Selections from our 2010 and 2011 programmes are being screened at the 4th Kerala International Short and Documentary Festival, Trivandrum, being held from July 29 till August 2, 2011
The following films will be screened:
AFGHANISTAN
BRICKS AND DREAMS (documentary, Sediqa Rezaei, 2010, 20 min)
Part of a series of 6 documentaries produced by Atelier Varan, Paris. About a boy who works as a labourer in a brick kiln – his friendships, occasional visits to his family and his dreams for a better life.
HALF VALUE LIFE (documentary, Alka Sadat, 2007, 30 min)
The film explores the life and work of Marya Bashir, the first Afghani female public prosecutor working in the Herat province for elimination of violence against women. Such is the resistance against her from criminals, mafia bands and narcotics smugglers that one day she returns to find her house has been blasted.
AUSTRALIA / JORDAN
JAILING THE INNOCENT (documentary, Yaara Bou Melham, 2009, 18 min)
Every year up to 20 Jordanian women are murdered in honour killings. In response, the country's 12 governors have been given the power to lock up the innocent victims under the guise of keeping them safe rather than go after the would-be perpetrators.
IRAN
HOW GREEN WAS OUR VALLEY (documentary, Fereshteh Joghataei, 2009, 32 min)
A dam has been built and the water is rising. 63 villages will be flooded and the residents must be uprooted. People wait for a miracle at a holy shrine.
VIRGIN (documentary, Tahereh Hassanzadeh, 2009, 45 min)
Looking at the question of virginity for Iranian girls.
PAKISTAN
TWO STEPS FORWARD (documentary, Gulnar Tabassum, 2010, 30 min)
The film looks at the peasant movement that started in Pakistan in 2000 in 10 districts of Punjab. It consisted of around one million peasants who rose up in response to the forced imposition of a contract system with regard to military farms. This had the effect of denying the peasants their inheritance rights acquired by virtue of having tilled the lands for decade. The peasants of Punjab raised their voice against this injustice with the women stepping forward and forming their “Thappa Force” in response to the military's use of various tactics and violence to suppress the male peasants. The women acted as the frontline fighters of the movement from 2001 to 2004. Their determination eventually left the military with no choice but to step back.
PHILIPPINES
MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN WAR (documentary, Sari Dalena & Camilla Benolirao Griggers, 2001, 61 min)
In the decade following the Spanish-American War, more Filipinos were killed by US troops than by the Spanish during the 300 years of colonial rule. More than 1 million Filipinos died between 1899 and 1913. This experimental documentary about the Philippine American War of 1899 combines archival photographs and turn of the century film, digital video and 16mm footage to create memories of a forgotten history. A contemporary Filipina-American narrator weaves this complex history through historiography, experimental documentary and intercultural cinema. Shot on location in the Philippines and edited in the US, the film was produced by an international team of Filipino and American media artists.
THAILAND
THE VALUE OF A TREE (animation, Salisa Piencharoen, 2008, 4 min)
When nature is being destroyed by human being's developing technology, the effects of natural disasters become severe and difficult to control.
BANGKOK BLOODY RAMEN (short fiction, Navarutt Roongaroon, 2009, 30 min)
Ken and his wife arrive in Bangkok as ordinary Japanese tourists. The strange thing is that Ken asks his Thai guide, Fon, to take them to try local noodles all the time. At each noodle shop, Ken tastes the soup and the noodles with utmost concentration. He then compares the soup with a brown stain on an annonymous postcard sent from the Pra Nakorn area of Bangkok.
UNITED KINGDOM
AFGHAN GIRLS CAN KICK (documentary, Bahareh Hosseini, 2009, 50 min)
Teenage girls break the stereotypes set by an intensely conservative Afghan society, escaping grinding poverty, gaining self esteem and confidence as players in the first ever women's national football team.
INDIA
IS IT JUST A GAME? (experimental, Shakuntala Kulkarni, 2007, 5 min)
Kabbadi is a game the film maker played as a young girl, for pure fun and joy. Now as a grown up, she asks ''Is it just a game?” An attempt to address and challenge issues of power versus victimization, violence and viciousness, within the politics of gender, caste and race the world over.
TITLI UDI (experimental, Payal Kapadia, 11 min)
A young woman digs into her past, both personal and political, in the hope of discovering her own voice. Finally the goddess Santoshi Maa grants her a wish.
THE STITCHES SPEAK (animation, Nina Sabnani, 2009, 12 min)
Celebrates the art and passion of the Kutch artisans associated with Kala Raksha.
BHAJ DAUD (animation, Amaranta Nehru/NID student film, 2009, 5 min)
New gifts threaten a family's happiness.
PENCH (TANGLE) (animation, Mrinalini Kannan/ NID student film, 2009, 5 min)
During the month of Utarayan in Ahmedabad, many birds die when kites with glass coated threads are flown all over the city. An appeal to use cotton thread for kites.
THE FUTILE SEED (animation, Piyali Barua/NID student film, 2009, 5 min)
A man plants a tree and despairs of ever seeing it grow. But one day there's a surprise!
SATTALA BARI (The Seven Storeyed House) (animation, Debjani Mukherjee/NID student film, 2008, 5 min)
A Bengali nonsense rhyme with quirky visualisation.
