Tuesday, December 6, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 : Revised Schedule

18th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016
Screening Schedule


8 Dec; Tamilnadu Theological Seminary

10 am   Inauguration
10:30    Chika the Dog from the Ghetto
Dir: Sandra Schiefi; 16.20 min; Animation film; Germany; Int
10:50    Bus Story
Dir: Jorge Yudice; 10 min; Short film; Spain; Int
11:00    An Affair
Dir: Ninni R Sahu; 17 min; Short film; India
11:20    Bike Portraits
Dir: Sashko Danylenko; 5 min; English; Animation; Int
11:30    Third Theatre
Dir: Amshan Kumar; 53 min; English; Retro
12:30    Padoshi
Dir: Akkta Panwar; 37 min; Gujarati & Hindi; Docu; India
1:10:     Lunch break
2:00      The Children Send their Regards
Dir: Patricia Josefine Marchart; 104 min; Germany; Documentary; Int
3:45      Broken Chord
Dir: Anubha Jain; 22.20 min; Short film; India
4:15      Dream of a Painter
Dir: Sudheer Gupta; 40 min; English; Retro

9 Dec; Lens Media Centre

10 am   Inauguration
10:30    Subramanya Bharathi
Dir: Amshan Kumar; 52 min; 1992; Retro
11:45    A Mango Tree in the Courtyard
Dir: Pratheeban Raveenthiran; 11 min; Films from Sri Lanka
12:00    Bachelor Girls
Dir: Shikha Makan; 65 min; Women Making Films
1:05      Lunch break
2:00      Gujarat – A work in progress
Dir: Stalin K; 35 min; Documentary; Retro
2:40      Song of a Painter
Dir: Sudheer Gupta; 40 min; Docu; FIF
3:25      Voices from the Ruins – Kandhamal in search of justice
Dir: KP Sasi; 94 min; Oriya, Hindi, English; Docu; India
5:00      Where the Grass Grows Highest
Dir: Philip Hallay; 51 min; Mangolian, English; 2016; Docu; Int
6:00      Are they better off?
Dir: Aditya Seth; 60 min; English/Kashi; Docu; India
7:00      Valentina
Dir: Maximilian Feldmann; 51:00; Romani; 2016; Documentary; International

10 December 2016 - IDEAS Centre

10 am   Mostly Waiting
Dir: Thandi Sebe & Tim Foresta; 30 min
10:30    The World Before Her
Dir: Nisha Pahuja; 152 min; India; Women Making Films
1:00      Lunch break
2:00      Lesser Humans
Dir: Stalin K; 59 min; Gujarati; Documentary; Retro
3:00      Banaza A Love Story
Dir: Deeya Khan; 70 min; Eng; Docu; Women Making Films
4:15      The Long Distance
Dir: Daniel Andreas Sager; 93 min; Swaheli, Kalenjn, Russian, English; Documentary; Int.
6:00      The Factory
Dir: Rahul Roy; 120 min; Hindi; Docu; India

11 Dec: MMFA

10 am   Ore Ganam
Dir: Arun Bhagath; 20 min; Short film; India
10:25    Vande Mataram
Dir: Shridhar Sudhir; 27:00; Hindi/ English/ Gujarati; documentary; India
11:00    Aasaiyenum
Dir:Navaraj R.Sevagan; 21:30; Short film; Tamil
11:25    Galli
Dir: Santhosh Ram; 19 min; Short film; India
11:45    Serukallam
Dir: Raj Sivaraj; 14 min; Short film; Films from Sri Lanka
12:00    Sixteen Year Old Whishkey
Dir: Denis Lafanov; 27:19 min; Short film: Int
12:30    Thiraikathai
Dir: Varatharajan; 17 min; Short film; Tamil; India
12:50    Visuvasam
Dir: Manibhrathi Thraiyur; 15:38 min; Tamil; Short film; India
1:05      Lunch break
2:05      Anant Kalakar (Timeless Artist)
Dir: Sudheer Gupta; 33 min; Hindi & Rajastani; Retro
2:40      Iyatta (Class)
Dir: Jayant Somalkar; 10 min; Hindi/Marathi/Eng; Short film; India
2:55      Sirens of Grief
Dir: Aniket Prakash Deore; 29’; Gujarti, Hindi; Docu; India
3:25      Broken Chord
Dir: Anubha Jain; 22.20 min; Short film; India
3:50      Boyarksky
Dir: Alexander Saltykov, Darya Homyakova;10:30 min; Short film; Russia; Int
4:00      India Untouched
Dir: Stalin K; 108 min; Docu; Retro

12 Dec: Lens Media Centre

10 am   Let there be Light
Dir: Supriyo Sen; 52 min; Bengali with English subtitles; 2016; Documentary
11:00    Three Generations of Jogi Umar Farukh
Dir: Sudheer Gupta; 52 min; Hindi & Rajastani; Documentary; Retro
12:00    Modern Art in Tamilnadu Part 1
Dir: Amshan Kumar; 28 min; Docu; Retro
12:30    Modern Art in Tamilnadu Part 2
Dir: Amshan Kumar; 28 min; Docu; Retro
1:00      Lunch Break
2:00      Our Water, Our Future
Dir:Stalin K; 58 min; English; Docu; Retro
3:00      A Pinch of Skin
Dir: Priya Goswami; 27 min; Women Making Films
3:30      Ceres
Dir:Sathapravanan; 11 min; Short film; Films from Sri Lanka
3:45      Shadows of the Silence
Dir: Pratheepan Ravindran; 11 min; Short film; Films from Sri Lanka
4:00      Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy – Music beyond boundaries
Dir: Amshan Kumar; 35 min; Tamil; Documentary; Retro
4:40      Uuzhal Minsaram; 40 min; Tamil; Docu
6:00      Closing ceremony


*It is a tentative schedule; subject to changes.

Monday, December 5, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 - postponed and rescheduled!

Dear friends



Due to the sudden demise of Ms.Jayalalitha, the then CM of Tamilnadu, last night, 18th Madurai Documentary and Short Film Festival has been postponed to 9-11 December 2016.

The festival will take place only on 3 days instead of 5 due to lack of availability of venues.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Amudhan R.P.
Festival Director
18th Madurai Film Festival 2016

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016: Sudheer Gupta - Filmmaker in Focus

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 : Sudheer Gupta – Filmmaker in Focus


Born 3rd January 1960, Mother tongue: Hindi
Lives in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Alumni : CHS, JNU (1981-83,94-97);  FTII, Pune (1984-87)

Making independent and commissioned documentary films since 1990. Films about social realities, developmental delimmas, environment issues, folk-traditions, folk-performers and artists. Films shot in India, Germany, UK and USA. Films exhibited all over the world through various TV networks and film festivals.


 Films by Sudheer Gupta : 

1.    “Song of a Painter”
40 mins./DV/2006/Hindi with subtitles in English



A chance biography of an extraordinary painter Manohar Deolalikar who lived on the streets in Delhi for over 30 years till his demise in 2003. This painter also sang hauntingly.

2.    “Anant Kalakar” (Timeless Artist)
33 mins./HDV/2006/Hindi & Rajasthani with subtitles in English



In a short film introducing the myriads arts and artists of eastern and western Rajasthan revealing their mesmerizing effect and their music.

3.    “Three Generations of Jogi Umar Farukh
52 mins./HD/2010/ Hindi & Rajasthani with subtitles in English



A film travelling to muslim jogis of Alvar, Mewat, Rajasthan while documenting three generations of Jogi Umar Farukh the chief protagonist.

4.    “Dream of a Painter”
40 mins./HD/2011/English with subtitles



A chance biography of an English coal-miner Robert Page who turned to his lifetime passion of painting at the age of 70. He painted his life spent in the mines. 

“Dancing Pandavas”
72 mins./HD/2013

It's a travel film that traces folk practices related to Pandavs of the Mahabharata in Western Himalayas. This film is the first ever record of folk-beliefs of people considering Pandavs as their ancestors in stories, theatre, possession, dance, agnostic games, a large heritage of broken or incomplete temples, spreading across Garhwal Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The film was produced for Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts, New Delhi.



Tuesday, November 29, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 : Screening Schedule and Film Sections

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 


Film Sections:

1) Retrospective I : Amshan Kumar

2) Retrospective II : Stalin K

3) Filmmaker in Focus : Sudheer Gupta

4) Women Making Films : Films by women directors - curated by Vaishnavi Sundar

5) Films from Sri Lanka : Curated by Someetharan

6) International films

7) Indian films

Screening Schedule

Screen A

10 am to 4 pm

6 Dec : Arul Anandhar College, Karumathur

7 Dec: Fatima College, Madurai

8 Dec: Department of Folklore, Madurai Kamaraj University, Palkalai Nagari

8 Dec: Department of Communication, Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Arasaradi

9 Dec: Madurai Media and Film Academy

10 Dec: IDEAS, Vaazhaithoppu

Screen B

5:30 to 8.30 pm; 6 Dec to 10 Dec (all five days)

Lens Media Centre, Loyola ITI campus, Arasaradi, Madurai

Organised by MARUPAKKAM




Monday, November 28, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival : Stalin K Retrospective

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016



Stalin K – Retrospective
Stalin K. is a media and human rights activist, with 24 years experience pioneering new models of community media. He is a teacher, trainer and an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker. He is one of India’s leading exponent of community radio, campaign design and community video. 

He currently leads Video Volunteers, an international organization dedicated to empowering community voices by setting up media projects around the world. 

Stalin has made over a dozen documentaries and has received several national and international awards. 

Films by Stalin K

INDIA UNTOUCHED-Stories of a People Apart 
108 minutes | Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi with English subtitles| 2008



This film is perhaps the most comprehensive look at Untouchability ever undertaken on film. Spanning eight states and four religions, this film will make it impossible for anyone to deny that Untouchability continues to be practiced in India.  The film introduces leading Benares scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to mean that Dalits ‘have no right’ to education, and Rajput farmers who proudly proclaim that no Dalit may sit in their presence, and that the police must seek their permission before pursuing cases of atrocities.  

Our Water, Our Future |58 minutes | English | 2005

This film was made with the Northern Arapaho and the Eastern Shoshone tribes of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, US. Since water is more expensive than gas, it has become one of the most pressing issues in the American West. These two Tribes have one of the most extensive and valuable water rights in the US, yet many of them lack running water in their homes. In this film, 100 Voices from the Reservation explore why the Tribes have been unable to exercise their rights. In the process, they educate their fellow Tribal members about government injustice, reflect on Tribal responsibility and make a compelling call to action. 

Gujarat - A work in progress 
35 minutes | Gujarati, Hindi with English Subtitles | 2002

This film reconstructs, through interviews with survivors, the systematic carnage unleashed on the minorities in Gujarat in 2002. The film was put together for submission to the National Human Rights Commission when it first visited Gujarat in the third week of March 2002. Shooting started on the very first days of the riots and includes footage nowhere else captured. The 100 hours of footage was submitted to the inquiry commissions and the activists have used it in their court case against the government officials in Gujarat who are believed to have been in connivance in the continuance of the violence.

Lesser Humans 59 minutes | Gujarati with English subtitles | 1996



This film helped to put the issue of Untouchability on the agenda for numerous international development agencies. It investigates the lives of ‘manual scavengers,’ the community at the lowest rung of the caste system whose inhuman caste-based occupation is to manually dispose of human excreta.



Friday, November 25, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival : Films from India

Films from India - Synopsis


1.   Galli ( the lane)
Dir: Santosh Ram; 19:00; Marathi; 2015; Short Film
Galli (The Lane) is about the people and the Life  in the Lane   . The Lane   in the times of a modern small town India which is restless and wants to break free from its shackles of convention, moral and existential crisis and the rigid socio-cultural structure. The Film tries to explore the incidents happening in Seven days time

2.    Aasaiyenum
Dir: Navaraj; 21:37; Tamil; 2016; Short Film
Desires are the root cause for dissappointments or stress or worry. Sanjay, the 12 year old boy plans to go to their town’s carnival along with his friends for the first time.he gets a less amount than what his friends have decided to bring.

3.     Abhinay
Dir: Shridhar Sudhir; 23:00; Hindi/English; Short film
The story revolves around a young protagonist who is disillusioned by his life, and is trying to figure out a purpose that would define his existence. 

4.     Vande mataram
Dir: Shridhar Sudhir; 27:00; Hindi/ English/ Gujarati; documentary
Vande mataram strives to take a brief and historical look into the idea of the nation and nationalism in modern India, and juxtapose it with its manifestations in contemporary society.

5.     Nuclear Hallucinations
Dir: Fathima Nizaruddin; 54:00; Tamil, English; Documentary
Nuclear hallucinations is a film, which claims to be a documentary, and it is centered the anti-nuclear struggle against the kudankulam atomic power project in south India.

6.    Orey Ganam
Dir: Arun Bhagath; 20:17; Tamil; 2016; Short Film
Journey of an ignored youth and the gateway he meets in his journey.

7.     Appoppanthaadi ( Floating Milkweeds)
Dir: Sivaprasad K.V; 26:09; Malayalam; 2016; Short Film
Appoppanthaadi (Floating Milkweeds), a sweet reminiscent tale of 'loss' begins when a gang of friends meet up on a Maundy Thursday to booze on ’Memories’ (a fictional liquor brand).

8.     Sirens of Grief 
Dir:Aniket Prakash Deore ; 29:00; Gujarati, Hindi and English; Documentary
“Sirens of grief” is about the rise of the textile industry in Ahmedabad (once known as ‘Manchester of East’), its downfall and subsequent impact on mill workers & their families. 

9.    An Affair
Dir: Ninni R Sahu; 17:00; Hindi; Short Fiction
Taarini is a 25 year old wife who is married to a 27 year old Girish who works as a bank manager in Ahmedabad in 2015. Girish, who got recently posted to a bank manager lately, is a workaholic who hardly has time for family and hardly communicates with his spouse who stays home as a housewife. 

10.  Broken Chord
Dir: Anubha Jain; 22:20; Short film; 2015
What will happen if one day you are not allowed to express yourself anymore? You are told that expressing yourself is a symptom of a sickness? The cure is living in a total state of inactivity.

11.  Insight
Dir: Shwet Rajguru, Zara Davina Mann & Charlene Fernandes; 19:09; English; Short Film
Upasana Makati decided to launch a Braille English lifestyle magazine to provide information and entertainment to its visually impaired readers. The magazine’s subscribers—Kriti Banga  and Ummehani Bagasrawala—and Vijay Nawale from The National Association for the Blind tell us about the magazine. 

12.  Mandakini Ki Goonj
Dir: Zara Davina Mann; 01:51; English; Short film
This broadcast report traces the impact of the community radio station ‘Mandakini Ki Awaz’ on its listeners who inhabit tiny hamlets scattered on the hills of Rudraprayag.

13.  Super Uncle 
Dir:Darshana Jain; 03:31; Hindi; Short Film
Mr Syed Feroze Ashraf, also known as Uncle, gave up his illustrious career of writing, journalism, NGO work etc. - in order to educate underprivileged children. The one incident that shattered him the most was the 1992 riots that took place in Bombay now known as Mumbai. He has transformed the lives of many underprivileged children.

14.  Thiraikathai
Dir: Varatharajan;16:51; Tamil; Short film
The Story portrays the actual mentality of an assistant director who thinks about a concept and leaves it behind, with the disapproval from hishead (the producer). Later he changes the concept and recreates it, this suits the mood of the producer. I wanted to show this simple concept with lots of ideas and twists in the screenplay and Iwanted to show the reality in the fantasy world of the director.

15.  Visuvaasam 
Dir: Manibharathi Thraiyur; 15:38; Tamil; 2015; Short Film
After being away from family for 20 years, the father wants to get back to his wife and grownup sons. Despite the elder son’s warning, younger son decides to bring him back understanding his mother’s wish. In this effort, he gets to know the another face of the world. 

16.  Save the Sparrow
Dir: Shweta Rajguru
03:54; English; Short film
The chirpy Sparrows may soon disappear from Mumbai, into the folds of the internet, books and paintings. There are reasons galore for this decline in their numbers, but concerned people are trying unusual methods to keep the sparrow-chirp alive.

17.  With Grace
Dir: Rajbir Kaur
14:51; English; 2016; Documentary
With Grace shares the love and care with which Grace serves the street dogs of Rishikesh. She had been treating and healing them for the past nine years.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival : Screening Schedule

18th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016

6-10 Dec, Multiple Venues; Madurai
Around 100 international and Indian documentaries, short films, animation films and music videos will be screened.


Screening Schedule

Screening A
10 am to 4 pm
6 Dec : Arul Anandhar College, Karumathur
7 Dec: Fatima College, Madurai
8 Dec: Department of Folklore, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai
9 Dec : Madurai Media and Film Studie Academy, Madurai
10 Dec: IDEAS, Madurai

Screening B
5:30 to 8.30 pm
LENS Media Centre, Madurai
Organized by MARUPAKKAM

Saturday, November 19, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 : Amshan Kumar Retrospective

18th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2016
6-10 Dec 2016 , Multiple Venues, Madurai
Organized by MARUPAKKAM
Retrospective : Films by Amshan Kumar
1.Third Theatre : English/1995/53mts 

Third Theatre is a documentary on the theatre of Badal Sircar, the rebellious playwright-director from West Bengal who died in 2011.
The documentary has Badalda`s detailed talk on every aspect of his theatre and also the perceptive analysis of his plays by Samik Bandyopadhyay and the criticism of Dharnai Ghosh. Besides the documentary has captured the live performances of his graded plays on the occasion of a theatre festival on a pavement in Calcutta in January in 1995.
The film was premiered at the MIFF in 1996 and later in many fora including the festival at Koln, Germany.
2.Subramania Bharati : 1999/52mts
Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) was truly a renaissance figure of Modern Indian Literature. He brought in a new wave of sense and sensibility to Tamil poetry that continues to exert enormous influence on the succeeding generations of readers and poets.
This documentary focuses on his multifaceted life not only as a towering poet but also as a pioneering journalist, a mainstream nationalist and a thinker with unfettered spirit. Shot extensively on locales related to his life and times including Benares, Pondicherry and Tamilnadu it has rare photos and documents and the rarer interviews of two nonagenarians who knew the bard in person.
3.Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy—Music Beyond boundaries.: 2014/35mts

This is a Tamil documentary on the great Tavil Vidwan Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy. He was lionised for his musical accomplishments by both his fans and carnatic musicians. To this day they remember his great performances in India and Sri Lanka. As an iconic figure he helped bridge the ties between the two countries through soulful music.
The film had been premiered in London, Toronto, Jaffna, Chennai, Paris and Sydney to rousing reception from his fans. It won the National Award for the Best Art Documentary in 2015.
4.Modern Art in Tamilnadu Part 1 & 2. Tamil ( Each Part 28mts)

Part I traces the genesis of modern art in Tamilnadu and its growth up to the sixties.
Second Part is about the art movement from seventies till now..
5. Oruthi ( 2003. /91mts)
Those were the times when Zamindars ruthlessly collected high amount of taxes from the hapless farmers and spent them frivolously. Since the revenue never reached them, the Britishers punished the erring Zamindars by ordering the farmers to pay the tax diretcly to the State.
In a remote village in South Indis this transformation takes place due to the intervention of a poor dalit girl. As a thanks the villagers are too ready to do good to her. Her simple request is to get married to a boy she has fallen in love with.
The film is an adaptation of a story written by the Sahitya Akademi Award winner K.Rajanarayanan. It participated in the Indian Panorama and won the Best film awards from Government of Pondicherry and Tamil association of New Jersey.
Cast: Poorvaja, Thomas Ober, Bharati Mani, Ganesh Babu.
Camera : P.S.Dharan
Music: L.Vaidyanathan
Art: A.C.Pillai
Produced by Thara and Gopal Rajaram
Script and Direction : Amshan Kumar

Friday, November 18, 2016

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016 : Women Making Films

18th Madurai Film Festival 2016

Special packages  # 1

Women Making Films – Curated by Vaishnavi Sundar

The World Before Her
Dir : Nisha Pahuja; 152 min

The World Before Her is a Canadian documentary film, released in 2012. Written and directed by Nisha Pahuja, the film explores the complex and conflicting environment for young girls in India by profiling two young women participating in two very different types of training camp — Ruhi Singh , who aspires to become Miss India, and Prachi Trivedi, a Hindu nationalist with the Durga Vahini.

A Pinch of Skin
Dir: Priya Goswami; 27 min

A Pinch of Skin is documentary on the Female Genital Cutting in India. The film juxtaposes voice of questioning dissent along with pro tradition voice; to weave complex fabric of the social norm which propells the community to cut their seven year old daughters.

Bachelor Girls
Dir: Shikha Makan; 65 min

In the heart of Mumbai, the leading urban metropolis of India, single independent women are facing housing discrimination because of their status of being 'unmarried'. ‘Bachelor Girls' as labeled by the society, struggle to find homes amidst many biases, and question the idea of freedom for women in today's modern India.

Banaz a love story
Dir :Deeyah Khanl; 70 min

This is a documentary film chronicling an act of overwhelming horror -- the honour killing of Banaz Mahmod, a young British woman in suburban London in 2006, killed and "disappeared" by her own family, with the agreement and help of a large section of the Kurdish community, because she tried to choose a life for herself.

Vaishnavi Sundar:


Ex corporate PR, writer, filmmaker and a feminist. Merging activism and art through films, she has founded the production company, Lime Soda Films (www.limesodafilms.com) to produce feminist content. She is also the founder of Women Making Films (www.wmfindia.com), a community for female filmmakers to come together and collaborate.