People Fighting for Justice
Friday; 14th September 2007; at 6.30 PM: MILES TO GO
Directed by: Nina Subramani
Produced by: Greenpeace; India
Duration: 60 minutes
Nina Subramani will be present for the screening.
Saturday; 15th September 2007; at 6.30 PM: RED STORM RISING
Written; Directed & Produced by: Nithya Nagaraj
Duration: 60 minutes
Nithya Nagaraj will be present for the screening. This is her first film.
Sunday; 16th September 2007; at 6.30 PM: INDIA UNTOUCHED
Directed by Stalin K
Produced by: Drishti Media
Duration: 108 minutes
Screenings are open to members only. If you are not a member, please come half hour before the screening and register.
Venue: Centre for Film and Drama (CFD)
5th Floor; Sona Towers; 71 Millers Road; Bangalore
About MILES TO GO
In November 2002; Greenpeace campaigners undertook a bus journey across India – 7 states; 6000 kilometres in just 60 days; to uncover what they call “corporate” crime… What they found was shocking far beyond words – pipes brazenly pouring untreated effluents into rivers; roads and houses constructed from radioactive materials; a skyline that is never free of poisonous fumes; children who are treated no better than guinea pigs…
Filmed in 24 locations; over 60 days by a 2-member crew; Miles To Go is the story of India’s forgotten backyards; of people brushed under the carpet of indifference and apathy; a story of individuals fighting all odds for their basic rights – a story of a thousand revolutions in a thousand Bhopals.
The same journey revealed something else – something far more important. That people are fighting for their rights. In Karimugal; Kerala a community protests outside a contaminating factory every evening….. The residents of Dodballapur; a small town near Bangalore; are already protesting and refuse to wait till the contamination of their water reaches a point of no return.
There are also unheard voices – of a village of deformed children in Jadugora; people all over Orissa; a schoolgirl in the town of Rishra – these voices represent people all over the country who refuse to be fooled and who refuse to passively accept the ineptness of the bureaucracy; the apathy of the government and the corruption of the industries.
For more information about Miles To Go; check www.elephantcorridor.org
About RED STORM RISING
Red Storm Rising is a documentary film about the left extremist movement in the south Indian state of Karnataka. Naxalism; as the Maoist movement is popularly known in India; believes in the objective of a communist state through the barrel of a gun. The film focuses on the reasons for the spread of this movement; the response of the government and its impact on the people.
Red Storm Rising explores the issues of forest rights; the eviction of adivasis and small farmers from forests; and the exploitation of these issues by Naxalites in their war against the government. Filmed in the areas most affected by the Maoist movement in Karnataka; it brings to light the government’s attempts to counter the spread of this violent movement.
Red Storm Rising is an attempt to portray the plight of the people and the choice that they have to make between an armed struggle and a government that is deaf to their cries.
About INDIA UNTOUCHED – Stories of a People Apart
“INDIA UNTOUCHED-Stories of a People Apart” is perhaps the most comprehensive look at untouchability ever undertaken on film. Director Stalin K. spent four years travelling the length and breadth of the country to expose the continued oppression of ‘Dalits;’ the ‘broken people’ who suffer under a 4000-year-old religious system.
The film introduces leading Benares scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to mean that Dalits ‘have no right’ to education; and Rajput farmers who proudly proclaim that no Dalit may sit in their presence; and that the police must seek their permission before pursuing cases of atrocities.
The film captures many ‘firsts-on-film;’ such as Dalits being forced to dismount from their cycles and remove their shoes when in the upper caste part of the village. It exposes the continuation of caste practices and Untouchability in Sikhism; Christianity and Islam; and even amongst the communists in Kerala. Dalits themselves are not let off the hook: within Dalits; sub-castes practice Untouchability on the ‘lower’ sub-castes; and a Harijan boy refuses to drink water from a Valmiki boy.
The viewer hears that Untouchability is an urban phenomenon as well; inflicted upon a leading medical surgeon and in such hallowed institutions as JNU; where a Brahmin boy builds a partition so as not to look upon his Dalit roommate in the early morning.
But the film highlights signs of hope; too: the powerful tradition of Dalit drumming is used to call people to the struggle; and a young Dalit girl holds her head high after pulling water from her village well for the first time in her life.
Spanning eight states and four religions; this film will make it impossible for anyone to deny that Untouchability continues to be practiced in India.
For more information: www.drishtimedia.org; www.navsarjan.org
