OUR LIVES... TO LIVE
seeking a JUST world!
(films of courage, protest, hope)
14 February 2014 onwards, across India
Allahabad Bombay Bhopal Chennai Dehradun Delhi Gwalior Kaithal Madurai Pune Rohtak
Thrissur and many more places yet to be confirmed
This multi-location film festival will be the 2nd edition of OUR LIVES...TO LIVE. Last year our tag line was "NO! to gender violence" and we had immensely successful versions of the festival in many parts of the country, continuing all through the year. This time the theme is Justice, and so through this festival we are "seeking a JUST world!" Discrimination and oppression are violent, and they are also unjust. The phenomena of both gender violence and other forms of injustice are linked to the idea of rights, and our struggles to obtain those rights as equal citizens of the state and equal members of our various communities.
Thus, the festival comprises films that engage with struggles everywhere against injustice and for rights -- political, social, legal; to do with class, race, caste, disability, gender, sexuality, the environment.
The festival includes documentaries, short and feature-length fiction, animation, student productions, community videos and testimonials.
Here are some films that afford a glimpse of this year's festival and of the kind of concerns OUR LIVES...TO LIVE 2014 will reflect:
• CALL ME KUCHU by Malika Zouhali-Worall and Kathrine Fairfax-Wright More relevant than ever for us after the SC's recent retrogressive verdict on Sec 377, this close-up, searing account from Uganda of the ugly growth of homophobia and its terrible consequences, and of the brave queer activists keeping the struggle alive, must be seen and discussed as widely as possible by people of all sexualities and genders.
• FABRICATED by KP Sasi brings us the all-too familiar story of false cases, false witnesses, false arrests, profiling. An utterly compelling account of the targeting of Abdul Nasar Maudany and his family, and an important chapter in the contemporary history of our terribly compromised supposedly democratic State.
• GULCIN and ONE CUP OF TURKISH COFFEE by Nazli Eda Noyan For Animation lovers, Nazli Eda Noyan has shared two gorgeous shorts. Come see the magic she weaves with a Turkish carpet and the story she tells over a cup of Turkish coffee.
• RADIATION STORIES 3 (KOODANKULAM) by Amudhan RP is an enormously alive and energetic film about an incredibly alive and energetic people's movement in Tamil Nadu for the right to life and livelihood and against the nuclear reactor which threatens both. Catch the film at OUR LIVES...TO LIVE, and hold on to the catch.
• THE ACT OF KILLING by Joshua Oppenheimer, which has just been nominated for an Academy Award after winning accolades worldwide and shaking its viewers to the core, is a cinematically mesmerising, almost incredible re-enactment of and reflection on the mass killings in 1965 by the Indonesian state's own death squads. The killers still walk free, and proud of their handiwork.
• Films from The National Film School of Denmark:- SOMEWHERE ON THE OTHER SIDE by Mona Rafatzadeh and MY BROTHER KARIM by Asger Krøjer Kallesøe bring us documentary and fiction narratives of migrants from Iran and Afghanistan searching for a sense of belonging in Denmark, and the joyful SILENCE IN A NOISY WORLD by Katrine Philp takes us to a school for deaf children in Cairo.
• TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF by Necati Sonmez is a beautiful and sombre film that brings us, through stunning images from now abandoned prisons and death row cells, the voices and stories of women and men who were executed by the state -- until 1984, when Turkey abolished capital punishment. Are we listening, fellow Indians?
• TURUMBA by Kidlat Tahimik is a warm-hearted yet ultimately devastating parable on the global economy,as essential as during its 1983 debut. In the film, a Philippine village switches from making small-market handicrafts to international Olympics memorabilia. Both a witty, almost Swiftian satire of the effects of globalization, and a documentary-like portrait of Philippine rural life.
• YODOK STORIES by Andrzej Fidyk follows people who fled persecution in North Korea for freedom and safety in South Korea. They tell harrowing tales of the atrocities they experienced -- through an extraordinary musical about the Yodok concentration camp!
All this, and much more, 100 films!
There will be DVD screenings only, free to audiences. In each location the festival is being organised by local NGOs, voluntary collectives, or colleges, with ample time built into the programme for the passionate discussions that the films will inspire and necessitate.
You can plan to host this event too, in your town or college or community. All you need is a suitable venue, DVD projection facilities and an interested audience. We will send you a list of the selected films, with suggestions for programming and ideas for discussions.
For enquiries about hosting the festival in your area, please write to: iawrtindiafestival@gmail.com
The festival is curated by Smriti Nevatia on behalf of the India chapter of IAWRT (International Association of Women in Radio and Television), and is an independent initiative that will coincide broadly with One Billion Rising, the international campaign for gender justice.
Look forward to your participation!
