30th Social Justice Film Festival, Bengaluru
30, 31 January 2025
College of Journalism & Mass Communication
Dayananda Sagar University, Bengaluru
Curated by Amudhan RP
Schedule
30 January
10 am to 1 pm : Inauguration and Screening of Student films.
2 pm
See Me, When You Leave
Dir: Dipin Chenayil; 17:37 min; Documentary; India
Kerala, the southernmost state in India, with its lush landscapes, has seen many migrate abroad for work, creating local labor shortages filled by distant migrants. These workers endure isolation, discrimination and uncertainty, often overlooked beyond their labour. Yet, amid struggle, they forge bonds, share stories, and discover solace in fleeting joys.
The Daily Bread (Girrda)
Dir: Anil Kumar Anand; 19:59 min; Short fiction; India
In a Kashmir village, Mainmuna (30) and her husband Ziya run a bakery, struggling to survive. Mocked for his torn pheran, Ziya asks Mainmuna for a new one after securing a bread order for her friend’s engagement. She sews one herself, but it turns out shorter. At the event, men tease Ziya, causing them to leave angrily. Later, Mainmuna faces a crisis when her ex-husband, Wazeer (40), presumed dead for 3 years, returns, demanding money or her return, threatening her life with Ziya (25).
Flower From The Sky
Dir: Jayshankar Ramu; 15:00 min; Short Fiction; India
Confined to a wheelchair, Girija forms a quiet, profound bond with fellow resident Nitin at a Pune old age home. Their growing closeness unsettles both their families and the authorities. Flower From the Sky is a tender Marathi short film about love that defies judgement, age, and the ordinary.
The First Film
Dir: Piyush Thakur; 19:59 min; Short Fiction; India
In a small town of 1960's India, where cinema is forbidden for women, a 14-year-old embarks on a quest to watch her first film.
4 pm : Interaction & closing remarks for the day
Day 2, 31 January 2025
10 am
Daddu Zindabad (Long Live Grandpa)
Dir : Samar Jain; 21 min; SF; India
In a village entrenched in caste discrimination, Vishnu must defy oppressive traditions and power structure to fulfil his grandfather’s dying wish—to be cremated in the village cremation ground, controlled by the Upper Caste.
Desire
Dir: Sameer Talawdekar; 15:00 min; Short Fiction; India
Arvind, 15, seeks a new pair of sandals, toiling at a construction site. Battling adversity, he maintains his moral compass and resists temptation. However, his unwavering efforts prove futile when life double-crosses him.
Punishing the Professor
Dir : Aayna; 28 min; Documentary; India
P. Senrayaperumal was forced to drop out of school to play his part in the caste-bound genre of Raja Rani Attam theatre. He and his brothers spent their childhood playing female roles — enduring slurs, sexual harassment, and bearing the burden of tradition. At age 23, he made a desperate gamble to reclaim education all by himself, even while dancing through nights to survive. He did earn the education that he was systemically denied. He got a PhD on the folk tradition he had been practising, all the while holding on to the promise of higher education in the country. A promise that, in his case, was tragically short-lived.
1 pm : Lunch break
2 pm
Meghe Dhaka Tara (Cloud Capped Star)
Dir : Rtiwik Ghatak; 96 min; 1960
Meghe Dhaka Tara is an angry, socially-conscious lament for a figure who is presented as typical in a certain sector of Indian life: the dutiful daughter who sacrifices everything, every dream and every possibility, in order to pay the way of all the other family members.
