Marupakkam Special Online Film Screening : Naachi Se Baanchi

MARUPAKKAM SPECIAL ONLINE FILM SCREENING!

To commemorate the death anniversary of Dr Ram Dayal Munda!

From 6 pm, 29th Sep; for 48 hours!

Film : Naachi Se Baanchi
Dir: Meghnath & Biju Toppo

 
Produced by Films Division




Synopsis: In his lifetime itself Dr. Ram Dayal Munda has become a symbol of indigenous cultural reawakening. 

Born in an Adivasi Family of Tamar in Jharkhand he went for his higher studies in The United States of America. Later, he taught at the University of Minnesota. He came back to India to teach at Tribal and Regional Language Department of Ranchi University and subsequently became the Vice Chancellor of the same University. Ram DayalMunda was the leading intellectual who has contributed to Jharkhand movement immensely.

Dr. Munda has represented Adivasi voices in Rajya Shabha and United Nations. He has been awarded with Sahitya Academy Award and Padmashree in 2009.

He passed away on 30th September 2011.

Filmmakers: 

Biju Toppo is an anthropological and National award winning tribal documentary filmmaker from Ranchi, Jharkhand. He is one of the first Adivasi filmmakers to have effectively used a camera to counter the misrepresentation of his community by the ‘mainstream’ media. His films have received National and international recognition. In this regard, Biju Toppo was awarded the two prestigious - National Film Award by President Pratibha Patil in the 58th National Film Awards (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India) and another National Film Award by President Ram Nath Kovind in the 65th National Film Awards.

Meghnath is a activist working in Jharkhand for last 30 years. He has been with the people’s struggle against destructive development. As a film maker he has tried to document the voice of those sections of people who remain unheard. Meghnath was awarded prestigious National Film Award in 58th & 65th National Award.

Biju Toppo and Meghnath are founders of AKHRA, a group working in the field of culture and communication.

Interaction with the filmmakers on 30th September, Wednesday at 6pm via Zoom; message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INTERACTION WITH THE FILMMAKERS

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 17 : If She Built a Country

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 17

From 25 Sep, Friday @ 6 pm ; for 72 hours only

Film: If She Built a Country
Dir: Maheen Mirza and Rinchin; 60 min



Synopsis : Walking behind them, through the coal mines that have ravaged their lands and lie now like open wounds, the film follows the stories of the brave tribal women of Raigarh, as they struggle not only to save their lands and livelihoods, seeking justice for themselves, their communities and the generations to come after them, but also, as they reimagine a future for us all, asking one of the most brutally honest and pertinent questions of our times – what does development really mean?

For over a decade now, private and public mining corporations have been encroaching upon and digging up the coal-rich forested lands of North Chhattisgarh – sometimes by blatantly violating the law and at other times by circumventing it, but always, at the cost of lives of the most marginal of peoples. They have displaced whole villages, polluted the lungs and bodies of whole populations and dispossessed whole generations from what is rightfully theirs, all the while making profits from the sale of coal. The true costs of production, however, have been borne by those who have both laboured for and resisted against the process of extraction – the women at the forefront of the struggle, into whose everyday lives the violence of this extraction is folded.

Credits :
Cinematography – Maheen Mmirza
Editing – Puloma Pal
Location sound – Priyanka Gaikwad, Pushpa Rawat
Sound design and mixing – Bigyna Bhushan DahalMusic/ Songs – Kaladas Deharia, Pavitri Majhi, Bharthari Dada, Bhagwati Bhagat

Awards and film festivals :
International Association of Women in Radio and Television, 2019
International Documentary and Short Film Festival Kerala, 2019

About the filmmakers :

Maheen Mirza is a cinematographer committed to cinema that is born of collective practice. She has worked with several organisations and peoples’ movements on socio-political and educational issues, and has made fiction and documentary films across the country. Her work strives to challenge the grammar of commercial cinema and serves to nurture a culture of independent filmmaking.

Rinchin writes stories, film scripts and pamphlets. She works in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on socio-political issues especially with the anti displacement peoples’ struggle. For over two decades she has been a part of the women’s and queer movement.Both are a part of ektara collective, a strong proponent of the independent cinema movement that seeks to build inclusive & collective cultural spaces.

Interaction : We invite you to an interaction with the filmmakers on 27th Sep, Sunday @ 11 am; message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction.

Click here to watch the film (from Friday 6 pm)

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 16 : Red Data Book - An Appendix

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 16
From 6 pm, Friday (18 Sep)

Film : Red Data Book : An Appendix
Dir: Pradeep Dipu & Sreemyth Myth; 72 min; Malayalam with Eng subtitles; 2014; Documentary




Synopsis : The film is a layered examination of the factors, both contemporary and historical, that have led the Adivasi (tribal) communities of Attappady (Kerala, South India) to the verge of extinction. The film focuses on the phenomenon of rising infant mortality to probe the entire range of underlying factors.
Is it mainly due to malnutrition, as the State claims? Is it their exclusion from the fruits of so-called development? Is it their refusal to 'modernise'? Or is it our inability to comprehend and preserve their centuries-old harmonious way of life? Have our prescriptive interventions helped? Or have they caused great harm?
The film attempts to understand the gamut of 'alienations' responsible - social, cultural, economic and political while gently posing the core question: Is it they who are alienated from the onward march of progress or is it us who are alienated, blinded by the discourse of modernity?

About the filmmakers: 

Pradeep K.P. (Dipu) co-founded Pedestrian Pictures in 2001, a Bangalore-based film collective, actively engaged in film screenings, documentary-making andcultural/ political activism. He’s also a cinematographer with several narrative fiction films, ad films and documentaries to his credit.

Sreemith N, a young activist film maker, has made several documentaries on issues like caste/gender, displacement/ development and community/ indigenous rights in Kerala. Get up, Stand up - his film on the anti -nuclear movement in Koodankulam was nominated for the Yellow Oscar at the International Uranium Film festival (2013) and won the Kerala State award for the best documentary.

Interaction : We invite you to an interaction with the filmmakers on 20th September, Sunday at 11 am via Zoom; message to 9940642044 for ID and password to take part in the interaction.

Click here to watch the film : (from 6 pm, Friday, 18th September)

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 15 : The Death of Us

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 15
From 11th Sep, Friday, 6 pm!

Film : The Death of Us
Dir: Vani Subramanian; 76 min; English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu with
English subtitles; 2018



Synopsis : The debates on the death penalty today are marked by a cacophony of strident assertions. Going against this tide is The Death of Us - a quiet contemplation on a range of cases in which the death penalty was pronounced, ending in execution, commutation to life sentence, acquittal or even pardon. Speaking only to those who have been on death row or those very closely involved with the cases, we engage in complex conversations on crime and punishment, revenge and justice, popular rhetoric and personal experiences. Only to find ourselves confronting larger ethical and moral questions across time and space.

Credits:
Camera : Desmond Roberts, Rusha Bose, Vani Subramanian
Sound Pratik Biswas
Editing Vani Subramanian, Kuldeep Gaur
Producer Public Service Broadcasting Trust

Awards and film festivals :
18th Open Frame Film Festival – PSBT, New Delhi
20th Madurai International Film Festival
15th South Asia International Film Festival, New York
6th Kolkata Peoples’ Film Festival
7th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival
Social Justice Film Festival, Chennai
18th ImagineIndia International Film Festival
Habitat Film Festival, IHC, Delhi
International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Trivandrum
Signs Film Festival, Trissur
Social Justice Film Festival, Chennai
Human Rights Film Festival, Bangalore
Gandhi Film Festival, Madurai
Vikalp@Prithvi - Online Screenings



About the filmmaker : One-time advertising writer, Vani Subramanian has been a women's rights activist and documentary filmmaker since the nineties. Her work as a filmmaker explores the connections between everyday practices and larger political questions, be they around questions of justice and revenge, or in the areas of culture, food production, primary education, urban development, communalism, sex selective abortions, or even matters of identity embedded in our food practices. Her films have been screened and received awards, both nationally and internationally. More recently, Vani has extended her practice to video art in performance, as well as a mixed media installation.

Interaction : We invite you to Zoom interaction with the filmmaker on 13th September, Sunday at 11 am. Message 9940642044 for ID and password to take part in the interaction.

Click here to watch the film 

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 14 : Mannu

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 14
From Friday 6 pm! For 72 hours only

Film : Mannu
Dir: Ramdas Kadavallur; 113 min; Malayalam, Tamil with English subtitles; 2020; Documentary



Synopsis : The documentary narrates the saga of encroachment of vast stretches of a hilly land, the eviction of its rightful owners, the blatant exploitation of the labourers and their struggle for existence. It also examines the social milieu in which these unorganised labourers are living.
It does not confine itself in narrating the evolution and impact of a labour struggle, but also focuses on another important social aspect in India, the significance of caste, the strangle hold it exerts on the psyche of the nation.

The documentary holds its mirror to the dichotomy of underlying neglect and discrimination meted out to the hapless people belonging to the lower echelons of society. It explores the ruthless impact of policies on the 'land' and 'soil', its lopsided distribution, the illegal encroachments carried out by the encroaches, the resultant irreparable and long standing damage it causes to the environment and fragile terrain, which is abound with precious flora and fauna.



About the filmmaker : RAMDAS KADAVALLUR is a documentary film maker from Kerala, and also a founder member of Clone Cinema Alternative, an independent film organization based in Delhi. Started his career as a journalist in Malayala Manorama, he was a news reader in All India Radio, Delhi since 2003. A Post Graduate in Mathematics, he later completed his post graduate diploma in Mass Communication. He has authored a book , and also assisted several documentary film projects.

His feature length documentary film ‘Mannu: Sprouts of Endurance’ has been screened at 8th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2020.

Interaction : We invite you to an interaction with the filmmaker on Sunday at 11 am via zoom; message 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 13 : Moti Bagh

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 13

From Friday, 28 Aug, 6 pm on wards; for 72 hours only!

Film: MOTI BAGH
Dir: Nirmal Chander; 59.23 min; 2019; Documentary

Produced by PSBT & Doordharshan 

Synopsis : 83 year old Vidyadutt Sharma holds the record for growing the heaviest radish in India weighing 23 kgs. He now aims to beat the world record of 31 kgs. Over the last five decades, he has built up Moti Bagh, his 5 acre farm in a small Himalayan village in northern India.

Around him lie 7000 ghost villages, left to die, with no one to till the land – a chilling testimony to large scale migration by locals in search of employment in the cities. With no manpower at their disposal, the few locals are employing Nepali labour. But there is unease because of this dependence and the growing influence of the Nepalis.

As market forces exert pressure, family dynamics are also changing. Vidyadutt's journalist son, Tribhuvan, lives and works in Pauri, a large town 35 kms from Moti Bagh. His two children wish to chase their own dreams in the metros.

Vidyadutt Sharma, farmer, activist and poet, chronicles the changing landscape in verses of resistance. As he and Ram Singh, his Nepali farmhand, plough the fields to keep a dream called Moti Bagh alive, we wonder if it will ever return to its old glory.

Credits: 

Producer & Commissioning Editor : Rajiv Mehrotra  /  Executive Producers : Tulika Srivastava and Ridhima Mehra  /  Camera, Sound & Research : Nirmal Chander  /  Editing : Nirmal Chander, Reena Mohan  /  Poems : Vidyadutt Sharma  /  Sound Design & Mix : Nirmal Chander  /  Colourist : Sonu Singh  / Poetry Translation & Subtitles : Ameena Kazi Ansari

Awards:
Best Long Doc, IDSFFK, Kerala, 2019
Special Jury Mention, CMS Vatavaran 2019

Festivals:
Entry to the Oscars, 2019
IDSFFK, Kerala, 2019
Film Southasia, Nepal, 2019

About the director: NIRMAL CHANDER is a multiple National Award winning filmmaker who has been working in the field of documentaries for over two decades. His films have received awards at many national and international festivals and have been telecast on NDTV and Doordarshan.

His latest documentary MOTI BAGH is the Entry to the Oscars for 2019.

He has also conducted workshops on documentary filmmaking and has served on juries at several film festivals.

Interaction : We invite you to an interaction via Zoom, on Sunday at 11 am; message 9940642044 for ID and password. 

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 12

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 12

From 6 pm, 21st Aug, Friday; for 72 hours

Film : Coral Woman
Dir : Priya Thuvassery; 52 min

This will be a filmmaker's journey with Uma, a certified scuba diver, exploring the underwater world & the threat to coral reefs of Gulf of Mannar, India. Born in a traditional family in Tamil Nadu 53 years old Uma, a homemaker, has been trying to bring attention to this alarming environmental issue through her paintings. It is, in fact, these corals that inspired Uma to learn how to swim, dive & paint in her 50s.

 
Credits:
Director : Priya Thuvassery; Producer & Commissioning Editor : Rajiv Mehrotra; Executive Producers : Tulika Srivastava and Ridhima Mehra; Camerapersons : Nitasha Kapahi, Nefertiti Chakrabarti, Arnav Kakkar, Priya Thuvassery; Location Sound Mixer : Amrith Shankar; Post Production Sound edit & Mix : Avantika Nimbalker; Editors : Reena Mohan, Priya Thuvassery; Music : Bindhumalini, Sridhar Varadarajan

About the director :
An independent documentary filmmaker and television producer based in New Delhi, Priya’s body of work has focused on women and gender, her stories windows into myriad experiences of the body, the environment, the community, mapped from a gender and feminist perspective.

Priya has been directing, producing and editing documentary films & television programmes for New Delhi Television, Fox Traveller, CNA, National Human Rights Commission of India, Films Division of India, Public Service Broadcasting Trust & Khabar Lahariya for over a decade now.

Her independent films include Khanabadosh (2009), My Sacred Glass Bowl (2013), Survey Number Zero (2016), Coral Woman (2019) and Bawra Lake Your Water (A Chambal Media production, work in progress). Her films have been recognised with participation, mentions and best film awards in many international and national film festivals.

She has been Co-Director of the IAWRT Asian Women' s Film Festival, New Delhi, from 2019-2020 and is currently a board member for IAWRT India chapter 2020-2022. She is also recognized as a Canon Cinema EOS Platinum Associate. Currently, she is working on a series of climate change films and the impact of Coral Woman film.

Priya has a Master’s in Mass Communication from the Anwar Jamal Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre, at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi

Interaction : We invite you to an interaction with the filmmaker via Zoom on Sunday at 11 am; message 9940642044 for ID and password.