August 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 13, 14, 20, 21, 25, 26,27, 28, 2004 at 6.15 pm

Prakriti Foundation , ICAF, Asian College of Journalism and ELLEments presented
"Vikalp - Films for Freedom" A festival of documentary films

Venue: Film Chamber theater, Anna Salai daily

Schedule

Details about the films can also be got from the website http://filmsforfreedom.cjb.net/

Details about the films

Title	Director	Dur.
Aamakaar	Surabhi Sharma	76	Aamakaar tells the story of preservation. A people of a village in North Kerala fight to preserve their village, their shore, and their livelihoods, threatened by sand mining on their estuary. For the last ten years they have been conserving Olive Ridley Turtles that come to their beach to nest.	Kara Film Festival 2003, Karachi Vatavaran Film Festival, 2003, New Delhi Women In Film, Substation, Singapore 2003 Planet In Focus, Toronto, 2003 Third Best Film awarded by IDPA, 2003
All Roads Lead to Cinema	Sumit Khanna	30	Glimpses into the lives of Assistants Directors in the Mumbai Film Industry , in the process sharing their dreams and understanding their pain.
Anjawa is Me, I am Anjawa	Gautam Sonti	71	The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India makes it mandatory to reserve seats in Panchayats for women.. The film revolves around the experiences of a few elected women in Telangana (Andhra Pradesh) and looks at the way power is controlled and misused - in the home, community and outside world.	World Social Forum 2004 Withdrawn from MIFF 3004
Anuanad -echoes of the first sound	Sanjay Maharishi	28	Amidst the chaotic movements of the city, the sounds of the taan linger much after a performance has come to an end. The film follows four students who involve themselves with the activities of SPIC MACAY.	SPIC MACAY
Bakkarwals	Rajesh Kaul	38	Bakkarwals, the shepherds and pastoral nomads of Jammu & Kashmir, struggle to continue with their ancient profession. The spirit of co-operation is the strength by which the community survives the vagaries of nature and their own vacillating fortunes.	-Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (2002)- Kathmandu, Nepal -Madurai Film Festival (2002)- Madurai, India -The Mountain Film Festival (2003)- Mumbai, India -Bilan du Film Ethnographique (2003)- Paris, France -Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (2003)- Thessaloniki, Greece -Etats Généraux du Film Documentaire (2003)-Lussas, France -Himalaya Film Festival (2003)- Amsterdam, Nederland
Bamboo Children, The	Aarti Bhasin	28	The Biligiri Rangan Hills, located in the Chamrajnagar District of South Karnataka, are home to the Soligas, its indigenous peoples. They were threatened with extinction till Dr. Hanumappa Sudershan (Padmashri) came in contact with them. It is a story of conservation and preservation of the Soligas and their bio-diverse environment.	Jeevika 2003: Scheduled for a screening at Roop Kala Kendro, Kolkata 2004
Bitter Drink, The	P. Baburaj & C. Saratchandran	27	Chronicles the struggle of the most marginalised section of the Indian society, the tribal community, against the mighty global giant Coca Cola. It also discusses the issue of the ownership of natural resources, mainly water.	Withdrawn from MIFF 2004
Buru Sengal (The Fire Within)	Shriprakash	57	The land of the Tana Bhagats, a sect of the Oraon tribe who follow a Gandhian lifestyle and philosophy, is today besieged by Naxalite violence. In tracing the impact of the underground Maoist guerrillas, the film touches upon corruption, the mafia, energy politics and displacement of villages, and tribal identity in an area where coal has been mined for the last 150 years	Best film - XVIII Black International cinema 2003, Berlin Grand jury award - Film South Asia, 2003, Kathmandu Special mention, Earth Vision, 2002, USA
Buzz of Betrayal, The	Aditya Seth	1	An animated spot against child sexual abuse. It uses the metaphor of a bee, flower and a bud to actualise this.
Chords of the Richter Scale	Shyam Ranjankar	45	On the issue of the post earthquake situation in Kutch after 2001, it explores the rampant corruption and the discrimination against Dalits and minorities during the relief and rehabilitation process.
City Beautiful, The	Rahul Roy	78	The story of two families in Sundar Nagri, a small working class colony in Delhi, struggling to make sense of a world, which keeps pushing them to the margins. Most families residing here come from a community of weavers. The last ten years have seen a gradual disintegration of the handloom tradition of this community under the globalisation regime.	The Leipzig International Documentary Festival, 2003, Germany Other Worlds Are Breathing, World Social Forum, Mumbai, 2004 Cinema Du Reel, Paris, 2004 Munich International Documentary Film Festival, 2004 Jeevika National Livelihood Documentary Festival, Delhi, 2004
Colours of Earth	Shefali Bhushan	60	Colours of Earth is a musical voyage to the vibrant melodies of traditional Indian music. From the colourful deserts of Rajasthan to the barren towering mountains of Lahaul and Spiti in the Himalayas, it tells the story of some of the fantastic traditional musicians who nobody cares to remember any more.
Development Flows from the Barrel of the Gun	Biju Toppo & Meghnath	53	Documenting the state violence on people affected by development projects in the country, the film explores the relationship between this violence and the new economic policy and globalisation. It puts forward the people's viewpoint on development, which is diametrically opposed to that of the state.	Film South Asia, 2003 Travelling Film South Asis, 2003-4 Withdrawn from MIFF 2004
Final Solution	Rakesh Sharma	218	A four part study of the politics of hate. Set in Gujarat between Feb. 2002 and July 2003, it examines the consequences of Hindu-Muslim polarisation in the state. The film is anti-hate/violence, as "those who forget history are condemned to relive it".	Berlinale 2004 WSF 2004 Hongkong International film Festival 2004 Other festivals invited to - Fribourg International Filmfest, 2004 Munich Dokfest., 2004
For Whom the Jingle Bells Toll	Vivek Mohan	29	A film on global warming/climate change based in Simla during Christmas. It is a personal story with a soul and a message. Will there be a White Christmas or not?
Girl Song	Vasudha Joshi	28	The film enters the world of Anjum Katyal, blues singer, poet and mother. In her interactions with her mother and daughter, we see how a cultural identity proudly woven from many strands is under assault.
Godhra Tak- The Terror Trail	Shubradeep Chakravorty	60	An investigative documentation of the barbaric incident on 27 Feb 2002, when coach S6 of the Sabermati Express was burnt at Godhra in Gujarat, India. Fifty-nine people, including several kar sevaks 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.	Film South Asia, 2004 Kara FilmFestival, 2004
Hawa Mahal	Vipin Vijay	58	An epic film on the Holy Little Box, the RADIO, a profound archaic force, a time bond with most ancient past and long forgotten experience, with its power to turn the psyche and society into a single echo chamber. An apparatus that neutralized nationalism but evoked archaic tribal ghosts of the most vigorous brand.
Hunger in the time of Plenty	Sagari Chabra	30	Explores the irony of starvation deaths in the time of food surpluses. Shot in the interiors of Rajasthan and in the lush tropical forests of Orissa as well as in New Delhi, the film is a personal journey, in quest for the truth.	Toxic Links & India International Centre Film Festival
Hunting Down Water	S. Barnela & V.Saberwal	32	The film explores the fact that the present water crisis is largely a crisis of our own making. It studies the dynamics of this man-made crisis.	Philadelphia Short Film Festival Film South Asia 2003, Kathmandu Travelling Film South Asia, 2003-4 VATAVARAN 2003, New Delhi
In the Flesh	Bishakha Dutta	53	Provides an intimate insider's account of what it is really like to be in prostitution - by following the lives of three real life characters. We see their workplaces, hear their stories, see them pick up customers, persuade clients to wear condoms, fight HIV/AIDS in their communities, and battle violence through simple home-made weapons and collective action on the streets.	Global Visions Film and Video Festival, Canada 2003 Three Continents Human Rights Film Festival, Cape Town, South Africa 2003 South Asia Human Rights Film and Video Festival, New York 2003 International Video Festival, Trivandrum 2003
Jardhar Diary	Krishnendu Bose	29	This film is a personal journey into an area, which is alive with consciousness and commitment to save natural resources. The villagers of Jardhar Gaon and a few surrounding villages have revived their forests, are fighting limestone mining on their hill slopes, staving off power lines, which will decimate their rich Pine and Sal cover and reclaiming traditional seeds and putting them back into circulation.
Journeys	Vinayan Kodoth	38	What does it mean to be part of a crowd of nearly 7 million commuters for whom the daily journey to and fro from work is becoming increasingly nightmarish. As it looks at Mumbai, the film moves between the dramatic and the reflective , juxtapoing sound and visual ,the past and the present.	International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, 2003
Laden is Not my Friend		28	On Sept 11, as the twin towers crumbled, a war began between USA and Osama Bin Laden, and a religion received a brand name of barbarism. The film, a satire, is a story of a boy, 25-year-old Bengali Muslim far away from New York, his mind and state of identity affected by the incident. He aspires to go to the US and tries to convince Mr. Bush of his innocence…	8th Kolkata Film Festival Indo-British Digital Film Festival 2003 Indian Cultural Event (Spain) Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2004, Newyork Best Fiction Film, 2nd International Video Film Festival Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 2003
Ladies Special	Nidhi Tuli	31	An account of two journeys made by women travelling on the ‘Ladies Special’ local train, an entire train dedicated to women. The only one of its kind in the whole world. The film explores how the overworked, stressed women of Mumbai, took time and space on the train and made it their own private space, where they could be themselves.	2003 PSBT Festival
Made in India	Madhushree Dutta	38	A rural artist paints her autobiography, Bollywood movie icons’ images get erased after the weekly run of the film, the national flag flutters on 150 kites, installation artist paints pop icons on the rolling shutters of shops, religious icons jostle for attention with plastic flowers on the vendor’s cart, metaphors of life cycle adorn the mud wall of a home, neighbourhood boys craft the tale of WTC and the sale of toy planes goes up. Symbols of nationalism become a fashionable commodity.	Film South Asia (2003), Travelling Film South Asia (2003-04), Manchester Art Galleries
Man Dam	Abhivyakti	15	The video film portrays the struggle of the people of 17 villages in the Narmada valley which would be submerged by the Maan dam on river Maan.
Manjuben Truckdriver	Sherna Dastur	52	Manjuben has broken the gender stereo-types which are part of the social landscape she inhabits. She has created an identity for herself that is deliberately male, that of a macho trucker, commanding respect from her peers. Yet, Manjuben is no crusader. She is just as patriarchal as the next person.	The Museum of Modern Art - New York, International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, Festival International de films de femmes - Creteil, Mediawave - Hungary, London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Tampere and Turukku festivals - Finland, L and G festivals in Zurich, Milan, Berlin, Hamburg, San Francisco and Chicago, IV Fest Kerala, Film South Asia - Nepal, Larzish - Bombay, Mixbrasil - Sao Paulo and other 5 Brazilian cities.
Men in the Tree, The	Lalit Vachani	98	In 1993, Lalit Vachani completed The Boy in the Branch, a documentary about the indoctrination of young Hindu boys by a branch of the RSS, India’s foremost Hindu fundamentalist group. Eight years later, Vachani revisited the subjects of his earlier film, to explore the rise of the RSS and its Hindutva ideology.	IDFA, Amsterdam; One World Human Rights Film Festival, Prague; One World Film Festival, Bratislava; FID Marseille; Zanzibar International Film Festival; Film South Asia, Kathmandu; Border Crossings Film Festival, Houston-Texas; Another World Film Festival at the Asian Social Forum, Hyderabad; World Social Forum Film Festival, Mumbai.
Miles to Go	Nina Subramani	58	A bus journey across India - 7 states, 6000 kilometres in just 60 days. This is a story of individuals fighting all odds for their basic rights - a story of a thousand revolutions in a thousand Bhopals.	Best Documentary Award, 11th Annual Raindance Film Festival 2003, Vatavaran 2003, Festival of Asian Films, Institute of Contemporary Art, UK
Million Steps, A	Pankaj Butalia	22	In the 1860's, the British, keen to know the terrain of Tibet in case the Russians invaded India through Lhasa, trained Indian surveyors to disguise themselves, enter Tibet and carry on surveys incognito. This film is a short documentary attempting to look at the adventures of three of these surveyors.
My Own Home	Samira Suri	42	The film is set in an old age home - Ayudham, on the outskirts of Delhi and explores the lives of five elderly people whose age group range from 65-90 years. With great honesty and dignity the protagonists share their personal histories with the camera even as they go about their daily lives in Ayudham.	IV Festival, Trivandrum
Naata	A.Monteiro & K.P. Jayasankar	45	Naata is about Bhau Korde and Waqar Khan, two activists and friends, who have been working with neighbourhood peace committees in Dharavi, Mumbai, reputedly, the largest 'slum' in Asia. Naata juxtaposes the multi-layered narrative on Dharavi and the 'stories' of the filmmakers, thereby attempting to foreground a critical and active viewership.	Film South Asia 2003, Kathmandu, Travelling Film South Asia, 2003-4, The First and the Last Experimental Film Festival 2003, Sydney, WSF Film Festival, 2004, Roop Kala Kendro Festival, Calcutta, 2004
Naga Story- The Other Side of Silence	Gopal Menon	62	The Nagas are a 3-million-strong indigenous people who occupy the North-East frontier of the Indian subcontinent. The Naga political struggle is one of the oldest nationality movements in South Asia, continuing till present times. The film provides an introduction to the history of the Naga struggle, and documents the human rights abuses suffered by the people in more than 50 years of the existence of Independent India.	Withdrawn from MIFF 2004
Narayan Gangaram Surve	Arun Khopkar	45	On the life and work of Narayan Surve, a well known Marathi poet, the film uses enactments to recreate key scenes from his life and poems. The Bombay textile industry forms the backdrop for the film	Golden Lotus, Best non-feature film, 50th National Film Festival
New (Improved) Delhi	Vani Subramanian	6	Amid increasing superhighways, hatchback vehicles, multinational corporations and the suburban syndrome the metropolis has no space for the embarrassment and horror of the poor and their slums, or the ugly shadow they cast over Delhi’s glistening self-image. Welcome to the capital city of India.NEW (improved) DELHI.	New Asian Currents at the Yamagata International Film Festival 2003; North Sotuh Media Encounter, Geneva 2003; Seoul Independent Documentary Film Festival 2003
Night of Prophecy, A	Amar Kanwar	77	A Night of Prophecy is a simple film about poetry and witnessing the passage of time . Through poetry emerges the possibility of understanding the past , the severity of conflict and the cycles of change . The film travels in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Kashmir in the Indian subcontinent.	Kassel , Germany. 2003 Amar Kanwar - 3 Films, Museum of Modern Art , New York 2003 Trilogy of Films, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,Geneva 2003 The Renaissance Society , Chicago, USA. 2003 Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm , Sweden 2003 Fri -Art Centre d'art Contemporain Kunsthalle,Switzerland. 2003 Art Basel Miami Beach , USA. 2002 Other India's - Breaking the Code , Whitechapel Art Gallery , London. 2003 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival , Japan , 2003 Film South Asia, Kathmandu Film Festival , Nepal 2003 Loka Chitra Utsav , Peoples Film Festival , India , 2003 South Asia Human Rights Film Festival , New York , USA , 2003 UNESCO -PSBT International Film Festival , Open Frame, India 2002 Karachi International Film Festival, Pakistan , 2001 International Short & Independent Film Festival Dhaka, Bangladesh , 2003 World Social Forum Film Festival , Mumbai, India
On an Expresss Highway	Reena Mohan	34	Jignya, a successful 33 year old woman from a wealthy Jain family, gives up the material world with its conveniences, for the austere life of a sadhvi (nun). Intrigued by Jignya's choice, the filmmaker decides to trace her journey. What follows is a dialogue with an articulate and confident woman, strong yet vulnerable, full of certainty yet striving against the mental habits of a lifetime.	KARA film festival
On my Qwn	Anupama Srinivasan	28	Five young women from middle class Delhi share with us their experiences of trying to live on their own in this conservative city. They justify their decisions to their families, come to terms with their own loneliness and insecurities, and also discover some things about themselves.	Kara Film Fest '03, Trivandrum International Film Fest '02, PSBT-UNESCO Fest '02
Outburst (Aakrosh)	Ramesh Pimple	18	On Gujarat genocide 2002 whichbrings together accounts of the plight, anguish, helplessness and sorrow of the survivors.	Locarno Film Festival New York Film Festival
Pala	Gurvinder Singh	83	A Pofile of Pala, a storyteller from Punjab, dealing with the diversity of the centuries old storytelling and musical tradition which is rapidly on decline. He and his group travel across Punjab, performing at temples, gurudwaras, mosques, dargahs of Sufi saints and at various village fairs, highlighting religious and cultural plurality
Parai	Leena Manimekalai	45	In Siruthondamadevi, a village situated in Cuddalore district, Tamilnadu, 600 odd Dalits are under assault everyday by 6000 strong backward castes. Be it untouchability, sexual harassment, rape, assault, exploitation of labor all forms of violence are prevalent. The film juxtaposes accounts of Dalit women with data on the ststus of Dalits in India.
Plug N' Play	Shanker Raman	29	Aamir, Amit and Sorab are likely partners in an unlikely venture. They discover that they have a film in hand during the course of this video. Is it too bad to hate your ex-girlfriend’s friends, mom’s cooking, guns, employment, impulsive thought and action, platitudes, and other things related?
Pyramid of Women, A	Cheryl Kanekar	19	During the festival of Gokulashtami, which celebrates the birth of the Hindu god Krishna, the custom is to hang decorated earthenware pots containing rewards, several storeys above the ground. Teams of men compete to reach and break the pots by forming human pyramids on the street below. Traditionally, only men form these pyramids. The women of a low-income textile mill neighbourhood have decided to challenge this tradition by forming the first-ever women’s team to form these pyramids.
Searching for Saraswati	Sudheer Gupta	62	Onthe 40 day Mahakumbha festival of 2001 on the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad - in the world's largest city in tents attended by pilgrim-farmers and babas...amidst rising fundamentalism, consumerism, lack of concern... searching for the invisible river of learning... Saraswati.	Zanzibar International Film Festival 03, Zanzibar, Tanzania Film South Asia 03, Kathmandu, Nepal
Silent Killer, A	Dhananjoy Mandal	23	Arsenic poisoning in drinking water drawn through tube wells is claiming many lives in 75 Blocks of 8 districts in West Bengal. Measures have been so far been taken to mitigate the problem are insufficient in scale.	Kolkata film Festival Public Relations Film Festival
Sita's Family	Saba Dewan	60	A personal exploration of memory and the mysterious ways in which it is transmitted from mothers to daughters. It is about the family, the primary site of struggle for women and it is about the outside, forbidden territory to be negotiated at considerable peril.	Film South Asia,Kathmandu, 2003 Zanzibar International Film Festival,2003, The Other World FIlm Festival.2003
Some Roots Grow Upwards	Kavita Joshi	52	What is the relevance of theatre (or all art, for that matter) to the crisis of our times? The film explores the creative canvas & politics of Ratan Thiyam, celebrated Manipuri theatre director, against the backdrop of this query.	Best Film (adults), UGC CEC Video Awards 2003 Technical Excellence (Sound), UGC CEC Video Awards 2003 Citation for Film on the Arts, UGC CEC Video Awards 2003 Wisdom Tree Film Festival, celebrating 40 years of FTII. 2003, Pune PSBT UNESCO Film Festival 2003, New Delhi IVFEST 2003, Thiruvananthapuram Crimson Feet Fireworks 2003, Ahmedabad Documela 2003, Gurgaon Special Screenings at the National School of Drama, New Delhi; Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata; Shaniwarwada Dance Festival, Pune in conjunction with a performance of Ritusamhara.
Tales of the Night Fairies	Shohini Ghosh	74	Five sexworkers - four women and one man - along with the filmmaker/narrator embark on a journey of storytelling. Tales of the Night Fairies explores the power of collective organizing and resistance while reflecting upon contemporary debates around sexwork. The simultaneously expansive and la