Media Mail – Volume 2 Issue 6
April 1998
Is this the society we want to build?
Recently in America, two teenage boys showered bullets on children in a school. Three girls and a teacher were killed and many injured. One boy rang the fire alarm to call everyone out while the other two shot them down. The boys were between 11 and 13 years. They were angry with a girl who had rejected their love.
In Delhi, 19 year old Neetu Malhotra ran over a traffic policeman. She was stopped by the policeman when she jumped a red light. While he was booking her Neetu knocked him down and sped away. The policeman was seriously injured and has reportedly developed permanent neurological problems.
Few months ago Coca Cola erected a 6 feet 4 inch bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi on government land in Georgia, USA. The statue was unveiled in the presence of the Indian Ambassador.
Superficially, these three incidents are unrelated. But on a closer look, all three point towards the consolidation of a dominant ideology whose driving force is: consumption at any cost’. Continuous consumption without any responsibility is the underlying principle of this system. The only culture this ideology promotes is a ‘throw-away culture’. The aim is to turn human beings into mere consuming animals, devoid of any social responsibility. The three boys in America wanted immediate acceptance of their love (not that they understand love, they have only imbibed images of love propagated by TV and media). The rejection by the girl required immediate punishment: whoever stands in-between me and my consumption, shall be destroyed. The same reasons must have angered Neetu Malhotra. Why should redlights be put on her road? And check her speed? Anyone who tries to stop her deserves to be punished.
After the shooting incident in America, an American child psychologist commented, ”This incident shows what kind of a society we are trying to build.” In an unequal society, where a large section of people are deprived of even basic necessities, the unlimited consumption by a few people is bound to lead to a social tension. Aggression and violence are the natural outcomes of such tension. And when violence is legitimized into an ideology, it becomes a necessary tool to fulfill whatever one desires. The recent escalation of violence in India is a pointer towards this precise phenomenon. The violence resulting from the conflict of Kaveri waters, o the violence surrounding Babri Masjid and the aftermath of its demolition, illustrate the growing legitimacy of violence by a consumerist ideology.
It is not that violence is new to the Indian society.But the fact is that , in recent times,violence has changed its character and expressions. During the riots,that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid, mass rape of women was video taped in Surat. These recordings were viewed widely. Today, rape and violence have become commodities for mass consumption. The upper castes and middle classes are no longer silent supporters of violence, but have legitimized it in their psyche and are actively participating in it.
In the West, Gandhi is projected as a symbol of non-violence. Obviously Coca-Cola too wishes to propagate the same. However, when Gandhi is projected as a symbol of non-violence only, his primary commitment is ignored – his complete dedication to protest and resistance against injustice. It is Gandhi’s commitment to resistance which raises him above his contradictions, and makes him contemporary and relevant. Without the spirit of resistance and struggle Gandhi is meaningless, however much one may harp on non-violence. This is the essential difference between the Gandhi of Coca Cola and of Martin Luther King.
Consumerism commodities everything for consumption. lts main strategy is to co-opt religious, cultural and social symbols and use them for consumption. Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘performance’ in the Lok Sabha on the eve of the 50th year of independence was to be sponsored by a multinational giant. Thankfully this was prevented due to protests from the public. The biggest celebrators of the Golden Jubilee of India’s independence were the multinational companies, whether Coca Cola, Nestle or MTV. Their aim is to turn everything into commodities by removing aspiration, dreams and context whether it is Liberation or Gandhi.
Gandhi can become an important symbol in the fight against the present day consumer ideology and the violence that it nurtures. However, for that, Gandhi has to be liberated from the status quoist forces, and that is the challenge before activists working for social change.
Community Broadcasting Slot on AIR
One of the two main recommendations of the Bangalore Declaration has been accepted by the Prasar Bharati and will soon be put into effect. Mr.S.S. Gill,CEO, and Mr B. G. Verghese, Board Member, Prasar Bharati, recently met VOICES and stated that Prasar Bharati would support community broadcasting and, in particular would look favourably on a proposal from VOICES to take up a slot on a Local Radio Station in Karnataka and undertake community based programming.
At a meeting in Bangalore on February 4, 1998, with Mr. Gill and the AIR Bangalore Station Manager, VOICES was told they could go ahead and be on the air from Chitradurga FM Local Radio Station from March 1998. VOICES plans to take this up as a one year pilot project to gain valuable experience and expertise in preparation for actually setting up a community station after the Broadcasting Bill is passed.
This is significant as a breakthrough for community radio broadcasting in India. Other development institutions and NGOs are also likely to be given similar slots on district Local Radio Stations if they approach Prasar Bharati for broadcasting programmes on health, education, women’s empowerment, environment, agricultural and cottage industry development, etc.
This is an opportune moment for development organizations, cooperatives and educational institutions with community outreach to ask for air time on district Local Radio Stations for community participative local programmes.
For further information contact:
VOICES, PO Box 4610, 59 Miller Road, Benson Town, Bangalore 560046
e-mail: admin@voices.ilban.ernet.in
Janam completes 25 years
Jan Natya Manch, the well known theatre group from Delhi completed 25 years of active involvement in the peoples’ theatre movement of the country. For Janam, theatre is a tool to politicize the masses and reflect their democratic aspirations. For Janam, theatre is a political activity. With this philosophy, all of Janam’s plays are based on contemporary issues, ranging from satiric comments on the political system to issues of deprivation, inequality and struggle. Due to this thrust, Janam primarily performs in villages, slums, workers’ colonies and industrial areas all over Delhi and many states, though it has also drawn significant attention and support from schools, colleges and eminent personalities of the theatre world.
Janam was born in 1973. Safdar Hashmi, among others, was a guiding force behind Janam’s inception. Initially Janam performed full length stage plays. With emergency, Janam was forced to discontinue its activities.After Emergency was lifted, it was difficult for Janam to maintain a large group. In this situation, Safdar suggested, ”If we can’t take big theater to the people, we should take small theatre to them.” From that point, Janam concentrated on street theatre.Since its inception, Janam has produced 11 stage plays and 48 street plays.Some of the eminent plays of Janam are ‘Machine’,’Gaon se Shahar tak’,’Aurat’ and ‘Halla Bol’. Many of the plays continue to be performed and translated into several other languages.
On the 1st of January 1989,Janam suffered a grievous blow when Safdar was brutally assaulted by Congress(I) goons while performing ‘Halla Bol’ in Sahibabad.Safdar died on January 2nd.It was not just a blow to Janam but to the entire progressive movement of the country. However, despite Safdar’s absence, Janam has continued to perform with its vision of a world free of exploitation, equal rights and dignified existence for every human being.
On the occasion of completing 25 years, Janam has published a special issue of Nukkad Janam Samwaad, a quarterly magazine that features many a rich collection of thought provoking articles on people’s theatre.
Monopoly of media barons over news
Recently in Delhi, on the eve of an international conference of World Press Council, the Press Council of lndia Chairman, Justice P. B. Sawant expressed serious concern over the monopoly of Press barons over the media.The Chairman felt that this trend was detrimental to democracy. Justice Sawant said that over 30 % of news circulated worldwide was concentrated in the hands of ”three individuals.” He added that the monopoly was not merely confined to developing nations and that the monopoly control was rapidly spreading in newspapers and even the news agencies apart from the ‘ electronic media.
Justice Sawant stressed the need for evolving an international code of ethics for journalists. He said that this was necessary as both the electronic and print media were selling sex, violence and pornography or commercial purposes. He felt it was necessary to evolve guidelines for the print and particularly the electronic media. At present there are no guidelines for the electronic media.Meanwhile the government has reconstituted the Press Council of India by inducting Virendra Mohan, VishwaBandhu Gupta,M.Mathew and Sheetala Singh among others as members.
Out of the 28 members,5 will be nominated by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.There are 13 berths reserved for working journalists.
Delhi on the Net
Delhi is on the Internet.Information relating to all departments of the Delhi Government , ministry and Lt.Governor’s office is available to some 60 lakh odd Internet users in India.The address of the site is http://www.delhigovt.com
Apart from information on al Government programmes, the website also includes information on the historic sites and monuments of Delhi. All the information has been categorized in five sections.
Nobody watches UGC, says DD
Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) is an inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on electronic media. In two meetings between the CEC and members of Prasar Bharati, Doordarshan officials wanted to take away time from the slots given to UGC-CEC with the view that nobody watches these educational programmes. One of these meetings was with Mr. S. S. Gill, CEO of ‘Prasar Bharati’ and the other was with its Sub-Committee on Education Channel, chaired by f. Romila Thapar and B.G.Verghese.
However, CEC’S National Viewership Survey estimated that UGC-CEC programmes were watched by about 19 million in 1993 and 22 million in 1997 a1l across the country. Fom the DD 1 viewership of about 300 million (May 1997), it would be a fair assumption that about 20% or 60 million amongst them could be regular viewers of UGC-CEC programmes.
Dr MM Chaudhri, director CEC, writes in the CEC newsletter, ”While CEC is making all efforts to convince Doordarshan and the Prasar Bharati members, it may be a good idea if you as viewers of UGC-CEC TV could also write what these programmes mean to you to Shri Nikhil Chakravarty, Chairman, Prasar Bharati. Remember, we al, have to make efforts towards creating DD into a truly Public Broadcast Channel.
Courtesy: Country Wide Classroom News, CEC-UGC
UP also on the Net
Uttar Pradesh will have its own website , UPIndia, on the internet by the second week of April. The thrust of the website will be to provide information on tourism, investment,power , sugar,floriculture, food processing, agriculture, besides details of existing and on-going projects. To be covered in detail will be the major financial institutions of the state.The facility will also spread the World Bank Education For All project and the Centrally sponsored Direct Primary Education(DPEP).
Media policy – a reflection
The growing importance of information in India has, consequently ,increased the importance of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Since the post-Emergency period the political circles debated how to remove government control from the Radio and TV. This question keeps coming up because the Congress Government used the mass media extensively to promote their party.However, the Government or the opposition lacked the perspective to restructure TV and radio politically or socially in order to meet the needs of the post – independent India. So the debate remained onfined to the issue of getting coverage for various political parties. Meanwhile, Radio and TV were governed by the Telegraphic Act of 1895 and a clear policy for Broadcast did not emerge in India.
In 1989 the V. P. Singh led Janata Dal Government introduced and enacted the Prasar Bharati Bill, which was not implemented for the next seven years. The Congress came back to power in 1990. After the United Front Government was formed in 1996 the debate on autonomy of radio and TV, once again, came to the forefront. The Government prepared the outline of a Broadcast Bill. The Business Houses rejected the Bill on the grounds that it maintained Government control. The social organizations criticised the Bill because of its overriding stress on technology. They said, while the Bill has detailed out equity, foreign channel, up linking etc., it has not looked at the issue of representation nor the role of TV and Radio in the process of democratization. The debate heated up when Justice Sawant ordered that ”airways are public property”. The other issue raised was that while the Prasar Bharati, which was more comprehensive was not implemented, what is the relevance of another Bill?
Taking the debate into consideration the United Front Government made some fundamental changes in the Prasar Bharati Bill and implemented it through an ordinance in August 1997. The significance of the ordinance was that now the TV and Radio was brought under an autonomous Prasar Bharati Board was constituted of 10 members. In order to give credence to autonomy, the t of monitoring this Board by a 22-member Parliamentary Committee, that was mentioned in the original Act, was dropped by the UF Government.
Interestingly, as soon as the Prasar Bharati came into being, and even before the Board could begin to function completely, the mainstream media attacked the Prasar Bharati and its Chief Executive Officer. Decision by the CEO to drop anti-women advertisements and some more similar changes were found to be ‘undemocratic’ by the press.
The newly elected A.B.Vajpayee led Government is not happy with the Prasar Bharati. Their main objection, it appears, is to the members of the Board.In addition,they say that the autonomy granted to Prasar Bharati is leading to chaos and hence, they propose to bring the Prasar Bharati back under the control of the Parliament. It is quite clear that on 6 May 1998, the last day when this ordinance has to be ratified by the Parliament , it will be allowed to lapse. And we will return to square one.
The debate around the Prasar Bharati has thrown up three critical issues. One, if every change in the Government means that the Prasar Bharati will change, what does autonomy mean? Second,can ‘ autonomy’ protect TV And Radio from the market forces? Third, how will autonomy provide greater representation to women, tribals, dalits and other marginalized groups? Unfortunately, despite continous, and vigorous debate around the Prasar Bharati, there is silence on these three.Unless these issues are addressed, whichever Party heads the Government, Prasar Bharati will be controlled by the market. And once again, the struggle will remain confined to which political party gets coverage. Broadcast will not be concerned with democracy, democratic participation or the fundamental changes in polity.
The Mumbai International Film Festival 1998
The first week of March was a treat for documentary film lovers in India. Between March 1 -7, 1998,Bombay hosted the 5th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF’98). Dedicated to documentaries, short and animation films, the MIFF is one of the very few platforms available to a large section of Indian film makers who have consciously chosen a path different from their glamorous counterparts in the feature film industry, and have dedicated themselves to the documentaries or animation films as their form of expression.
This year, there were over 360 films from 38 countries that participated in the festival. Though some of them were fictional short films, a large number of the films were documentaries. It was heartening to come across such a vast reservoirs of films, many of them of great social and informational value. For a change, it was encouraging to see that the documentary film culture in our country is on the rise.
The festival, organized by the Films Division, was categorized into Competition Section (16mm/35mm), Video Vista and Retrospectives. The Competition Section was the main focus of the festival with international entries and an international jury.
The Video Vista had films made on video which was also competitive but restricted to Indian entries and an Indian Jury. The festival also had several films, both on Celluloid and Video, in the Information category.
Competition Section (16mm/35mm)
There were 152 films (celluloid) in the Competition Section, out of which 82 were selected for competition. The indian contingent in competition numbered 18 and 45 were in the ‘information’ category. Among international entries, films such as ‘Of Men and Bears’(Eldora Traykova,Bulgaria/France), ‘Riding the Rails’ (Michael Uys/Lexy Lovell, USA),’Her Armenian Prince’ (PeA Holmquist/ Suzanne Khardalian, Sweeden) and ‘Mumia Abu Jamal’ (John Edginton,UK), were some excellent examples of what documentaries can be. Among Indian entries, ‘Kol Tales’ (Sehjo Singh) and ‘For Maya’ (Vasudha Joshi) made a strong presence. Among short films (fiction), ‘Rain in the Glass’ (Barbara Nava, ltaly), ‘Little Preludes’ (Vangelis Kalambakas, Greece) and ‘Visas and Virtue’ (Chris Tashima, USA) were outstanding. Finally,’I Move, So I am’ ( Holland) was the most exceptional among the animation entries.
The festival showed that documentaries have changed a lot from the stereotypical image of the newsreel, to an interesting and powerful story telling medium. There is a growing inclination among film makers to explore new forms and images. Earlier documentaries were largely restricted to films that propagated government programmes and policies. The seventies saw a trend of finding new images and subjects. Today this trend seems to have consolidated itself. Furthermore, the development of video has further decentralized the film making process and included newer people into documentaries.
The Video Vista
Historically, there has been a tussle between different genres of filmmaking and a tendency to look down on each other. For instance, feature films look down on documentaries. Further on, documentaries made on film look down on video documentaries. And the ladder goes on further down. The world over video is seen as a step child and is rarely considered an equally relevant or competent format. MIFF has, however, recognized video and has reserved a slot for videos from the 1996 festival. Then it was BIFF. Yet, it seems video has still to struggle a lot to establish itself as an important medium of film making, whether as a medium of information or as an art form. At the MIFF’’98 too, video was a step brother. For instance, the auditorium for video screenings was much smaller, the competition was restricted to Indian entries, the Jury was separate, the prize money less than half, and so on.
However, the Video Vista this year must have surprised everyone with the sheer variety of presentations, in content form and quality of production. This year there were 112 films in the Video Vista out of which 47 were selected for competition. The subjects ranged from television documentaries on a variety of general interest themes to the more complex issue-based films. In fact, it was encouraging to find that films on strong political themes also found space in the festival. Some of the notable documentaries at the Video Vista were ‘When Women Unite’ (Shabnam Virmani), ‘Portrait of Belonging – Bhai Mian’ (Sameera Jain), ‘YCP 1997′ (K.P.Jayasankar/Anjali Monteiro), Barf (Saba Dewan), ‘Lesser Humans’ (Stalin K.) and ‘A Season Outside’ (Amar Kanwar). In fact, ‘A Season Outside’ deserves a special mention as it was hardly a film, but a visual poetry put together with a lot of care and finesse. It was a unique example of a film that expressed strong political statements through a work of art.
It was interesting to see that many found the video entries far more interesting than the Indian entries on film. The Video Vista also found a large audience. Many of the screenings were attended by a packed audience with people sitting on the aisles.
Search for new forms
With the world crying itself hoarse about documentaries being ‘boring’, film makers a1l over the world are taking the issue seriously. For some time now there is a trend among film makers, internationally to look for new forms and ways of story telling in documentaries. The search has already effected some changes in the form. Commentary has ceased to be pedantic. Some do away with commentary completely. Talking heads are also on the decline. Information is giving way to experience. Earlier film makers were outsiders to the story. Now film makers are insiders, many a time visible in the film. Narration too has become personalized, from a personal point of view. In a sense, the film maker is breaking the boundaries of a stereotypical role behind the camera to that of a participant in the story. While the relevance or efficacy of such explorations can always be debated the search is valid and it is visible in the work of Indian film makers as well.
There were several examples of this search among the international entries. In ‘Egoli: My South African Home Movie’ (Jens Meurer, Germany), the film maker revisited South Africa – his home when he was a child, after which he went away and grew up in Germany – and took the viewers on a journey through interactions with his friends and acquaintances, finding out about the new South Africa. He was physically present throughout the film. This trend was also visible in ‘Her Armenian Prince’ (PeA Holmquist/Suzanne Khardalian, Sweeden) and a number of other films. Among Indian films,Vasudha Joshi takes a personal journey in ‘For Maya’ tracing four generations of women in her own family,trying to understand the changes in the way each grew up and how new values are replacing the traditional norms of the patriarchal society and the family.Amar Kanwar’s ‘A Season Outside’ is also a personal journey through several generations,trying to find a clue to the basis of conflict and violence among people, communities and nations. However, Amar’s film differs in one way that he is not visible in the film physically, but speaks the narration with an extremely personalized voice. Such explorations of form and language are welcome, for only with new experimentations will films be more enriched. Yet, a note of caution must be added, there is a danger that the personalized expressions become completely decontexualised and moves towards self- indulgence, a trend that is becoming visible in the west.
Ambiguity in selection criteria
While the festival was wonderful, the selection process seemed ambiguous to many. There seemed to be a confusion in the criteria for selecting films for competition and information. There were a number of fairly ordinary films that were selected for competition while many of the ones in the ‘Information’ sections were definitely eligible for competition. They were much better made, powerful and on far more important themes than many selected for competition. With due respects and full acknowledgement to the hard work put in by every film maker, one fails to comprehend why Ajay Bhardwaj’s ‘One Minute Silence’ was selected for Information while lndraneel Kaul’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ was in the competition and it also won a the rare distinction of being the inaugural film for the Video Vista.Although Devipriya’s ‘Musiç of the Battleship’, (competition) on the legendary cultural activist Gaddar, pulled large crowds and received a standing ovation, the film left much to be desired. The standing ovation was actually for the personality of Gaddar that carried the film. There were many other examples of this contradiction.
‘Fishing in a Sea of Greed’, Anand Patwardhan’s latest documentary(video) on the fisherpeople’s struggle was selected for the information section. Apparently the film was not considered for competition on grounds of ‘quality’. As a protest, Anand pulled his film out of the festival and organized a parallel screening at the fisher –village near Colaba where he did part of the shooting. This screening was well attended and proved to be a fitting reply to the arbitrary nature of the festival’s selection process. But the fact remains that Anand could take this action because of his experience and a fan following, both national and international. What choices do the newcomers have?
There is a need to debate and demystify this obscure notion of ‘quality’. Rather than blindly following Western definitions of ‘quality’, the parameters of ‘quality’ in India must be broadened from the narrow boundaries of film/tape formats and technical excellence in craft. It should also take into account what a film says and its ability to communicate. We must remember that the budget of a filmmaker in India cannot ever be compared to the international standards. We can never match their standards of technical excellence. But what we can demonstrate to the world is what we communicate and how well we communicate within the budgetary and technical constraints.
Best of MIFF’98 (see box)
Even though the ambiguity of the initial selection process made many unhappy, there was a broad agreement in the Jury’s selection for the best films, barring one. The Golden Conch awarded to ‘The Bhiwandi Tragedy’ for the ‘upto 40 minute, non-fiction ‘ category came as a shock to many. Almost everybody disagreed with that award. Surely there were more able contenders for that slot.
One also felt that the lack of acknowledgement in the festival towards the other departments of filmmaking. The excellent camera work of Dilip Verma in ‘A Season Outside’ and Sameera Jain’s editing of both ‘A Season Outside’ and her own film ‘Portrait Of Belonging – Bhai Mian’ deserved applause and formal acknowledgement.
Award for Lifetime Achievement
MIFF’98 awarded the ‘V Shantaram Award’ for lifetime achievement to the doyen of Indian documentary, Dr. Fali Bilimoria. He is also known as the ‘three million footage man’. Introduced to films by Paul Zils and PV Pathy, Dr. Fali Bilimoria started making documentaries and advertising films as producer,director, cameraman and editor. Most of his documentaries are on the lives of common people in India. Some of his well known films are ‘ A Village in Travancore’,’ A Village in Punjab’, ‘The Call’, ‘Water’ , and many others. In 1948, his ‘Indian Village’ series was invited to the Edinburgh International Film Festival. In 1968, his film ‘The House that Ananda built’ won a nomination for Oscar. Apart from being internationally acclaimed as one of the best documentary filmmakers of the country, he inspired many others who worked with him like Sukhdev.
Retrospectives
The Retrospective section had some extraordinary films by Patricio Guzman (Chile), Robert cahen (France), Pramod Pati, Mani Kaul and Anand Patwardhan (India). There was also a package of award winning films from the archives of Oberhausen, recent diploma films from Film and Televsion Institute of India, Pune and Sam Speigel Film and Television School, Jerusalem. MIFF’98 paid homage to the renowned Dutch filmmaker Bert Hanstraa, who passed away in 1997, by screening several of his films that are regarded as classics among documentaries. MIFF also paid tributes to Kailen Shannon, founder of Studio D of the National Film Board of Canada, famous for its feminist films. Finally, there was a selection of 50 Indian documentaries screened as “50 Years of Indian Independence through Documentaries”. The Open forum had seminars and discussions on a variety of themes.
Food for thought
The festival Director, Mr Bankim’s announcement that MIFF will soon be made an annual event was greeted by an almost never-ending round of applause. From the energy generated by the festival one sincerely hopes that his announcement becomes a reality from the very next year. However, till then, there are many thoughts to chew upon,not only for organizers of festivals like the MIFF,but also the filmmakers who participate.
Such a significant international event received negligible coverage from the Press and media. If our newspapers and channels can afford to spare such extensive space for mindless stories on film actors and private life of the American President,they can surely pay more attention to events of this kind. Thus the festival authorities must enforce on the Press before registering people as journalists and distributing free Press kits.
Another issue, that perhaps should be foremost in the agenda,is the distribution and dissemination of all these marvelous films. How many people get to view these films if there is only one biannual festival showing them in one metropolis of the country?
How can such a rich resource be accessible to more people? It is important to ascertain, especially for filmmakers,who all these films are made for? Only a few festivals worldwide, for a privileged class of people, or the vast majority for whom these films are an invaluable source of information, education and inspiration?
Some films from the festival
Little Preludes
Greece, 1997, 35mm, 19 min
Director: Vangelis Kalambakas
In a flat of a residential building, a young girl plays Bach’s ‘Little Prelude’ in D minor on the piano. After completion of the musical piece, the film takes the viewer successively into 5 neighboring flats where the sound of the piano has simultaneously reached. In each of these spaces, we meet a single occupant in a characteristic solitary activity, which unfolds in exactly the same time frame as the performance of the prelude and send its own acoustic signals to the adjacent spaces.
The Film of Her
USA/Italy, 1996, 35mm, 12 min
Director: Bill Morrison
Using archival footage as its medium the film tells the story of a clerk who rediscovers an ancient film collection in the vaults of the Library of Congress. For legal purposes, this collection had been printed on paper. Consequently, these prints had survived, while the volatile nitrate originals had long since disappeared. The memory of an early porn actress inspires him in his struggle to save her, the collection, and himself, from obscurity.
Mumia Abu Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?
UK, 1997, 16mm, 75 min
Director: John Edginton
Former radio reporter and Black Panther member, Mumia Abu Jamal was sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman. He has always proclaimed his innocence. The investigative documentary questions the prosecution’s case against Jamal, points to a catalogue of police errors and judicial manoeuvrings and produces witnesses who say they were coerced by the police into changing their stories.The film asks whether Jamal was a cop-killer or the victim of a racist judicial system.
Zakir and His Friends
Switzerland, 1997, 35mm, 90 min
Director: Lutz Leonhardt
The film captures tabla artist Zakir Hussain.Zakir started his career with Indian classical music, subsequently expanding his repertoire and working with many of the great names of Jazz and pop, including John McLaughlin and Jan Garbarek. The film attempts to demonstrate that however different musicians look or their instruments sound, they are telling the same story all over the world: rhythm is life and life is an experience of rhythm.
Bhiwandi Tragedy
India, 1996, 35mm, 14 min
Director: V Packriswamy
This documentary depicts the tragedy following food poisoning in the industrial town of Bhiwandi. 120 workers took ill after eating their regular meal. What followed was a chain of deaths. The film also analyses various health hazards and how they affect the life of migrant workers.
The Bell’s Breath
Russia, 1997, 35mm, 17min
Director: Galina Leontieva
An old proverb says “ A bell chimes what is written on it.” The heroes of the film are a 13 year old apprentice of a bell-ringer, who dreams of ringing on a church bell-tower, and a bell that is being founded in a bell-moulding shop by the masters that put their faith and feelings into it. Both the boy and the bell must go through different stages of their formation so as to find their right place in life and to ring for the people.
A Season Outside
India, 1997, Video, 32 min
Director: Amar Kanwar
This is a film about understanding the essential concepts of non-violence as a philosophy and a way of life. The film travels through different dimensions of conflict, seeking the wisdom that could help transform conflict, through a process of humanization. The film explores the relevance, meaning and power of non-violence.
Lesser Humans
India, 1997, Video, 59 min
Director: Stalin K.
50 years of independence, democracy and progress has not the lives of the ‘Bhangi’ community in Gujarat, who, even today, continue the changed proffesion of manual disposal of human excreta. The film investigates the caste, gender, economic, educational and political factors responsible for the continuance of this inhuman practice.
I Move, So I Am
The Netherlands, 1997, 35mm, 8 min, Animation
Director:Gerrit van Dijk
A drawing of a hand that in turn draws, animates hands, shoulders, heads, legs, past, present, future, developing his technique. The artist animates a hand and animating a man that becomes the artist. Portraits, moving portraits, searching, moving, impulsive, never still. For him, still life has no life at all. Each picture has the right to movement.The right to exist.
Ciderpunks
Ireland/UK, 1997, 16mm,14min, Animation
Director: Joel Simon
This animated ‘mockumentary’ brings a humorous insight into the frantic, Belfast-based life of Becky Donduffin, aged 17, and her circle of friends who share a passion for nihilism, protest, body-piercing and army-surplus clothing. The preponderance of peer pressure and escapism in the teenager’s lives are clearly the main themes reflecting on the issues at stake.
The Prince and the Magician
India, 1996, Video, 5 min 5 sec, Animation
Director: Bhimsain
A Warli folk tale about the arrogant prince being taught a lesson of humility by the magician.
Riding the Rails
USA, 1997, 16mm, 72 min
Director: Micheal Uys & Lexy Lovell
In its tender account of the lives of teenage freight-train riders, Riding the Rails offers a visionary perspective on the presumed romanticism of the road and cautionary legacy of the Great Depression. After sifting through 3,000 letters in response to their call for memoirs from the former teenagers, the filmmakers relay the experiences and painful recollections of these now elderly survivors of the rails. What evolves is a heartbreaking portrait of transformation and loss in a land of bankrupt promises and vacant opportunities.
Kol Tales
India, 1997, 16mm, 70 min
Director: Sehjo Singh
A documentary on the Indian story telling tradition where one weaves into another, told by two story tellers, one on each side of the divide. Stories from the far edge of the Indian Plateau, a dry, rocky land called Patha, a home to the Kol tribe. The Kols were ‘assimilated’ into the Hindu fold, at the lowest rung and have lived out generations bonded to the upper caste masters, the Dadus. Tales of everyday lives of an India which lives in despair or hope, protesting or preserving this curious grafting of feudalism into democracy- in the 50th year of Indian Independence.
Donkey Without a Tail
Brazil, 1997, 16mm, 30 min
Director: Sergio Bloch
A film about the people who make a living by picking through trash on the streets of Rio de Janeiro in search of recyclable material. They are popularly known as ‘donkeys without a tail.’ This occupation traces its roots to the job of garrafeiro, or ‘bottle collector’. Portugese immigrants to Brazil made their living pushing wooden carts down the street to collect bottles(thus their nickname bears the allusion to pack animals). Today these trash collectors work with a wide variety of materials. By following the daily routine of five of them, we come into contact with a universe that is ever present in Brazilian cities but little understood.
Portraits of Belonging – Bhai Mian
India, 1997, Video, 34 min
Director: Sameera Jain
Bhai Mian is a kite maker who lives in the historic part of Delhi –Shahjanabad. The film is a portrait of the man in this context. A man whose ordinariness barely conceals his imagination and resilience. Bhai Mian formally learnt jewellery making but found in his middle age that inflation made keeping up the practice impossible. New courses had to be navigated, creative solutions found. Bhai Mian’s dexterity has been complemented with integrity. A portrait of a man who is a survivor – existing with dignity, humour, even grace.
YCP 1997
India, 1997, Video, 43 min
Director: KP Jayasankar & Anjali Monteiro
Built between 1865 and 1876, Yerwada Central Prison(YCP), Pune, is one of the oldest prisons in India, with over 2,500 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’.
Barf (Snow)
India, 1997, Video, 53min
Director: Saba Dewan
A group of adolescent girls from the working class areas of Delhi go for a ten-day trek in the Garhwal hills. For most of them it is their first step outside the city. Far from the pressures of the home and the community, the girls sing, play and dream .. the film traces the girls’ journey into the mountains. The adolescents pause to reflect on the violence, fear and deprivation in their lives in the city. Then it is time to continue with journey To exult in youthful energy, hope and desire. To overcome all obstacles and reach the snow life.
Prize winners at the MIFF’98
| Film upto 60 minute, Fiction | |||
| Golden Conch, Rs 2.5 lakhs | Little Preludes | Vangelis Kalambakas | Greece |
| Silver Conch, Rs 1 lakh | The Film of Her | Bill Morrison | USA |
| Film above 40 minute, Non-fiction
|
|||
| Golden Conch, Rs 2.5 lakhs | Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt? | John Edgington | UK |
| Silver Conch, Rs 1 lakhs | Zakir and his friends | Lutz Leonhardt | Switzerland |
| Film upto 40 minute, Non-fiction | |||
| Golden Conch,Rs 2.5 lakhs | Bhiwandi tragedy | V.Packriswamy | India |
| Silver Conch , Rs 1 lakh | The Bell’s Breath | Galina Leontieva | Russia |
| Video, Non- Fiction | |||
| Golden Conch , Rs 1 lakh | A Season Outside | Amar Kanwar | India |
| Silver Conch, Rs 50,000 | Lesser Humans | Stalin K | India |
| Animation, Film | |||
| Golden Conch, Rs 2.5 lakhs | I Move, So I am | Gerrit van Djik | Netherlands |
| Silver Conch, Rs 1 lakh | Ciderpunks | Joel Simon | Ireland/UK |
| Animation, Video | |||
| Golden Conch, Rs 1 lakh | The Prince and the Magician | Bhimsain | India |
| International Jury Award | |||
| Rs 50,000 | Riding the Rails | Micheal Uys & Lexy Lovell | USA |
| Rs 50,000 | Kol Tales | Sehjo Singh | India |
| IDPA Award | |||
| Trophy for Director’s first film | Donkey without a tail | Sergio Bloch | Brazil |
| Critic’s Award , Film | |||
| Certificate of Merit | Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt | John Edgington | UK |
| Special Mention by Critic Jury, Film | |||
| Certificate of Merit | Little Preludes | Vangelis Kalambakas | Greece |
| Certificate of Merit, Video | |||
| Certificate of Merit | Portrait of Belonging – Bhai Milan | Sameera Jain | India |
| Certificate of Merit | YCP 1997 | KP Jayasankar & Anjali Monteiro | India |
| Certificate of Merit | Snow (Barf) | Saba Dewan | India |
Turning the tide:
A Tribute to Bert Demmers
Bert Demmers died on 28 February 1998 from brain tumour. Bert was an enthusiast who was completely committed to using communication for development. While Bert was pragmatic and efficient he genuinely believed in making modern media accessible and available to marginalized communities so that their abilities to intervene become sharper and more focused. His work was at two levels. One, he worked with grassroot organizations to develop and make more efficient, their use of media. Two, he continually pressurized donors to support communication projects. Many groups working with Media in the grassroots in India came in touch with Bert and learned from his wide experience of working with media in the third world. With his passing away, Indian grassroot groups working with media have lost a friend and the biggest champion of their cause.
Bert Demmers (23 June 1932 to 28 February 1998) was an unusual communication specialist. Not for him the luxury of being ”objective” about the disadvantaged in the North and South. He passionately used his communication skills to champion the plight of the disadvantaged and elicit changes.
Dutch by nationality, Bert at an early stage showed a flair for photography. He cut his teeth in the media world working as the photo editor of Pace magazine in America. Pace was established to report on the social, political, economic and moral issues facing America providing an alternative to ”sound-bite” reporting. A photo-feature on Bill Cosby, the successful black actor and comedian, was one of his favourite assignments.
I met Bert in 1975 while at the United Nations Environment Programme, when he was recruited to work for the Information Section of the organization. He was put in charge of creating awareness about ‘World Environment Day’ activities and audio-visual programmes.
Implementing information programmes within international bureaucracies can be a pretty daunting task. Bert soon set about decentralizing programmes. Instead of wasting funds on staff and doing the work within the organization, Bert decided to implement his workplan with professional media groups.
Bert created the first World Environment Day international media pack, which was distributed to media throughout the world. The articles were written by proffesional journalists and eminent environment scientists and opinion leaders, drawn from many parts of the world. The pack was an instant success: the articles were widely used by the world media. Then the World Environment Day media pack was tied with UNEP’s annual state of the world environment report.
At UNEP, the information programme was ”regionalised” due to Bert’s persistence. Bert was critical of the centralized forms of information flows and established region information programmes with proffesional regional media outlets in the Third World, like the Press Foundation of Asia and the Inter-Press.
Concerned about the one way dominant information flow from the North to the South, Bert, throughout his life, actively encouraged the development of media institutions in the Third World, which could reverse the information process.
Bert returned to live in the Netherlands in 1990. Since then I worked closely with to establish a programme to enhance the communication skills of NGO’s. Through the programmes, we demonstrated that communication can change the price of bread for the poor. Throughout his entire career, Bert refused to compromise his principles.
The many people in the world who worked with Bert will continue to put his spiritual values and communication beliefs into practice. Their prayers and gratitude go to Bert’s wife, Ulla, their daughter, Lisa Mette and son, Pieter, who strongly supported and believed in Bert’s work and enabled him to fulfill his destiny on Earth.
By Don de Silva
IREF – An India Education group in the US
The Indian Relief and Education Fund (IREF) was founded in 1993 in the San Francisco Bay area in the USA with the twin goals of organizing India-awareness educational activities in the US and supporting like-minded organizations in India. IREF organised screenings, seminars, lectures and theatre events and exhibitions in the US with Indian journalists, filmmakers,theatre personalities and social activists. IREF aims to serve as a resource conduit for literature, audio, video and other educational material. We spoke to Shishir Thadani, a software engineer by profession, who is a volunteer for the IREF.
How was IREF set up?
Originally many of us worked in a group called South Asians for Collective Action (SACA). We also worked in a group called Coalition Against Communalism. SACA was a kind of a left progressive group that took up issues on economy, union rights, peoples’ science, women’s issues etc. Mostly we used to organize biannual educational and cultural events. One year we organised an event on Shankar Guha Niyogi and his contribution and the movement in Chhattisgarh.
The Coalition against Communalism came up after the Babri Masjid incident. It was basically to demonstrate to the Indian media that there is a movement of people who feel that the secular constitution of India and the right of minorities needed to be defended.
Gradually, as that issue faded, some of us found that the energies were dissipating in both these groups. So, in order to keep going we needed to integrate theory with practical events. We formed the IREF to do couple of things. One of them was that we would organize popular educational events where we would get large audiences, raise some money and donate it for catastrophic relief. Since we are in the US, we would like to reach out to Indian migrants who are open to alternate views.
Secondly, we would like to address directly to the Americans the problems of the émigré India, the racism and imperialist propoganda that India faces. We should counter that both in terms of historic and contemporary.
How do people respond to your screenings and other events?
When it comes to screening alternative films, a couple of factors make a difference; if it is on women’s issues, which is in vogue in the Bay area, it gets an audience. We have found that within the progressive movement there is a high degree of specialization. There are people who will come to see a film only if it is on environment, or only women’s issues or some come only for films on left themes, trade unions etc. But the people who come have a very good discussion. Also, if an issue exists in the public mind, if the film is related to an event or a happening that is contemporary, we are likely to get a better response.
During the Babri Masjid we showed Anand Patwardhan’s Raam ke Naam several times and the audiences were always between 100 to 500. Medha Patkar was there recently and so was Jharna Jhaveri. Medha Patkar has a special following of 60-70 non- Indians almost entirely from the environmental movement. But Jharna’s film, ‘Kaise Jeebo Re’ attracted only 20 people. We had more than a 100 people for Shabnam Virmani’s film,When Women Unite. It was very well attended and there were lots of questions. In general, films on women’s issues are drawing interest.
When we screened Shyam Benegal’s The Making of the Mahatma, we had 1400 people. The response was quite large mainly because of the filmmaker.We had good response when we screened some of Shabana Azmi’s films – some of her earlier, more progressive films.
We had a nationwide lecture tour of Sainath’s book, Everybody Loves a Good Drought. We interfaced with all the other groups in the US, he has several contacts. He spoke at 25 places in the US and 5 or 6 places in Canada where was the attendance was between 50 –200.
How many of you are working with IREF?
We have a core group of 10-12 members, who work as volunteers, with whom we exchange e-mails and decisions are taken in consultation with each other. Then we have a mailing list which now runs into maybe 300 or so. We have a lot of friends who help out on the day of an important event. Then we have contacts with indivisuals and other groups who are not against supporting us.
The way we try and expand is through public events – like the Mahatma film was a public event where we made new contacts. We met a few new people through Shabnam Virmani’s screening. So everytime we do something new, we meet new people. As the themes are different, we get to meet different people.
How do you run your infrastructure?
We are all volunteers, some people volunteer more than the others. Several of our members are engineers, a few are in the social sciences. Almost everybody earns their living through regular jobs. We cannot afford an office in the US. Our budget is little and we want to keep everything for just reproducing the literature, for maintaining our website and mailing for our events. We are operating under a budget of less than US$ 10,000.
Do you also locate funds for your work?
It is generated through events. For instance,in the case of the Mahatma film, we sold tickets. Occasionally, we get contributions. From time to time, we require our core group to write cheques. We go with a begging bowl and the core team puts in US$20. With 12 of us, we get about US$250 and that keeps us going for the next few months. In the past, we have underestimated what we could do and have also lost money. For instance, we lost money in Sainath’s lecture tour, but we felt it was worthwhile. His message got out.
The problem with a group like ours is that we do not shy away from our political ideology. Our literature shows where we come from, we are critics of the liberalization, we are for preserving the secular constitution. It means we will not get the big money that is available. We are dealing with a very difficult environment in terms of the education work that we want to do. But we feel that somebody has to do it.
For details, contact:
IREF, PO Box 14360,Fremont , CA 94539, USA
Website: http://www.chfi.org/iref
IDFA 1998
The 11th edition of the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam(IDFA) will take place from November 25 – December 3, 1998. Among others, it will feature:
- Film competition – Approximately 25 films compete for the VPRO Joris Ivens Award
- Video competition – Approximately 15 documentaries on video compete for the Silver Wolf.
- Reflecting Images – an international panorama.
- Highlights of the Lowlands – The Dutch highlights of the current year.
- First Appearance – young filmmakers and film school students present their first films.
- Platform’98 –cultural exchange with developing countries: a presentation of new films.
- Top 10, a selection of 10 favourite films by a film professional.
- Retrospectives and thematic programmes.
- Workshops, seminars and debates
Docs for Sale – a market place with creative documentaries for buyers and sellers – takes place simultaneously with the festival.
Submit entries by August 25, 1998
For Details, write to:
International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam
Kleine-Gartmanplansoen 10,1017 RR Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel #31 20 6273329, fax #31 20 6385388
e-mail:info@idfa.nl
Amnesty International Film Festival
16 to 20 September, Amsterdam
The 3rd Amnesty International Film Festival (AIFF) takes as it’s theme “The 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. AIFF has become a platform where human rights are brought to the attention of the general public and where attention is drawn to the filmmakers of such films. The first film festival in 1995 focussed on women’s issues inspired by the UN Women Conference in Beijing. In 1996 the AIFF proved itself to be an independent event in which human rights recieved the attention they deserved.
Amnesty International will award a prize to the maker of an exceptional film or video production on the subject of human rights. A national jury will select the winning film or video in the competition programme and grant the Amnesty Film Festival Award (f 10000,- DFL). This award is offered by Hubert Bals Fund/International Film Festival Rotterdam. Films participating in the competition programme should not be older than two years.
All films and videos dealing with human rights issues and/or any of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights may be submitted, regardless of length.
Deadline: Shorts – 1 Jun 1998
Feature films - 1 July 1998(type script)
Contact for entry forms:
Amnesty International Filmfestival, Keizersgracht
620,1017 ER Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Phone: # 31(0)20 6264436 fax:#31(0) 20 6240889
E-mail: hlobato@notes.amnesty.nl(festivaldirector)
Using Video: Campaign on Narmada with children
The alternate film movement in the country has grown considerably from the early ’70s when there were only a handful of filmmakers making films on political issues. By the ’90s many more have joined the stream. Hundreds of serious issue based films are being produced today. Unfortunately the use of such films is still quite limited. These films mostly circulate among a closed circuit of middle class audience, or at best, reach some NGOs who make a tremendous effort to access them. Apart from some sporadic efforts, often by film makers themselves or some grassroot groups, consistent use of such films remains a 1ow priority. Yet, there are interesting experiences taking place that can inspire others to use the medium creatively and reach out to many more people.
Visthar, a campaign group based in Bangalore, recently organised a campaign on Narmada among school children. Using K. P. Sasi’s film ‘A Valley Refuses to Die’, Visthar organised several screenings in schools in Bangalore. Every screening was followed by a discussion on the issue. Instead of limiting the exercise to a one-way flow of information, Visthar made it more interactive. They initiated students to contribute with poems, articles and paintings in support of the struggle. The students also were instrumental in collecting local funds in order to generate support for the movement.
Students made hundreds of paintings on the Narmada issue, a selection of which was published as a calendar. In the end, Visthar called a bigger meeting on the issue in which over 5000 students took part.
David Selvaraj of Visthar spoke to Adarsh N.C on their experience of using video for campaigns.
What prompted Visthar to initiate a campaign with Video?
The campaign developed from the idea of using video to disseminate information. Visual media has a mass media appeal. Films have a very strong impact, especially in the minds of children. Also, they are very important in any development process. Most of the campaigns organized by Visthar have had video as a basic form. A film is introduced before and a discussion follows after the screening. In the Narmada campaign we had a print and visual campaign involving 20 schools with an open general session. This campaign was flagged off with a film and every screening was attended by 400 – 500 children in each school. All of them were then broken into smaller groups, say 10 groups with 40 – 50 students in each, culminating in discussions and a weekend training programme. We work on other issues as well. Recently we had a gender training programme with 20 people from different fiends. This programme also had films as a basic part element. We used films like ‘Girija’ or ‘Illayam Mullum’ that formed the basis for discussions.
How do you see a video campaign different from other awareness building activities?
Campaign films or documentaries can provide information in a concise and visual manner. They can generate discussion on all levels. However, a film itself cannot be ultimate. What follows is important. In that sense, a campaign goes far beyond a film.
How many students participated?
Through our school campaigns we reached out to 16,000 students and it was an intensive campaign of two and a half months. The campaign culminated into a rally and a range of other activities like painting, quiz, etc.
How did the school authorities respond to your idea?
Initially the concept was well received. However, the school authorities were hesitant in granting permission for the campaign. We got their approval were after much coaxing and convincing and, in some cases, using personal contacts.
What about the students?
Their response was fabulous. Their enthusiasm made the campaign a full blown success. Lots of competitions were triggered off after the campaign, like a painting competition which drew around 2000 paintings. The paintings were printed in the form of calendars and sold. A ‘Hundi’ drive or ‘Pigmy’ drive by students generated a lot of monetary support which was in turn forwarded to the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
How do you plan your follow–up?
Visthar is also involved with many other campaigns with students, like ‘Students for Democracy’ or training programmes like sensitizing people on gender issues. Follow-up necessarily means a constant effort with the students.
Since you use films constantly, do you have any suggestions to filmmakers who commit themselves issue-based films?
I think there are very few films made for children. I think children are seldom considered by filmmakers as serious audience. We face difficulty in selecting films that are suitable for children. There is also this problem of language. All films are available either in English or Hindi. That becomes a problem for an audience who are not familiar with these languages. I think some effort should be made in making films available in regional languages.
Can you suggest something to enlarge the present space of activist video in the country?
Activist filmmakers can extend their audience further by entering into schools, by forming film clubs in school. Schools can maintain a library of issue based films and a set of good films can be chosen to be shown to students within a set time-frame, followed by discussions. Children could be made to express their views and feelings on the issue in writing or any other form of expression. Children could certainly be initiated onto the process, not only as viewers of these films, but also as participants in the issues as active minds of the society.
An Interview with Anand Patwardhan
How did you start making films?
I studied in Elphinstone College. Then I got a scholarship to go to America in 1970 for doing my BA in Sociology at the Brandeis University. At that time the anti-Vietnam war movement was at its peak and my fellow students were very active in the fight against the war. That’s when I first started filming. Even though I was doing Sociology, I borrowed film equipment from the Theatre Arts department and started shooting the anti – Vietnam war demonstrations. Then in 1971, before the war of liberation in Bangladesh, there was great starvation and thousands of refugees were coming across the border. I made a short film in our university trying to raise money for the refugees. We asked people not to eat for a day and to donate the money saved. 1 interviewed people that day as to whether they were eating or not. That film is called ‘Business as Usual’, because it is about North American apathy towards things they couldn’t relate to.
Then I came back to India in 1972 and for a while didn’t do anything with films. I worked in a village for two years, doing social work, teaching Hindi and doing agricultural work in an organization called Kishore Bharati. I made a short film strip there, not on film but just photographs with a sound track to help with tuberculosis patients. In 1974-75, I went to Bihar to join a non-violent, anti-corruption student movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan. There I borrowed Super 8 equipment to shoot the anti-government demonstrations. Later this became the basis for a film called ‘Waves of Revolution’. Soon after it was made, Emergency was declared. Most of the people we had filmed were arrested and there was a sort of martial law, and overt censorship. So the film went underground. It could only be shown secretly. But during Emergency I smuggled parts of the film abroad, got admission in a University in Canada to do my Masters and these reassembled these pieces of film. ‘Waves of Revolution’ was shown mostly underground in India during the Emergency and to Indians outside India who were protesting against the Emergency. I came back to India after Emergency ended and made ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ which is about political prisoners.
And then there was ‘Bombay, Our City’?
Yes. But before that, while in Canada, 1 made a film on the Indian farm workers in Canada, which was called ‘A Time to Rise’. ‘Bombay, Our City’ was begun in 1982 and finished in 1985.
You have always screened your films around, in some senses like a cultural activist. Would you define yourself as a cultural activist?
I get asked that question all the time about whether I am a political activist or a filmmaker. For me, I don’t bother wasting time trying to define myself. I just do what I enjoy doing. My films have always been about political actions that I have been documenting and participating in. these are not “objective” films but interventionist films. You can see from all my films, that I have clearly taken sides. I am not standing far away from the subject and analyzing things from a distance. I get into the subject in the first place because something bothers me about what is happening in the real world, the film is my contribution to that situation.
It doesn’t mean that I necessarily prejudge everything, things also develop when you are in the process because when you are making a film over a long period of time you learn a lot of things that can make you change subtly…. Not your whole direction and point of view, but nuances can come in which you had never though of before.
Why don’t you take the option that most film-makers seem to be taking – “ I have made the film and now it is somebody else’s responsibility to take it around?”
I don’t have that luxury because nobody wants to show my films just like that. My films are not made for any corporate body, the films are not made by the Government. Basically, these are films that are used by activists and used by us and a group of people who screen films. I have three 16 mm projectors I have a video projector, we are always showing films.
How much time in a year do you spend on the road?
I don’t go blindly into an area, I only go where we are invited because it is very important that the follow up work is done. It is no use just going into some area, showing a film and then disappearing. You have to be invited by groups that are doing work in those areas, who will continue doing the work after the film is shown. So the film becomes one input among many inputs that are taking place. We have done lots of traveling. We have done extensive screenings at the Narmada area. We have traveled many times over Kerala with different organizations. The first time I went was with John Abraham’s group, Odessa. Several times I went with Odessa. Then recently I went with KSSP and we went to Tamil Nadu also with KSSP, and then again I went to Tamil Nadu to do screenings organized by Mini and Ajit Hari, a student’s initiative. Now by word of mouth, people know that we have films and are willing to travel. So people keep inviting us and now it is a question of juggling the time to see how we can fit everybody into the schedule. And yet find some time to film make!
Do you see a shift in the kind of debate you are raising in your films today, as compared to the 70’s, especially when you are working with people’s movements?
Yes, I think so. I think that in the 70’s it was a straight forward left-line, class struggle. My films also were like that. Not clearly straight forward because in my case it was mediated by the fact that I was always confused about whether I was a Gandhian or a Marxist. I was not completely in the left tradition because I was not very comfortable with the idea of armed struggle. Even when I made ‘Prisoners of Conscience’, which in a sense took very clearly the side of the Naxalites, I didn’t do it from the point of view of necessarily justifying violent revolution, but from the point of view of the human rights of prisoners, they weren’t criminals. So, in that sense those films, if you look at them again, they have the nuances. You can’t typecast them as left wing propaganda. In fact, I don’t like those terms. The word propaganda is used to denigrate our films when actually they don’t realize that what the state puts out, and what you see in the newspapers everyday is the propaganda. What we are doing is countering it from time to time.
Often your films are forecasts of events, of issues before they become national debates..
Tragically sometimes… if you mean for instance like how ‘Ram ke Naam (In the Name of God) was made before the demolition of the Babri Mosque? That is a good example because ‘Ram ke Naam’ was actually made one year before the mosque was demolished, and it was clearly warning the country, warning the government, warning the people about the rise of Hindu fundamentalism, but it was tragically ignored. Soon after it was made it was shown at Bombay documentary festival and people said, ”Oh why raise these issues when things are calm now? ” The first attack on the mosque had been thwarted and people were relaxed as if its not going to happen again. People wanted to feel comfortable and thought I was just raking up o1d issues again. So the film was really underplayed both by the Press and by the intelligentsia.
Except by the BJP who had stopped it?
The BJP’s attempt came later. But even amongst the critics, if you read the kind of contemporary reviews, ‘Ram ke Naam’ was not taken seriously when it was made. Of course the State prevented it from being shown on TV, and only so many years after the mosque was demolished was it finally telecast, after we won a court case. I do believe that if ‘Ram ke Naam’ had been shown at the right time it might have had some impact on the rise of fundamentalism because TV is such a powerful medium. At that time the Hindutva bandwagon had not gathered so much steam and there was enough room for doubt and criticism and this film, I think, could have really brought all of that into sharper focus. It was a criminal act on the part of the state not to show the film and then to talk about being so secular. I actually hold them guilty of complicity in the murder of Hindu priest Lal Das who was killed because he had spoken out against intolerance in the name of religion. That man should have been one of our secular heroes, like Bhagat Singh or any of our martyrs who are honoured for their sacrifice. He was someone who lived in Ayodhya, stood up against the intolerance of Hindutva and paid with his life for it, because he was not a very well known person. Had the film been shown widely he would have been well known and that would have given him some protection, as it does to people like me. One probable reason why I don’t get attacked is that my films get talked and written about and it would be embarrassing but for the State and for the fundamentalists to openly attack me. I think Lal Das would have been in the same boat, you couldn’t have just bumped him off. Instead, when he was killed, there was just a tiny news item on page 27 of some newspaper.
Why have you shifted totally from films to video?
That’s out of necessity. That’s not out of aesthetic choice. I’d continue making films because I like the look of film. But the only way that I could continue making films is to raise large amounts of money which is today not easy to do without compromising yourself. I chose the option of video, even low-end video, Hi 8. I’ve bought a small digital camera. I also found that most of the distribution of my films in India, even if I shot on film, is still done on video. The 16mm really helps to get your films into film festivals, getting some awards and increasing the distribution potential. But beyond that, for actual use for a mass audience, you could do it on a good video projector as well as you could do it on film.
Are you also saying that funding for the kind of work that you are doing, which is political, is going to get more and more difficult or do you see any other avenues opening up?
Actually I find in my particular case that I can raise any amount of money. But it depends on whether I choose to do it or not. If I take foreign grants and go all out to make films for foreign television I could raise money to make more sophisticated films in terms of technical quality. But I am not so happy to do that. Firstly, when I decide to make a film, it is not because I have found a budget for it, but because it is about an issue and about people that I feel strongly about. Then I go with the camera and it sometimes takes years to shoot. I don’t know before hand what I’m going to make. It emerges slowly. I can’t very honestly write a proposal stating exactly what this film will be. I also don’t want to sacrifice editorial or even stylistic control to anybody. I don’t want to subconsciously start making films for a foreign audience and that too a foreign television agency which is no longer progressive. At least in the 60’s and 70’s there were enough people who were like me, who came out against the Vietnam war, they protested. People believed in broadly the same kind of worldly order and so I could make films with the conviction that there were enough people who would appreciate that. But now the televisions abroad are much more market oriented. I don’t want to play market game at all. Now I work with video and I use various strategies to find by the money. I don’t think money is going to stop me from making a film. When you are doing something that people consider worthwhile you will be able to find enough money. You might have to make compromises in terms of equipment that you use and all that. Technically, I am looking for non-linear editing systems where editing can be done on a PC. That will also make me more self-sufficient. In the past I’ve had my own 16mm equipment. But since I am not shooting on film, the Steinbeck has become redundant. I need to replace it with a video editing system.
Do you really feel that festivals help the issue with which you are working? To a large extent film festivals seem self -indulgent.
Yes, issueless, at a level. I went to a Amsterdam festival about 3-4 months ago and looked at the kind of documentaries that were being shown. It’s one of the world’s more famous documentary festivals. And I was quite disappointed to find that there were very few films that were politically useful in my sense of the term. Issue oriented films were virtually absent in the highest category of the festival. The competition section is the place which gets the most attention naturally. But it has become a ghettoisation of political films. These automatically get into the lowest category of ”information” films. If you have a strong political point of view its not regarded as art, almost by definition. Its very rare that a strong point of view is considered at the highest level of what is considered to be artistic. That would be fine personally because I am not dying to be considered artistic, but I do want to get the maximum attention to the films. So I argued that there is a very low representation of Third World films in this festival and in festivals like these. But today a lot of issue oriented films are made by TV from the rich countries, by their own crews. Those films get on prime time and if at all films are picked up from other countries, they get on air after midnight.
I also attended the market section at the IDFA as an observer. I was quite amazed at what I saw because the average budget of an hour long film was between $300,000 to $500,000. The moment somebody started pitching for a serious subject there would be very few interested people. The moment it was about wrestling, rock music or about some fluffy type of subject, then everybody would put their hands up to be counted in. So these market places are actually determining what people will watch and you can see that process live if you go to these forums and watch. This determines not only what you see on TV, but the kind of aesthetics that exist, because the look of a film is determined by those budgets. A $500,00 dollar budget will definitely look a lot better than a $10,000 dollar Hi8 video budget. So, a Hi8 video will never get a slot once it is in competition with a $500,000 film, even if the high budget film has nothing much to say. Because it is slickly produced it will get many more opportunities to say it.
Do you receive adequate support from the people’s movements?
I am not sure about political parties. I have worked closely with many parties. When I agree with an issue I work fully for that. For instance, the Narmada movement, there is no party but I am certainly a part of the movement and will help to do whatever I can to support the movement. As a filmmaker, I think my films would have used much less if I belonged to a particular Marxist party or the other. Because, there is such a lot of sectarianism and division within the left or even the broader progressive movement, the women’s movement, the Dalit movement or whichever progressive stream you can identify with. As a filmmaker I made films that all these groups have used even though they don’t agree with each other. ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ is a good case in point. In ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ I interviewed people from so many different groups that didn’t actually work together, but they were all people who were suppressed by the State. So it created a unity on film at least (laughs).
I do sense that in the 90’s we are the orphans of the 60’s. A lot of the progressive movements got vitiated all over the world, not just in India. Jerry Reubens joined the Wall Street, the Black Panthers were destroyed in America, the Cuban revolution, so many things happened. Things have gone on a different direction now. You see today the lack of a Socialist moral anywhere in the world. But in a sense that’s a challenge because you have to reinterpret all of that, then you have to live with having to find, not only what went wrong, but in a sense, even abandon those very dogmatic positions that people held. I think that’s not unhealthy. It would be unhealthy if the value system was abandoned.
An Evening at a Fishing Village
On the evening of the 4th of March 1998 a film by Anand Patwardhan called ‘Fishing in a Sea of Greed’ was screened at Macchinaar Nagar (Fisher Colony). The colony is situated at Bombay’s Cuffe Parade, between the sea and a busy street, a world apart from expensive hotels and apartment blocks.
The film portrayed the struggle of the Indian fishing communities against the exploitation of the ocean and its resources by multinational companies. Huge factory ships and large scale commercial shrimp farms destroy the livelihood of local fishermen all around India. However, the fishermen and their families are in no way ready to let this ‘development’ determine their fate. They are protesting, through demonstrations, harbour blockages and networking with their international counterparts and local fishermen, who are facing the same problems world wide. The film was shot on Hi-8 on a shoestring budget of Rs 3 Lakhs, of which 2 Lakhs were raised by the fish workers themselves. This night they were to see it for the first time.
A number of international delegates of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) had also been invited for screening. They had seen Anand Patwardhan’s earlier films, shown as part of a retrospective during the festival, but to watch his latest film they had to step outside of the festival. MIFF had discarded ‘Fishing in a Sea of Greed’ on the ground of its ‘technical and environmentalists’ demands to protect the coastal zone as being one which ‘hampered progress’. The foreign delegates wondered if Anand Patwardhan’s films were acceptable as historical documents of previous times, but his present work too controversial to be shown.
As the night grew darker and the equipment was set up, men, women, children and foreigners began to gather at a large square at the entrance of the village. ‘Charlie, Charlie’, the children cried when Anand Patwardhan went to the stage to introduce the film. He and his team had screened Charlie Chaplin’s film ‘Modern Times’ a couple of weeks backs and the children had obviously enjoyed the experience immensely. When ‘Fishing in a Sea of Greed’ was put on, the adults hissed and everybody watch in deep concentration.
One of the first scenes showed the over a Coca Cola shop, painting over the wall commercials. An image, which was widely understood and highly appreciated for its humour, yet was a serious message to all the members the audience, whether Indian or foreign – ‘We will not be messed with.’ An image of a small boy from the village appeared and a collective cry-out of excitement filled the air. A little later the scream was amplified ten fold when the film showed an anti-trawler demonstration held by the children themselves. The women who stood together is crowd and the men at the back seemed lo enjoy what they saw. ‘The foreign delegates were not untouched when the film ended with a documentation of an international meeting of fishermen, cementing solidarity across the ocean.
After the film, local children, youths and adults questioned the Canadian, Australian, Japanese and Brazilian filmmakers about their countries and their lives abroad, who did their best to answer and to shake as many hands as possible.
-Signe Borge Sorensen
Zebra, Elmegade 5.1, DK 2000, Copenhagen N, Denmark
Point of view
“We can never be in their shoes”
Ananya Chatterjee made a film, ‘Najayaz’ on children of sex worker. One year later she attends a meeting of sex-workers in Calcutta where they demand legal status for their profession.
The auditorium was packed at Salt Lake that evening. The first three rows had the journalists and the intelligentsia. The ones behind them comprised of the participants. They were sex workers from all over the country. From Tamil Nadu, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai and of course Bengal. The organizers call themselves “Durbar Mahila Samanyaya Committee.” Durbar in Bengali means unstoppable, like a strong current. The evening was historic, in the sense it saw the ripples forming into a current. Call it the world’s oldest profession or oppression, these women have emerged from the dark shadows. They are no longer invisible faces.
They were answering us back with anger every time they felt we were being patronizing, or were trying to foment a divide between ‘them’ and ‘us’. When I said, “I was not sold at the age of twelve and have never lived in a brothel. So, no matter how compassionate I may be with you, I can never understand your problems as well as you do yourself, “ one of them got up and said, “We may be going to ten men, and you may be going to one, but we are all sex workers.”
It wasn’t important whether what she said was right or wrong. Or whether it was misdirected. What was important was the fact that she was angry. And she was showing it in an unbashed manner.
For it was not an evening’s anger that she was expressing. It was the anger of many thousand years, of many million victimized women who had been created by the same patriarchy that creates ‘pure, saintly’ women like us. There was deathly silence amongst the respectable lot while she spoke. And applause from the sex workers who it seemed had finally found their voice.
The issue in question that evening was whether legalizing prostitution would destabilize society. Personally, I didn’t care for a stable society. For me change has always seemed more important than stability. But I had a question for them. I had made a film on their children a year ago. I had spoken to at least twenty five sex workers on whether they wanted their daughters to enter this profession. And all of them had said a vociferous no! I asked them that if nothing was wrong with this profession, then why is that they do not want their daughters to follow suit? And more importantly, in a trade there is a market or the client, the trader and the commodity. Legalizing a trade would mean empowering the trader.
Before carrying on the movement for legalization any further, they would, I felt, have to first decide whether they were the trader or the commodity. As I saw it, the traders were the pimps and the madams, and the sex worker the commodity. So how exactly is legalizing the trade going to help and empower them is something that I couldn’t quite figure out. But I saw it as a ‘bhadralok outsider’. It is them, and them alone who have to decide what they want. For no matter how much we try to be compassionate, the truth is that we can never be in their shoes.
Ananya Chatterjee
Lesser Humans
Lesser Humans, a film by Stalin K., winner of the Silver Conch at the MIFF’98, was screened recently in Bangalore. This article is based on some of the reactions that the film evoked at the screening, it is also in part a review of the film and a report of some impressions of the filmmaking process in conversation with Stalin K.
To begin with, the film makes a forceful statement against the discrimination and exploitation of the Bhangi community in Gujarat. The Bhangi community, as is known, is the lowest of the low even amongst the Dalits, defined as they are by the occupation that has been imposed on them by caste system: the manual disposal of waste.
Examining the situation of one such community in Raunpur village of Dhandulka in Gujarat, the film highlights the manner in which caste based occupations has dehumanized a large section of society. According to the film, there are 32,000 such families in Gujarat and 400,000 in the entire country. The film traces the history of legal reform since 1947, with regard to manual scavenging, and , the present situation of the Bhangi community to highlight the enormous gap between the two.
Manual disposal of human and other kinds of waste falls upon the Bhangi community as per the Hindu caste system. Needless to say, within the community it falls on the women who occupy the lowest rungs of the communities. The film emphasizes this by showing women at work. In one interview with a Bhangi couple, the husband reveals how blatantly he threatened his wife into doing this work. The wife was forced into manual scavenging by her husband who says that he would live like a king, but what has to be done, has to be done.
So the occupation of the community becomes the occupation of the women. Strangely enough, even as the film comments on the indifference of the State and the machinations of the village Panchayat, it declines on commenting directly on the discrimination women face within the community. It does speak of discrimination against women in other contexts like disparity in wages and so on.
In striking contrast to this absence of comment are the voices of women interviewed in this film. They are strong, angry and dignified. They see no reason to accept their fate, though their anger is not directed towards the men in the community. This perhaps reflects internalized notions of the sexual divisions of labour as much as it does the film maker’s perspective which does not allow him to go behind a certain boundary.
So, as women recount in anger, with satire and ironical humour; with fatality and resistance, we get a glimpse into the multi- layered protests that form part of their lives.
Finally, when it comes to a more visible struggle, the film abounds with voices that reject a system based on their own exploitation and dehumanization. The struggle basically arose over the fact that the women demanded new brooms to replace the old ones that were worn off due to excessive usage : this meant that their hands were soiled each time they removed waste. This, interestingly, is disclosed by an activist of the Navsarjan Trust – a fairly large Dalit organization in Gujarat (which incidentally has also commissioned the film) – which took up the struggle later, not the women themselves.
The film goes on to record the struggle which finally sees the intervention of the Navsarjan Trust which filed a writ petition in the Gujarat High Court. With publicity that followed the petition, the village upper castes and the Panchayat flatly denied the existence of such a practice. On the other hand, it is obvious that manual disposal of waste is a tradition in the village, indeed, the entire country. The High court ordered an enquiry commission which looked into the existing system of waste disposal in the village: it concluded that manual scavenging must immediately be stopped.
As a result, the women of Rampur are no longer forced to perform these tasks. That they see it as a victory is writ large on their defiant, strong faces. They are triumphant. Not without a cost though: they face constant threats from the village upper castes and the Panchayat during and after the struggle.
The film, however, is enclosed in contradictions here as it grants women agency even as it denies them the power of narration of the actual issues before them. This is done by an activist of the Navsarjan Trust. It is perhaps inevitable that a struggle entails different roles for people at various levels and the kind of analysis that an activist gives is important. However, the unfortunate projection of middle class activists as ‘leaders’ sometimes has the consequence of marginalizing the community for whom there are larger stakes involved.
In a hard hitting culmination the film questions the widespread belief that the flush toilet system of urban centres – in short, technology – is the answer to manual disposal of waste. One of the last shots of the film is of a man going down into a clogged gutter in Ahmedabad city and removing handfuls of filth. His thin body is streaked with muck as he emerges from the manhole.
The film has the capacity to evoke extreme reactions. From a Dalit point of view, the constant focusing on women as they remove headload after headload of human excreta constitutes a visual attack on the community itself. It renders the community as a disempowered entity: in attempting to highlight the dehumanizing nature of their work, the film is replete with shots that would make most of us cringe. This was the strong opinion of a Dalit activist – writer- theatre person in the audience in Bangalore.
On the other hand the film can also evoke guilt amongst the non-Dalits: the upper, middle castes and classes. This guilt however is a double-edged sword. For it places the non – Dalit, non-Bhangi viewer very much within the context of her/his own privileged position and allows them to shed a few tears or feel some pangs for a few moments, to experience an intense angst at what is happening and their own contribution to a system that is so dependent on the compelled disempowerment of a community.
In conversation with Stalin K., director of the film, some of us saw his own personal journey in the making of the film. He admitted that as a non-Dalit, his camera picked on and focussed on aspects of work that may make Dalits feel powerless, vulnerable. The director’s involvement with the issue forms an important context of any film. One that is rarely taken into account when the film is being reviewed. This forms the standpoint of the film maker as well as her/his politics: neither of which can be discounted when a film is being analysed.
Discussing the film with Stalin K.. his own attempt to grapple with the realities he was trying to record was starkly revealing. While personal involvement need not be an excuse for some of the inadequacies of the film, it helps to explain why those inadequacies have crept in.
The sense of disempowerment, the objectification of the community that the film conveys could have been avoided had the film chosen to explore and portray the texture of their lives: as in their songs, music, dances or even in the simple daily routine of their lives. Or in the context of Navsarjan Trust where they interact as human beings with dignity, equality, with joy and happiness within a political context. It is not enough to allow only for middle class guilt. The privileged have to understand the Bhangi communities on their own terrains. Failing that, the film may lose out on much of its own convictions.
However, by establishing his complete distance from the Bhangi occupation/community, Stalin K. has struck a rather jarring note. For example, the film opens with a shot of a woman collecting waste, obviously reluctant to be filmed. She says so. The film records her displeasure at being shot. The film maker persists and the woman is etched on the screen.
The film does not apologise for shooting her when she obviously does not want it. Instead, it proclaims its own power by recording her disapproval and making it part of the film. In a sense, this also establishes the power of the middle class, upper caste viewers. For it disallows a space for her own reluctance to become an object of public display. It also raises ethical questions about the right to privacy. It establishes from the very start the framework within which the film has been made.
The film certainly can jolt you out of complacent realities, it can shock you into looking at yourself as part of the exploitative system that seeks to rob an entire community of every semblance of dignity, it can make you question every notion of social justice which does not address the discrimination that the community faces at every level. As a way of sensitizing an insensate, consumerist upper caste and class the film can be very effective.
It also remains a film for which enough space has to be created. For it represents the first step of an examination of a society that willfully creates diversions that are untenable, unacceptable in the long run.
Bina Srinivasan, Swashreya, Baroda
Some films from the MIFF’98
A Season Outside
English, 30 min, 1998
(Synopsis provided earlier)
Film by: Amar Kanwar
Source: Foundation for Universal Responsibility, UGF, Zone 4A, India
Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003.
Fax: (011) 4648451
Lesser Humans
English, 59 min, 1997
(Synopsis on Review provided earler)
Film by: Stalin K.
Source: Drishti B- 1 Divya Apts, opp Sraddha Petrol Pump, Bokadev, Ahmedabad 380054.
Fax: 6750977, E-mail: drishti@adl.vsnl.net.in
YCP 1997
English, 43 min, 1997
(Synopsis provided earlier)
Film by: KP Jayasankar & Anjali Mqntqiro
Source: Unit for Media & Communications,
TISS, Deonar, Mumbal 400088,
Fax: (022) 5562912
Barf (Snow)
English, Hindi, 53 min, 1997
(Synopsis provided earlier)
Film by: Saba Dewan
Source: Media Associates, A 19, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi 110049,
Fax: (01 1)6960947, e-mail: aakar@unv.ernet.in
Portraits of Belonging – Bhai Mian
Hindustani, English, 34 min, 1997
(Synopsis provided earlier)
Film by: Sameera Jain
Source: Sameera Jain, A- 1 IP College, Shamnath Marg, New Delhl 115054,
Fax; (011) 6990948
KoI Tales (KoI Kathayen)
English, Hindi, 70 min, 1997
(Synopsis provided earlier)
Film by: Sehjo Singh
Source: Anwar Jamal, D3/3173 Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070
Fax: (011) 613 4481
Meals ready
English/Tamil, 46 min, 1996
The film explores the rice market in South India and uncovers the social and economic factors that influence the growing and selling of rice these days, it is commonly assumed that markets work uniformly, with equal benefits to all. But free market economics pay little attention to the fact that the institution of market is deeply embedded in the society it functions within.
Film by: Surajit Sarkar and Vani Subramaniam
Source: The Other Media Communications Pvt Ltd, 92 SFS Flats, Haus Khas,
New Delhi 110 016
Man vs Nature: The Struggle Eternal
English, 21 min, 1997
Shot in the Idukki district of Kerala, the film narrates the struggle between man and nature. In Kerala, over the years, land slides have resulted in thousands of deaths and an incalculable damage to property. Yet man does not accept that the ecological balance is shattered and nature is becoming increasingly unbalanced.
Film by: Pradeep Nair
Source: Film Buff, Vasanthi Mandira, Kottayam 686014, Kerala,
Fax: +91 48 1 562006,
E-mail: pradeepnairfb@hotmail.com
Najaayaz (The Bastard)
Bengali, Hindi, English, 20 min, 1996
A documentary on the children of sex workers, It exposes the stark reality of their lives. While paying a tribute to the spirit of the unequal battle that these hapless women are fighting, the film goes deeper into the problems afflicting them and how against their mothers’ wish, daughters return to the Game trade.
Film by: Ananya Chatterjee
Source: TVI, 268 Masjid Moth, New Delhi 110049
Fax: (011) 6223535
Lifting the Veil
Hindi, English, 59 min, 1997
A documentary set in contemporary India, it is an exploration of the impact of economic liberalization – a policy with many parallels in the world – across a panoramic section of Indian society. Through a tale of contrasting visuals, the film reveals the reality of today’s ‘new’ India and its continuity with the ‘old’.
Film by: Shonali Bose
Source: Shonali Bose, B-207 Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi 1 10048
On the Tebhaga Trail
Bengali, English, 39 min, 1996
A documentation of the great peasant movement, Tebhaga, in Bengal from 1946 to 1948. The film harks back those stormy days, compiling live visuals, newspaper clippings, enacted sequences and interviews with some of the veterans of the movement.
Film by: Bappa Sen
Source: Bappa Sen, 16 S , Alimuddin Street, Calcutta 700029
Kya Aapko Pata hai?
Hindi, 12 min, 1997
A film consisting of five short narratives of women learning about the rights granted to them under their law and customs. The laws covered relate to provision regarding arrest of women, right to equal and minimum wages. Muslim women’s right to ‘mehr’ and pre-marriage contract, inheritance rights of Hindu women and married women’s right to reside in matrimonial home.
Film by: Madhusree Dutta
Source: Majlis Productions, A-2, Building no.4, Golden Valley,
Kalina –Kurla Road, Kalina, Mumbai 400098
Fax: (022 6148539)
e-mail: admin@majlis.ilbom.ernet.in
The Music of a Battleship
English, Telugu, 96 min, 1997
This documentary is on the legendary people’s singer Gaddar. It depicts the evolution of a village lad born into a family of ‘untouchables’ into a balladeer extraordinaire, guiding the destiny of people’s movement in Andhra Pradesh and other parts of India. The film narrates Gaddar’s story in his own words.
Film by: Devipriya
Source: Orbit Video Opera, 103 Modern Towers, Phase II, Vidyanagar
Hyderabad 500044
Fishers of Men
Hindi, English, 116 min, 1997
A documentary on the tribals of Chhotanagpur plateau, who inhabit parts of MP and Bihar, Orissa and Bengal. The film probes how the tribals embraced Christanity to free themselves from the shackles of bonded labour and feudal exploitation. In the absence of dialogue between Hindu revivalists and Christian tribals, the film tries to understand how the two communities will coexist within a secular Indian fabric.
Film by: Ranjan Kamath/Padamavati Rao
Source: Ranjan Kamath/Padamavati Rao,
704 A, Silver Oak, Hiranandani Gardens,
Pawai, Mumbai, 400076
Fax: (022) 5787741
For Maya
English, Hindi, Kumaoni, Sanskrit, 38 min, 1997
The film explores the lives of 3 generations of women, ending with the 4th, which is just about to grow up. Through the film, we understand the changes in the lives of the women and how rapidly the situation is changing, with new aspirations replacing the traditional patriarchal forms.
Film by: Vasudha Joshi
Source: Vector Productions, 189 Sarat Bose Road, Calcutta 700029
Fax: (033) 4662130, 4631211
Nachni (the dancing belles)
Bengali, English, 42 min, 1997
A film on the women folk artists, or ‘Nachnis’, dwelling in an area contigous to Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. After death, the body that once danced to the tune of folk songs, is trailed by a buffalo cart to a nearby river or some vast folk forlorn tract of land. Nachni is an account of the lives of the folk artistes, their sorrows and pleasures.
Film by: Ladly Mukhopadhaya
Source: RD International, 20 Mullick Street
Calcutta, 700007
Fax: (033) 2397894