21st Social Justice Film Festival 2023
St.Joseph’s University, Bengaluru
6,7 October 2023
Curated by Amudhan R.P.
Organised by Department of English - St.Joseph’s University, Bengaluru
Schedule
Day 1, 6 September
9 am : Inauguration
9.30 am to 12.40 pm
The Leopard’s Tribe
Dir : Miriam Chandy Menacherry; 40 min; Documentary; India
Mumbai authorities axe thousands of trees to expand a mass transit system. Home to 10,000 indigenous tribals led by Prakash Bhoir a scuffle unfolds to protect forest and the leopard they worship. A battle to save the green lungs of India’s financial capital unfolds.
Our Film
Dir : Dakshin Chhara; 48.35 min; Documentary; India
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a collective of indigenous artists belonging to India’s ‘ex-criminal’ De-notified Tribes and associated with Budhan Theatre, decided to produce video-podcasts of the impact of the pandemic on the margins.
Malipura Dam
Dir : Laxminarayan Devda, Deepak Verma; 53.52 min; Documentary; India
As the water level in the earthen dam steadily goes down in the hot summer months, the resentments and undercurrents amongst the beneficiaries begin to rise. The protocol to stop using the water directly after a certain level has been violated by the most affluent and the powerful amongst the 7 beneficiaries and the rest are hesitant to bell the cat. How does the process of filming the undercurrents help resolve the predicaments?
Pehla Anda
Dir : Vritti Bhardwaj, Koshika; 11.28 min; Short Fiction; India
The story revolves around a family of a 10 years old girl named Bhoori who gets her first period, and her mother, the only female in the house, not being home. Knowing nothing about it, she comes to the conclusion that she might die and makes different conclusions in her head to its reasoning. The situation causes chaos between her brother, father, and her. Getting a packet of pads made it worse when none of them knew how to use it. The blunder was solved when their neighbor, Simmi Aunty, comes to the rescue.
Fantasy Parks
Dir: Ardehl Nainan; 23:27; Documentary; India
Two unseen, conflicting narrators recount the many ways in which a humble amusement park in Ahmedabad would be forced to shut down. Whilst a wayward filmmaker documents the attractions, workers and visitors at the park, the rambling duo explore its infinite identities and reflect on the strange times they exist in. With each fable graver than the last, the truth soon becomes quite irrelevant.
12.40 pm : Interaction
1 pm Lunch break
2 pm to 4 pm
Awadagin Pratt: Black in America
Dir: Michelle Bauer Carpenter; 25:25; Documentary; United States
Awadagin Pratt: Black in America is a moving documentary that combines performance and interview footage to provide an intimate view of prejudice in America and the racial injustice faced by famous concert pianist Awadagin Pratt.
LO QUE QUEDA EN EL CAMINO
Dir: Jakob Krese, Danilo Do Carmo; 01:33:00; Documentary ; Germany / Mexico
LO QUE QUEDA EN EL CAMINO tells the story of Lilian and her four children as they migrate in search for a better life. The family leaves Guatemala, joining a caravan of thousands of other people trying to reach the Mexico-US border. Being a single mother, this is Lilian’s best chance to make the dangerous journey.
3.30 : Interaction
Day 2, 7 October
9.00 am to 12 pm
Yaan
Dir : Satish Sharma; 10 min; Short fiction; India
YAAN –Is a film about Sukhram and his family, a poor family, living in a small secluded hut near a small town somewhere in the interior of India.
The Unjust and Beyond
Dir : Ratheesh Mon Panampatta; 22.43 min; Documentary; India
Landslides are often conceived as natural disasters. It becomes an issue of justice when it disproportionately affects different sections of society. In the Indian state of Kerala, it disproportionately affects the Dalits (“Lower caste”), Adivasis (Tribes), and the poor. The present work engages with the spatial injustice faced by the lower caste and class people in Kerala.
Wanted ‘Naxal’ on Demand
Dir : Maheen Mirza; 23.35 min; Documentary; India
In the remote village of Nilavaya, nestled in the heart of Bastar, Bhima went to visit his sister on that fateful day, never to return! Filled with anguish and unanswered questions, his family and community gather to narrate their side of the story to a group of activists. Each voice carries a fragment of truth, a piece of the intricate puzzle that haunts their collective memory.
Tam-brahm Cooking
Dir : Sraiyanti, Prem Akkattoos; 9 min 20 sec; Short fiction; India
A man who works as a security guard in an apartment complex goes about his day, while the residents who live there express their views on caste, identity and their own social standing. But actions speak louder than words.
Miles Away
Dir : Megha Acharya; 50 min; Documentary; India
The everyday-lives of three female labourers working in a brick kiln in India takes an upsetting turn after an unexpected rainfall halts their work. What unfolds is a threatening tale of unorganized labour and economic debts in a rapidly urbanizing India.
Bonded
Dir: Shobhit Jain; 56:19; Documentary; India
The film takes an ethnographic look into the life of a bonded labourer in a remote tribal village in central India.
12 pm : Interaction
12.30 pm : Lunch break
1.30 pm to 3.30 pm
Fikirte
Dir: Yi Wu; 01:10:10; Documentary; Ethiopia
Fikirte, a 24-year-old single mother in Ethiopia. She lives in a container by the side of the road with her young children and sells coffee for a living.
After two failed marriages, she became pregnant unexpectedly, But her boyfriend went far away and lost contact. More unfortunately, the place where she lives is facing demolition, and the mother and her children are about to live on the streets. In the face of the cruelty of fate, how can she fight for her rights? Where should she go to find her home?
Undocumented
Dir :Sampsa Huttunen, Ann-Mari Leinonen; 50 min; Documentary; Finland
In Finland, invisible to the majority, live undocumented people, whose daily lives are filled with hopelessness, uncertainty and fear of what lies ahead. How to build a life in a country, where you don't officially even exist?
3.30 pm
Interaction and closing remarks
