Sunday, October 1, 2023

Gandhi Film Festival 2023

Gandhi Film Festival

Jointly organised by Gandhi Study Centre & MARUPAKKAM 

1-3 October / 6-8 pm
Gandhi Study Centre, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya Campus, T Nagar, Chennai 

Schedule

1 Oct / 6 pm

A FORCE MORE POWERFUL : A CENTURY OF NONVIOLENT CONFLICT : India (30 min.)


In India in the 1930s, after Gandhi had returned from South Africa, he and his followers adopted a strategy of refusing to cooperate with British rule. Through civil disobedience and boycotts, they successfully loosened their oppressors’ grip on power and set India on the path to freedom.

The Last Man (Dir : Dakxinumar Bajrange; 60 min)



There are about 1 million 'Scavengers' in India who are unwillingly engaged into the hell like practice of manually cleaning sewers and manholes just to stay alive.

2 Oct / 6 pm

THE MAKING OF THE MAHATMA - A Shyam Benegal Film


The Making of the Mahatma is M.K. Gandhi's early story of experiments with truth, which gave mankind a new weapon of liberty, the most civilized

civilized and humane. The process of transformation from Gandhi, the man, to Gandhi, the Mahatma is as exciting as it is thought-provoking.

3 Oct / 6 pm

A FORCE MORE POWERFUL : A CENTURY OF NONVIOLENT CONFLICT : South Africa (30 min.)


In 1985, a young South African named Mkhuseli Jack led a movement against the legalized discrimination known as apartheid. Their campaign of nonviolent mass action, and a powerful consumer boycott in the Eastern Cape province, awakened whites to black grievances and fatally weakened business support for apartheid.

Longing (Dir : Bani Singh; 75 min)



Against the backdrop of Partition, newly independent India’s first hockey team defeats England, their erstwhile coloniser, to win the Gold at the 1948 London Olympics.

Six decades later, when Nandy Singh, a member of this iconic team suffers a stroke at the age of 84, his tenacious will to recover inspires his daughter to go on a journey to discover the champion he was before she was born.

All are welcome!

Ph : 9952952686

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Freedom Film Festival, Madurai

Freedom Film Festival

15 Aug, 10.30 am to 8 pm 
MUTA Hall, Madurai 

Curated by Amudhan R.P.

Jointly organised by MUTA, TNPTF, ISSS, TNPWAA, PUCL, STFI & Marupakkam

Schedule

10.30 am : Inauguration

11 am 

Bonded
Dir: Shobhit Jain; 56:19 min


The film takes an ethnographic look into the life of a bonded labourer in a remote tribal village in central India.

Wagah
Dir : Supriyo Sen; 13 min


Every evening, the only border crossing along the 3323 km frontier between India and Pakistan becomes the site of an extraordinary event.

Border guards on both sides orchestrate a parade to lower the flags. Thousands of people gather to witness the ritual and afterwards the masses move as close to the gate as possible to greet their former neighbours. The film looks through the eyes of three children who sell DVDs of the parade to the onlookers.

With a dream of crossing the border they remain quite unmoved by all the ‘patriotic’ madness around them.

A Dream in their Songs
Dir: Deba Ranjan; 29 min

Synopsis: Songs are an important part of the community life as well as their resistance to dispossession. The dream of these singers of Odisha has always been the strength of people’s struggle of saving their own lives and resources.

These singers are very much the same people who compose the songs, sing the same, participate in the rally, and encourage their own people to dream. For the last few years, they have been in front of all resistance struggles in the eastern part of India.

This film is based on the life and dream of a few composers-cum-singers of such resistance struggles of Odisha/India.

12.45 pm : Interaction

1 pm : Lunch break

2 pm

Siege in the Air
Dir: Muntaha Amin; 31 min


Women weave memory threads to piece together a narratorial picture of what it feels to live under perpetual uncertainty and unending cycles of lockdowns.


Behind the Doors
Dir : Kushal Shekhawat; 12 min


The film emphasizes the toll the pandemic has had on the mental lives of young and ambitious individuals. While COVID-19 continues to exacerbate physical vulnerabilities across the world, the film takes the spectators through some of the heart wrenching details of the effect, the pandemic has had on the lives of these young individuals. The film trys to convey the internal turmoil of these young adults with the use of nature.

Being the Other
Dir : Amudhan R.P.; 22 min

What is it to be the Other in this world? What makes you the other? Who defines it? What stops you from losing that identity? Is it a permanent stamp? Or is it flexible?

Dews of the Storm
Dir : Akshit Sharma; 13 min


The film explores the struggles faced by the farmers showing dissent on the newly imposed law by the state. The challenges are amplified by the weather as camps of buoyant farmers are disrupted and flooded by storms and heavy rains.

3 pm : Interaction

3.15 pm Manipur Song
Dir : Pankaj Butalia; 60 min

Set in Manipur the film seeks to foreground a state that exists on the periphery of the Indian imagination.As with other North Eastern states, culturally and ethnically Manipur has remained estranged from the dominant Indian culture and has repeatedly sought to assert its identity through insurgency. In 1980-81 the Indian state countered by giving unprecedented powers to its army to deal with insurgency. The 'Armed Forces Special Powers Act' (AFSPA), gives complete immunity to the army and led to killings and rapes. The situation got so bad that in August 2004 a group of women disrobed in front of the army barracks holding banners saying 'Indian Army Rape Us’.

4.15 pm Interaction

4.30 pm

Namaskar
Dir : Athithya Kanagarajan; 2 min

Every time we hear this word from above, our lives change.

Happy Independence Day
Dir : Maaz Kasmi; 2 min

If you're not free to love, you're not free.

In A Dissent Manner
Dir: Ehraz Zaman; 62 min


The campus of Aligarh Muslim University became a battleground on 15th December, 2019 when police and RAF forces entered the campus on the pretext of dispersing protestors, and inflicted what can only be described as one of the worst cases of police brutality, and violence on the students. 'In A Dissent Manner', through various footage, and accounts of students and professors, explores the events of that one single night and its horrific after-effects on many students.

6.30 pm Interaction

6.45 pm
Holy Rights
Dir : Farha Khatun; 53 min


Safia, a deeply religious Muslim woman from Bhopal in Central India, driven by her belief that because of the patriarchal mindset of the interpreters of ‘Sharia’, Muslim women are denied equality and justice in the community. She joins a program that trains women as Qazis, (Muslim clerics who interpret and administer the personal law), which is traditionally a male preserve. The film documents her journey as she struggles and negotiates through hitherto uncharted territory, exploring the tensions that arise when women try to change the status quo and take control of narratives that so deeply affect their lives. In its four years journey, the film also documents the movement against triple talaq, Muslim women’s struggles to break free of patronising voices within the community as well as resist forces outside from appropriating their movement to suit their own political agenda.

7.40 pm : Interaction and closing remarks

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Anti-Nuclear Film Festival, Chennai

Anti-Nuclear Film Festival, Chennai

6 Aug, Annai Maniammayar Hall, Periyar Thidal, Chennai / 11 am to 8 pm

Jointly organised by MARUPAKKAM & Periyar Self Respect Media

Curated by Amudhan R.P.


Schedule :


11 am

Radiation Stories : Part 3 Koodankulam  (Dir: Amudhan R.P.; 80 min; 2012; India)


The people’s movement against Koodankulam nuclear plant is a 30 plus years old story. Post Fukushima saw the movement gaining momentum in and around Koodankulam and Idinthakarai villages thanks to the test run conducted by nuclear authorities of Koodankulam which brought in the inland farmers, workers, small traders and lower middle salaried class to the struggle along with the fishing community. 

2 pm 

Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda (Dir: Sriprakash; 52 min; 1999; India)


Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda" is a documentary film on uranium mining and its deadly impacts on the tribal people living near the Jadugoda mine, mill and tailings dam, in the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand (India). 

Atomkraftwerk Zwentendorf (Dir: Hope Tucker; 16 min; 2021; USA / Austria)


Atomkraftwerk Zwentendorf is a monument to the power of public protest and the potential of a democratic vote.

Stalking Chernobyl (Dir: Iara Lee; 58 min; 2020; Ukraine/Slovakia/USA/Bulgaria)


Stalking Chernobyl, a documentary from Cultures of Resistance Films, will examine the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. Three decades after the world’s most infamous nuclear disaster, wildlife has returned in the absence of human settlements. Meanwhile, illegal hiking adventurers known as “stalkers,” extreme sports aficionados, artists, and tour companies have begun to explore anew the ghostly, post-apocalyptic landscape.

4.30 pm 

War & Peace (Dir : Anand Patwardhan; 135 min; 2002)


Filmed over four tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent, War and Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. 


ENTRY FREE! ALL ARE WELCOME!

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Special Film Screening & Interaction

Special Film Screening & Interaction

29 June; 7 pm @ Infinite Souls Farm, Bengaluru
Curate by Amudhan R.P.
Thanks to Kirtana Kumar
Film : Colonies in Conflict
Dir : Rajani Mani
Duration : 74 min
Language : English
Year of Production : 2022


Synopsis : “Colonies in Conflict” is a feature length documentary that examines the state of wild bees in a fast-developing Indian landscape. In a first ever, migratory honeybee species Apis dorsata (Rockbees, giant Asian honeybees) – native to south Asia – have been filmed extensively over various landscapes to find out how big a negative impact people have had on insect populations.
Human action is causing pollinator declines all over the world spelling disaster to nutritional security and biodiversity of our ecosystems. Filmmaker Rajani Mani gives a first-person account of how expanding cities are wiping out native bee populations, starting from her own neighbourhood.
In trying to save bee colonies in her community from being decimated, Rajani inadvertently stumbles into the world of wild bees. She discovers that we have very less time to reverse the catastrophe we started, but every species stopped from extinction would help hedge our bets in an uncertain future.

Click here for more details!

Environment Film Festival, Bengaluru

Environment Film Festival
26 June / St.Joseph’s College of Law, Bengaluru / 8 am to 1 pm

Curated by Amudhan R.P.



8 am : Inauguration

8.30 am

Green
Dir: Patrick Rouxel; 48 min; No Dialogue; 2009; Documentary

Her name is Green; she is alone in a world that doesn’t belong to her. She is a female Orangutan, a victim of deforestation and resource exploitation. This film is an emotional journey with Green’s final days. It is a visual ride presenting the treasures of rainforest biodiversity in Indonesia and the devastating impacts of logging and land clearing for the palm oil plantations and the pulp and paper Industry.

9.20 am : Interaction

9.30 am

Coral Woman
Dir: Priya Thuvassery; 52 min; Tamil & English with English subtitles; 2018; Documentary



This will be a filmmaker's journey with Uma, a certified scuba diver, exploring the underwater world & the threat to coral reefs of Gulf of Mannar, India.Born in a traditional family in Tamil Nadu 53 years old Uma, a homemaker, has been trying to bring attention to this alarming environmental issue through her paintings. It is, in fact, these corals that inspired Uma to learn how to swim, dive & paint in her 50s.

10.25 pm : Interaction

10.45 Tea break

11 am

Bamboo Ballads
Dir: Sajid Naduthody; 29.49 min; Malayalam with Eng subtitles; 2020 ; Doc

It is the story of a school student Naina Febin who uses music to conserve her favorite plant, Bamboo. She plants bamboo saplings in every available space. She distributes bamboo saplings to the families in her neighborhood. Naina is writing a book on bamboo. She has formed a bamboo music band that uses instruments only made out of bamboo.

The Woods are calling
Dir :Teenaa Kaur; 25 min

Metha, along with other tribal hunters in a remote village of Khonoma in Nagaland, gives up hunting so as to save the forest and an endangered bird “Blyth’s Tragopan”.

Dukhu Majhi - Son of the barren land
Dir: Somnath Mondal; 28:25; India; Documentary



This documentary is regarding a relentless struggle of a solitary man in his unique way to save the mother earth.

The old man - Dukhu Majhi lives in the district of Purulia (W. Bengal), where the temperature rises upto 50 degree Celsius in the summer. He had somehow been inspired by his father in childhood and later on by a Govt. campaign on the need of plantation. There he came to know how trees invite rain and supply oxygen in the environment. He also feels that people need shadows from the scorching sun.

12.30 pm : Interaction

12.50 : Closing remarks

1 pm : End of the program




Environment Film Festival, Sattur

Environment Film Festival, Sattur

Curated by Amudhan R.P.

Presented by Ulaga Cinema Bhaskaran 


Organised by Kalai Ilakkiya Peru Mandram  & MARUPAKKAM



25 June, 2023


Schedule 


11 am : Inauguration 


11.30 pm Niyamgiri, you are still alive

Dir: Suma Josson; 16 min; Odia with Eng subtitles; 2010; Documentary


This is a film on the anti-bauxite mining campaign in Orissa, India, led by the indigenous communities against Sterlite, a subsidiary of the U.K. mining company Vedanta. 


Bamboo Ballads

Dir: Sajid Naduthody; 29.49 min; Malayalam with Eng subtitles; 2020 ; Documentary


It is the story of a school student Naina Febin who uses music to conserve her favorite plant, Bamboo. She plants bamboo saplings in every available space. She distributes bamboo saplings to the families in her neighborhood. Naina is writing a book on bamboo. She has formed a bamboo music band that uses instruments only made out of bamboo. 


The Woods are calling 

Dir :Teenaa Kaur; 25 min; Documentary 


Metha, along with other tribal hunters in a remote village of Khonoma in Nagaland, gives up hunting so as to save the forest and an endangered bird “Blyth’s Tragopan”. 


12.45 pm : Interaction 


1 pm  : Lunch break


2 pm 


Thengapalli

Dir: Sanjay Barnela; 8:45; India; Documentary


Gunduribari is a tribal village in the Nayagarh district of Orissa known for its teak trees, the villagers were for years unable to protect the forests from the local timber mafia. Initially, women weren’t part of the decision-making process regarding forest management practices in the village. But with the situation getting worse women decided to take matters into their hands to protect their forests and all the women and girls started guarding the forest.


Dahar (Desert)

Dir: Vandana Menon; 12:16; India; Documentary


The Banni Grasslands Reserve in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat in West India was known to be Asia's largest grasslands. The landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades due to human intervention. The film explores the impact of the invasive species Prosopis juliflora introduced by the government of India on the livelihoods of Banni.


Dukhu Majhi - Son of the barren land

Dir: Somnath Mondal; 28:25; India; Documentary


This documentary is regarding a relentless struggle of a solitary man in his unique way to save the mother earth.


The old man - Dukhu Majhi lives in the district of Purulia (W. Bengal), where the temperature rises upto 50 degree Celsius in the summer. He had somehow been inspired by his father in childhood and later on by a Govt. campaign on the need of plantation. There he came to know how trees invite rain and supply oxygen in the environment. He also feels that people need shadows from the scorching sun.


My heart is an ocean

Dir: Tanvi Jadwani; 21:50; Short film 


As the water recedes the reclaimed shore of Mumbai every evening, three children living on its shore in a small fishing ghetto come out to play on this temporary playground. The sea dictates game of the day. On a lucky day when herons are spotted hovering over the sea, it's a day to catch fish in shallow waters. One evening after fish are caught, Chirag declares that he wants to take all the fish home to build the biggest aquarium anyone has ever seen. This leads to a fight among playmates.


4 pm. : Interaction


4.30 : Tea break


4.45 pm


Green

Dir: Patrick Rouxel; 48 min; Documentary


Her name is Green; she is alone in a world that doesn’t belong to her. She is a female Orangutan, a victim of deforestation and resource exploitation. This film is an emotional journey with Green’s final days. It is a visual ride presenting the treasures of rainforest biodiversity in Indonesia and the devastating impacts of logging and land clearing for the palm oil plantations and the pulp and paper Industry.


Coral Woman

Dir: Priya Thuvassery; 52 min; Tamil & English; Documentary 


This will be a filmmaker's journey with Uma, a certified scuba diver, exploring the underwater world & the threat to coral reefs of Gulf of Mannar, India.Born in a traditional family in Tamil Nadu 53 years old Uma, a homemaker, has been trying to bring attention to this alarming environmental issue through her paintings. It is, in fact, these corals that inspired Uma to learn how to swim, dive & paint in her 50s.


6.20 pm  : Interaction & Closing remarks


Tuesday, May 23, 2023

தொழிலாளர் திரைப்பட விழா, சென்னை

தொழிலாளர் திரைப்பட விழா

28.5.2023 / ஞாயிறு / காலை 11 மணி முதல் மாலை 7 மணி வரை

தமிழ்நாடு வங்கி ஊழியர் சம்மேளன அலுவலகம்,
சிங்கப்பூர் பிளாசா, மூன்றாவது மாடி, 164, லிங்கிச் செட்டி தெரு,
சென்னை

விழா வடிவமைப்பு : அமுதன் ஆர்.பி.
விழா ஒருங்கிணைப்பு : மறுபக்கம் & பாட்டாளி படிப்பு வட்டம் 



காலை 11. 00 மணி : தொடக்க விழா 

சிறப்பு விருந்தினர்கள் :

சி.எச்.வெங்கிடாச்சலம், AIBEA 
மருத்துவர் சாந்தி

காலை 11.30 மணி முதல் நண்பகல் 12.45 மணி வரை : முதல் அமர்வு

Glass (இயக்குநர்: பெர்ட் ஹான்ஸ்ட்ரா; 10.30 நிமிடங்கள்; வசனம் இல்லை; 1958

ஒரு சூடான கண்ணாடிக்கும், ஒரு கைவினைஞரின் துல்லிய நேரத்திற்கும் இடையிலான ஒத்திசைவைச் சொல்லும் படம். வசனம் ஏதுமில்லை.

Sweet Briyani (இயக்குநர் : ஜெயச்சந்திர ஹஸ்மி; 24 நிமிடங்கள்; தமிழ்; 2021)

பிரியாணி விநியோகம் செய்யும் ஒரு இளைஞனின் ஆத்மார்த்த அனுபவங்களைச் சொல்லும் எளிய கதை

The last Run (இயக்குநர் அனிர்பான் தத்தா; 36 நிமிடங்கள்; வங்காளப் படம் ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன்; 2019)

ஓரிடத்தில் இருந்து மறு ஊருக்கு கடிதங்களைச் சுமந்து செல்லும் தபால்காரர் பற்றிய படம். அந்த இடங்களில் இருக்கும் இதிகாச வீரர்களோடு வைத்து பார்க்கப்படும் நிலை. கால ஓட்டத்தில் இந்த வேலை தேவையற்றது ஆகிவிடுகிறது.

நண்பகல் 12.45 மணி : கலந்துரையாடல்

கருத்துரை:  எம். இராதாகிருஷ்ணன் 

பிற்பகல் 
1.15 மணி :  உணவு இடைவேளை 



 பிற்பகல் 2 மணி முதல் மாலை 4 மணி வரை : 
இரண்டாவது அமர்வு

Waiting (இயக்குநர் ஆர். பி .அமுதன்; 7 நிமிடங்கள்; தமிழ்; 2022)

நூற்றுக்கணக்கான புலம்பெயர் தொழிலாளர்கள் தினமும் திருச்சூரின் சாலை ஓரங்களில் வேலைக்காக காத்திருப்பதை சித்தரிக்கிறது.

 Zelam (இயக்குநர் : பிரதிம் வாக்மாரே; 19 நிமிடங்கள்;  மராத்தி ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன்; 2022)

கிராமப்புறத்தில் இருந்து நகருக்குச் சென்று கண்ணியமாக வாழ ஒரு இளைஞன் விரும்புகிறான். போதுமான பணத்தை சேகரித்து, காவலரிடம் மாட்டிக்கொண்டிருக்கும் தன் தந்தையையும் அவன் காப்பாற்ற வேண்டும். பலவிதமான தடைகள் வருகின்றன.

You Want Company (இயக்கம்: மேஹக் மத்தாரு; 19 நிமிடங்கள்; இந்தி & ஆங்கிலம் - ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன்; 2022)

ஒரு பெண் பிழைப்பதற்காக, அசாமிலிருந்து பெங்களூர் செல்கிறார்.

Shimga (இயக்குநர் சனத் கானு; 17 நிமிடங்கள்; மராத்தி ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன்; 2022)

வசதியானவர்களுக்கும், வசதியற்றவர்களுக்கும் இடையேயான அந்நியப்படுதலை காட்டுகிறது. ஒரு தரப்பாரை மற்றவர் புரிந்துகொள்வது ஒருபறம் இருக்கட்டும். அவர்களுக்கிடையேயான மொழி கூட வேறுபட்டுள்ளது.

Footprints ( இயக்குநர்: தத்தாகத்தா கோஷ்; 23 நிமிடங்கள்; வங்காளம் ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன், 2022)

குடிசையில் வாழும் பம்பா, குலைந்து போன ஒரு குடும்பத்தில் பணியாளராக இருக்கிறார். ஒருநாள் அவரது உலகம் உடைபடுகிறது. முதலாளிக்கும், வீட்டுப் பணியாளருக்கும் இடையே இருக்கும் தெளிவற்ற கோட்டை தாண்டி, ஒருநிலை எடுக்கிறாள்.

 Rat Trap (இயக்குநர்: ரூபேஷ் சாஹூ; 35 நிமிடங்கள்; இந்தி ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன்; 2022)

தனது உயிரைப் பணயம் வைத்து குறுகிய பாதைகளில் நிலக்கரி வெட்டியெடுப்பவர்களின் வாழ்வைப் பேசுகிறது. இதில் ஏற்படும் மரணங்கள் சில சமயங்களில் வெளி உலகுக்கு தெரிவதில்லை.இறந்த உடல்களைக் கூட கோரமுடிவதில்லை. அவர்களுக்காக அழ முடிவதில்லை. இது அவர்களின் அன்றாட வாழ்வு.

மாலை 4 மணி : கலந்துரையாடல் 

நாலை 4.30 மணி :  தேநீர் 

 


மாலை 4.45 மணி :  The Factory (இயக்குநர் : ராகுல்ராய்;  இந்தி ஆங்கில சப் டைடில்களுடன்; 2015)

மாருதி சுசூகி தொழிற்சாலையில் ஒரு மேலாளர் கொல்லப்பட்டதில் 147 தொழிலாளர்கள் மீது வழக்கு நடக்கிறது. 2500 பேர் வேலை நீக்கம் செய்யப்பட்டனர். அவர்களது பிணை தொடர்ந்து மறுக்கப்படுகிறது. நீதிமன்றத்திற்கு வரும் தொழிலாளர்களை பார்க்க அவர்களது குடும்பத்தினர் காத்துக் கிடக்கின்றனர். அவர்களுக்கு நீதி என்பது எட்டாக்கனி ! வழக்கை எதிர்கொள்ளும் தொழிலாளர்கள், வேலைநீக்கம் செய்யப்பட்டவர்களின் குடும்பங்கள் பற்றி பேசுகிறது இந்த ஆவணப்படம்)

மாலை 6.45 மணி  : 
கலந்துரையாடல் 
கருத்துரை : டி.எம்.மூர்த்தி ஏஐடியுசி