Social Justice Film Festival #5 - Hyderabad

Social Justice Film Festival #5

Curated by Amudhan R. P.

Organised by Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Law and Civil Society, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad





Screening Schedule

Day 01: 10 Feb, Saturday

10.00 to 10.15am: Inauguration

10-15am to 12.05pm: Film: Kakkoos (108min); Director: Divya Bharathi
The documentary, shot in 25 districts for over a year, conveys the message that even though manual scavenging was banned in India in 2013 it continues to exist and conservancy workers are involved in removing human waste. The film is dedicated to those who maintain a “false silence on manual scavenging”. 

12-05 to 12.15pm: Tea Break

12.15to 1.00pm: Discussion: With Dr. Partha Sarathy, EFL-U, Hyderabad

1.00 to 2.00pm: Lunch Break

2.00 to 3.05pm: Film: Seruppu (64min); Director: Amudhan, R. P. 

In an old slum Dharmananthapuram, in the heart of Turuchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, live the Catholic Arundhatiyars, a community that makes footwear, a traditionally Dalit occupation. But according to the Presidential Order 1950: Para 3, by the Union Government of India, "No person who professes a religion different from Hindu, shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste." 

So even as Dalits who have converted to Islam or Christianity, they continue to live under the historical oppressions of caste - they are denied access to reservations in jobs, education and other mechanisms of affirmative action designated for Scheduled Castes as per the Indian Constitution. With growing mechanisation in footwear manufacturing in an era of globalisation, Arundhatiyars lead a life of growing difficulty and invisibility.

3.05 to 3.40pm: Discussion: With Prof. P. Thirumal, University of Hyderabad

3.40 to 4.00pm Film: Meanwhile the Killing Continues (18min); Director: Maheen Mirza

The film looks into an alleged encounter of a 15 year old adivasi girl, Meena Khalkho who lived in Village Karcha of Balrampur district of North Chhattisharh. She was killed by the police who alleged that she was a naxalite. Moving between the electronic news coverage of the incident and testimonies of her parents and other people from her village, the film investigates the claims of the police. 

Sexual violence, the attempt to suppress the truth of meena’s murder and the impunity of the culprits gradually comes to light. We also get a glimpse into how difficult and long the struggle for justice is in the conflict zones of the country. This film is part of a series of films called Loktantra Hazir Ho produced by the Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).

4.00 to 4.20pm: Film: Encountering Injustice (14min); Director: Maheen Mirza

In a combing operation in the Dantewara region of Chattisgarh an adivasi was encountered and killed by security forces. He and his wife had gone to a stream to bathe and collect material to make a baadi and were catching crabs when the security forces opened fire. Budhri, the woman hid behind a tree but Bhima Nuppo was shot and killed. 

The people from rewali village of which Budhri and Bhima were residents called the local leaders and media to investigate this incident and bring out the unprecedented violence that adivasis living in the area have to face regularly. A rally of about 7000 people set out to seek justice for Budhri and her 5 children. They were stopped and not allowed to go to the Collector office. Negotiations ensued between the people and the administration. The film documents the entire process.

4.20 to 4.30pm Tea Break

4.30 to 5.15pm: Discussion: With Dr. Partha Sarathy, EFL-U, Hyderabad

5.15 to 6.20pm: Film: A Delicate Weave (62min); Directors: Anjali Monteiro and K P Jayasankar
A Delicate Weave, set in Kachchh, Gujarat, India, traces four different musical journeys, all converging in the ways they affirm religious diversity, syncretism and love of the other. Drawing on the poetic and musical traditions of Kabir and Shah Bhitai, as well as the folk traditions of the region, these remarkable musicians and singers bear testimony to how these oral traditions of compassion are being passed down from one generation to the next.

Whether it is the group of young men in Bhujodi who meet every night to sing the bhajans of Kabir, or the feisty women from Lakhpat, who quietly subvert gender roles through their music performances, or Noor Mohammad Sodha, who plays and teaches exquisite flute music, or Jiant Khan and his disciples, whose love for the Sufi poet Bhitai is expressed through the ethereal form of Waee singing—all these passionate musicians keep alive this delicate weave, committed to the project of what Naranbhai, a carpet weaver and community archivist from Bhujodi calls “breaking down the walls”; walls that have been built up through the politics of hate and intolerance that marks our times.

This is the latest in the Kachchh Trilogy— the earlier ones are A Two Day Fair , 2009 (Do Din Ka Mela) and Like Here Like There , 2011 (So Heddan So Hoddan)

6.20 to 7.40pm: Film: Up, Down and Sideways (83min)
Directors: Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar

7.40 to 8.25pm: Discussion: (to be decided)

8.25pm: Dinner

Day 2: 11 Feb, 2018

10.00 to 10.50am: Film: I am Bonnie (45min); Directors: Farha Katun, Satarupa Santra & Saurabh Kanti Dutta

Bonnie (33) is again on the run. He has been on the run from his family and sports fraternity since failing 'sex test' before the Bangkok Asian Games, 1998.

A born intersex, raised by poor, illiterate and confused parents as a girl named 'Bandana', s/he became one of the finest strikers of Indian Woman's football team in her/his short career. A Sex Reassignment surgery later transformed her/him to a man but left him without home or career. He left home, took up idol-making for a living. He met Swati (F24) then; they fell in love and married soon but had to move once again fearing social backlash. His fight to establish his identity, struggle for existence is met by a sarcastic society which is yet to learn to take 'other genders' seriously.

10.50 to 12.00pm: Film: Mod (70min); Director: Pushpa Rawat 

'Mod' is an attempt by the filmmaker at communicating with the young men who hang out at the ‘notorious’ water tank in her neighbourhood in Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad. The water tank is a space that is frequented by the so-called ‘no-gooders’ of the locality, a place where they play cricket, play cards, drink and smoke up. When she enters the space with her camera, the boys are curious and at the same time wary of it and her. They sometimes resist, sometimes protest, and at times, open up. As the film unfolds we get a hint of the lives the boys lead and the fragile world they create for themselves at the water tank.

12.00 to 12.15pm: Tea Break

12.15to1.00pm: Discussion: With Prof. Nikhila H, EFL-U, Hyderabad and Ranjani K Murthy, freelance researcher / activist

1.00 to 2.00pm: Lunch Break

2.00pm to 3.20: Film: Bird Trapper or Beggar (79min); Director: Vinod Raja 

The Hakki Pikkis are a free spirited nomadic tribe who began their wandering many generations ago in the North Western part of the Indian subcontinent. Over time they travelled through and settled in different states of the country. As they moved, they survived through trapping birds and hunting small game in the forests and selling them in cities and towns along with lucky charms and trinkets. If the trap failed, begging was the next best bet! Exiled from the forest, reviled by the city, their traditional ways of life outlawed the Hakki Pikkis share their stories of wit and survival in the film that emerged through a series of community conversations held when we travelled with friends from a settlement in Bannerghatta, Bangalore to other settlements across Karnataka.

3.20 to 4.25pm: Film: Nicobar, A long way (65min); Director: Richa Hushing
Deep in the Bay of Bengal, the Nicobar archipelago, a tribal reserve protected under Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, was worst hit by the Tsunami of 26th December 2004. Self-subsistent and relatively isolated, post Tsunami the aboriginal world was suddenly invaded

4.25 to 4.40pm: Tea Break

4.40 to 5.25pm: Discussion: With Prof. Nikhila H., EFLU, Hyderabad

5.25 to 6.20pm Film: Nuclear Hallucinations (54min); Director: N. Fatima
Nuclear hallucinations is a film, which claims to be a documentary, and it is centred the anti-nuclear struggle against the kudankulam atomic power project in south India.

6.20 to 7.00pm: Discussion: With Dr. S P Udayakumar, Writer, anti-nuclear activist and the convener of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE).

7.00 to 7.30pm: Closing Remarks/ Reflection

7.30pm: Dinner

* Local transport would be available for those coming from the city
** Lunch and dinner will be provided to the participants
*** Accommodation not available 

For any queries, please contact:
Mr. Sunil Neelakandan- 9502234480/ Ms. G.Sushma- 9100453192