Directed by Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl
On 1-4 January 2021; from 6 pm - 6 pm!
Interaction with the filmmakers on 4 Jan, Sunday @ 11 am! Message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction.
Synopsis and other Details :
Film 01 : Cotton for My Shroud
Dir: Nandan Saxena, Kavita Bahl; 72 min; English, Marathi with English subtitles; 2011
Dir: Nandan Saxena, Kavita Bahl; 72 min; English, Marathi with English subtitles; 2011
'Cotton for my shroud' is an investigation into the failure of Bt. Cotton crop in India. Empty promises, escalating costs, dwindling yields and depressed cotton prices played havoc. Since 1995, a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide - the largest wave of recorded suicides in human history.
The Majority of them were cotton farmers from Vidarbha. While the state and the media label these deaths as suicide, the cotton fields of Vidarbha remain a mute witness to genocide.
Crew details
Camera: Nandan Saxena
Script: Nandan Saxena & Kavita Bahl
Edit & Sound Design: Nandan Saxena
Production Assistant: Priyank Saxena
Awards:
Silver Lotus - Best Investigative Film: National Film Awards (2011)
Gold award for script @ IDPA Awards for Excellence (2013), India.
Best Film, Development Film Festival (2012), Chennai, India.
Festivals/Screenings
National University of Singapore (2016)
Monash University, Australia (2016)
Headline Film: World Investigative Film Week, London (2013).
8th Development Film Festival, Madurai (2013)
IAWRT film festival, New Delhi (2013)
Indian Panorama, IFFI (2012)
CMS Vatavaran, Delhi (2012)
The Indian Film Festival- The Hague (2012)
Quotes from the earth, New Delhi (2012)
Mumbai Film Festival, MAMI.(2011)
SiGNS Film Festival, Kochi (2011)
ViBGYOR Film Festival, Thrissur (2011)
Film 02 : Candles in the Wind
Dir : Nandan Saxena & Kavita Bhal; 54 min; English, Punjabi with Eng subtitles; 2013
Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust
Synopsis : Punjab, the food bowl of India, is in the news for policy-induced non-remunerative agriculture and escalating farm-suicides. Where men found an easy escape in death, the widows bear the burden of their debt, and yet affirm their faith in life - taking care of children, ageing parents and the chemically-abused fields.
'Candles in the wind' witnesses the silent march of these women as they re-negotiate the rules of engagement and the politics of domination in their bid to survive. Their struggle gives us a window into the social-economic flux in rural India. The strategies of survival and re-negotiation of spaces lends itself to a nuanced understanding of the silent under-currents of a gender-specific struggle in the larger narrative of surviving as a farmer in these times.
Crew details :
Camera: Nandan Saxena
2nd camera: Kavita Bahl, Sanjay Malakar, Sidharth Saxena
Edit & Sound Design: Nandan Saxena
Production Assistant: Sarjeet Kajla, Vipin Sharma
Awards :
Special Mention, National Film Awards (2014)
Best Documentary- John Abraham National Film Award, SiGNS film festival (2014).
Special Jury Mention, (2014) IDSFFK, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Best Film – Livelihoods category, CMS Vatavaran Film Festival (2015).
Best Documentary, Human Rights Film Festival, Nepal
Festivals/Screenings :
CMS Vatavaran, Delhi (2016)
Human Rights Film Festival, Nepal (2016)
7 Islands Film Festival, Mumbai (2016)
SiGNS film festival, Kochi (2015)
CMS Environment Film Festival (2015)
School of Asian Studies, London (2015)
Prasar Bharti (2015)
Trento Film Festival, Italy (2015)
Millennium Int Docu film fest Brussels (2015)
Indian Panorama, IFFI, Goa (2015)
Men & Boys for Gender Justice film fest (2015)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (2014)
Tasveer Film fest, Seattle (2014)
Open Frame Film Festival, PSBT (2014)
Chandigarh Cinema Film fest (2014)
IDSFFK, Thiruvananthapuram (2014)
Thessaloniki Int. Docu Film Fest (2014)
