Freedom Film Festival
15 Aug, 10.30 am to 8 pmMUTA Hall, Madurai
Curated by Amudhan R.P.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
