15th Madurai Film Festival 2013
FILMS FROM REST OF INDIA : DOCUMENTARY
1.
I burnt my fingers
Dir:
Kamlesh Udesi; 33mins39 seccs; Gujarati; 2013; India
The
largest democracy of the world witnessed one of the most brutal instances of
human rights violation. An instance which proved that social welfare exists
only in the files of the government office. In one of the most developing
states- Gujarat, one man, after losing the election of village head
‘Sarpanch’, made 150 villagers gothrough
the test of truth by putting their fingers in burning oil.
I
burnt my fingers is a story of those unfortunate men who faced the toughest
test with their blood and flesh to prove their innocence and loyalty. A story
of loyalty, pain and denunciation.
2.
No Problem! – six months with the Barefoot grandmamas
Dir: Yasmin Kidwai; 56 mins 14 secs; English
and Hindi; 2012; India
The
film, No Problem! - Six Months with the Barefoot Grandmamas is about the rural
solar electrification project run by the Barefoot College in the village of
Tilonia in the state of Rajasthan, India, where numerous illiterate rural women
from all over the world, particularly Africa, are being trained as solar
engineers.
3.
Porattangalude Monnamkannu (Third eye of resistance)
Dir:
Razi; 95 mins; Malayalam and English; 2012; India
A
journey through the life of C. Saratchandran who travelled constantly with the
camera and cinemas. It is a journey through the vivid, living memories of the
protesters at Chaliyar, Plachimada, Muthanga and Kathikudam; through the
experiences of his friends and everyone who have travelled with him or parallel
to his path. As someone who pioneered in media activism as part of the little
magazine movement during the Emergency, Sarat later on took up the very
political duty of documenting the popular struggle movements of Kerala. This
film tries to be exactly that, a clear take on the popular risings of not just
Kerala, but the whole of India, by exploring and coordinating the history of
those who have travelled along with Sarat. The film is also an inquiry into the
ongoing technical and creative evolutions in the production and screening of
documentaries, in its right as an important media in the new world. What Sarat
did with his video camera was much more than transmitting the socio-political
issues to be portrayed in the mainstream society. He stood by each of those
struggles, feeding them with energy and the spirit to go forward, to reach
success. For someone like Sarat, who remained wide awake in both at the
struggle fronts and in his personal relationships; for someone as
unconditionally empathetic, the camera was always the third eye for fulfilling
his mission; the third eye of resistance.
4.
A few days more
Dir: O.P. Srivatsava; 50 mins; English and
Hindi; 2012; India
The
film takes us through the story of a family which is struggling to put up a
spirited fight to save a loved one, who was, all of a sudden, diagnosed with a
life-limiting illness. The narration throws light on various medical, social,
psychological, emotional, financial and spiritual challenges faced by the
protagonist and his family in dealing with the situation. The protagonist's
journey through various ups and downs and his eventual metamorphosis as a semi medico-
social worker is the backbone of the story.
5.
Don’t be our fathers
Dir:
Roopesh Kumar; 30 mins; Malayalam; 2013; India
Don’t
be our fathers, the documentary is an attempt to capture the lives of the
people of Peringeel, a predominanly dalit village, in Kannoor district Kerala.
It tries to explore how the people in Peringeel determine their own life in the
contemporary world confronting the patronizing efforts of the dominant
political parties and communities.
6.
BV Karanth: Baba
Dir:
Ramachandra PN;93 mins; Kannada, English and Hindi; 2012; India
From
a tiny village of Babukodi in Mangalore, South India to the annals of
professional theater in Mysore under the then famous Gubbi Theater to the
musical tutelage in the Hindi speaking belt of Banaras in North India and then
to the National arena in New Delhi at Gubbi.
7.
Maliwood Talkies
Dir: Sudhir kasabe; 69 mins; Hiindi and Marathi; 2012;
India
It
is an inspiring story about a Malegan film industry popularly known as
Maliwood. The journey began 13 years ago is making films with low budget handy
cam to big budget T.V Serial. This work is appreciated and applauded all over
the world but is marked with the sacrifice and hardship of countless people.
Their sheer passion for cinema has placed a small town “Malegon” on the world
map for its contribution to the cinema!
8.
V.Babasaheb (life in full open)
Dir: Avinash Deshpande; 52mins; Marathi, Hindi & English; 2013; India
In a
career as cameraman spanning four decades (1946-1993), V.Babasaheb won the
reputation of being an excellent cameraman who delivered box-office
blockbusters. This film is much about his cinematography as it is about the
circumstances in which he worked the highs and lows of professional life of his
times and the problems and situations that he had to deal with in his craft of
cinematography. Today, as he peers through the eye-piece of a Mitchell camera
on the campus of FTII Pune, where he began his career (in Prabhat studios), V.
Babasaheb is 94 years young.
9.
Ningal Aranaye Kando? (Have you seen the arena?)
Dir: Sunandha Bhat; 73mins;
Malayalam; 2012; India
A
woman’s concern over the disappearance of medicinal plants from the forest, a
farmer’s commitment to growing traditional varieties of rice organically and a
cash crop cultivator’s struggle to survive amidst farmers’ suicides, offer
fresh insights into shifting relations between people, knowledge systems and
environment.
10) My Kashmir
Dir: Modhuri Mohinder and Vaishali Sinha; 31mins;
Documentary; English, Urdu, Kashmiri, Hindi; 2013; India
My Kashmir is a film about being young in Kashmir , India
11) Kandhamal UNRESOLVED
Dir: Shailendra boora; 60mins; Documentary; Hindi; 2013; India
Its been five years since the communal violence unleashed
on
Christians in Kandhamal, Odisha. Until now, peace and
justice have been to the
victims. Very few were arrested and even they have been
released on bail. The
film looks into the present situation of Kandhamal,
especially the struggles of
victims, denial of peace and justice, intimidation, and
hate-campaign by sang
parivar, and relationship between
the Hindu identity and the Adivasi community.
12) Bottle Masala in Moile
Dir; Vaidehi Chitre; 38mins; Documentary; English, East
Indian Marathi, Marathi, Hindi; 2012; India
vaidehi.chitre@gmail.com
Descendents of the
indigenous populations of Mumbai, the East Indian
community originated from diverse local groups such as
farmers, fishing people,
toddy tappers, salt pan workers and others. Several of them
were agriculturalists
working on land that they also owned.
Today, as owners of ancestral property in a city that is
developing at an
aggressive pace, the community finds itself rapidly losing
land to government and
corporate forces.
13) Scattered Windows, Connected Doors
Dir; Ms. Roohi Dixit and Ms. Ziba Bhagwagar: 75mins:
Documentary: English: 2013 India
Scattered Windows, Connected Doors is a film about women
from
urban India
14) Ball N Beautiful
Dir: Chida Bora; 14:48mins: Documentary: Assamese; 2011; India
Indian economy is in a rising state and is ranked as tenth
largest in the
world, yet there are probably 75% people are below the
poverty line. The “Ball n
Beautiful” is an unusual story of few girls from Rani, a
village in kamrup district
of North-east India who
are from the background of below poverty line. These
girls have formed a women football team in this ironical
cricket crazy nation
patriarchal society.
It is rather skeptical that to what extent these girls will
go on playing soccer, but
this film tries to depict their
dreams to do something.
15) Sama – Muslim Mystic Music of India
Dir: Shazia Khan:
52mins: Documentary: Multiple Indian regional Languages
2013; India
SAMA is the story of Indian Islamic Music, born out of a
union of
Indian and Islamic traditions, more than a thousand years
ago. It explores the
intermingling of these, in both form and content, to become
a truly magnificent
sound.
16) A Little Revolution – A Story of Suicides and Dreams
Dir: Harpreet Kaur: 60mins: Documentry: English &
Panjabi: 2009; India & USA
A Little Revolution - A Story of Suicides and Dreams,
follows the
remarkable journey of filmmaker Harpreet Kaur, who travels
from the rural
villages of Panjab to the capital of India with children of farmers,
who've
committed suicide.
17) Diaries of unknown
Dir: Sohil Vaidya: 25mins: Documentary: Marathi/Hindi:
2012-2013: India
This Documentary is an Attempt to take a look at the lives
of homeless
people, their struggle to survive, their daily routine and
many other aspects
associated with their lives.
18) Good girls don’t Dance
Dir: Padmalatha Ravi: 14mins 29sec: Documentary: English,
Kannada, Tamil and hindi: 2013: India
This is a documentary that questions the notions that shape
the society's
reaction to sexual harassment, molestation and rape. It
tries to understand the
notion of good girls and bad girls that forms the basis for
this reaction. The film
uses interview format.
19) Mystery Hunters
Dir: Sajeevan Anthikad: 59mins: Documentary: English: 2012:
India
sajeevanthikad@gmail.com
Mystery Hunters is a documentary about the life of a social
reformer,
Basava Premanand (17february 1930-4october 2009). He lived
in Pothanur,
scientific thinking including exposing alleged ‘Miracles
and scams done by
various gurus and also spread
awareness against superstition.
20) 1cube
Dir: Pramod Dev:42min 51secs: Documentary: English,
Malayalam & Tamil
2012: India
The film depicts a working day of three women living
thousands of
kilometers apart with nothing in common between them. Their
only connection is
that they are in contact with trade and globalization in
one-way or the other.
As the film crisscrosses the lives of the three women; it
explores whether they are
truly different and unconnected.
21) “Vidhappadu” (Sowing Field)
Dir: Aneez K M: 21mins 48sec: Documentary: Malayalam: 2013:
India
aneezfarooqi@gmail.com
This documentary, entitled Vithappadu provides an insight
to the issues
of food, sovereignty, sustainable management of traditional
rice farming system
and the adaptive strategy of reorganization of the social
structure of traditional
agricultural system at the dimensional background of the
Wayanad region kerala,
India.
22) A Commons story
Dir: Epti patnaik, Ananda Siddhartha, Pratik Bhakta, Piyush
Garud: 31mins 48sec
Documentary: Hindi, English: 2013: India
Set in Rajasthan, the film explores the issue of the
commons in three villages –
Achalpur, Thoria and Sanjari Ka Badiya. These villages are
among several others
which have started the process of regeneration and
conservation of common lands
in the last 15 years, with support from the Foundation for
Ecological Security.
23) Badalte Nakshe (Changing Maps)
Dir: Nithila
Kanagasabai, Nitya Menon, archana sadar, Lokokba: 23mins 30sec
Documentary: Hindi,
English: 2012: India
The communal violence of December 1992 and January 1993 in
changed the city in many ways, reconfiguring its spaces,
creating new divides,
giving impetus to an on-going politics of hate and
fundamentally altering the
cosmopolitan fabric of the city. Badalte Nakshe is one of
the six films in the
Remembering 1992 series created collectively by the
students and faculty of the
School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of
Social Sciences.
24) Daane Daane pe
Dir: Nithila kanagasabai, Mridula chari, nitya menon,
Krishna panchal: 28mins Documentary: English, Hindi, Tamil: 2013: India
Migrants bring their own identities to cities that are
manifested and
reinterpreted through food. Despite this city becoming
increasingly hostile to
outsiders, boundaries blur and stories meld. Old legends, a
hardening Mumbai,
new identities. This film explores the increasingly
threatened spaces of street food
in Mumbai and how it affects the livelihoods of those
around it. The film traces
various legends around the origins of different street
foods and how it changes
people’s relationships to food, identity and outsiders even
today.
25) Farooq versus The State
Dir: Anjali Montero and K.P. Jayasankar: 25mins:
Documentary:Hindi, English
2012: India
Hari Masjid, Wadala, Mumbai, was the scene of a brutal
police attack
on January 10, 1993. Though Farooq Mhapkar was one of the
casualties of
indiscriminate police firing, he was charged as a rioter.
Farooq versus The State is
the story of Farooq's protracted legal battle against an
unyielding State in pursuit
of justice. Through this case, the film seeks to explore
how justice was delayed
and denied to the victims and survivors of the 1992-93
communal violence.
26) Flash point
Dir: Mridula chari, Francis Lohrii, Gursimran Khamba,
Shivani Gupta.: 19mins 20 sec
Documentary: English: 2013: India
during the riots of 1992-1993. Twenty years later, this
film takes the lens back to
those areas to map the middle classes of those areas. Their
lives, though not
tangibly afflicted, were nonetheless transformed by that
time enough to reflect in
their attitudes towards communalism today. Prominent writer
and journalist Dilip
D'souza, draws these narratives together as we try to make
sense of stereotypes
that persist even today.
27) Take back the fight
Dir: Sujatha Subramanian, Shruthi Ravi, likokba, Mrinal
singh: 27mins 43sec
Documentary: English: 2013: India
‘Look alert, don't look like an easy target! Deesha's
martial art classes
equip young girls to handle threatening situations that
arise in the outside world
and within their families. Tanvi's identity straddles the
worlds of an everyday
college student and a learner of martial arts. In doing so,
she stands out amongst
her peers as someone who brings knowledge of the latter to
the former.
28) When Shankar Nag comes asking
Dir: Sushma Veerappa: 66:45: Documentary: Kannada: 2013: India
sushma@adkoli.net
WHEN SHANKAR NAG COMES ASKING
unfolds today’s Bangalore .
In the race to become a ‘global’ city, the struggle is as much in holding on to
the familiar as it is about embracing the new. In what ways does one seek the
familiar, when the familiar is not the same anymore?
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