Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 25 - At My Doorstep

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 25

From 6 pm today (27 Nov); for 72 hours only

Film : AT MY DOORSTEP
A film by Nishtha Jain
Documentary / 70 min / Hindi with Eng subtitles / India / 2009




Synopsis : A closer look at those who come to the filmmaker’s door becomes a way of entering a parallel world of garbage collectors, domestic workers, delivery boys, watchmen — all those who labour long hours in difficult conditions to make middle and upper class lives in the city of Bombay more comfortable.

These providers of services and goods often remain faceless and nameless. They are, like the people who enjoy their services, mainly migrants, but their presence here is more sharply defined by the lack of survival options back home. Nothing else explains why they should bear with such harsh living and unfair working conditions.

The film looks at the crisscrossing of various lives in the filmmaker’s housing colony, gleaning from this microcosm a sense of how millions work, interact and struggle for a firmer foothold in an indifferent, often hostile megacity. 

Crew Credits

Direction & Editing Nishtha Jain
Research & Script Nishtha Jain, Smriti Nevatia
Film Consultant Smriti Nevatia
Cinematography Rakesh Haridas
Location sound Indrajit Neogi
Sound design Niraj Gera

Film Festival Screenings

Premiere – Isola Film Festival, Slovenia, 2009
Dokma, Croatia, 2009
FFPDM, Montreal, 2010
IFFLA, 2010
Dokfest, Munich, 2010
IDSFFK, 2010

Best Documentary Award Indian Film Festival Los Angeles, 2010

About the Director

Nishtha Jain is an internationally-recognized filmmaker based in Mumbai best known for Gulabi Gang (2012), Lakshmi and Me (2007) and City of Photos (2004). Her films interrogate lived experience at the intersection of gender, caste and class. They explore the political in the personal and uncover the mechanisms of privilege.

She’s a Chicken & Egg Award winner (2020); Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS); Film Independent Global Media Maker Fellow (2019-20); Recipient of Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship (2019).

After postgraduate training at Jamia Mass Communication Research Centre, New Delhi, she pursued Film Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune prior to launching a career in independent cinema.

She’s been working across various platforms –documentary, narrative, virtual reality and TV series. Her films have been widely screened at film festivals and art-house cinemas and broadcast on TV. They have won over 25 international awards and have been reviewed by print-media and academic journals.

Nishtha has served as a juror at IDFA, ZFF, Cinema Verité and IDSFFK. She’s given lectures and master classes at numerous universities internationally, including Stanford, NYU, Wellesley College, UCSB, Northwestern University, UT Austin, Cambridge University, University of London, St. Andrews University, Heidelberg, Danish Film School, FTII Pune, India, Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute.

Select Filmography (Direction)

The Golden Thread (WIP) Summer with Roxanne (WIP) Saboot (Proof) (2019) Submerged (2016) Change the Story (2015) Gulabi Gang (2012) At My Doorstep (2009) Lakshmi and Me (2007) 6 Yards to Democracy (2007) (Co-director - Smriti Nevatia) Call it Slut, 2006 City of Photos, 2005





The film was supported by HIVOS, Netherlands Alter-Ciné Foundation, Canada

Watch Trailer here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9bWWx1GeqA

Email: raintrefilms@gmail.com

Websites: www.nishthajainfilm.com

Produced by Raintree films © 2009

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INTERACTION WITH THE FILMMAKER

Marupakkkam Online Film Screening # 24 : Reality TV and Loving Jehad

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 24

From tomorrow (Friday) 6 pm; for 72 hours only!

Film : MORALITY TV AUR LOVING JEHAD: EK MANOHAR KAHANI

(MORALITY TV AND THE LOVING JEHAD: A THRILLING TALE)

Directed by Paromita Vohra; 31 min; Hindi with English subtitles; 2007

Synopsis : In the winter of 2005 Indians switched on their TV sets to watch yet another “breaking news” story, but one which shocked them. In the town of Meerut, police officers, mostly women, swooped down on lovers in a park and began to beat them up. Along with them they took photographers and news cameramen with the promise of an exclusive sting operation.

What is the story of this news story? The film looks outside the frames that weave the frenetic tapestry of Breaking News on India’s news channels to uncover a town’s complex dynamics – the fear of love, the constant scrutiny and control of women’s mobility and sexuality, a history of communal violence, caste brutalization and feudal equations. Assuming the tone of pulp fiction and tabloid features it examines the legacy of this kind of story telling, from the relishing accounts of true crime magazines like Manohar Kahaniyan to the double morality of pulp detective fiction to the tabloid news on Indian TV, to unfold a thrilling but disturbing tale of it’s own.

As the salacious media frenzy around violent events takes on ever more unscrupulous forms, the story of the film becomes all the more relevant today.

CREDITS

Producer: PSBT

Director and Writer: Paromita Vohra

Camera: Avijit Mukul Kishore

Editing: Sankalp Meshram

Sound: Samina Mishra

Music: Chirantan Bhatt

Narrator: Lovleen Mishra

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS

Best Short Documentary at the International Video Festival of Kerala, 2008.

Screened in Competition at MIFF 2008, Asian Hot Shots, Berlin, 2008, Bollywood and Beyond, Stuttgart, 2008, Bangalore International Film Festival,2008, Breakthrough Tri-Continental Film Festival, 2008.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Ever since I began making documentary films, I have had a troubled relationship with the idea of the expose, the investigation that will reveal and fix the culprits quite finally. It seemed to me that although the self aggrandizement and easy understanding inherent in that position was problematic, it also was a potentially violent idea, one that needed to be enacted with considered seriousness, with some complexity and with an acceptance that we do not in reality inhabit a space of pure justice and democracy. And that in speaking this language one would also speak a language heavy with morality, rather than ethics.

From Tehelka’s uncovering of defence ministry bribe scams to India TV’s Shakti Kapoor “casting couch expose”, the sting operation has become the accepted language of television news. When I saw the Operation Majnoo story I felt as if this language had come to a culminative moment – one that justifies violence in the name of righteous indignation. I also wondered how, in this atmosphere of heavy moralizing – whether political or personal – a young person was to find a true, meaningful, relevant articulation of personal relationships and their intimate journey in the world.

Morality TV aur Loving Jehad: Ek Manohar Kahani (A Thrilling Tale) therefore became a film that responded not just to the practice of television around me, but to my ongoing concerns about the language of the political film. The film excavates the language of pulp investigative/detective, fiction and non-fiction to make a comment about how thin the line between the two is, because in the end language and aesthetics are what creates the final, visceral impact from which conclusions also emerge- to look at the world of implication, not information. For me it was an effort to make a film that suggested these things associatively, rather than instructively, winding in and out of different windows onto the commonly understood version – and to take a different turn half way through the narrative to propose a different sort of speech, a different sort of feeling, a different sort of story, in which one could sincerely sing, that love is fleeting, love is fleeting, love is fleeting.

About the filmmaker :

Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker and writer. Her films as director are Morality TV and the Loving Jehad: A Thrilling Tale (2008),(Best Short Doc, IVFK,2008), Q2P(2006) (Best documentary IFFLA 2007; Stuttgart 2007), Where’s Sandra(2005), Work In Progress (2004) , Cosmopolis: Two Tales of A City (2004),  Unlimited Girls (2001 (Women’s News Award, Seoul Film Festival; Best Film, Aaina Film Festival, Best Documentary, Bollywood and Beyond, 2004), A Woman’s Place (1998, Annapurna: Goddess of Food (1995) , and A Short Film About Time(1999).

Her films as a writer includes the feature films Khamosh Pani, (dir: Sabiha Sumar), (Best Screenplay Award, Kara Film Festival, Best Film, Locarno Film Festival) and Khamoshi:The Musical (Additional Scriptwriting) (dir: Sanjay Leela Bhansali); the documentaries Skin Deep, A Few Things I Know About Her (Silver Conch, MIFF 2002, National Award for Best Documentary, 2002) and If You Pause: In a Museum of Craft.

She writes extensively for print, and has published fiction and non-fiction besides being a regular contributor to the Mumbai Mirror and Time Out Mumbai. She has done considerable work with young people with a focus on creativity and politics and teaches scriptwriting around the world. She is currently writing a feature film script and working on a non-fiction book about love in contemporary India.

Interaction with the filmmaker via Zoom on Sunday @ 11 am; message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction. 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INTERACTION WITH THE FILMMAKER

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 23 : Yaazhpaanam Dedchanamoorthy

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 23

From 6 pm, Friday (13 November); for 72 hours only 

Film : Yaazhpaanam Dhedchanamoorthy 

(Dir: Amshan Kumar; Tamil with English subtitles; 36 min; India)

This is a documentary on the great Tavil Vidwan Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy. He was lionized for his musical accomplishments by both his fans and carnatic musicians. To this day they remember his great performances in India and Sri Lanka. As an iconic figure he helped bridge the ties between the two countries through soulful music.

The film had been premiered in London, Toronto, Jaffna, Chennai, Paris and Sydney to rousing reception from his fans. It won the National Award for the Best Art Documentary in 2015. 

About the filmmaker : 

Amshan Kumar is a National Award winning Film director .

He has been active as a film critic for the past forty years contributing articles on Indian and world cinema. 

His book `Cinema Rasanai` written in 1990 is considered a pioneering work on film appreciation in Tamil and it is prescribed as a text in many Universities in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Sri Lanka. A fully revised edition of the book was published in 2012. His book `Pesum Porchitram` is a collection of essays on cinema was published in 2010. Maatru Padangalum Maatru sindhanaigalum (Alternative Cinema and Alternative Thoughts) a collection of his recent articles on films in Tamil was published in 2013. He has conducted several workshops on film appreciation to different age groups and has been very active in the Film Society Movement in Tamil Nadu. He was a co-founder of ` `Darshana` a film society in Coimbatore and served as an Associate editor for the magazine `Salanam`. 

He has made more than twenty five documentaries including Third Theatre, Modern Art in Tamilnadu, Mangrove Forests, Nobel Laureate C.V.Raman, U.Ve.Saminatha Iyer, Subramania Bharati , Ashokamitran and Manakkal S.Rangarajan. His first directorial feature film in Tamil `Oruththi` selected forwas shown in Indian Panorama based on a short novel by the renowned writer Ki.Rajanarayanan. It won the best film awards from Government of Pondicherry and Tamil Association of New Jersey. 

His latest documentary on the Thavil Maestro Yazhpanam Tedchanmoorthy has won him the national film award.. 

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Documentaries: 

1.Third Theatre-/English/1995/53mts : Third Theatre is a documentary on the theatre of Badal Sircar, the rebellious playwright-director from West Bengal who died in 2011. 

The documentary has Badalda`s detailed talk on every aspect of his theatre and also the perceptive analysis of his plays by Samik Bandyopadhyay and the criticism of Dharnai Ghosh. Besides the documentary has captured the live performances of his graded plays on the occasion of a theatre festival on a pavement in Calcutta in January in 1995. The film was premiered at the MIFF in 1996 and later in many fora including the festival at Koln, Germany. 

2.Subramania Bharati 1999/52mts 

Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) was truly a renaissance figure of Modern Indian Literature. He brought in a new wave of sense and sensibility to Tamil poetry that continues to exert enormous influence on the succeeding generations of readers and poets. 

This documentary focuses on his multifaceted life not only as a towering poet but also as a pioneering journalist, a mainstream nationalist and a thinker with unfettered spirit. Shot extensively on locales related to his life and times including Benares, Pondicherry and Tamilnadu it has rare photos and documents and the rarer interviews of two nonagenarians who knew the bard in person. 

The film is produced by N.Muruganandam for Tamil Association of New Jersey and Chindhanai Vattam and directed by Amshan Kumar. Script by Indira Parthasarathy and music by L.Vaidhyanathan are the other credits. Documentary won several awards including 

Best Documentary awards from European Film Festival (Switzerland) London Cinesangam and Mylapore Fine Arts. 

3.Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy—Music Beyond boundaries. 2014/35mts 

4.Modern Art in Tamilnadu Part 1 & 2. Tamil ( Each Part 28mts) 

Part I traces the genesis of modern art in Tamilnadu and its growth up to the sixties. 

Second Part is about the art movement from seventies till now. 

The first documentary that chronicles the entire history of modern art in Tamilnadu within a limited time frame has its own charms and perils. I am not partial towards a few and biased against some of the artists. Duration of the film decided the number of artists included. Artists who are figuring in the documentary are important. And those who do not are no less important. Inclusion of all the fifty some major artists would have made the film run like a catalogue and would have done justice to none. My wish is more such films should be made and they should bring in artists who are not featured here. 

Feature Film :

5.Oruthi ( 2003. /91mts) 

Those were the times when Zamindars ruthlessly collected high amount of taxes from the hapless farmers and spent them frivolously. Since the revenue never reached them, the Britishers punished the erring Zamindars by ordering the farmers to pay the tax directly to the State. In a remote village in South India this transformation takes place due to the intervention of a poor Dalit girl. As a thanks the villagers are too ready to do good to her. Her simple request is to get married to a boy she has fallen in love with. 

The film is an adaptation of a story written by the Sahitya Akademi Award winner K.Rajanarayanan. It participated in the Indian Panorama and won the Best film awards from Government of Pondicherry and Tamil association of New Jersey. 

Script and Direction : Amshan Kumar 

Interaction with Amshan Kumar, the filmmaker on 15 November, Sunday at 11 am via Zoom. Message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction.

Click her to watch the film (from 6 pm, Friday; for 72 hours only)

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INTERACTION WITH THE FILMMAKER 

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 22 : The Outside In

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 22

From 6 pm, Friday (5 Nov); for 72 hours only

Film : The Outside In

Dir: Hansa Thapliyal; 25 min; English; 2019

Synopsis : What is art, in our lives? What is home? Can practising art, sharing it, give us a possibility of sharing home in the world? Two doll makers work in very different ways, with the human form. They choose to work with very simple, sometimes discarded materials. The work playfully loosens up knots of shame and fear. It lets in a more wholesome look at life and suggests a hopefulness and a desire for a more integrated, empathetic world.

Francoise Bosteels has worked as a nurse. Milan Khanolkar trained as an artist. What is it about making and sharing dolls that has meant so much to each? What new paths have the dolls made and cleared? What ambiguities have they been able to express? The film seeks to collaborate with the doll makers and the dolls, listening to them, playing and animating with them, making with the materials of the doll makers worlds. Participating in loosening the boundaries between what lies outside of us and in.

This is a film which tries to look at diversity of practice, to ask questions about the world as a larger place and a smaller one at the same time. Can each of us and our different ways of doing and being speak to each other? What kind of playful ways of looking might we need in our lives. Sometimes it takes making dolls to explore the landscapes opened up by our questions.

 Link to trailer, the outside in 

Interaction with the filmmaker on Sunday @ 11 am via Zoom. Message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction. 

About the filmmaker : Hansa Thapliyal, 49, is a film maker, writer and artist, whose works have tried to move between different ways of telling stories. 

Her work moves between forms, looking with care, at gender, childhood and how in the less regarded spaces occupied by women and children, lie a wealth of crucial practices and resources for life. 

She is an alumni of the Film and Television Insitute of India. Her diploma film, jee Karta Tha, travelled to festivals in India and abroad and is also features in the 2 dvd set from FTII, called Master Strokes, featuring a collection of special student works from across the years. 

She has worked with needlework and photographs, and her work on Srinagar called His City, collaborating with a photographer from Sringar, is housed in the permanent collection of the Accademia dei Visionari at ALT in Bergamo, Italy. Her writings have been published by a small experimental press in Australia, called StartPress, as a booklet called A Shelter called Writing. 

Her film ‘Have you dreamt cinema’ has been part of the cinema city programme which has travellled to various festivals( Berlinale, Kala Ghoda), as part of the Cinema City programme, besides being part of the Cinema City exhibition at NGMA across the country. 

She has worked extensively on the early history of Indian cinema in Kamal Swaroop’s Phalke Project and has been co writer on Tracing Phalke, published by NFDC. 

She teaches film and sometimes, textiles, at film and design schools and also works with everyday materials to conduct workshops for Agents of Ishq and Point of View, with young adults, often young women, enabling young people to talk of their lives and their sexualities. 

In this film, The Outside In, she has tried to further her interest in what art can mean to us in our everyday lives. 

Interaction : We invite you to an interaction with the filmmaker on 8 Nov, Sunday @ 11 am via Zoom. Message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the program.