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The best documentary in the world…

…is coming to your city, every weekend, starting tomorrow, as part of the Dharamshala International Film Festival’s ‘best documentaries package’.
by Medha Kulkarni

The Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), in association with The Root Reel and Blue Frog, is presenting ‘The Best Documentaries Package’, in which some of the best documentaries will be screened for Mumbai audiences, every weekend. The initiative starts tomorrow.

5_Broken_Cameras_ posterThe first film to be showcased tomorrow, August 4, is the highly acclaimed film 5 Broken Cameras. It is a deeply personal, first-hand account of life and non-violent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village surrounded by Israeli settlements. Shot by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, Gibreel, the film was co-directed by Burnat and Guy Davidi, an Israeli filmmaker. Structured in chapters around the destruction of each one of Burnat’s cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over five years of village upheaval.

As the years pass in front of the camera, we witness Gibreel grow from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him with the astute powers of perception that only children possess. Burnat watches from behind the lens as olive trees are bulldozed, protests intensify and lives are lost in this cinematic diary and unparalleled record of life in the West Bank. In the current climate, with constant upheavals in the Middle East, this film is a telling reminder of how life changes in a seeming instant.

5 Broken Cameras is the first-ever Palestinian film to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. Watch the trailer here:

 

About the initiative:

As filmmakers based in Dharamshala, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam of White Crane Films, have long believed that the town’s unusual profile would make it a perfect destination for an international film festival. The inaugural edition of DIFF was held in November 2012, showcasing 26 contemporary features, documentaries and shorts, curated from the best of international independent cinema.

The second DIFF will take place over four days in 2013, from October 24 to 27, 2013. The aim is to build and expand on the blueprint of the first edition and establish DIFF as a world-class film festival, where filmmakers and film lovers can interact in an intimate, creative and informal way.

The Root Reel is a Mumbai based organisation whose main objective is to be a mirror, reflecting upon stories around us and try bringing them closer to the urban audience.

Entry is free and on a first-come-first-seated basis. Head to Blue Frog, Zeba Centre, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel, tomorrow at 7.30 pm. Call 098200 95432 for details. 

(Pictures courtesy rabble.ca, www.newwavefilms.co.uk)

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Watch this film to read better

Film to be screened at Max Mueller Bhavan this evening discusses the challenges that the reading habit faces in Mumbai.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Early last year, Sayalee Karkare, alumna of the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies programme (EMGS) received a fellowship from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai to make a documentary film on books and reading culture in in the city. She collaborated with Matthew Sharp from the Mundus Urbano programme, who did the camera and sound work for the film.

The film, titled Books In The Big City, addresses the challenges that the culture of reading faces in a fast-changing city like Mumbai. As the city modernises and Mumbaikars shift their reading online, many small libraries and bookstores are closing down. What’s more, there are fears that mainstream magazines and news publications might also take their wares to the Internet.

But is this really about to happen? Street booksellers, famous in Mumbai for selling everything from pirated to first edition books, are also feeling the pressure. While technology has opened up new avenues for reading, not everybody can afford access to the Internet and e-readers. This raises important questions about access to knowledge in general, and the need for reader-friendly spaces in overcrowded urban areas in particular.

Books In The Big City explores these issues through the testimonies of prominent locally-based writers, readers and booksellers, taking the viewer on a journey around the city, from the cramped living quarters of a bohemian bibliophile to exclusive members-only ‘public’ libraries.

 

The documentary is part of the ‘Urban aspirations in global cities’ research laboratory, an international collaborative project in which researchers from TISS (Mumbai), the Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research (Mumbai) are working together. The project aims to compare post-colonial mega-cities in Asia, including Mumbai, Singapore and Shanghai, and to understand how the urban community of rapidly growing mega-cities impacts the development of urban aspirations.

Head to the Library, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kala Ghoda today, July 19. The film begins at 7 pm, seating starts at 6.30 pm. A Q&A follows the screening.

(Picture courtesy Sayalee Karkare, video courtesy EMGS) 

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Let the world in, today

Volume II of the two-part film project ‘To Let The World In’ will be screened at the Films Division today.
by Medha Kulkarni

‘To Let The World In’ is a project that revolves around a significant period in the history of contemporary Indian art over the last three decades. The film feature three generations of some of India’s most iconic artists who share ideas, memories and concerns about their work.

M F HussainVolume I was screened last week and Volume II showcases MF Hussain’s 1967 film Through The Eyes of a Painter. The conversations are intimate and the interviews are conducted by renowned art historian and curator Chaitanya Sambrani, and have been filmed by Avijit Mukul Kishore. The works are a visual documentation of some of the most important moments in Indian art history from the 1980s to the present day. Volume II explores the changing contexts in art production and the connections between art and political history and the evergreen questions of patronage and recognition.

The film starts with the volatile context of art practice when India was on the brink of economic liberalisation juxtaposed against the re-assertion of religious fundamentalism in Indian politics. The artists featured in this volume are Anju Dodiya, Archana Hande, Benitha Perciyal, Sharmila Samant, Parvathi Nayar, Riyas Komu, Tushar Joag, Shilpa Gupta, Josh PS, Gargi Raina, Sumakshi Singh, TV Santhosh, Nataraj Sharma, Anandajit Ray, Gigi Scaria, Reena Saini Kallat and Jitish Kallat.

The screening will be followed by a Q & A session panelled by Abhay Sardesai, art critic and the editor of Art India Magazine.

The film was produced by Art Chennai, to accompany the show ‘To Let The World In: Narrative and Beyond in Contemporary Indian Art’, curated by Chaitanya Sambrani, held in Chennai in 2012.

Head to RR Theatre, 10th floor, Films Division, Pedder Road, at 4 pm.

(Pictures courtesy www.thenational.ae, gulfnews.com)

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Rape of the flock

Film to be screened today discusses how American soldiers are raped by fellow personnel, and how the establishment plays cover-up.
by Medha Kulkarni

invisible-war-These news items come to the fore on and off and are discussed widely for a while before being buried under other, more urgent news. It is a worrying statistic that a female soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan is more likely to be brutally raped than killed or injured by enemy fire.

A documentary, The Invisible War, will be screened by Vikalp tonight at Prithvi House, Juhu, today (see below for details). Directed by Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick, the film is “a searing expose of the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the US military, the institutions that perpetuate and cover up its existence, and its profound personal and social consequences.”

The Invisible War was the recipient of the 2012 US Documentary Audience Award at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

American defence personnel, both men and women, who have dedicated their lives to the service of their nation are being raped and sexually assaulted by their own fellow soldiers, commander and officers – the very people whose job is to protect and guide them, rather than by the enemy force.

The film centers on the stories and experiences of Military Sexual Trauma survivors with the courage to come forward, tell their stories, and let us into their lives. Kirby Dick’s strong belief and main motivation behind making this film was that it would “shed light on these heinous acts and the larger systemic issue. The film intends not only to bring much-needed attention to this disturbing issue but also to stimulate the public to demand for legislation to protect the next generation from the horrors of sexual assault and the lifelong trauma that follows.”

The film screening will be followed by a talk by Sana Contractor (Research Officer at Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT). CEHAT, an NGO, is involved in research, training, service and advocacy on the issue of rape and allied themes. Joining her will be Robin Chaurasiya (of Kranti, an NGO that empowers girls from Mumbai’s red-light areas to become agents of social change.)

Get more details on the film here. The film will be screened today, June 24, at 7 pm at Prithvi House, opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu, Mumbai. Entry is free but on a first-come-first-seated basis.

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Those ‘others’…

Watch this film if you’re interested in transgender issues; the film is about Urmi, a transgender living in Mumbai city.
by Medha Kulkarni

Today, a film on transgenders will air at the New Marine Lines-based Alliance Francaise, an educational organisation with a non-profit cultural goal. Titled Urmi, the film is a 2010 film by Jehangir Jani and it tells the story of Urmi, the protagonist, a transgendered person living in Mumbai. Urmi roams the city of Mumbai and the film chronicles her search for love and meaningful relationships within the context of a quest for a self-identity. It is an interesting perspective on a city that most of us call home and yet, because of gender dynamics in the city, we rarely get to see.

The film was a TISS-UAGC funded project (Tata Institute of Social Sciences-Urban Aspirations in Global Cities) and is a part of their massive campaign to spread awareness about and to sensitise people to gender issues and dispel myths and the resulting social evils that are born out of ignorance.

Pallav Patankar (in pic on left), director of the HIV program at the Humsafar Trust, is also the actor in the film. “The aim of this film is to highlight the issues that members of the transgendered community face in daily life. It aims to show the ups and downs in their lives and thus help mainstream society understand them” he says.

The film promises to be an interesting one and the panel discussion which will be chaired by Chitra Palekar (film director and LGBT supporter), Jehangir Jani (artist whose work revolves around gender and sexuality issues) and Pallav Patankar, and will throw up some interesting perspectives. The event is free and open to all. Seating is on first-come-first-serve basis.

The Humsafar trust, was set up in 1994, is the first openly gay community-based organisation to be allotted space in a municipal building. It seeks to provide the gay community (and increasingly the entire LGBT community) in Mumbai and India with various facilities to provide the community with the knowledge and resources they require and also works to dispel the prejudice that society has towards this segment of people.

Head to the Alliance Francaise Auditorium, 40, Theosophy Hall, Vithaldas Thackersey Marg, New Marine Lines, Churchgate, Mumbai. The film starts at 6:30 pm.

(Pictures courtesy deccanchronicle.com, mumbaiboss.com. Featured image is a file picture used for representational purpose only and is not a still from the film)

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Strictly a Monday evening affair

Tonight, Vikalp@Prithvi showcases two powerful documentary films about women who challenge the norm, and women trapped in a barbaric tradition.
by Medha Kulkarni

On every last Monday of the month, Vikalp@Prithvi organises free film screenings at Prithvi House. Vikalp@Prithvi is a collaboration between Prithvi theatre and Vikalp, which conceptualised and started ‘Films for Freedom’ six years ago in 2007 and has since screened several award-winning documentaries and brilliant short films.

What’s more, these films are made accessible to the general public for free.

The initiative is run by documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and Chandni Parekh, psychologist and creator of online initiatives Chandni.org and Fund-A-Cause.

An assault on freedom of expression is an assault on democracy – this idea gave birth to Vikalp. What started off as a small festival has now morphed into a full-fledged movement. Vikalp insists that it is not an institution or a copyrighted idea, but is simply an inspiration, one that strives to ensure that voices of dissent will not be quashed or silenced.

Thus, the screenings that take place in various cities across the country are not necessarily in the name of Vilkap, although they do embrace its ideology. In Mumbai, there are specifically three venues that are said to be associated with this idea, namely the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Deonar; Alliance Francaise in Marine Lines, and of course, Prithvi Theatre in Juhu.

“All our shows are packed,” says Chandni. “Right from students, NGO professionals and filmmakers to bankers…the crowd is diverse and the post-screening discussions are enriching.”

Chandni says that the most memorable moment for Vikalp@Prithvi was in 2010, when they showed Deepa Bhatia’s film on farmer suicides, Nero’s Guests. “Many audience members voluntarily contributed to the donation box that we passed around to most of them at the end of the screening. We donated the entire amount of Rs 9,500 to Deepa to support the farmers in Maharashtra, whom she and journalist P Sainath have been helping,” Chandni says.

If you’re planning to catch a film today, you could consider these two powerful films at Vikalp@Prithvi:

Izzatnagari Ki Asabhya Betiyaan (The Immoral Daughters in the Land of Honour):

A documentary film about women who take on the powerful (and deeply misogunistic) khap panchayat is a powerful film that addresses the issues of ‘honour’ crimes, injustice and social boycotts. Directed by Nakul Singh Sawhney, the 93-minute long film chronicles the lives and stories of five young Jat women who rallied against the Khap Panchayts in their quest for freedom, justice and equality. The stories of these women are juxtaposed  with those of the Khaps. This poignant film exposes the double standards and violence that are conveniently kept out of sight and yet happen even today in a so-called modern India. The trailer of the film is here:

 

A Pinch of Skin:

This film talks about the hushed-up but rampant evil about the practice of female genital mutilation. The award-winning film exposes the brutal betrayal of innocent young girls, perprutated by a society that appears modern and yet retains the mindset of a cruel medieval one. In the guise of keeping a check on female sexuality, young pre-adolescent girls who have no control over what is being to them are the victims who have live with the burden of this life-long trauma. The narrative explores the voice of dissent (which sees this as politics of a sexual kind) intercut with those that insist that this heinous practice should be kept alive invoking the name of tradition. It is directed by film maker Priya Goswami who will be present for a Q & A session after the screening.

Screening Details: Head to Prithvi House, opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, at 7 pm today, March 25. Entry is free, on a first-come-first-seated basis.

(Picture courtesy Chandni Parekh. Image is a file pic showing a post-screening discussion.)

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