, suffering and transcendence, transience and
survival.
These marginal visions of negotiating difference in creative ways
resist cultural politics based on tight notions of nation-state and
national culture; they open up the windows of India’s national imaginary.