Tuesday, November 25, 2014

16th Madurai Film Festival 2014 : Films Division Package

16th Madurai Film Festival 2014

Films Division Package:

OF NATIONHOOD AND CITIZENSHIP

Curated by Avijit Mukul Kishore

Curator’s Note:

Films Division, Government of India, is the second largest state-run documentary-producing organisation in the world, the largest ones being its equivalents in the former Soviet Union. It was formed in 1948, with the mandate of recording the visual history of the newly formed nation, using the medium of documentary film. This was seen as a suitable medium for informing and instructing the people of the country with the zeal of creating an ideal nation with ideal citizens. The Films Division archive is a rich repository of the state’s rendition of visual history, with over 8000 films made in 14 languages.

“Of Nationhood And Citizenship” is a package of films that reflect the state’s preoccupations in the first three decades of the history if independent India. The films emphasise national integration, infrastructure creation and reflect on the idea of citizenship, sometimes in a didactic manner and at others in a much more nuanced way.

The language and form of these films makes an interesting study, as do the distinct departures within them with voices that interrogate and subvert the agenda of state propaganda in ways that may be disturbing and delightful at the same time. These departures are almost always expressed through formal innovation, irony and humour.

These films give us a framework for viewing national propaganda in the present day oversaturated scheme of 24-hour news.


PART 1: Reflections on Nationhood and Citizenship

Section A
I AM TWENTY
Directed by SNS Sastry, English and Hindi, B/W, 1967, 20 min
Twenty years after India's independence, the film maker travels across the country and interviews its youth, those born in 1947. What does independence mean to them? What are their dreams? How do they see themselves and the young nation that they symbolise? The answers have a mix of idealism, irony, sarcasm, dismay, hope and optimism. This film is as relevant today as it was over forty years ago.
INDIA 67 / AN INDIAN DAY
Directed by S Sukhdev, Music, Colour, 1967, 58 min
India 67” was commissioned to celebrate 20 years of India’s independence. Sukhdev, working within the state-run Films Division, went on to make a film that was far removed from propaganda.


Section B
AMIR KHAN
Directed by SNS Sastry, Hindi and Urdu, B/W, 35mm, 19 min, 1970
SNS Sastry’s portrait of the Hindustani classical master Ustad Amir Khan is at once gentle and audacious in the way he sets up images of his world of concerts, disciples, world travel, his adoring and nagging wife and little child. Of course, there is Khan sahab’s beautiful singing as well, as are his reflections on recognition and remuneration. This film occupies an inspiring and enviable place between documentary and fiction and could as much be a film about the film maker and his place in this world as an artist.

THIS BIT OF THAT INDIA
Directed by SNS Sastry, English, B/W, 20 min, 1975
“This Bit of That India” is a layered refection on several things – youth, diversity, progress, education and technology. With an enormous undercurrent of adolescence and sexuality, the film weaves in and out of seemingly disjointed documentary moments of that are a celebration of individual freedom. These are intercut with a college students’ performance of Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba”, as a metaphor for repression and conformity.
AND THE STARS LOOK ON
Directed by OP Sharma, Music, B/W, 12 min, 1968
Night comes to give peace and rest to the tired soul. But in modern cities hubbing with industrial activities it is not rest for all. How different sections of the community spend their hard-earned and well-deserved rest is depicted in this film.

ARRIVAL
Directed by Mani Kaul, Music, Colour, 1980, 20 min
Concerning the arrival of commodities such as vegetables and livestock as well as human labour into a city from rural areas, this film explores the product-commodity-exchange value relationship. Representing in itself a variety of exchange values, money as capital destroys the natural specificity of people and things. In the process, the labourer is reduced to a mere commodity.


PART 2: Constructing the Ideal Citizen

DILLY DALLYING
Directed by KL Khandpur, English, 10 min, B/W, 1957
A short-fiction film set in the city of Mumbai, focusing on the importance of punctuality in the life of the individual towards the service of the nation. The message of the film is that the habit of procrastination and vacillation can ruin a man and harm society at large.

OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM / HAMARA RASHTRAGAN
Directed by Pramod Pati, Hindi, 10 min, 1964
The film uses the medium of animation to helping children to learn the correct way to sing our National Anthem.

CLAXPLOSION
Directed by Pramod Pati, Music, 2 min, B/W, 1968
A Stop-motion animation film on family planning.

STINKING STORY
Directed by Loksen Lalvani, Hindi and English, 16 min, B/W, 1980
In large cities, there are sky-scrapers, cinema houses, five-star hotels, race courses and petrol pumps but very few public urinals and latrines. It is an uncivilized and unhygienic act to urinate or defecate anywhere and everywhere. A hybrid film that combines comic fictional and stylised documentary elements urging people not to ease themselves in public.

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Directed by S. Sukhdev, English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali with English subtitles, B/W, 1974, 17 min
“On the 16th of April, I read a news item that there is going to be an all India railway strike. I got a little worried. We decided to take the camera out to the people and ask them a few questions.” Film maker S. Sukhdev proceeds to interview the labour force and the average traveller in the city to make a compelling anti-strike argument for the state. The strike was called by labour leader George Fernandes who does not feature in the film.


PART 3: State Initiatives for the Citizen

SYMBOL OF PROGRESS
Directed by NS Thapa, English, B/W, 1965, 14 min
This film talks of the gigantic and iconic Bhakra Nangal Dam. It talks of the engineering marvel that transformed an arid sandy waste in the Punjab into a huge lake, with two power houses, which irrigated two and a half million hectares of land. It stresses the ideals of nation building through the construction of large infrastructure projects.

VIVIDH BHARTI
Directed by Amar Varma, Hindi, 14 min, B/W, 1965
The popular AIR service of Vividh Bharati is the theme of this film, started in response to the popularity of the popular entertainment services of Radio Ceylon. This service consisted of plays, light classical melodies, film songs, and other items of entertainments for listeners or various age groups.

A DECADE OF ACHIEVEMENT
Directed by SNS Sastry, English, 22 min, B/W, 1976
A film showing India's achievements in various fields during the decade, 1966-1976. The film also underlines the importance of 20-point programme and proclamation of emergency.


ACTUAL EXPERIENCE NO. 4
Directed by OP Arora, English, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Marathi with English subtitles, B/W, 1969, 14 min
This film is a collection of interviews of women across the country, about their experience of using the loop as a family planning device. This was a controversial method, leading to serious health complications. The film reflected that and was therefore held from release for a significant period.




                                                                                                        

16th Madurai Film Festival 2014: Homage to Shubradeep Chakravorthy

16th Madurai Film Festival 2014

Homage : Films by Shubhradeep Chakravorty

"Two hours and twenty seven minutes long En Dino Muzaffarnagar by Shubhradeep Chakravorty & Meera Chaudhary is going to be recorded in the history as the first documentary film banned under prime minister Modi. Gagging order came on 30th June. Today we applied in Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) for redressal of our grievances. We will not go down without a fight. Lets hope for the best…" 

- Shubhradeep Chakravorty on his facebook page on 30th July 2014.

Shubhradeep bid bye to all of us, as a result of a fatal brain hemorrhage that started its trail on 11th August 2014 and finally took his life at 7am on the 25th August 2014 at Delhi's AIIMS hospital.

Hope in the midst of crisis and courage amidst fear were the hallmark of the political activist, Shubhradeep - the journalist who turned to documentary filmmaking after Gujarat's one-sided communal carnage in 2002. His first documentary, 'Godhra Tak: The Terror Trail', screening at Ahmedabad in 2003 was attacked by the VHP who threatened him to quit film making. This incident only affirmed his resolve to get into full-time documentary film making. All his completed documentaries engaged broadly with the issues of communalism and fascism propagated by the right wing Hindutwa forces. Much before the very acclaimed feature film 'Shahid' hit the theatres, Shubradeep had documented the state involvement in the killing of the defense lawyer Shahid Azmi in terror related cases ('Out of Court Settlement') and his other documentary ('After the Storm') looked into the lives of the innocent Muslim youth who were jailed for years under terror cases, laws and later acquitted.

His life and work actually demonstrated a terrific taste for dissent and clarity about the role of a biased state. He honestly engaged in the journey for humanity's struggle for justice and peace. His associations with various social movements and human rights initiatives brought a different angle to the medium in which issues can be articulated. 

Shubhradeep and his partner Meera's new film En Dino Muzaffarnagar did not get the Censor Certificate and in the days that led to the fatal brain hemorrhage, Shubhradeep was overworked about the indirect ban by the Modi regime. It is evident from his midnight posts on social media that he was worked up. The state decision to curb his democratic right to dissent, in his case through his films, had definitely affected him very badly. The unfortunate outcome is that they managed to get more than what they thought… They got the film and the Director at one go...

As it stands, 'En Dino Muzaffarnagar', cannot be screened in public spaces. 
As comrades and co-travellers of Shubhradeep, his life and films should be celebrated in the days to come, by actually occupying the spaces which the right wing fascists are grabbing from all of us.
Shubhradeep Filmography

His first independent documentary film was Godhra Tak: the Terror Trail (2003, 62 mins, English). It is an investigative documentation of the barbaric incident of 27 Feb 2002, in which coach S6 of Sabermati Express was burnt down at Godhra railway station in Gujarat, India. Fifty-nine passengers including several Karsevaks died in that fire. The film tries to find out what actually happened at Godhra railway station on that day and how far the allegation of a conspiracy is true. This incident was used to start anti Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002. U C Banerjee commsission was said to be set up after the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav convinced with the findings of the film.

In 2008 he finished his  second documentary film 'Encountered on Saffron Agenda?'( 2008, 94mins , English) a film based on investigative documentation of encounters of Sameer Khan Pathan (22 October, 2002), Sadik Jamal (13 January, 2003), Ishrat Jahan-Javed Seikh (16 June, 2004) and Shorabuddin Seikh (26 November, 2005), all happened in Gujarat. Those killed in them were said to have on a mission to kill the Chief Minister Narendra Modi who had allegedly organised the 2002 genocide of Muslims in the state after Godhra train burning incident. Film tries to find out the truth behind Police stories and politics of encounters in Gujarat. The present investigations in the following cases are on the same lines as shown in the documentary
His latest documentary was ‘En dino muzaffarnagar’ Co directed with his wife Meera Chaudhary in 2014. It’s a 2hr 27 mins feature length film and was made in the period of 8-9 months after the riots in UP.


In 2012 he came out with third documentary film 'Out of Court Settlement' ( 2012, 66 mins, English) It is based on the tales of killings, beating up and intimidation of several defence lawyers across the countries that were appearing in terror related cases. This documentary tries to put forth the ensuing danger to rule of law in the country because of such incidents. There are cases of murders of renowned lawyers Shahid Azmi and Naushad Kashmji.

The forth one is 'After the Storm' ( 2012, 68 mins, English) and is based on stories of seven former terror accused who secured acquittal through various law courts in past few years. The film narrates their ordeal and miseries and shed light on their current fight for survival. This film actually built the ground for the debate and dialogue on concerned issue. This  film actually provided a  much needed storm to the issue of protection of Muslim youth as it has become a movement of sort and many positive judgements have come up on the same by the Supreme Court judges and Home ministry.


Synopsis of En Dino Muzaffarnagar (2014,2 hr 27 mins, English)

Muzaffarnagar is barely 128 kms away from India’s national capital Delhi and had faced riots first time in its history. Interestingly, the phenomenon of riots in villages is completely new for the whole region. This riot was anti-Muslim and more than 60 people died and 42000 people displaced in the process.

Once known as City of Love, Muzaffarnagar is now known for riots that took place there on September, 2013.  Documentary ‘En Dino Muzaffarnagar ‘investigates the situation before, during and after the riots in great details to portray how Muzaffarnagar faced riots last year, how the politics of hate is being engineered by the politicians for their own benefit and how the divide created by the riots has set the tone of the elections at that time.

The story unfolds with the graphic depiction of events starting with the introduction of the culture of agrarian society of western Uttar Pradesh. The film presents Ragini, folk songs that are thoughtful observation of the politics of Delhi, Plight of Girls and farmers of the region. It engages audience with its unique conversational style of Interviews. And sounds like the novels of Leo Tolstoy which are characterized by numerous characters , plots and subplots woven together in a manner that while the main plot moves forward you keep forgetting smaller characters.

En Dino Muzaffarnagar is a story of grief, hate and fear that shows how local power politics turns the pages of the history to rewrite it. It’s a tale of how the loss of the grief stricken farmers can’t be justified with few vested interests playing the power games Film shows that during the riots good sense prevailed too. There are positive stories in the film where Hindu-Muslim harmony and brotherhood is at best. It is thought provoking to see what they did during the riots to save human lives and what their outlook towards the whole situation is.

For the first time this documentary unravels the so called ‘Love Jehad’ angle used as a tool in inciting hate crimes among communities. . A minor incident of eve teasing sparked the riot and everybody including the bureaucracy, security agencies, the police administration, political parties and its leadership, State and the Central Governments were caught unaware. Actually the preparation for a large-scale violent eruption was ongoing for quite some time. In UP, which is considered as the most important state for parliamentary elections because it contributes 80 seats


On 16th of May 2014, results of Indian parliamentary elections were declared. Rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies swept the polls. BJP won 73 seats out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh including Muzaffarnagar and Kairana (Shamli) seats. Narendra Modi became 15th Prime Minister of India with one out of four BJP Members of Parliament coming from Uttar Pradesh. Divide created by the Muzaffarnagar riots paid off.

16th Madurai Film Festival : International Films

16th Madurai Film Festival 2014: International films

Documentaries

2) The Starfish Throwers
Dir: Jesse Roesler; 83 min; English; USA; 2014
A five-star chef, a twelve year old girl, and a retired schoolteacher discover how their individual efforts to feed the poor ignite a movement in the fight against hunger.
6) The Backstage of tradition
Dir: Sarah Yona Zweig; 46:49 min; English; Germany
Sreehari is a young actor in the Kutiyattam tradition, the last remnant of Indian drama. Backstage, in the secular theatre constructed by his parents outside the temple walls, Sreehari witnesses the paradox of tradition – in order to keep a tradition alive, one has to change it.
7) Bintou
Dir: Simone Catharina Gaul; 64 min; French; Germany
Bintou is from Burkina Faso. She dreams of becoming a famous dressmaker. Her life turns upside down when she has to take responsibility for her daughter who has been living in a children’s home.
8) La parka
Dir: Gabriel Serra; 29 min; Spanish; Mexico; 2013
Efrain, known as the Reaper, has worked at a slaughterhouse for 25 years. We will discover his deep relationship with death and his struggle to live.
16) The Safest Nuclear Power Station in the World
Dir: Helena Hufnagel; 28 min; German; Austria, Germany; 2012
Life in and around a nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf, Austria, which has never been operational.
46) A Tres Pesos
Dir: Rosalie Hubl; 19:59 min; Spanish; Mexico; 2013
The film narrates an ordinary day in the subway of Mexico City. It is a portrait of this mega-city and the loneliness of the 21st century.

Short films

54) A Promised Rose Garden
Dir: Lisa Violetta Gab; 33 min; Vietnamese, German; Germany; 2014
Two Vietnamese couples in Berlin search for support, comfort and above all, a home. Fierce fights about territory between the cigarette dealers unsettle their lives.
55) At the Door
Dir: Miriam Bliese; 5 min; German; Germany; 2013
A man comes to pick up his son at his ex-wife’s house. This Saturday the son takes longer to come, and the man and woman start to talk again.
59) Beat, Beat, Beat
Dir: Christin Freitag; 29:50 min; German; Germany; 2013
Late summer in Berli. Friends ridicule outsider Jakob. Friend Fabian confronts his friends, perhaps too late.
60) Border Patrol
Dir: Peter Baumann; 14:43 min; German; Germany; 2013
A young border policeman is anxious to finish work so that he can watch the football game against Austria. Then he discovers a suicide victim.
61A) Brother
Dir: Jarek Duda; 28 min; German; Germany; 2014
A young man wants to get out of the class of the socially deprived. He longs for social recognition and wants loyalty.
62) Faint
Dir: Natalie Plaskura; 5:58 min; No dialogue; Germany; 2014
Time stands still, the moments are everlasting. The nameless characters turn into numb figures, surfacing and disappearing like mental tatters.
63) Devil May Care
Dir: Volker Heymann; 2:10 min; English; Germany; 2014
An ironical musical clip about how the US is only too willing to solve political conflicts by military means, while global warming is being driven further on.
66) Not Funny!
Dir: Katharina Woll; 43 seconds; German; Germany; 2014; Social Spot
Homophobia is not fuuny. Everything else is!
67) Omul (Human)
Dir: Brigitte Drodtloff; 10:50 min; Romanian; Germany; 2014
He is a silent man, he walks the streets watching. He gives away goods for free.
72) Side Effects
Dir: Dustin Loose; 8:30 min; German; Germany; 2014
An ambitious scientist feels pretty close to finding a cure for malaria. But the subsidies get cancelled and his last chance is his former lover who is now in charge of the budget at one of the leading pharmaceutical companies.
77) The Heat
Dir: Bartosz Kruhlik; 23:30 min; Polish; Poland; 2013
Disturbing dark drama, young  male sexuality and a devastating attack.
78a) Bear Mountain
Dir: Vagenak Balayan; 22 min; Armenian; Armenia; 2014
Before her a death of old age, Anush orders her husband to cremate her and scatter her ashes,  and not to bury her as is the custom.
79) We are outside playing in the garden
Dir: Friederike Hoppe; 10 min; German; Germany; 2013
This is a surreal film, which is both light and disturbing. The indoor garden is a place where people can apply to go on holidays from their everyday life.
82) A Good Story
Dir: Martin-Christopher Bode; 20 min; German; Germany; 2013
When Helga Landowsky discovers a broken jug in an antique store near the German-Polish border she has to get it. The antiquarian will only give it to her when she tells her story with the jug.
83) The Last Will
Dir: Dustin Loose; 20:40 min; German; Germany; 2014
To fulfill the last wish of his mother, Jakob Adler needs to meet his biological father who is an inmate at a forensic psychiatric hospital.
86) Coming Out
Dir: Gina Wenzel; 9:21 min; German; Germany; 2014
A satirical drama about the “coming out” of a young girl to her family, where nothing goes as planned.
91) Life: Patented
Dir: Arne v. Nostitz-Rieneck; 1:35 min; No dialogue; Germany; 2014
Human life, birth and procreation has a very different meaning ruled by corporations.
98) In Between
Dir: Jannis Lenz; 24:30 min; German; Austria; 2014
Max has been studying in Frankfurt for some time when a family event brings him back home to Vienna’s outskirts. A short meeting with old friends turns into an all-nighter: drinking beer in the skate park, etc. – a night between youthful memories and hardcore grown-up stuff.
105) Call Her Lotte!
Dir: Annakathrin Wetzel; 15 min; Germany; 2014
A film about the friendship between Jewish and German girls during the Nazi dictatorship.
96) With Best Regards
Dir: Bernhard Wenger; 4:20; German; Austria; 2013
Again the admired Mr. Dreamy parks in front of the CafĂ©. And again the shy waitress doesn’t dare to go out and talk to him. But her friend has an idea of who she can get to know this guy.
101) Ants Pact
Dir: Benjamin Martins; 20 min; German; Germany; 2014
Paul is 16 years old and earns his money working the street. Fleeting encounters shape his daily routine. However, a gang of teenagers who attack him shake the boundaries he has built between reality and his imagination.
75) Taweez – The Talisman Writer
Dir: Alik Hakim; 20 min; Pashto; Afghanistan, Germany; 2014
An old talisman-writer who earns his money with prophecy and has already lost hope for acknowledgement in life but he suddenly finds himself as a messiah as a result of rumours in his village.

Animation/experiment/music video/children’s films

21) Catcher
Dir: Fabian Koppenhofer; 5 min; Germany; 2014
The catcher stands on a precipice trying to prevent children from falling in the abyss. At the end he has to go on his own way.
22) Hermes & Aphrodite
Dir: Gregor Zootzky; 9:55 min; Germany; 2013
What happens if you do not know if you are a boy or a girl. The story of a child who begins to discover his true identity in puberty.
23) Torturing
Dir: Rebacca Blocher; 4:03 min; Germany; 2013
This film is based on a poem by Etta Streicher. It is concerned with not speaking out, keeping your feet still or actually biting the bullet and achieving inner freedom.
26) Me Tube: August Sings Carmen Habanera
Dir: Daniel Moshel; 4 min; English; Germany; 2014
George Bizet’s Habanera from ‘Carmen’ has been reinterpreted for MeTube and enhanced with electronic sounds.
29) Wasser
Dir: Leonardor Re; 9:56 min; English; Germany; 2014; Experimental
The film explores stages of a man’s apathy. Unable to see or perceive his wife, he associates her missing with water.  Based on a true story.
32) Plug and Play
Dir: Michael Frei; 6 min; Black and white; English; Germany; 2013; Animation
Anthropoid creatures with plugs in place of heads are up to mischief. The film is entirely finger drawn using an integrated touchpad of a laptop.
36) Vigia
Dir: Barelli Marcel; 8 min; Italian; Switzerland; 2013; Animation
About the extinction of bees, as told to the director by his grandfather.
30) Deja – Moo/ Der Notfall
Dir: Stefan Muller; 9:59 min; German; Germany; 2014; Animation
It could have been a nice Saturday… were it not for a mad cow, a hysteric mother and two ambulance men.
28) Ganz Weit Im Osten
Dir: Kal Stanicke; 3:31 min; German; Germany; 2014
An ordinary day in Dr. Lipschitz support group for broken dreamers.
31) The Stowaway
Dir: Maria Brendle; 20 min; German; Germany; 2013; Children’s film

After running away from an orphanage, 8 year old Emma hides in the perfect hiding place of a blind woman’s apartment. Evelyn is not oblivious to the strange noises in her apartment. She learns to see the world through the eyes of a child. 

16th Madurai Film Festival : Films from India

16th Madurai Film Festival 2014

Films from India

114) Poop on Poverty
Dir: Vijay S. Jodha; 6 min; Hindi; Documentary; 2013
Pushkar, a famous tourist spot in Rajasthan is also known for its camel market.
115)  Songs of the Bards of Bengal – The Bauls and Fakirs
Dir: Monalisa Dasgupta; 45 min; Bengali, English; Documentary; 2014
It is a journey to the co-existence between Hindu Bauls and Muslim Fakirs, two groups of folk artistes from Bengal.
117) Red Ant Dream
Dir: Sanjay Kak; 119 min; English, Odiya, Hindi, Punjabi; 2013; Documentary
The film takes us into the political world of those who live by the revolutionary ideal in India that include the poetry of Pash, Punjabi poet.
118) Viratham
Dir: Prithvi K.Raj; 11 min; Tamil; 2014; Short film
Due to his wife’s illness, an old man on a day of fast looks for fresh food at his daughters’ homes.
121) The Well in the Lane
Dir: Sandeep Medhe; 6 min; Marathi; 2013; Documentary
We collected money from everybody and with our hands dug this well; years later we clean it and restore our self-reliance.
122) Water
Dir: Subhash Maule; 10 min; Marathi; 2013; Documentary
A community video by migrant community members of the Kharwal village, Naskik, Maharashtra.
134) Kaaye Kaaye Sexual
Dir: Gitanjali and others; 29 min; Marathi, Hindi and English; Documentary
There are different kinds of sexualities.
136) Padmini My Love
Dir: Munmun Dhalaria and others; 19:30 min; Marathi and Hindi; 2014; Documentary
Padmini Fiat taxis, the symbol of Mumbai road are facing a threat.
137) The Red Data Book – an appendix
Dir: Sreemith, Deepu; 75 min; Malayalam; 2013; Documentary
A stunning indictment of infant mortality in Attappady, Kerala, which exposes the life and culture of advisasi from their own narration and activism.
138) Dammed
Dir: Nandan Saxena, Kavita Bahl; Hindi; 64 min; 2013; Documentary
A current look at the villagers adversely affected by a dam on the river Narmada, as they are denied all rehabilitation or relief.
139) Theevaraivu (Endogamy v. Evolution)
Dir: Poonguzhali; 60 min; Tamil; 2013; Documentary
The risks of genetic disorders in close-kin arranged marriages.
140) Gulabi Gang
Dir: Nishtha Jain; 96 min; 2012; Documentary
In the badlands of Bundelkhand, in central India, you find the Gulabi gang of women, who wrest justice for women and dalits.
141) Candles in the Wind
Dir: Kavita Bahl, Nandan Saxena; 60 min; Punjabi; 2012; Documentary
Witness to the efforts for survival of farm-widows, after their husbands’ suicide, in current Punjab.
156) Breaking News
Dir: Sidhiq P.I.; 6:18 min; Malayalam; 2014; Short film
A film by youngsters looking at contemporary global media. A lunatic is pretty to society by the intrusion of media in his life.
125) Inmayin Padal (Song of Nothingness)
Dir: Sarwothaman Sadagopan; 14 min; Tamil; 2014; Short film
The indifferent attitude of an old man, towards all forms of identities after experiencing the painful inward journey of life.
135) Dreaming Free: A series of feminist music
Dir: MA Students ‘Batch 2013 -14’; Hindi; 2014; Music video
135a) Hindustan Hamara
Dir: RV Ramani; 98 min; Marathi, Hindi, English; 2013; Documentary
R.V.Ramani, a cinematographer and an auteur in his own right, engages in a "visual conversation" with Anand Patwardhan, the prominent social justice filmmaker, as the latter goes about screening his films acroos diverse audiences in the country.
135b) Kadamai
Dir: M. Balasubramanian; 14 min; Tamil; Short film
An auto-driver in Chennai tackles his loans and the police, while struggling to make it through one day.