Saturday, December 3, 2022

24th Madurai Film Festival 2022 : Divya Bharathi - Filmmaker in Focus

24th Madurai Film Festival 2022
6-10 December; multiple venues, Madurai 

Filmmaker in Focus : Divya Bharathi

courtesy : Open Magazine

Film : “Orutharum Varela" (Nobody came)
Dir : Divya Bharathi; 100 min; Documentary; India; Filmmaker in Focus


The film "Orutharum Varele" (Nobody came) looks at the struggle of Fishworkers and the fishing communities after the Ockhi disaster hit the coasts of Tamilnadu and kerala. The film looks at the multitudes of challenges faced by the community and the state of helplessness they face owing to the lack of emergency response from the Government.

The film also tries to look at the larger issues of climate change impacts, development projects and the loot of the coast and land resources by the corporates and state leaving thefishing communities in a state of hopelessness.

The film looks at how on an everyday basis Fishworkers stride against the tide and turbulent waves.

Divya Bharathi is a Madurai based filmmaker and activist who is known for her forthright views and hard hitting issue based films. She had to face police cases, threats, abuses, danger for her strong initiatives and political interventions. Her first film 'Kakoos' on manual scavenging practices in Tamilnadu shook the conscience of the civil society with its in the face treatment and meticulous detailing.

Divya has completed two feature length documentaries so far. Her third documentary and her first feature film on sexual minorities are about to be released soon. 



Monday, November 14, 2022

24th Madurai Film Festival 2022 : Filmmaker in Focus - Prathap Joseph

24th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2022

6-10 Dec, multiple venues, Madurai 


Filmmaker in Focus : Prathap Joseph

Started career as a Journalist in leading Malayalam newspaper. Self taught photographer who turned cinematographer and director. Active in film- making from 2010. 

Founder, Independent and Experimental Film Festival of Kerala
Founder, Minimal Cinema Film Society 
Founder, Light Source Photographic Society
Director, New Wave Film School

Films to be shown :

Randuper Chumbikkumpol (When two Kiss)
2017 / 70 minutes

An intruder, in his mobile shoots the scene of a pair of lovers hugging on a beach. He tries to blackmail them.


Director Note:
 
The film Randuper Chumbikkumbol (When two Kiss) is conceived on the
background of Kiss of Love Protest that started in Kerala in 2014 and partially spread to other states of India later. Kiss of Love started as a protest against moral policing.The film is around the theme of hegemonic sexual morality’s potential to determine the nature of relationships and its intervention in personal relationships. the film does not attempt to tell a story. Three shots of three situations are there. The cast and crew of the film are persons involved in Kiss of Love. The film is inspired by the story Oru Drishtantha Katha (A Moral Story) by the Malayalam writer M D Radhika.

Cinematography, Script, Direction: Prathap Joseph / Sound: Amrith Shankar / Editing: Anand Pottekkat / 
Cast: Archana Padmini, Mini IG, S. Pradeep, Sarath Kovilakam, Byju Netto.

Puzhayal (Merman) 
2021 / 64 minutes


This documentary is about a man named Palakkal Abdul Kader. He is a 74 - year - old ordinary man living in Kuttikkadav near Mavoor, Kerala. For the last fifteen years he removes plastic waste from the river Cherupuzha, one of the tributaries of Chaliyar river. The struggle against Mavoor Gwalior Ryons' polluting of air and water is a land mark in the history of environmental movements in Kerala. Mavoor wetland spreading over 300 acres, is a paradise of migratory birds.

Cinematography, Script, Direction: Prathap Joseph /  Sound: Shaiju M / Editing: Anand Pottekkat, Ashwin Raj.

Short films by Prathap Joseph

1. Frame 
Year: 2003
Duration: 7.20 minutes

Won't to know how or where to fix a frame, you and I are trapped. The earth is round, but we are ensqured. Cinema itself is a square. This film is about the frame in which film and life are caught.


2. See...?
Year :2010
Duration: 18.12 Minutes

A spider weaving his web. Lives around are also busy. Do we see it all?


3. Medit-e-ating
Year 2013
Duration: 11 Minutes

A moth becomes a butterfly. Meanwhile a meditation takes place.


4. 52 Seconds
A satirical take on statutory warnings imposed by the Censor Board. 
Camera & Direction : Prathap Joseph 
Concept : Sudevan
Year: 2017
Duration: 52 Seconds

A satirical take on statutory warning imposed by the censor board.


Prathap Joseph will present his films and will take part in the post screening interactions.

Friday, November 11, 2022

24th Madurai Film Festival 2022 : Retrospective - Joshy Joseph

24th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2022

6-10 Dec, multiple venues, Madurai

Highlight # 1

Retrospective : Joshy Joseph



Joshy Joseph has, as a maker of unique documentaries, consistently extended and blurred the boundaries that separate factual record from creative filmmaking, until these demarcations no longer serve any useful purpose. Joseph is concerned with the unfixed nature of our globalised world, but his approach isn't thematic.

He had won six National Awards for making films and one National Award for writing on Cinema from the President of India.He is an author of three books in Malayalam. Had associated with poet Dunya Mikhail for a film with her autobiographical poems. Worked with famed filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Participated in a script writing workshop by Jean Claude Carrier at French Embassy. Officially associated while shooting 'Life of Pi' with Hollywood Director Ang Lee.

List of films to be shown :

1) One Day from a Hangman's Life (83 min)

"One Day From A Hangman's Life" – a film made by me, revolves around the highly debated event of 2004 in Kolkata – that of the hanging of Dhananjoy Chatterjee – a rapist, and the media hype on the hangman, Nata Mallik. It documents an eventful day and captures the hangman in all his hues and the media at its manipulative best in a candid manner.

'ONE DAY FROM A HANGMAN'S LIFE' is a fusion of life and death. Life finding its fulfillment in death. And fact finds its culmination in fiction. This is not about a murder, but it's about a 'murderer's
murder'. Not personal, but a social murder of how death is sanctified by a social sanction. The film naturally becomes a self-criticism of our social system itself. And in a way it shows the other side of
human emotions or the bi-polarity of emotions of how we revel in crime, in violence and how we relish things, which we deny in waking life.

2) Walking Over Water (89 min)



Walking Over Water is an auto fiction,which is a blend of fiction and nonfiction and curiously ,the filmmaker is visually absent in this experimental film.

3) Aribam Syam Sharma- Laparoscopic Cinemascapes (62 min)


This film is a stylistic antithesis of Manipuri Maestro Aribam Syam Sharma, in the usage of idiom of cinema, capturing the soul of this artist and its stirring cultural text through an intense conversation with Joshy Joseph.

4) Mizo Soundscapes (22 min)



Mizo Soundscapes is a visual - visceral -aural journey through a phase in Mizo History.

Joshy Joseph will present his films and will take part in the discussions.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Support Madurai Film Festival 2022

SUPPORT 24th Madurai Film Festival 2022

Dear friends!

Greetings.

We have been organising the Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2022 in Madurai since 1998 in association with various cultural, social and educational institutions.

The idea behind the film festival is to nurture a documentary culture in Tamilnadu. We try to reach out to around 1000 persons every year through our film festivals that includes film screening, discussion, master classes and cultural programs.

We have brought more than 100 filmmakers including Anand Patwardhan, KP Sasi, Sarat Chandran, P Baburaj, Pankaj Butalia, Sehjo Singh, Rakesh Sharma, Madhusree Dutta, RV Ramani, Swarnavel, Amshan Kumar, Gargi Sen, Lalit Vachani, Anjali Monteiro, KP Jayasankar, Leena Manimekalai, Someetharan, Vinod Raja, Deepu, Sreemith and others to our  previous editions.

We are getting ready with our next chapter, the 24th Madurai Film Festival 2022 to be held on 6-10 December at multiple venues.

We are planning to screen around 75 films under the following sections :

1) International films
2) Indian films
3) Retrospective : Joshy Joseph
4) Filmmaker in Focus : Divya Bharathi 
5) Filmmaker in Focus : Prathap Joseph
6) Director's Cut : films curated by Amudhan R.P.

As you know we run the film festival only with the financial contributions from like minded people and organisations, kindly contribute financially and support our effort. Our expected budget of the film festival will be around Rs..1.25 lakh, which includes travel for the main guests, stay for the filmmakers, local travel and food for the organising team, publishing festival book, handouts and posters, internet rent and buying necessary accessories. 

Our bank details :
R Amudhan, Indian Overseas Bank, 80 feet Road branch, Madurai 625020
SB ac no: 213301000011705; IFSC : IOBA0002133.

Gpay : 9940642044 / R.Amudhan

Looking forward to your positive reply.

Regards

Amudhan R.P.
Festival Director
24th Madurai Film Festival 2022
 

Friday, August 5, 2022

Freedom Film Festival 2022 : Schedule

Freedom Film Festival 2022
15-19 Aug, multiple venues, Chennai

Organised by MARUPAKKAM
in association with
Periyar Self Respect Media
Department of Visual Communication - Loyola College
DOT School of Design, Ambattur
Post Graduate Department of Communication, Post Graduate Department of English - Women's Christian College
Discovery Book Palace


SCREENING SCHEDULE


15 Aug; Periyar Thidal, Chennai

11 am Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar
Dir : Jabbar Patel; 74 min; English; India; Documentary

A biographical film about Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution of India. Dr. Ambedkar dedicated his life to the cause of the downtrodden.

1 pm The Sako Tapes
Dir: Machiel van den Heuvel; 73 mins; Dutch, Indonesian with English subtitles; 2019; Netherlands; Documentary



A film about Sako, an eccentric Indonesian man with Chinese roots. Sako is struggling with his past. He is traumatized because of the murder of his innocent father, who was one of the approximately half a million alleged communists that were killed in the transition period to the Suharto regime in Indonesia in 1965. Sadly, this brutal period is still taboo in Indonesia. To break the taboo and process his trauma, Sako went out with his camcorder and filmed people close to him and talked with them about their experiences related to this past.

2.30 pm Ailleurs Partout
Dir: Isabelle Ingold, Vivianne Perelmuter; 1 hr 3 min; English/French/Persian with English subtitles; 2020; Belgium; Documentary



Its the journey of Shahin, a 20-year-old Iranian boy who, fleeing his country alone, lands in Greece, then winds his way to England where he claims asylum.

3.15 Street Out
Dir: Sofia Rocha; 1 hr 40 min; Spanish with English subtitles; 2020; Argentina; Documentary

A choral account of women, who turned or have turned to prostitution, stands up to put to discussion abolitionism and legalization within the women’s movement and feminism, through their life stories, desires and convictions.

5 pm Boramey - Ghosts in the Factory
Dir: Tammaso Facchin, Ivan Franceschini; 60 min; Italy / Cambodia; Documentary


Sreyra, Ponler, and Sreyven are three young garment workers in Cambodia. Day after day, they produce clothes for the most important global brands, until something exceptional disrupts their routine: suddenly they pass out in the workplace, an event that is followed by their colleagues fainting en masse. Episodes of mass fainting like these are not uncommon in Cambodia, where labour conditions remain harsh.

6.15 Many Straws Make A Nest
Dir : Johanna Schellhagen; 50 min; Germany / India; Documentary


In the last 30 years, the Delhi region has turned into one of the world's major industrial hubs. The required workforce is recruited from India's poorer regions, where survival is being made more and more difficult for the rural populace. This is why 4.5 million industrial workers in Southern Delhi are willing to ruin their health for wages their families can hardly survive on.

But people are not powerless in this situation, they try to find effective ways to collectively resist.

16 Aug, Department of Visual Communication, Loyola College (only for students)

10 am to 1 pm

Atomkraftwerk Zwentendorf
Dir: Hope Tucker; 16:40; English; 2018; USA; Documentary/Experimental


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

Talilo and Wassla
Dir: Jon Meyer; 24:33 min; English; USA; 2020; Documentary

An inspiring story of two hip hop artists from an impoverished town who turned their lives around and now use music to help the youth not fall into the same pitfalls they had to endure like prison and homelessness.

From Durban to Tomorrow
Dir: Dylan Mohan Gray; 39:52 min; Multiple languages with English subtitles; 2020; South Africa; Documentary

Five frontline health advocates from different parts of the world work through victories and defeats forging a path toward a meaningful, universal human right to health.

The Broken Femur
Director- Luyckx Jonas; 28 minutes 44 seconds; French with English subtitles; 2020



Within my walls, scrutinising the world, I took my camera to talk about intimacy in the face of a global upheaval.

2 pm to 5 pm

Rat Trap
Dir : Rupesh Kr Sahu; 35 min; Hindi with English subtitles; India; Documentary


It is a film about the rat-hole coal miners who risk their lives to earn a livelihood. While doing this activity, many mishaps go unreported, which we cannot see from the outside. Their lives are devastating enough that they are called thieves in their own house, and during a case of mine collapse, they cannot even shed a tear or claim their loved ones’body. This film narrates their daily life.

Being the Other
Dir : Amudhan R.P.; 22 min; Hindi & English with English subtitles; 2022; India, Documentary



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?

Fireflies
Dir: Johnson Rajkumar; 6 min; English subtitles; India; Documentary


In 1980s, when Manipur was inflicted with insurgency and armed violence, a group of women came out to the streets to uphold peace in the valley. Meira Paibis are loosely structured groups of women from each locality who volunteered to vigil through the night as a peace-building effort.

India’s Struggle for Freedom : Do or Die
Dir : R. Krishna Mohan; 21 min; English; India; Documentary

This film presents the passing of the Quit India resolution, the arrest of leaders, the rebellion of the leaderless people all over the country. It also presents the role of the INA and Subhash Chandra Bose India's freedom struggle.

Democracy
Dir : Aditya Agnihotri; 12 min; English; India; Short film



Sonu and Chintu have been waiting for this summer holiday trip. They are seeking new adventure this time. The night before the trip, Their father decides to plan each and everything in a democratic manner.

17 Aug, DOT School of Design, Ambattur

10 am to 1 pm

The Custodians of the Andean Gold
Dir: Marcella Menozzi; 32:25 mins; Spanish with English subtitles; 2019-2021; Italy; documentary;

In the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, more than 3800 meters above sea level, live alpaca and vicunia breeders. Quechua and Aymara families who protect their animals earn livelihood from the sale of the animals’ fiber. Gold mining is another activity that is widespread among families living in the border area between Peru and Bolivia. The intensity of these production activities increases the need for environmental protection and workers' rights. It has become indispensable to support producers so that this activity does not disappear with the migration of native peoples, and abandonment of traditions and animals.

The Hook You Will Not Bite
Dir: José David Apel; 29:50 mins; Spanish with English subtitles; 2021; Argentina; doc


In the banks of the Victoria River, a fish merchant buys the product of the humble fishermen who inhabit the islands of the province of Entre Ríos (Argentina). In exchange for their fishing, he offers them a small amount of food in return.

Into Dust
Dir : Orlando von Einsiedel; 40 min; United Kingdom / Pakistan



When Perween Rahman is murdered, her sister Aquila returns to Karachi, Pakistan to investigate. Finding herself caught up in powerful forces stealing the city’s water, her sister exposed the impact of corruption. Based on a true story of one activist who worked tirelessly to protect the rights of Pakistan’s poor.

How Do Animals and Plants Live?
Dir : Sherry Millner, Ernest Larsen; 26.56 min; United States / Greece


Is it true that translation creates the basis for a new commons? If so, how?

The video essay How Do Animals and Plants Live? is an inquiry into the forcible eviction and immediate demolition of the self-organized anarchist-supported migrant squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki, Greece, in July 2016.

Light in Stones (approved)
Dir : Iqbal Barkat; 6.20 min; Australia / India


The imagined contemplations of a Muslim pilgrim in contemporary India. This cine-poem follows their steps and sees their thoughts through verse on-screen. Using travel footage of everyday scenes in India, Light In Stones, traverses the fears, joys, trepidations and hopes of the pilgrim.

2 pm to 5 pm

Rat Trap
Dir : Rupesh Kr Sahu; 35 min; Hindi with English subtitles; India; Documentary

It is a film about the rat-hole coal miners who risk their lives to earn a livelihood. While doing this activity, many mishaps go unreported, which we cannot see from the outside. Their lives are devastating enough that they are called thieves in their own house, and during a case of mine collapse, they cannot even shed a tear or claim their loved ones’body. This film narrates their daily life.

Being the Other
Dir : Amudhan R.P.; 22 min; Hindi & English with English subtitles; 2022; India, Documentary

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?

Fireflies
Dir: Johnson Rajkumar; 6 min; English subtitles; India; Documentary

In 1980s, when Manipur was inflicted with insurgency and armed violence, a group of women came out to the streets to uphold peace in the valley. Meira Paibis are loosely structured groups of women from each locality who volunteered to vigil through the night as a peace-building effort.

India’s Struggle for Freedom : Do or Die
Dir : R. Krishna Mohan; 21 min; English; India; Documentary

This film presents the passing of the Quit India resolution, the arrest of leaders, the rebellion of the leaderless people all over the country. It also presents the role of the INA and Subhash Chandra Bose India's freedom struggle.

Democracy
Dir : Aditya Agnihotri; 12 min; English; India; Short film

Sonu and Chintu have been waiting for this summer holiday trip. They are seeking new adventure this time. The night before the trip, Their father decides to plan each and everything in a democratic manner.

18 Aug; Women's Christian College (only for students)

1 - 5 pm

Imaginary Homes
Dir: Priya Naresh; 18 min; Punjabi with English subtitles; 2021; India; Short Fiction


An old woman with her incoherent past and a young maid build an imaginary home together.

Sita
Dir: Abhinav Singh; 18:58 min; Hindi with English subtitles; 2021; India; Short Fiction



Sita is a story of a young 11 year old Dalit boy who finds a dead newborn baby girl in the streets. All he wishes to do now is give her a respectful cremation.

Visitors
Dir: Navnita Sen; 13:10 min; Hindi/English with English subtitles; 2020; India; Short Fiction


A 10-year-old boy wakes up to find himself alone in his house, during the Pandemic of 2020. His mother, who had left for work early morning, is unable to return, due to a curfew-like lockdown in the city. An encounter with some unusual visitors, who drop by unexpectedly, change the course of his day.

Since Forever
Dir: Nisam Asaf; 14:22 mins; Malayalam with English subtitles; 2021; India; SF 


Unavailability of pregnancy care during the nationwide Covid-19 lock-down in India forces a young woman to seek dangerous illegal methods to terminate her unwanted pregnancy.

The Threshold
Dir: Mithun Gomes; 11:41 mins; Hindi with English subtitles; 2021; India; SF 


20-year-old Seema is nervous about a new business deal for her company, but just as she reaches her workplace, she learns that Naveen has invited his parents over for a lunch. Today, they will decide if Seema is a suitable match for their son. In order to impress them, she must present them with a delectable meal. Unfortunately, her trusted cook, Malati, is unavailable. Seema has never cooked before, and now, for Naveen's sake, she must sacrifice the business opportunity and find a way into the hearts of Naveen's parents.

The Fox of the Palmgrove
Dir: Divakar SK; 08:56 mins; German, Tamil with English subtitles; 2019; India; animation 


A random television visual triggers the memories of an old man in which we go through a sequence of random events that summarises his entire life.

13.04.1919
Dir : P Ellappan, Amrit Pal Singh; 12 min; India

The Film is about Jaliyanwalabagh massacre in 13.04.1919

19 Aug, Discovery Book Palace, KK Nagar

11 am to 1 pm

The Custodians of the Andean Gold
Dir: Marcella Menozzi; 32:25 mins; Spanish with English subtitles; 2019-2021; Italy; documentary


In the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, more than 3800 meters above sea level, live alpaca and vicunia breeders. Quechua and Aymara families who protect their animals earn livelihood from the sale of the animals’ fiber. Gold mining is another activity that is widespread among families living in the border area between Peru and Bolivia. The intensity of these production activities increases the need for environmental protection and workers' rights. It has become indispensable to support producers so that this activity does not disappear with the migration of native peoples, and abandonment of traditions and animals.

The Hook You Will Not Bite
Dir: José David Apel; 29:50 mins; Spanish with English subtitles; 2021; Argentina; doc

In the banks of the Victoria River, a fish merchant buys the product of the humble fishermen who inhabit the islands of the province of Entre Ríos (Argentina). In exchange for their fishing, he offers them a small amount of food in return.

Into Dust
Dir : Orlando von Einsiedel; 40 min; United Kingdom / Pakistan

When Perween Rahman is murdered, her sister Aquila returns to Karachi, Pakistan to investigate. Finding herself caught up in powerful forces stealing the city’s water, her sister exposed the impact of corruption. Based on a true story of one activist who worked tirelessly to protect the rights of Pakistan’s poor.

How Do Animals and Plants Live?
Dir : Sherry Millner, Ernest Larsen; 26.56 min; United States / Greece

Is it true that translation creates the basis for a new commons? If so, how?

The video essay How Do Animals and Plants Live? is an inquiry into the forcible eviction and immediate demolition of the self-organized anarchist-supported migrant squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki, Greece, in July 2016.

Light in Stones (approved)
Dir : Iqbal Barkat; 6.20 min; Australia / India

The imagined contemplations of a Muslim pilgrim in contemporary India. This cine-poem follows their steps and sees their thoughts through verse on-screen. Using travel footage of everyday scenes in India, Light In Stones, traverses the fears, joys, trepidations and hopes of the pilgrim.

2 pm to 4 pm

Atomkraftwerk Zwentendorf
Dir: Hope Tucker; 16:40; English; 2018; USA; Documentary/Experimental

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

Talilo and Wassla
Dir: Jon Meyer; 24:33 min; English; USA; 2020; Documentary

An inspiring story of two hip hop artists from an impoverished town who turned their lives around and now use music to help the youth not fall into the same pitfalls they had to endure like prison and homelessness.

From Durban to Tomorrow
Dir: Dylan Mohan Gray; 39:52 min; Multiple languages with English subtitles; 2020; South Africa; Documentary



Five frontline health advocates from different parts of the world work through victories and defeats forging a path toward a meaningful, universal human right to health.

The Broken Femur
Director- Luyckx Jonas; 28 minutes 44 seconds; French with English subtitles; 2020

Within my walls, scrutinising the world, I took my camera to talk about intimacy in the face of a global upheaval.

4.30 pm Ultraviolence
Dir : Ken Fero; 75 min; United Kingdom


The silence over the police killings of Black people is now broken. Since 1969, over two thousand people have died at the hands of the police in the UK. Shootings, chokeholds, batons, gassing, suffocation, restraint and brutal beatings are some of the methods used. The numbers of deaths is escalating. Inevitably police officers involved are not convicted for these killings.

5.45 pm Resisters
Dir : Jill Daniels; 60 min; United Kingdom / Germany 


Framed through a letter to the Marxist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg Resisters celebrates 100 years of resistance to fascism. Taking a two-fold journey through Berlin, a geographical one and a psychic one to bring the past into the present, Daniels reflects on Berlin's turbulent history and the present growth of the nationalist AfD who became the main opposition party in Germany in 2017.

6.45 Profiled
Dir : Kathleen Foster; 53 min; United States


Some of the victims—Eric Garner, Michael Brown—are now familiar the world over. Others, like Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, are remembered mostly by family and friends in their New York neighborhoods. Profiled knits the stories of mothers of black and Latin youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S.

Curated by Amudhan R.P.
amudhan.rp@gmail.com 





Thursday, August 4, 2022

Freedom Film Festival 2022, Chennai

Freedom Film Festival 2022

15-19 Aug, multiple venues, Chennai 

Organised by MARUPAKKAM

More details soon!